Welcome one and all to Multiversity’s very own ‘Witching Hour,’ in which we take a look at Netflix’s Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. Join me this season every Monday for my recap the show’s final season. We are treated to another fun episode, in which Father Blackwood bends reality to his whims, giving a us a very grim look at a fascist Greendale. Warning, spoilers to follow.
1. The Imp of the Perverse
Every Eldritch Terror so far has manifested as a living thing. The Darkness as the Kinkle miners, The Uninvited as a unkempt vagabond, and The Weird as a cephalopod. This week’s Terror, the Imp of the Perverse comes in the form of a statue. A man known as the Trinket Man rolls into Greendale selling his goods. Of course, Father Blackwood notices this and basically robs the Trinket Man of the Imp statue. This Terror is very unlike the others thus far in that it really appears not to have any agency. Whereas The Uninvited and The Weird had real plans to willfully destroy or assimilate Greendale, this Terror is more of a tool to be wielded. As the Sentinels discover the new Terror Prudence takes off by herself to confront Blackwood. But Blackwood uses the Imp to pervert reality in Greendale just before Prudence arrives to kill him.
2. Witch Hunt
Sometimes I feel bad for Harvey. I’m reminded that he has a real problem with witches and magic. Way back in the first season, Sabrina completely violated Harvey by removing his memories and later resurrecting his brother from the dead. She claimed to be doing these things for him but only made things worse. She lied to Harvey about a significant part of her life and he truly was hurt by those lies. When Roz revealed that she had a supernatural ability in the Cunning, Harvey grilled her about being a witch, but ultimately accepted this. Flash forward to now, Roz has just been told she’s a full on witch, more than that, she is 1/3 of the Order of Hecate’s Sentinel. Naturally, Harvey has some issues with this, rightfully so. Magic has negatively impacted his life so when he throws little jabs at Roz, while it’s definitely immature and unbecoming, the audience knows its coming from this place of trauma. And before Roz and Harvey can settle their differences, Blackwood changes reality.
In his new reality, Blackwood is Emperor of Greendale. Yep, that’s right. It seems Blackwood’s ambition doesn’t exceed the borders of this tiny, weird town. Baxter High, renamed Blackwood Academy is a straight up Nazi youth camp, full of uniformed S.S. students. As Roz and Sabrina arrive in this new world, they discover that Blackwood’s secret police are witch hunters, that witches are forbidden, and Sabrina is public enemy number one. And wouldn’t you know it, Harvey is one of the higher ranking secret police in charge of detaining witches. Blackwood arrives in full emperor gear. Like a cape and even a dog named Anubis. Blackwood arrests Theo as he is suspected of being a witch and will be executed. Blackwood nor anybody else, seem to recognize Sabrina even though her only disguise is changing from blonde hair to brunette hair and some glasses. Sabrina races to find anyone that could help, while Roz believes in approaching Harvey with the truth, he’d be set free of the new reality.
3. The Resistance
This tale of a fascist alternate reality wouldn’t really be complete without some form of resistance. Sabrina reaches Ambrose first, but he’s skipping town, because he’s been marked as a witch. Ambrose seems to forget this, denying his magical gifts and terrifyingly abandoning Sabrina. Once he reaches the outskirts of town, however, the effects wear off. Sabrina turns next to the Order of Hecate. She finds Zelda who has no recollection of having a niece, but somehow knows something is off. Blackwood pays the Academy a visit, once again trying to find any hidden witches. Of course they’re all witches, they just don’t remember the truth. Never missing an opportunity to do a musical number the choir sing for Blackwood and he singles out Nick Scratch as a witch and his secret police, led by Prudence, take him to be executed. The little help Sabrina gets from Zelda sends her Dr. Cee’s shop. There, an underground resistance plans to fight Blackwood’s regime led by Hilda. I love Hilda. And apparently Agatha is no longer twisted and mentally unstable. She works as a double agent informing the Resistance about Blackwood’s moves.
Continued below4. The Stone of Reality
After Ambrose regains his memories, he runs into the Trinket Man who just happens to be sitting on the side of the road seemingly waiting for his chance to save the day. The Trinket Man gives Ambrose the Stone of Reality which should reverse the effects on everybody should they consume it. Luckily Robin Goodfellow is a hobgoblin and has super-speed huh? Ambrose only has a minute or so to explain that the Stone of Reality can reverse the Imp’s effects, but not on large enough scale for Greendale as a whole. Hilda comes to the conclusion that if she make stone soup, they would literally be consuming the Stone of Reality. With the coven back at full strength they launch an all out assault on Blackwood.
5. Happy Birthday, Father Blackwood
We learn early on in the episode that it’s Blackwood’s birthday. And how does this vile dictator like to celebrate? By watching executions, of course. Harvey proves he isn’t a total Nazi by covering for the Resistance. He tries his best to save Roz from death, but she and Nick are on the chopping block. Or in this case, the rock crushing block. Nick once again has his shirt removed and is certain to be crushed to death, but Sabrina reveals herself, and uses the Stone of Reality to show everyone that Blackwood is himself, a witch. There are several attempts to use the Imp of the Perverse to wish back reality, but these are ultimately red herrings. As it turns out, Blackwood disguised the Imp as Anubis the whole time, knowing the dog would never leave his side. Sabrina wishes on the dog that things return to the way it was before Blackwood’s wish and reality is once again changed just as Prudence stabs her father through the chest. Blackwood isn’t dead though. He’s got the Mark of Cain and can’t be killed. The Coven behead Blackwood and gag his mouth and store him in the dungeons under the academy. Meanwhile Harvey and Roz make things work and Nick tells Sabrina that they’re endgame, whatever that means.
Well that was a breath of fresh air. There was hardly any trashy teen drama in this episode, which I very much appreciated. So far this season has been structured as little vignettes about these Eldritch Terrors, and this was probably my favorite of the bunch so far. I know I said this about the last episode for all of its strange and alien-like themes happening, but this episode was like a nice little one-shot, free from the normal melodrama in Greendale. Next week, the Sabrinas are reunited and finally will have to pay up for their gamble last season.
