Sleeping Town
With less filler stories and a noticeable drop in agenda-driven writing, this new chapter feels a lot more fast paced and easy to binge-watch. The story has progressed smoothly during its 8 episodes with plenty of fresh new legends to add to the lore and some decent acting from the main cast. The season 3 finale of Sabrina starts with Ambrose narrating a future where the witches have lost against the pagans and Caliban is now the King of Hell. We then see Sabrina from the future visiting the present Sabrina stuck in the stone and switching places with her. She tells her to gather the unholy regalia to stop the Pagans but make her promises to come back here and switch places to complete the time loop. Before being engulfed in the stone, future Sabrina tells her that the nine circles exist in their own time pocket. Sabrina returns to the throne room to find it completely ransacked and comes face to face with Herod, Vlad and Pontius who claims to be the guardians of the regalias. They tell her that the archangel Michael defeated Caliban who did try to bring Hell into the mortal realm but failed as the pagans of earth stopped him. A much more powerful Sabrina heads back on earth to find her house overgrown with plants and the skeletons of all her friends and family. She is suddenly attacked by two plant people but is saved by the three guardians as they want to follow the regalias. Her next stop is the carnival where she sees more plant people and Ambrose, who has survived. He tells her she has been gone decades and reveals that the pagans have won the battle. Seeing the time egg, she decides to use it to go back in time and using the powers of the regalia, plans to turn into a morningstar weapon. Their next step is to use the energy of the stone circle of the academy. Unfortunately, it’s there that Blackwood holds his court and with the Mark of Cain, he is immortal. As they enter, they encounter an insane Blackwood but manage to put him under a spell thanks to the demon Batibat. With the egg in her hand, Sabrina starts the ritual, swinging the morning star over her head and in a cloud of smoke, travels back in time. She quickly rushes to see Ambrose, Prudence and Mambo Marie to warn them of Blackwood’s arrival. Determined to save everyone, Sabrina heads to save her friends next and brings them back to Dorian’s place. Thankfully, Zelda comes back from the Nether realm but when she finds out that Hilda hasn’t come back from the pit of Cain, she decides to head back to perform another ritual to bring her back with the help of the Hedge witches. With Hilda back to the living realm, they discuss what their next step will be. First, they will put the town to sleep with the help of a magic lullaby and second, they plan to use Mrs Wardwell as the virgin they need, whom Robin brings to the pagans. The ritual begins as they offer Mrs Wardwell to the Greenman. However, something goes wrong as the Green tree turns black. It’s here we see that Mrs Wardwell was actually Pesta, the witch of disease and Robin was Sabrina, both using a glamour spell. She’s followed by her coven and her friends who start the fight to drive the pagans away from the town. Roz and Harvey decide to head into the gorgon’s tent and manage to get rid of Nagaina while Hilda squares up with Cince and uses one of her doll to enact revenge, torturing and then killing her. Zelda and Ambrose face Corcosa and just as he turns into the great god Pan, Ambrose sneaks up from behind and impales him with her sword. After the battle, the four Spellmans reconvene and say goodbye to Sabrina who has some unfinished business in Hell. Heading to the cave, Sabrina decides to go back in time to stop herself from giving the coins to Judas; therefore stopping all the events from happening in the first place. Both Sabrina’s meet and decide to remain in the same timeline while the past one will be queen of hell and the other will carry on with her teenage life on earth. In hell, Past Sabrina goes through some strict preparation for her coronation while the rest of the people on earth go back to their life. Hilda gets a very big surprise when she realises that Dr Cee has survived. Prudence blames Ambrose for the death of Dorcas as she believes that if he had let her kill Blackwood in Scotland, none of this would have ever happened. Zelda on the other hand gets a warning from Mambo Marie that a bigger evil is coming. After asking to stay, they end their conversation with a kiss. While Ambrose, Hilda and Zelda lament Sabrina’s absence, the latter appears and tells them she changed her mind about being the Queen of Hell. Ambrose follows her out and after questioning her, finds out what she has done. He tells her that she’ll create a time paradox which could mean big trouble for everyone. Meanwhile, Blackwood calls up on the Eldritch terrors with the help of his twins and Agatha. He uses the time egg and it causes a flashing light and a piercing scream resonates in the night sky. The episode ends with Blackwood maniacally laughing and claiming that this ritual they performed will cause the end of all things. As expected, the finale ends with a cliffhanger. However, the season does manage to resolve most of its main storylines with the pagans defeated and Sabrina making a decision that will probably create some trouble in the next season. Having two versions of herself in the same time period certainly sounds ideal for the witch but just as Ambrose said, this will lead to a time paradox. This late story line was a really interesting spin and one I’m looking forward to see explored in more detail next season. Blackwood is back at the front as one of the main antagonists and the mystery surrounding the Eldritch terrors will certainly keep people thinking while they wait for the next installment. The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina has managed to balance its characters’ love story with the magical world and new legends quite smoothly too. We end the show with a surprising twist between Zelda and Mambo Marie while Lilith and Lucifer are expecting a child which I’m sure will be more important in the episodes to come. This third season has certainly been the strongest one so far. It may not be perfect with its questionable song renditions, but it brings enough twists, new additions to the lore and characters to please fans of the magical series.
