BE WARY OF THIS CROSSOVER OF SPOILERS!!
Brennan and Booth find the remains of a young female med student and a Colonial British soldier which sparks the interest of Abbie Mills and Ichabod Crane. Crane helps Brennan identify the soldier while Booth investigates the med student. The British soldier is identified as a high ranked officer named General William Howe whom Crane appears to be familiar with. Booth learns from a colleague that Sarah wanted to experience near death. Going through the medical waste, the forensics team find General Howe’s skull. Crane meets with Bones and informs her that Howe had a false porcelain tooth that was broken off by the killer who turns out to be Sarah’s boyfriend Joel. Afterward, General Howe’s remains are in route to Sleepy Hollow where they are encountered by Pandora who brings Howe back to life to terrorize the town. Discovering the solution to stopping Howe, Crane and Abbie travel to the Capital Building with Booth and Brennan where they discover a room hidden beneath the landmark and the means of defeating Howe. General Howe marches into Sleepy Hollow with his army. Abbie and Crane arrive just as Howe orders his men to fire on the crowd that has gathered. Crane lures Howe and his army into the underground tunnels where Jenny and Joe use Greek fire to destroy them. Later, Daniel Reynolds calls Abbie into his office and shows her a photo of Jenny taken by an FBI operative.
When I first heard about Sleepy Hollow and Bones crossing over, I was a bit leery about the idea. For starters, I have watched Bones a handful of times and have some inkling about the characters. I wasn’t sure how well the supernatural world of Sleepy Hollow would mesh with the scientology of Bones. Shockingly, it worked. The focus of the crossover event was kept to a murder investigation centering on a dead med student’s fascination with the remains of a Colonial British soldier, thus keeping Bones and Booth away from the supernatural stuff. Arriving in the Jeffersonian, Ichabod Crane is suddenly to elephant in the living room, especially to Temperance Brennan. She clashes with Crane when it comes to belief over science. Crane is about folklore and supernatural belief while Brennan is all about facts and figures. It was quite entertaining to see them go back and forth trying to convince the other that they are right. Brennan came close to exposing Crane with a letter handed to her by him that is in Crane’s handwriting, to which Crane denounces by telling her that it was written by relative also named Ichabod Crane and that the handwriting is a family trait. This forces Brennan to cast aside the facts and accept a possibility. Honestly, it was like watching Abbie go at it with Crane when she first met him. So, for me, the crossover was a success. After watching this, I might start picking up on Bones.
Now on the historical portion of Sleepy Hollow. The British remains that were found belong to General William Howe who, according to history, succeeded in capturing New York and Philadelphia, and won the Battle of Bunker Hill during the Revolutionary War. Crane was sent to kill Howe by George Washington but failed in his mission. He meets up with Betsy Ross with orders to burn down Manhattan, which brings us to the Great New York Fire of 1776. The actual event of how the fire started remains a mystery. Luckily, Crane is able to shed light on that. According to him, Betsy Ross had used the mythical Greek fire to set the town ablaze in order to stop the undead army, or Draugr, of William Howe. The draugr, literally meaning “again-walker” (Icelandic: afturganga), is an undead creature from Norse mythology, a subset of Germanic mythology. They are animated corpses that retain residual intelligence. William Howe remembers Crane fondly. Summoned by Pandora, he raises his army to spread fear through Sleepy Hollow until he is topped by Crane, Abbie, Jenny and Joe Corbin. Speaking of Corbin, his father August has a connection with Booth who knew him. Booth reveals this to Abbie and seems to have insight to the “outside” work she did for August Corbin. This illustrates the possibility of more appearances by the cast of either show. Perhaps Booth and Brennan might take a day trip to Sleepy Hollow for a spot of tea with Abbie and Crane.
