Welcome one and all to Multiversity’s very own ‘Witching Hour,’ in which we take a look at Netflix’s Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. This season, join me every Tuesday for your weekly recap. This week, Sabrina finds her rule in Hell challenged.
1. A Trio of Couples
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, no matter the supernatural aspects, will always be, first and foremost, a teen drama. This season has leaned into this more than the previous two and this episode in particular gets real “CWish.”
What I mean by that is that this episode focuses more on the muddy waters of The Fright Club’s teen relationships. That really isn’t a bad thing, but the episode focuses more on the drama than the plot. We see trouble start to brew within Nick and Sabrina’s relationship. He is immediately jealous of Caliban who he calls the guy who looks like Thor. That earned a chuckle. We also see Theo and Robin’s budding relationship. Theo deserves some happiness, though Robin is definitely sketchy. Right? The episode also shows Harvey’s emasculation once again, as he desperately tries to prove he’s stronger than one of the jocks. Throughout the show Harvey has been portrayed in a very insecure way. It’s not flattering. And winning the father of the year award, Mr. Kinkle asks Harvey if he has protection and gives his son a wink. What a guy.
2. The Unholy Regalia
So putting aside the dramatics, this episode focuses on a challenge from Caliban. He seeks Sabrina’s throne but to do so, the two must compete for three magical items, Hell’s most unholy items: Herod’s crown, Ponchos Pilate’s wash bowl, and Judas’ silver. Once a challenger attains two of the items they can rule Hell even if they’re not a Morningstar. Caliban, eager as he is to make Earth the 10th Circle of Hell, stands to profit the most from this challenge. Spoiler: Caliban uses a dirty trick to get the crown from Sabrina towards the end of the episode. But he’s from Hell, cheating is kind of popular there.
3. Riverdale
Yes, the iconic town makes its first appearance in Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina. And while Archie Andrews is no where to be found, the Blossoms get a shout out. In fact, Herod’s crown is hidden within a tree on the Blossom’s land. Ambrose researches the crown and finds out that through some absurd means, the Blossom’s ancestors ended up with it and hid it within his trees. Sabrina and Ambrose find it easily enough, but something emerges, a dead Herod, and is hellbent on getting revenge on Sabrina for disturbing Herod’s slumber.
4. The Carnival
The show has been teasing it since the first episode, this season, and they finally reveal the carnival. For some reason, everyone in Greendale is obsessed with the carnival. It’s like no entertainment ever comes through the town. But c’mon, they have witches and devils and demons and monsters! What more entertainment can a townsfolk ask for.
The people who run the carnival (a faun, a snake charmer and a fortune teller) are pretty obsessed as well, with three members of the main cast. They have their eyes set on Theo, Harvey and Ms. Wardwell (the real one) because it’s revealed that all of them are virgins. Whatever nefarious plot the carnival folks have in mind, it involves sacrificing virgins.
5. Best Two Outta Three
The kids enjoy the carnival until Herod comes to ruin the day. He crashes into the tunnel of love and a battle ensues between Herod, Sabrina and Nick. Once bested, Caliban pulls a dirty trick, as I said before, and takes the crown for his victory. Herod kills one of the carnival folks before rampaging against the two witches. Luckily Cousin Ambrose comes to the rescue in a rather grotesque death.
Sabrina has fallen behind in the competition and Nick Scratch is showing signs he isn’t as fully committed to his relationship as much as Sabrina would like. He tells Dorian that Sabrina has found a better suitor and requests two “playmates.” That’s not bound to have any negative ramifications right?
Stray Thoughts
Continued below– I enjoy seeing Mary Wardwell and Madam Satan live their different lives. Madam Satan is definitely far more interesting, but as she’s discovering more about the last year of her life, the real Wardwell’s story is quite fun to watch.
– Oh shit! Turns out Robin is with these carnival folk. The episode ends with the dozens of carnival folk praying that “The Green One” be reborn.
– Anyone else curious as to what’s going on with Dorian Grey? Did someone take his painting? Is that why is face is breaking out!?
– I’m curious to see if we get an actual Archie crossover before the end of this series run.
