So, actually, no, “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” apparently hasn’t hit the darkest hour or the point of no return yet because this episode just sort of shrugs at all the disastrous things gone wrong for Sabrina (Kiernan Shipka) and her family. Cousin Ambrose (Chance Perdomo—who’s great this episode) is locked away and Shipka and aunt Lucy Davis are trying to get him out, but life’s still going on as usual for the most part.
Miranda Otto and Richard Coyle are off honeymooning in Europe, with Tati Gabrielle (whose character arc is a disappointment) minding the school. Shipka’s banned from witch academy so she’s just back at the human high school because she… can just sit in, apparently. Meanwhile beau and fellow expelled witch academy student Gavin Leatherwood’s just drinking away his sorrows and being mean to Shipka.
There’s some stuff with Davis trying to get in to see Perdomo, which is good enough thanks to Davis and Perdomo, but isn’t super compelling because it’s too drawn out. Then there’s Ross Lynch and Roz Sinclair freezing out Shipka because they think Shipka’s the one who made Sinclair blind. It’s intense.
They drive Shipka away. When she gets home, she soon answers a knock on the door to reveal Spencer Treat Clark, who the audience has already met because he’s a Christian missionary kid who’s already killed a witch. The episode opens with Clark killing off Darren Mann, who the show forgot for a few episodes just to bring back and kill off.
Turns out Clark’s not alone—he’s got a team of witch hunters—and it’s going to be up to Shipka and Davis to save the day (and Perdomo). Big surprises in store for Shipka in the finale, including some of the show’s most impressive special effects to date.
Michelle Gomez gets her subplot too, of course, which is just the show getting rid of Alexis Denisof three episodes after it introduces him. It’s not a great use of time in general, worse it seems to be wasting Gomez.
But the stuff with Shipka and the witch hunters? Awesome. Even if “Sabrina” introducing the idea of an interventionist God seems a bite bigger than it can chew, only without realizing it. It’s not a flex, it’s a misjudge.
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