Albert Kim

The overarching Sleepy Hollow narrative has been treading water since the events of “The Akeda,” the show unable to find a hook in the wake of Moloch’s death. For the past few episodes events have gone through a series of monsters of the week, the characters as adrift as the writers as they spend their time asking some fairly meta questions about what their place in the world is. It hasn’t been a bad stretch of episodes—in fact, on balance the show’s felt more entertaining than it did in the first half of the season—but a sense of direction has been keenly missed. “Spellcaster” takes steps to remedy that deficit, setting things in motion for the final trio of season two episodes.

When Sleepy Hollow expanded from 13 to 18 episodes for its second season, it was simultaneously encouraging for everyone who wanted more of the show and discouraging for those who appreciated the condensed insanity of season one. One of the arguments frequently hurled at broadcast shows is that with a full season order writers have much more room to fill, and with rare exceptions—The Good Wife being an arguable example—it’s hard to maintain high-energy storytelling for 22 to 24 episodes. There’s been a few flickers of that in recent weeks, but “Heartless” is the first episode to feel entirely like a wash for the season. And more problematically, by producing a slower installment of the show it leaves more time to think about the series’ workings, a risky process on a show as driven by lunacy as this.

It’s a rare show that can inspire fits of giggles simply by reading an episode description, and “The Kindred” certainly meets that bill: “Ichabod Crane concocts a daring plan to rescue his wife from the Headless Horseman by resurrecting a Frankenstein-like monster created by Benjamin Franklin.” It’s a sentence that reads like a pitch for a Pride and Prejudice and Zombies knockoff, rejected for being too absurd. And yet, not only does Sleepy Hollow embrace this idea for a story, they do so in a manner that makes the action plausible in the universe and turns it into fist-pumping excitement.

The series finale to the CW show takes an opportunity to examine the character of Nikita, showing who she really is by standing her against her nemesis Amanda, in a thrilling end.

The Shop’s methods are revealed as the ex-Division crew makes a move of their own.

Despite Division having more resources all season, Amanda was a looming threat on all the organisation’s major players, and remained so no matter how few allies and operations she had. Her alignment with The Shop thus spelled very bad news for Nikita and co., news that came to a head last week with the reveal that Michael’s new hand had come with another caveat, putting Nikita between a rock and a hard place; kill the US President, or watch her own partner die a brutal death. The season finale explores the outcome of that choice, providing some genuine twists, and bringing closure to a major part of Nikita.

Nikita, Season 3, Episode 14: “The Life We’ve Chosen” Written by Albert Kim Directed by Brad Turner Airs Fridays at 8pm (ET) on the CW Since Amanda found out about Ari Tasarov and Division working together, she has had a single-minded focus towards getting him back on her side by any means necessary, first going …

Nikita, Season 3, Episode 9: “Survival Instincts” Written by Albert Kim Directed by John F. Showalter Airs Fridays at 8pm (ET) on the CW One of the key aspects of Division has always been that agents get cut off from their old life, something even Nikita, Ryan, and co. have been forced to maintain due …

Nikita, Season 3, Episode 5: “The Sword’s Edge” Written by Albert Kim Directed by Kenneth Fink Airs Fridays at 8pm (ET) on the CW Nikita took an unexpected hiatus for the past two weeks, as the CW shuffled its schedule to allow this current season of America’s Next Top Model to round out its cycle, …