A Few More Thoughts on Abbie Mills (Sleepy Hollow)

Expect spoilers for the recent Sleepy Hollowseason 3 finale/excrement, as well as various Abbie-related spoilers from throughout the show’s run.

Nearly a week in, and I’m still dinged up from last week’s Sleepy Hollow a.k.a. The Night Those Bastards Killed My Abbie and Spit on Her Corpse.  In my post-finale venting, I mentioned that, at the very least, it’s in character for Abbie to sacrifice herself for others.  However, while I can’t deny that it’s a heroic trait, within the context of this show, I’ve also found it problematic.  Abbie has been poorly served by the writers in many ways, but this is the trait I want to look at today.

Abbie is totally a Jump in Front of the Bullet person, which we see bearing out nearly every time the show needs a big cliffhanger.  Season 1 ends with her taking Katrina’s place in Purgatory, she jumps into an unwelcoming past to save Crane from the (now-evil) Katrina at the end of season 2 (less self-sacrificial than the other incidents listed here, but still very self-risking,) and she does this twice in season 3, pushing Jenny out of the way and being sent to the Catacombs mid-season and ultimately being consumed by Pandora’s box in the in aid of defeating the Hidden One.  Throwing herself into the path of danger for others’ sake is just what Abbie does.  It’s weird to say this, like I’m arguing against an awesome woman being heroic and badass, but the accumulation of these moments troubles me.  Why is it always Abbie?  Why is she always the one to jump into the portal or fall on the supernatural grenade?  She and Crane as Witnesses are meant to be equal partners (and the disgusting season 3 finale tries to claim she was just a sidekick to the One True Crane,) but it seems like Abbie’s doing much of the heavy lifting.  She constantly gives of herself, whether in the general business of demon-fighting, helping Crane with his colossal family drama, or saving her partner in clinch situations, and while Crane speaks eloquently about their bond, Abbie’s actions tend to speak louder than his words.

This is especially evident in how these self-sacrifices shake out.  Obviously, the last one ends in Abbie’s horrendously-mishandled death, which I won’t rehash again, but let’s look at the others.  In Purgatory, Crane Moves Heaven and Earth to save Abbie, only to be sidelined by a doppelganger.  Abbie, however, figures this out and decapitates the imposter because she’s amazing.  Her time-travel experience is all about her saving Crane, so she’s understandably on-point there, and since past!Crane hasn’t met her yet, he can’t be faulted for not being Team Witness off the bat.  Eventually, though, Abbie wins him over; she’s been taken captive at this point, and he dashes off to rescue her, but Abbie totally rescues herself.  (I should point out that Crane is more helpful later, both in the past and the present.)  Finally, in the Catacombs, Crane Moves Heaven and Earth to save Abbie, except Pandora untethers his astral projection.  This leaves Abbie to be a Big Damn Hero, defy Pandora, and escape the Catacombs on her own before saving Crane, helping his astral self find its way home.  Now, Abbie is awesome through all of this, and again, I don’t wanna be all “why doesn’t the man come in and save her already?!?”, but it bugs me that Crane’s good intentions to come through never really pan out.  Something always gets in the way and Abbie always has to save herself.  While there’s of course nothing wrong with saving oneself, by the time I watched her escaping the Catacombs, I thought, “Does Abbie have to do everything around here?”  At this point, the woman has spent ten months in total isolation in another dimension, unbound by the time, sleep, or hunger, and terrified that she’s going crazy.  If that’s not the time for Crane to step in and take some of the load, when is?