Thoughts On Sleepy Hollow’s “Dawn’s Early Light” Episode

Thoughts on Sleepy Hollow’s “Dawn’s Early Light” episode

If Sleepy Hollow is going to connect Danny’s emotional manipulation to covert emotional abuse then I will say season 3 of Sleepy Hollow transcends mere entertainment. At first glance, Danny’s character seems like a nice guy, but his comments and behaviors throughout the session belie a sense of entitlement to Abbie’s affections and attention that goes beyond him just being her boss. He appears to be the model of a “nice guy;” that is, the guys who like to think they are nice but who actually don’t respect their partner’s independent interests. Abbie is one of my absolutely favorite heroines ever written. To show that even a “tough person” like Abbie can get caught up with one of these “nice guys” would be such an amazing statement about the reality of emotionally abusive relationships.

Danny has literally done nothing but try to control Abbie through swinging from charming, flirty, nice-guy behavior to guilt trips and yelling at her since she got back from the catacombs. Even before she disappeared, his behavior toward her in “This Red Lady from Caribee” showed his true feelings toward her as a person who should exist at the mercy of his whims loud and clear. Recall, the wasp sting only revealed the person’s deepest fears; it did not create those fears. When Daniel Reynolds says, “you just can’t see what you do to people,” he’s actually blaming Abbie for his not being able to get over her emotionally. Even prior to that in the car, he accuses her of manipulating him likely due to his being threatened by her having some emotional pull on him.

The Hidden One is the clear, stereotypical abuser: narcissistic and completely unapologetic. He resorts to physical abuse the second his significant other withholds information from him. He even revels in his ability to punish her physically. This is the person who would brag to his friends about “putting her in her place.” If Pandora is killed at the end of the session due to her leaving him, it is a direct mirror to the fact that many women who leave their violent partners are in the most danger after they leave. That is when most victims of abuse are killed.

Daniel Reynolds is a much more insidious abuser. He’s the man who thinks he would never abuse his romantic partner. His abuse is completely unintentional, subconscious. That is why the victim would likely take a much longer time to recognize the abuse. His emotional manipulation is firmly grounded in his internal beliefs of superiority over his partner and his entitlement to be treated as such. Many people have mentioned how he is keeping secrets from Abbie but is constantly snapping at her and making her feel guilty for keeping secrets from him. That, my friends, is not just a red flag; it is a glaring “exit” sign. Anyone who feels entitled to their own secrets while belittling someone else for theirs is not someone to partner with on a professional level, much less a personal one! The sad fact is, it’s working. Abbie thinks all the strain between Danny and her is her fault. Abbie tried to tell him she needed time after coming back and asked him to be patient with her. That is what he’s now using as ammo to convince her she’s being unreasonable toward him. How many times has he said, “I’ve been more than patient” to her? (And what does that phrase even mean? How can a person be more than patient? You either are patient and respectful or you’re not.) That’s the magic of this type of abuse. It saps the victim of a sense of agency and leads them to doubt their own emotions and actions. This is the same objective as the more stereotypical abuse profile of The Hidden One, but most people outside of the relationship would only see the attractive, charming Danny who genuinely insists he’s only looking after Abbie’s best interest—that he (and likely only he in his mind) truly loves Abbie. Basically, Danny is Abbie’s Katrina. All of his actions have come from a place of selfishness—including kissing her!

Crane, on the other hand, never pushed Abbie or insisted Abbie be anything to him after her return from the catacombs. He respected her wishes every time she said she needed to do something even when he was disappointed—like after he slaved over that lovely meal she rejected. He never put his disappointment on her like it was something she needed to fix. He doesn’t blame or guilt-trip. He is there when she needs him but also respects her emotional boundaries. He helps her the second she lets him know what she needs from him. He is the model of a person so secure in himself that he would never feel threatened by Abbie. He revels in how capable she is. He has shown himself to be the very example of the “Love passage” from 1 Corinthians, which I post here because I think it is one of the greatest definitions of love, not out of an interest in pushing religion onto anyone in anyway:

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Crane won’t confess his feelings toward Abbie until she has worked through her feelings for Danny not because he’s cowardly. Far from it! He would never want his emotions to either cause Abbie strife, internal conflict, or to feel pressure from him. He would never want to inadvertently coerce her into anything. This is made abundantly clear when he seriously would go along with her desire to not return to the catacombs even if it means the world is destroyed! Crane would rather die at Abbie’s side than cause her additional pain.

Along the lines of Crane’s beautiful speech on art, art doesn’t only entertain; it inspires us and helps us to understand what is the best humanity has to offer. If this is what the creators at Sleepy Hollow are getting at with the revelations in seasons 3 and the Abbie and Danny dynamic, then seriously, this will go down as one of the greatest works of art in my mind.