‘Sleepy Hollow’ recap: ‘Tempus Fugit’

Ding dong, the wicked witch is dead – just as she was really beginning to grow on us.

Fans of the supernatural sci-fi buddy cop drama, “Sleepy Hollow,” likely weren’t rooting for Katrina Crane (Katia Winter) to prevail in her world-changing plot to rewrite twistory and kill Ichabod Crane (Tom Mison) and Lt. Abbie Mills (Nicole Beharie). But can we agree that the raging redhead sure has been fun to watch during the last few episodes?

Where once we were thrilled with seeing less of her during any given hour, we wanted just the opposite after she broke bad during the tail end of Season 2. Witch on a rampage!

And now she’s gone, and probably not a “Sleepy Hollow” pseudo-dead-but-likely-to-resurface kind of departed. Really, truly dusted.

Ichabod’s pretty broken up over it, initially, since he’s the one who stabs her in the gut. But he recovers quickly, reminded that there’s a bigger picture here and the erstwhile Mrs. Crane had effectively Photoshopped herself out of it when she allied with evil Henry Parrish over the A-Team.

Who saw this coming? Maybe most Sleepy Heads expected that Katrina had to go, reuniting with her dead half-warlock son and removing a major roadblock in the Ichabbie relationship.

Well-played, writers and producers of the Fox series, especially the part where Katrina makes the absolute most of her time in the spotlight by proudly and homicidally flying her black-magic freak flag.

On a recurring note: Is time travel necessary – a running theme in the second part of a cliffhanger season finale, dubbed, “Tempus Fugit” – to learn the fate of this show? As of this writing, there’s still no renewal from the network.

Show runners make sure that we know, as viewers, they’re prepped for coming back. They use Abbie’s ancestor, Grace Dixon, to tell us that “this war is not over,” and that the most crucial battles are still ahead. Remember all those baddies at large, just for starters?

As a coda to the episode, Abbie repeats Grace’s warning/the collective plea for Season 3 as the Good Guys will double down on their commitment. They’re basically locked and loaded. Good Frank! Grand grimoire!

On to the nitty gritty of “Tempus Fugit,” which launches with a smokin’ hot action scene of Ichabod running, shooting and killing redcoats. OK, it’s not exactly Daniel Day Lewis from “Last of the Mohicans,” but it ranks fairly high on the heart-pounding scale for lanky handsome men in colonial-era combat.

Capt. Crane checks the bodies littered about, but doesn’t find the Horseman of Death, per orders from George Washington. Enter Abbie, still cooling her heels in jail, who tries to convince Crane that she’s his friend from the future. He’s more inclined to think she’s a British spy sent to undermine America’s freedom fighters.

There are plenty of parallels between this episode and the pilot of the series, where the reanimated Crane tells his story about being 250 years old and everyone thinks he’s insane, until Abbie doesn’t.

Lt. Mills might also end up in an asylum in 1781, except there’s something about her insight that rings true to Crane. She knows about the Hessian soldier with the mark on his hand (the future Headless Horseman) and why his victims’ decapitated bodies have cauterized wounds. (That broad ax is hot, hot, hot).

Want to stay alive and win the war? Abbie says she and her insider information are crucial to the effort. She knows it sounds a little cray cray, but maybe Benjamin Franklin can help?

Franklin (recurring guest star Timothy Busfield) needs little to no explanation about her time hopping and delights in asking her rapid-fire questions about the 21^st century. Discovery he likes the most? His face graces the $100 bill and Thomas Jefferson’s on the lowly deuce. Oh, and he’s real glad about libraries and education and emancipation and stuff.

He and Abbie get a few private minutes to exchange intel, and he says she has to go to Grace Dixon at Fredericks Manor for a time-travel reversal spell. Everything has to be put back the way it was before so that history can play out as it should. Truer words were never spoken, Ben.

Meanwhile, the supremely ticked off Katrina colludes with the Horseman of Death, telling him that both Ichabod and Abbie must fall. She’s already on a murderous streak, offing guys right and left, but the real prize is Ichabbie.

Katrina sends the Horseman to unleash all manner of chaos on Franklin’s house. Result: Headless Franklin!

Not a good day for Capt. Crane, who gets relieved of duty and has his “prisoner” thrown back in the slammer. But not before Abbie lays some harsh truths on him: Katrina isn’t just percolating a baby, she’s hatching a death-to-Ichabod plan.

Need further convincing? Check the photos and video on my cellphone, Abbie says to Crane. Password: his own birthday! How cute is that?

As the evidence stacks up – Ichabod catches Katrina acting shady with a blood magic book and watches “moving pictures” of himself and his Witness BFF – Crane rescues Abbie and delivers her to Grace Dixon.

Potions and incantations follow. There are power drains and power surges. While Grace and Abbie try to undo Katrina’s traveler spell, Crane does battle with the mute and terrifying Horseman, who’s shown up with a hopping mad Katrina. Head butts, broad swords, grappling (not the grape-apple hybrid). Just as the Horseman’s about to separate Crane’s noggin from his body, the spell kicks in and returns Ichabbie and Katrina to 2015 Sleepy Hollow.

And if it seemed like Katrina was fuming before…

The witch tries to kill Abbie, and Crane jumps in the fray. Katrina ends up with a knife in her midsection and a distraught Crane watching her disintegrate. “You had no choice,” Abbie says. “Yes I did,” Ichabod responds. “We all did.”

Good Guys Frank Irving (Orlando Jones) and Jenny Mills (Lyndie Greenwood) arrive too late to see the witch blow away, but Jenny tells Crane she’s sorry for his loss. Whatever demon-led apocalyptic challenges comes next, Abbie says, they have to rely on each other.

The decision’s made – they fight on!

How about it, Fox? Do they?