After Sleepy Hollow’s strong pilot and terrible second episode, its third episode could either make or break the series. If it continued on with the second episode’s cheesy subplot, obvious Chekhov’s guns and just downright outrageousness; then the show would have to be buried. Luckily, the third episode titled “For the Triumph of Evil…” was a vast improvement over last week’s disaster. This has to do with removing the whole zombie John Cho story line and finally gathering some materials to make an Ichabod/Abbie ship.

This week, Ichabod and Abbie had to fight a demon called “The Sandman,” who like Freddy Krueger, attacks people in their sleep. Instead of actually fighting you, he makes each person relive their sins so they willingly kill themselves. Unfortunately, Abbie is on The Sandman’s hitlist for what she did to her sister, Jenny. Jenny had told the police that she had seen a demon in the woods. Abbie lied and said that she didn’t see anything, thus betraying her sister and forcing her into an institution.

Abbie has to come clean about her betrayal and fight The Sandman all in her sleep. Like a proper gentleman, Ichabod isn’t going to let her fight this demon alone. Since they are the two witnesses, they will go through seven years of tribulation to defeat these hell spawns. Also, like in A Nightmare on Elm Street, if you die in the dream, you die in real life. They drink some blue Gatorade Native American tea and are stung by scorpions in order to go into The Sandman’s dream world. Abbie is taken to when she and her sister were being interrogated about seeing the demon in the woods. The Sandman asks what Abbie saw, and keeps lying. Ichabod finds her and The Sandman starts attacking him for no real reason other than he’s not supposed to be there. In order to save Ichabod’s life, Abbie comes clean about betraying her sister. The Sandman turns to glass and Abbie shatters him; forcing them to wake up. In order to fully clear her conscience, Abbie goes to apologize to her sister, except her sister has escaped.

So far, this was the scariest episode. Now that viewers have grown attached to Abbie, seeing her in real danger is thrilling. Luckily this isn’t Game of Thrones, so we don’t have to worry about her fate. What excited most viewers was the small connection between Ichabod and Abbie. Abbie had to tell Ichabod her darkest secret, was shirtless in front of him, and saved his life. I think it’s safe to say that she is warming up to Ichabod. Especially since their fates are entwined for the next seven years. If Sleepy Hollow continues producing episodes like “For the Triumph of Evil,” the show might last seven years.