29 Mar 2024

Cheer practice. Boy trouble. Ruling Hell.

BY TASI SCHNEIDER

The latest season of Sabrina solves some major questions, but not without making new messes.
Tasi Schneider reviews the last season of the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina on Netflix.

SPOILER ALERT: This review mentions events that take place in Season 3 of the series.

As someone who’s been a fan of CAOS since the first season had just been released, I thought I would die after the massive reveals that Season 2 dropped on us.

Sabrina being revealed to be the daughter of Lucifer, having a ton of new powers, her relationship with Nick and more being just the cherry on the cake. But with the season finale came a huge cliffhanger that shocked us all. 

In case you forgot, Nick used his body to trap the Dark Lord inside him. Lilith was crowned Queen of Hell and took Nick back with her to the fiery underworld. The show ended with Sabrina and her friends deciding that somehow, Sabrina would save her boyfriend from Hell itself. 

So that left us with a bunch of questions, some of which Season 3 managed to answer and others that were kinda swept under the rug. But I think we can all agree that out of our many questions, these were the main ones that were bugging us (but mainly me) the most.

Firstly, how was Sabrina going to save Nick from Hell? Would she accept her destiny as the Queen of Hell and keep her totally awesome powers? What is up with Father Blackwood? And with the introduction of angels, how do other gods and religion fit into this story? 

First Impressions

The Pagans are Sabrina’s new villains.

The first two questions were answered in the first episode. Not what I thought was gonna happen, if I’m honest.

My expectations for this season were that it would build up to Sabrina being crowned Queen of Hell, which in a way happened, and reuniting with Nick at the end. Not exactly. 

Somehow, in just the first episode, we got the mandatory fairytale-reference episode (The Wizard of Oz), Sabrina saving Nick, Sabrina declaring herself Queen of Hell and of course, the introduction of a new love interest; all of which doesn’t exactly scream that Nick and Sabrina are destined to be after all.

This first episode felt frankly rushed pace.This was probably because the main antagonists of this season were the “Old Ones”, mysterious gods with a gang of psychos to do their bidding, known as the Pagans. Still, I felt that they could’ve at least tried to stretch it out over the span of a few episodes. 

As for the Pagans and other gods, I felt that they didn’t really address these as well as they could have. If there’s a Devil, then where is God and how does he fit into all of this? Considering all the references to the Bible, it sounds like Jesus is in this universe as well, so why isn’t he ever mentioned? What other gods are there? What other divine beings exist? 

Cheerleader/Queen of Hell

Sabrina joins the cheer team this season, but also takes new responsibilities as the Dark Lord’s replacement.

Sabrina being crowned Queen of Hell was something I expected to happen at the end of the season, not the first episode.

Watching her struggle with her duties as a teenager and the LITERAL Queen of Hell was pretty interesting. The cheerleading dance scenes were perhaps unnecessary and just a bit too cheesy, considering how dark the series is, but she’s a teenage girl so I’ll let it pass.

The episode where Sabrina sends souls to Hell (specifically the creepy ice cream guy, who also ruined ice cream trucks for me) did help give insight into Sabrina’s slowly forming thirst for power. And, I’ll admit, the trials to help her become Queen were some of my favorite parts of this season.

Queen of Hell/Queen of Hearts

The new season complicates Sabrina’s already troubled love life.

Now I’m going to talk about the disaster that is Sabrina Spellman’s love life. Right from the first season, I suspected that Sabrina and Harvey were destined to be.

When they broke up, I figured that Nick would be temporary until the end of the series, so that Sabrina and Harvey could realize their love for each other and reunite. But then Nick went to Hell (and I don’t mean the one for writers who don’t care for character development).

Sabrina obviously rescued her boyfriend, becoming the Queen of Hell in the process, but she did it out of love, so it’s not like she’s also mad for power or nothing (wink, wink). 

When Nick returned from Hell, I figured that he wouldn’t be the same person — some major PTSD was definitely going to be involved. But then they completely ruined his character instead? I’m not going into details considering the fact that I’m trying my hardest to keep this review PG, but it was weird and definitely messed up. 

Caliban (the other contender to the throne of Hell and possibly Sabrina’s heart) wasn’t as developed as he could’ve been, so I found myself irritated by the writers forcing him and Sabrina to have “chemistry”.

He was supposed to make Nick jealous and be Sabrina’s rival, but he just ended up being a pretty nuisance. And then there’s Harvey, who never stopped loving Sabrina.

Just when I had hope of Sabrina and Harvey ending up together, she did the stupid candle thing and now doesn’t love anyone.

So now I’ve given up hope for romance next season and am expecting the now cliché “she didn’t need anyone else and decided to love herself instead” ending.  Yes, it’s a good message. But is it appropriate considering the show’s themes and the way they’ve been building up the series until now? No. 

Time-warp eggs and other weird stuff

Father Blackwood’s new magical quests create new plot lines for the show

Father Blackwood and his weird brainwashed kids were a strange plot point, and it honestly didn’t really catch my attention much. The whole time-traveling egg thing was definitely unusual, but the fact that Prudence chose to just shrink and shove her brainwashed siblings into a dollhouse was extremely creepy too. 

Also, just gonna say, killing Blackwood would’ve solved a LOT of future problems. But wow, how convenient that now he has the mark of Cain and is now impossible to kill. Good times?  

It’s DARK, guys

Before this gets too long, I’m going to go over the season finale without getting too in-depth. Basically, the last few episodes were VERY dark. Like to the point where I was horrified.

Zelda being turned into a spider and seemingly killing Dr. C was extremely messed up. Watching Harvey (and company) get brutally murdered by the pagans was also horrifying. Basically, watching every character on the show die was a dark turn I never expected the show to take.

But then – to nobody’s surprise – Sabrina saves the day! Except she doesn’t. Instead of continuing the time loop, she ruins everything by being selfish. 

My questions and hopes for next season: Please, just try to fix the mess that is Sabrina’s love life. 

Can they try to explain the other gods better this time instead of shoving them in a box and ignoring them? What’s going to happen now that we have two Sabrina’s? Are there going to be any time-traveling paradoxes? Will Sabrina end up with anyone at this point? Will they finally let Roz and Theo have an actual effect on the story instead of just a quick side-plot story that does nothing to the rest of the story? 

Hopefully we’ll find out soon. 

Tasi Schneider is a 10th grade student and contributor to The Hawk.


Netflix, review, Sabrina, Tasi Schneider

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