The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is a supernatural horror series developed for Netflix by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and is based on the Archie comic book series of the same name. The series stars Kiernan Shipka, Ross Lynch, Lucy Davis, Chance Perdomo, Michelle Gomez, Jaz Sinclair, Tati Gabrielle, Adeline Rudolph, Lachlan Watson, Gavin Leatherwood, Richard Coyle, and Miranda Otto. Season 4 will be the last season for the show.
[mild spoilers]
When you’ve followed a show for four seasons, you expect the season finale of that show to give you things that you will remember and take with you for years to come. That has happened with me in many shows (read: Schitt’s Creek), however, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina season 4 is a whole different thing altogether.
The series was surprisingly cut short a few weeks before its season 4 premiere, and in an effort to tie in all the loose ends, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina thought that literally killing off its main protagonist, one of the most powerful witches in the world, is a good idea. No matter the other weird and impossible things any of the other characters, Sabrina included, have overcome throughout this macabre series. Sabrina needs to die in order to make sure the show is never resurrected. Sure, whatever.
So, this season, Sabrina must fight the Eldritch terrors, brought on by Father Blackwood, so that the ancient entities do not destroy the world.
The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina has always been a fun and entertaining series to watch. With literally the most confounding things happening on-screen, you know you’re in for a treat when a new season drops. Unlike Riverdale, which is just downright odd, this series has some amount of sense and logic that it tries to follow throughout.
Season 4’s eight episodes are all about Sabrina fighting off the Eldritch terrors, and each and every episode is absolutely fascinating. It’s entertaining and has all the right doses of mystery and adventure that would make your binging dreams come true. However, when you follow so many well-defined characters for so long, you’d expect their end to also be somewhat believable and satisfactory.
That’s not the case here. The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina ends so problematically and uninspiringly that it’s kinda disgusting that the makers thought that this was the only recourse here. Not only did Sabrina die (which is probably some convoluted way of bringing in sympathy somehow), the creators decided that killing off Nick was a great idea as well. And no, he didn’t die fighting some unthinkable terror. A great warlock such as Nick dies by suicide. But don’t worry, there’s a silver lining here – Sabrina and Nick can now be together forever in the afterlife.
The twisted and absolutely downright disgusting message that the end scene promotes is alarming. Telling youngsters that the solution to heartbreak over a dead significant other is suicide is not an answer. And it is definitely not cute or romance goals either.
The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina also drudges due to the huge cast of characters who are all absolutely essential (apparently). While some, like Roz, get some good character arcs in season 4, others like Theo, Harvey and Robin are left to just drive romantic subplots (or to fetch stuff). Additionally, the subplot involving Lilith and Blackwood feel absolutely unnecessary in season 4, with the Eldritch terrors and all. Lilith is a constant annoyance at this point, harping on about power that she has been wishing for since millennia. On the other hand, Blackwood feels like a bad guy who is just there for the sake of it. The season would’ve been just fine without him.
However, one of the most interesting episodes in The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina season 4 was with The Endless. That episode is a fun, nightmare-ish spectacle to behold and is an absolutely great watch through and through.
Summing up: The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina
The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina season 4, although not the most perfect show and with the worst series endings ever, is still a thrilling ride from start to end. There’s much sappy romance dotted between the adventure and almost everyone gets a happy ending (and no, I refuse to acknowledge the Sabrina-Nick ending to be a happy one). Although I would’ve really enjoyed them giving us a satisfactory ending for all the characters, but well, you can’t get them all, I guess.
The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina season 4 is streaming on Netflix.
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