Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (2018) s02e16 – At the Mountains of Madness

I got really hopeful when I saw the title, At the Mountains of Madness, because they mentioned the Mountains of Madness in a previous episode and it’s the Lovecraft story with monster dinosaurs and so… monster dinosaurs are probably going to be cool.

There are no monster dinosaurs in the episode. There are the Mountains of Madness but they’re pretty boring and during the worst part of the episode, when the action leaps ahead two weeks and we lose Kiernan Shipka as lead of her, you know, own show. She has to go the Mountains because she’s become a danger to herself and others, but mostly others. See, she tries to take on the last Eldritch Terror herself because she’s feeling guilty about bringing about the end of the universe.

Things do not go well.

It even messes up Shipka’s seventeenth birthday party, which should be a book end to the series but isn’t really important. Not much in the episode works out being important, including Michelle Gomez’s resolution with Luke Cook. Gomez—in her Earthly variation—narrates the episode from a pulpit, where it quickly becomes clear she’s narrating in the past tense, making some of her statements all the more ominous.

Trying to help Shipka, the witches get into shenanigans to piss off Cook and the rest of Hell, leading to an utterly disappointing big fight scene. More risible than disappointing, especially since Sam Corlett makes a big deal out of the soldiers he can muster for Cook’s cause and then they’re… well, no spoilers, but it’s a pretty weak army and seemingly only there to gin up some more angst for Shipka and the supporting cast.

The finale goes on way too long—with one heck of an epilogue—but some nice homage to the original comic series and a few resolves for the supporting cast. Not most of them. Ninety percent of the supporting cast get no closure in the final episode, though since the show hasn’t given any of them significant subplots for the season it doesn’t really matter. They’ve all just been hanging around waiting for the show to finish apparently. Episode writer—and show creator and original comic (Chilling Adventures comic not, you know, in sixties Archie Comics) creator—Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa really doesn’t come up much for the finale.

It’s not the worst, but the episode is rushed, wastes everyone—including Coyle, who gets an unexpected big role—and doesn’t even provide a good finish for the Eldritch Terror storyline. My impulse was to blame it on Netflix, like maybe they cut the season order (before cancelling the show all together) but maybe Aguirre-Sacasa really just didn’t have it.

Rest of the show’s pretty good if not better. And, I guess at least there’s not one of the bad musical numbers.

But it’s a definite miss.

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (2018) s02e15 – The Endless

The Endless is the best episode of the season so far and one of the best showcases for Kiernan Shipka as an actor ever. She’s trapped in another alternate universe, only this one is where she’s an actor on a television show, seemingly “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.” She quickly discovers this alternate universe doesn’t have any magic, which is going to make things a lot more difficult, and none of her new costars believe her.

Shipka’s playing the Hell version of Sabrina—Morningstar—which doesn’t matter once she’s in this alternate universe because Hell doesn’t exist since it’s television. Albeit a television show where everyone lives on set and then wakes up to a new script on their nightstand and act all day long. It’s a follow-up to the cliffhanger a couple episodes ago, where Shipka finds herself in a world where Beth Broderick and Caroline Rhea play her aunts. Broderick and Rhea played on the previous “Sabrina” show, “Sabrina the Teenage Witch.” The now Christian Nationalist star of that show, Melissa Joan Hart, does not cameo.

The episode gives the entire cast—save maybe Gavin Leatherwood, Jaz Sinclair, definitely Lachlan Watson, oh, and Michelle Gomez—well… okay. It gives Shipka, Ross Lynch, Miranda Otto, Lucy Davis, Chance Perdomo, and especially Sam Corlett some great scenes. Turns out they’d just given Corlett more comedy, he might’ve done better in the show in general and Shipka’s Hellish variation’s affection for him would make sense.

So Shipka has various mysteries to solve—what’s the green room (where you go after being fired), how’s the head writer on the show, and why are her new aunties Broderick and Rhea so low-key creepy at times—only she doesn’t feel capable because she’s not the regular Sabrina. There’s character development and gravitas and drama and action and lots of comedy. The show manages to maintain the combination of fun and ominous until the last act of the episode, when the reveals come very fast. It’s not so much a rush as an escape, but Shipka’s acting keeps it going. She’s absolutely fantastic this episode.

Great episode. More than makes up for the previous one’s messiness.

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (2018) s02e14 – The Returned

I’ve really liked co-writer Oanh Ly’s episodes in the past, so The Returned being such a mess is a bummer. Even if it weren’t for the problematic resolve to Miranda Otto’s love affair with visiting witch Skye P. Marshall—who gets a big spotlight this episode to have it torn away twice—or how Lachlan Watson’s Romeo and Romeo star-crossed thing with Jonathan Whitesell gets shrugged off after a single episode because the show can’t figure out anything to do with Watson who’s been a regular since episode one, there’s so many narrative backtracks it’s hard to keep track. Not to mention the whole point of the episode is to bring back dead characters in order to give living cast members performatively cathartic outbursts.

Not to mention poor Michelle Gomez; turns out the writers have no surprises for her, just more obvious, wrenching tragedy. It’s a complete waste of Gomez (whose Earthly version is background for already background Richard Coyle) and seems like unnecessary filler. I wonder at what point “Sabrina” knew they weren’t getting another season from Netflix because I was under the impression these episodes were long in the can before Netflix officially canceled them. It might explain some of the mess. I hope it explains some of the mess.

So the episode opens with Kiernan Shipka trying to adjust to her latest new normal—including rekindled beau Gavin Leatherwood—and supporting her human friends as they get ready for a “Battle of the Bands” at the high school. Someone directly asks Shipka if she’ll be participating and she says no, which is important later because apparently she just didn’t want to play with those friends and because “Sabrina” needed to have a three song “Battle of the Bands” scene. One of the bands is back from the dead—which turns out to be Marshall’s plot, playing a board game against Eldritch Terror Oliver Rice—and has history with Ross Lynch’s dad, Christopher Rosamond.

But this band isn’t the only resurrected, there’s also previous series regular Abigail Cowen, back to give some closure to Tati Gabrielle and Adeline Rudolph, but also Christine Willes as Alessandro Juliani’s mother who has it in for Lucy Davis because she’s married to her little boy, not to mention the profoundly pointless Georgie Daburas as Shipka’s long dead dad. It’s a nothing finish for a character arc I think Shipka started the series with.

The episode’s so cheap it falls back on dogs being cute to get it through. It’s a rather desperate outing, with every one of its plots failing to resolve adequately, not to utterly wasting the cast’s time.

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (2018) s02e13 – Deus Ex Machina

Four episodes until the finish and “Chilling Adventures” is still bringing in new worlds—in this case, the Parliament of Worlds in Celestial Realm, where Metatron (Pollyanna McIntosh is fine but would you really recast Hans Gruber) is witnessing a crisis unfolding. Hell and Earth are having dimension-quakes because of Kiernan Shipka splitting into two, one for Hell, one for Earth. Also somehow involved is the latest Eldritch Terror, the Cosmic, which is creating duplicate realities on a collision course for the already on a collision course Earth and Hell (and Heaven).

It’s such a big bad event, Shipka’s willing to tell aunts Lucy Davis and Miranda Otto how she created a time duplicate of herself and they’ve been coexisting all season. Some solid Parent Trap jokes, some not so solid Parent Trap jokes. But everything’s incredibly dramatic because McIntosh seems Heaven-bent on killing one of the Sabrinas to save reality even though it might not really save reality.

Meanwhile, Lachlan Watson gets a really bad subplot—undercooked and wrong ingredients and so on—with boyfriend Jonathan Whitesell. Whitesell’s fellow hobgoblin, Natalie Grace, has come to Earth to bring Whitesell back into the Fairie Realm in order to save him from the ends of the worlds except… it’s unclear why the Fairie Realm would survive.

Far more effective and harrowing is Michelle Gomez’s subplot about baby daddy Lucifer (Luke Cook) tracking her down in order to figure out what’s going on with his newborn son. Gomez earlier told Davis she was planning on hiding in the witch academy until the kid turned sixteen—Gomez and Davis are so good together—but it doesn’t seem like Cook’s going to agree.

The episode’s got one good arc for two Sabrinas, which adds up to Shipka’s best acting in a while on the show… alongside some of her more rote acting as her Earthy variation finds herself rekindling a romance with Gavin Leatherwood with only a few hours before the ends of the worlds. Shipka has a lot more fun as the Hell variant and that Sabrina gets a far better arc throughout.

But it’s a strong episode. Good performances from Cook–he’s a lot better this season, with the show treating him as a somewhat docile sardonic relief—Otto, Chance Perdomo obviously.

And the cliffhanger’s excellent.

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (2018) s02e12 – The Imp of the Perverse

The strange thing about “Sabrina” doing an alternate universe episode is its taken them so long to get around to it. Unless I’m forgetting one. It’s also strange it’s strange, like alternate universe episodes are just the norm of most things I watch these days.

Anyway, this episode’s an alternate universe because Richard Coyle strong-arms guest star James Urbaniak and steals the latest Eldritch Terror, a little gold imp statue, which grants a wish. Coyle wishes for the universe to be recreated with him as emperor.

Coyle makes his wish just as Ross Lynch angrily teases girlfriend Jaz Sinclair for being a witch, which she’s recently learned and shared with him. Sinclair and Kiernan Shipka are running for student council co-presidents; the episode opens with Shipka giving a tepid practice speech and aunt Miranda Otto complaining about her taking on new responsibilities when when they’re still waiting for the rest of the Eldritch Terrors to show up.

It isn’t a problem after Coyle’s wish comes true because everyone has forgotten Shipka except Coyle, who has branded her public enemy number one. Only Shipka and Sinclair—and Coyle—are able to remember the past because they’ve all touched Eldritch Terrors over the season. Eventually other people come over to their side, starting with Chance Perdomo but not because he’s hanging out with them, quite the opposite.

Everyone in the alternate universe gets a new personality while staying in their general locations. Like, Lachlan Watson is still dating Jonathan Whitesell, Otto is still running the academy (they’ll all just forgotten they have witch powers so it’s a very weird private school); Perdomo has an alternate universe character but not, you know, character. Shipka and Sinclair go to him first and he’s packing all his things and getting out of town. He doesn’t remember Shipka—or seemingly Otto and Lucy Davis—but he eventually gets a lot to do.

Meanwhile, the other big story arc is Sinclair and Lynch. Lynch, like all the straight boys in high school apparently, is in Coyle’s teen police force. They’re out to burn witches and it breaks Sinclair’s heart but she thinks she can get through to him.

The episode also gives Tati Gabrielle some good material and, even with a lot of logic problems, it’s a really entertaining episode. Alternate universe episodes, used sparingly enough, are a fairly reliable device, after all.

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (2018) s02e11 – The Weird

I feel like “Sabrina” hasn’t known what to do with Richard Coyle forever—if not longer—but when his latest Eldritch Terror shows up and tells him he’s not a worthy vessel and they want Sabrina (Kiernan Shipka), it doesn’t really make up for him being spare parts, but it is a fairly awesome moment. Really fun.

The latest Eldritch Terror is the Weird, which is the squid-like one, straight out of Lovecraft.

It arrives at the same time a new boy (Ben Ahlers) shows up at Baxter High and teams with Shipka for science class. They’re going to be dissecting… a squid, which doesn’t go as planned, and leads to Shipka finding out the Weird’s already among them.

While Shipka and Chance Perdomo are trying to get that threat sorted out, Michelle Gomez (playing her Hell character) has to hide in Miranda Otto’s witch academy because prince of Hell Sam Corlett wants to have her killed so she can’t have her baby. It’s pretty intense sequence when he’s instructing her minions; real danger, real sympathy for Gomez. Much like Coyle at this point, Gomez is just around, even when she gets more to do, but unlike Coyle, she’s had a great character arc and her appearances now are welcome even if they’re a little too slight.

The Gomez storyline also brings Jaz Sinclair to the witch academy—she’s seen the Hellish collaborators thanks to her mind powers—where Sinclair gets her own subplot (been a while) with Tati Gabrielle and Skye P. Marshall. It’s fun to see Sinclair with cast members other than Ross Lynch, particularly Gabrielle. There’s a lot of wry humor to them. And the subplot’s got a good finish.

The A plot—Shipka and Perdomo trying to deal with the Weird—brings in some other characters, mostly Gavin Leatherwood, but also some uniquely talented witches. It even involves singing, which works out. It’s a very good A plot.

Actually, overall, this episode’s probably the best of the season so far. Even if the subplot about Shipka growing a new boyfriend in the bathtub—more questionable advice from Lucy Davis—is filler. Plus, given how much better potential beau Ahlers plays with Shipka than any of the other ones this season… it’s too bad he doesn’t get more to do.

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (2018) s02e10 – The Uninvited

This episode opens with lead Kiernan Shipka having her date with new potential beau Peter Bundic—well, wait, it actually opens with this terrifying sequence of a… okay, wait. It’s going to be hard to describe this guy. He’s not actually experiencing homelessness, but he’s an Eldritch Terror personified as a person no one will ever invite in but if they don’t, he tears out their heart. Brahm Taylor plays him. Taylor’s great. But, visually, he plays on almost every negative stereotype about folks experiencing homelessness.

Anyway. It opens with Taylor tearing out an unwelcoming person’s heart.

And then Shipka gets done with her date with Bundic and he doesn’t like Alien—now, last episode they said there was an Alien series marathon, which seemed like it’d take all night until I remembered Disney isn’t going to rent movies to revival houses, Alien franchise especially no doubt—but they just see the one and it doesn’t go well. Then Shipka has another date and it doesn’t go well either. And icing on the cake, Shipka’s other Sabrina, the one who rules Hell, is getting a lot more serious with prince of Hell beau Sam Corlett. Last season (part, season, whatever), Corlett tried to trap Shipka—before she splits—in time so the witch Sabrina, Spellman, is not a fan. Hell Sabrina, Morningstar, forgives him because he’s a very Australian hunk.

Shipka—in the Spellman part—teams up with Michelle Gomez, who’s also playing two, earthbound and hellbound parts, to try to sabotage the romance. It’s pretty funny. Corlett’s pretty good with the humor.

Meanwhile, it’s finally time for aunt Lucy Davis to have her wedding with “he’s still not Taiki Waititi, actually” Alessandro Juliani. Only Davis and Juliani are barely in the episode—they do get some nice moments eventually, but it’s a little inverted as plotting goes, especially since the early Juliani subplot goes quickly off the rails. Gavin Leatherwood is supposed to get the incubus out of Juliani and contain it, but it escapes into Lachlan Watson, leading nowhere outside some lusty scenes with boyfriend Jonathan Whitesell. It seems like the show’s trying to do a “look the male sex demon jumps into a trans man” thing only to realize it’s kind of icky performative to draw too much attention to it and then doesn’t really have a story to do with it anyway.

The episode’s never got time for itself.

There is some really good Shipka, as she finally breaks down about her love life, and some good twists in the plot involving Taylor but the episode’s always in too much of a hurry.

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (2018) s02e09 – The Eldritch Dark

“Sabrina,” season four… wait, season two part two, wait, part four, wait… anyway. “Sabrina” starts this series(?) with lead Kiernan Shipka bummed out everyone else has a partner and wants to do partner things instead of ghost-busting—witch-busting—things. Human ex Ross Lynch is happily dating Shipka’s best friend, Jaz Sinclair, warlock ex Gavin Leatherwood is hooking with Shipka’s former mean girl now ally, Tati Gabrielle; even Lachlan Watson has a steady boyfriend now (Jonathan Whitesell). She could go to Hell and visit the other Sabrina (also Shipka), but she’s having a great time with former foe Sam Corlett. Not even at home can Shipka escape happy couples—visiting witch Skye P. Marshall is romancing Miranda Otto. So what’s Shipka to do?

Well, based on some questionable advice from aunt Lucy Davis, create some supernatural trouble in order to bring everyone together.

At the same time, former witch academy headmaster and current fugitive from Hell Richard Coyle is setting up his new Eldritch Terror worshipping church near Greendale, right under the cast’s noses. Who finds him? In a bold “we don’t know what to do with the character” move has newly resurrected prim schoolteacher and suffering from PTSD thanks to her run-ins with Shipka and family Michelle Gomez joining Coyle’s church. She’s gone from Christian lady to Lovecraft lady.

Coyle’s bringing the Eldritch Terrors, starting with the Darkness, which comes to attack the town in the form of phantom miners. So while Shipka and company are going on her snipe hunt, the very real danger of Coyle and his phantom miners is lurking in the shadows.

The resolution’s going to take both Sabrinas, which leads to some very fun Parent Trap moments with Shipka, and it’s actually pretty dramatic for the first episode of the season. Or part. Or series.

The supernatural subplots takeover all the stuff for the teens—it seems like there’s going to be a “bring sex ed to the high school” thing (Sinclair introduces it) but it goes nowhere—but Otto has time for a subplot about re-dedicating the witch academy to Hecate (Goddess of Witches), changing from Lucifer. It’s a nice subplot for Otto.

The resolution establishes there are going to be seven more Eldritch Terrors—one for every episode of the season—and it’s good enough setup for that big plot. It just doesn’t seem like there’s enough for Shipka to do in her own show.