I had been sitting on my couch trying to find some new show to procrastinate my school work with when, all of a sudden, my prayers were answered and an image of Sabrina Spellman (Kiernan Shipka) flashed across my screen. On April 5, “The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” put out a new season and I couldn’t help but write another review for part 2 of this show.
Part 2 took a whole new approach. What was a show originally about Sabrina trying to fight between her mortal and witch lives has turned into her embracing her new identity as a witch. The series grew darker with this new implementation of dark Sabrina. It still kept to its iconic 50s aesthetic and creepy demeanor, but came with a new set of changes and challenges.
I found part 2 a lot better than the first half, particularly because I enjoyed the character development of characters like Sabrina, loner warlock Nicholas Scratch (Gavin Leatherwood), leader of the Weird Sisters Prudence Night (Tati Gabrielle) and even Sabrina’s aunts Zelda (Miranda Otto) and Hilda (Lucy Davis). I found these characters to be a lot more interesting the second time around watching this show as they expanded as humans. In a way, there felt like there was more depth to who they are.
The same goes for Sabrina’s friends. Last season I felt like her mortal friends were very stale and almost cardboard characters. Her best friend Roz (Jaz Sinclair) got a lot more screen time this season as she struggles to cope with her impending blindness. I felt like she was an actual human this time rather than the generic best friend. Plus, she had two fairly interesting storylines going on this season.
Another major character development from this season was when Susie Putman, Sabrina’s non-binary best friend, transitioned to Theo Putman (Lachlan Watson). Theo had been a character that struggled with his gender-identity throughout most of the two seasons, but by the first half of part 2 we see Theo coming to terms with who he truly is.
Personally, I really enjoyed how easy it was for Theo’s friends and family to accept him instead of creating some big issue about it. Obviously the character still faces challenges through the series at school for being a transgender man, but I appreciated that his dad and his friends were chill right off the bat with his transition. Why I’m saying this is because whenever there’s a sort of LGBTQ+ plotline, I always feel like it’s followed by non-acceptance by the person’s family or some sort of massive tragedy. Theo’s transition showed a healthy way of acceptance and promotes the normalcy of transitioning– how it should be.
However, one of my biggest issues with this show is the fact that even though there was a ton of development this season amongst the characters, sometimes they still feel way too fake and the things that should be realistic, like high school, don’t feel realistic. Since this show is a spin off of “Riverdale” I’m not surprised that it doesn’t understand how teenagers actually work, but it would be nice to see a little more of a human element amongst the students of Baxter High. It doesn’t feel as fleshed out as it could be. Of course it’s a show about the supernatural so how real could it possibly get, but they could do a better job with the characters and the realistic element of it all.
Besides that, even though there was improvement from last season, the overall creative nature of the witch world felt mediocre and not very original. For example they would use terminology in Catholicism and just use the opposite of it so the “false God” and “the anti-pope.” Essentially the authenticity of the witch world could’ve had more originality.
The plot got a lot better this season, as all the missing pieces finally made sense as everything came together. One of the biggest spoilers from the new season was the fact Satan is actually Sabrina’s father and he wishes for her to be his Queen of Hell (creepy much?). However, my favorite part of the whole season (Spoiler alert, like major spoiler alert) was when Lilith, also known as Madame Satan (Michelle Gomez), helped take down the devil and is now the Queen of Hell. Basically, season 2 ended with a coven of witches essentially taking down the warlock patriarchy– and we’re always here for a good take down. I also enjoyed how it ended off with Prudence and Sabrina’s cousin Ambrose (Chance Perdomo) on a “witch hunt” for Prudence’s misogynistic and twisted father, Father Blackwood (Richard Coyle).
The romantic dynamics of the characters also completely changed this season. Sabrina and Harvey Kinkle (Ross Lynch) had been the main couple for all of part one, but now Sabrina finds herself falling in love with Nicholas Strach and I have to say, I’m a fan. There was a lot of interesting chemistry between Sabrina and Nicholas this season. I usually hate those forced relationships the character goes through after a major break up, but I am a fan of Nicholas and Sabrina. They have the chemistry and they make a great team.
The one pairing that felt forced this season was between Harvey and Roz. I appreciate how mature the characters were about dating exes amongst friends, but it felt out of the blu. It’s not like Roz and Harvey had any substance in the previous season. While it’s growing on me, it’s not necessarily my favorite pairing this season. Besides that, I felt as if Harvey fell flat as a character. He wasn’t as interesting as he was last season and now he’s forcing himself into a rebound relationship with Roz. It felt way too fake.
The season was still enjoyable and a good binge to get my mind off of school. I found the new adventures Sabrina went on with her friends were exciting and I’m interested to see where they’re going to bring the show now that one of the biggest mysteries has been solved. Overall, it was definitely an interesting watch and it definitely had it’s improvements. I think that’s why I’ll give it a 6.5/10 instead of a 6/10. Hasn’t exactly reached that seven yet, but if it keeps going in the right direction I think it might.
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