TV Review: The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Is Back And Packed
WHOOOOOO!!!! Season 3 of The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is FILLED with storylines: breaking Nick out of Hell, competing for queen of Hell, averting another potential Apocalypse, and making it on time for cheer practice! Sabrina Spellman needs a calendar and an executive assistant to deal with all in her schedule. Yet, there is NO ONE like Kiernan Shipka to charm and thrill audiences as Sabrina battles and …. starts to embrace her darkness.
Unlike the previous seasons, the excitement of Part 3 is that Sabrina Spellman WANTS to be powerful, which leads her to darker adventures but also some fantastic scenes putting new enemies, like the charmingly devious Caliban (Sam Corlett), in place. There is nothing fiercer than a woman scorned with power to, literally, send you to eternal damnation. Thus, as you watch Sabrina grow in confidence and command, the show becomes more about HER and not whether she will be loved or not.
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Part 3 | Official Trailer | Netflix
I have to say that, this season, Sabrina’s love life takes more turns than a fidget spinner, but I began to enjoy the idea of Sabrina being alone or with anyone. Shipka solidifies that you are really into this show FOR HER: not Sabrina’s love life. This comes to the forefront as she survives trials and self-reflects what its means to rule Hell, especially when so many, particularly men, are threatened by you. While Gavin Leatherwood as Nick is WALKING charisma, this season allows him to develop how fractured this young man can be. Orphaned as a child and sent to hell as a teenager… DAMN! This kid has been through a lot, which is why his dynamic with Sabrina, in Part 3, feels very adult.
Sabrina and Nick are both trying to face the challenges of power, trauma, and how both breed uncertainty in love. While I have always shipped “Sabrinick,” this season pushes that both need to grow: not only as persons but as dreamers. Most teen shows always make “college” the GOAL of life; as if once that acceptance letter comes and your last high school summer passes, you die. The same thing goes from romantic comedies that make getting married the main achievement and then cut the film as if marriage, itself, cuts life. Yet, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, in some ways, is able to break from that tether because the only thing it needs to maintain is its magic, which is bigger than ever.
Official Cast Recap of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina | Parts 1 & 2 | Netflix
The spells and visuals, this year, are amplified, especially because these dark witches lining together because they feel broken apart. With Lucifer and Blackwood turning out to be not just evil, but superbly annoying, this season feels more focused on womanhood and what it means to rebuild your ferocity after serving it to the wrong man. Thus, we will meet new witches from different forms of magic, and see the ones we know truly own their own. This incidence Prudence acting like a warrior princess, Helda (Lucy Davis) and Zelda (Miranda Otto) making us wish they ran Hogwarts, and Rosalind (Jaz Sinclair) becoming power player herself. Moreover, the latter’s relationship with Harvey (Ross Lynch) grows in “shipability” as Sabrina becomes more of an independent leader. Overall, Season 3 solidifies that there is no television show that is as imaginative and dastardly magical quite like The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. Thanks Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa!
