Welcome one and all to Multiversity’s very own ‘Witching Hour,’ in which we take a look at Netflix’s The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. Join me every Wednesday for a recap of the first season. I’m back after a week off, and I’m back with what might be the most important episode of the season as the events that unfold will have long lasting repercussions throughout the rest of the season. This week though, Sabrina is shown the Church of Night’s way of giving thanks as the witches and warlocks in Greendale celebrate Feast Day. Be warned, there are spoilers ahead.
1. Dark Traditions
“Chapter Seven” opens with Sabrina’s class getting an assignment on their ancestry as the Thanksgiving holiday approaches. We quickly learn that in the Witch realm, Feast of Feasts is celebrated instead of Thanksgiving. Feast Day is akin to the Mortal Thanksgiving in that witches and warlocks give thanks to witch known as Sister Freya, who sacrificed herself to save her coven from starvation in Greendale hundreds of years ago.
Ultimately a witch from one of 14 families in the Church of Night, will be crowned Queen of the Feast. This unholy honor sees the witch in question sacrificed and eaten by the rest of the coven in honor of Freya. It’s a dark tradition to say the least, and throughout the episode Sabrina’s mission is to change the tradition to stop the human sacrifices.
2. Dear Prudence
This brings us to our favorite Weird Sister, Prudence, who is crowned this year’s Queen of the Feast. Sabrina is flabbergasted that a person would actually be excited about such an “honor,” however despite Sabrina’s trepidation, Prudence remains vigilant in her faith and her belief that there can be nothing of greater importance than sacrificing herself as Queen.
Sabrina believes that what she’s doing is an archaic tradition and tries everything to dissuade Prudence from being this years queen. There is an interesting exchange between Sabrina and Prudence about faith. Prudence is so devoted to her faith and The Dark Lord, she doesn’t question the morality of her sacrifice. Even when Sabrina suspects Father Blackwood to have meddled with ceremony, Prudence still intends to make the sacrifice.
We also get some pretty fun tidbits of Prudence’s time before the Feast. She and the other sisters, along with Nick Scratch, Ambrose, and Luke are seen having an orgy in Ambrose’s attic room. Sabrina has been selected to be Prudence’s handmaiden and therefore must abide her every request, including the great honor of bathing Prudence. It’s funny, but I think bringing Sabrina and Prudence together to question each other’s faiths is the heart of these scenes, and once again Kiernan Shipka shows some great acting chops opposite of Tati Gabrielle.
3. Magic Potions
Hilda gets a great chance to shine here. All of her quirky one liners about home remedies come to fruition in this episode as we learn the shocking revelation that Lady Blackwood rigged the lottery for Queen of the Feast this year. The scene, though dire, is fun to watch as the Blackwoods spill their guts out to each other, the Spellmans and Prudence. Giving Hilda such a big moment is wonderful. While Zelda is the character I love to hate (I don’t really hate her, though her motives are quite questionable) Hilda is the underdog that I’m always rooting for and I cannot praise Lucy Davis enough. As I’ve stated this is the episode that really gets things moving in the show and Lucy Davis’s Hilda will have plenty more opportunities to shine.
4. A Matter of Family
This episode is important in a number of ways, but one crucial takeaway is that Sabrina’s circle of friends have a long standing history in Greendale. We learn that Harvey and the Kinkles are descendants of witch hunters, something that has been alluded to, but has yet to be explored. Because the Kinkles were once witch hunters, Sabrina’s romance with Harvey is yet again at stake. While she knows and the audience knows Harvey is not inherently violent, the Weird Sisters judge Harvey, when they discover that the Kinkles inadvertently killed a witch’s familiar in the guise of a wild deer. We’ll circle back around to this, but as we’ve seen, the Weird Sisters love to torment mortal boys.
Continued belowContinuing with family histories, we learn a little about Roz and Lucy’s descendants as well. Roz comes from a line of women who rightfully accused someone of being a witch. Naturally, the witch cursed the Walker family so that all Walker women go blind. This explains Roz’s plight and ties it into the mythology of the show, as her sight will no doubt fail her soon. Roz’s grandmother also explains something called “The Cunning,” which is sort of like “The Shining,” from Stephen King’s novel of the same name. Roz and the women in her family go physically blind, her grandmother explains, but in exchange for their sight the Walker women are given a sort of second sight, telepathic visions, gut feelings. Go read some Stephen King novels and you’ll get the gist of it all. Susie also digs up some info on her ancestors and discovers her Great Aunt Dorothea, a colonial woman who had to dress as a man and appears to Susie. Dorothea will have a more prominent role moving forward, as will Roz’s grandma. Their inclusion in this episode serves as some mythology building and is interesting enough to keep my attention.
With all of the mortal familial stuff out of the way, lets cut back to that Truth Potion cake. As we already know, Lady Blackwood rigged the drawing of Queen so that Prudence would be the (un)lucky winner. She does so because she feels her unborn children will be at risk. Why you ask? Prudence is the illegitimate child of Father Blackwood and current heir to his seat of power. Lady Blackwood was simply trying to remove a potential obstacle in the way of her children ascending to greatness.
5. Full on Cannibalism
In spite of everything we learn, Father Blackwood insists that Feast Day continues. Sabrina, on the other hand isn’t having any of it. She vows to reveal the scandal to the coven unless there are changes made to how Feast Day is celebrated. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, after being sacrificed, Prudence would have been eaten, just as Freya was so that her coven can survive. I find it funny that Prudence still demands to sit on the throne.
So at the Church of Night’s gathering on Feast Day, Father Blackwood begins to explain that their longstanding Feast Day tradition will end with no sacrifice, when a witch named Mildred, cuts her own throat as a sacrifice. “Hail Queen Mildred” exclaims Blackwood, and the witches and warlocks of the coven feast on her flesh. Sabrina unfortunately didn’t change the tradition despite her efforts, but she probably made an enemy in Lady Blackwood and dare I say a friend in Prudence.
As the episode comes to a close, Zelda tells Sabrina she would never have allowed Sabrina to be drafted as Queen in a touching moment that reminds me that even though she’s a fanatic (we’ll get to that later this season) she loves her family.
Meanwhile, as Harvey and his brother enter the Kinkle Mines the day after Thanksgiving, two of the Weird Sisters are seen smashing Kinkle bros. voodoo dolls with huge rocks. End of episode. Come back next time to see the Kinkles’ fate.
