Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Season 2 Review: New Season, Same Problems

(Warning: This review contains spoilers for Season 2 of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.)

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Season 2 is an improvement over the show’s early episodes but too often, the shows suffers from a disconnect between its vision or intention and actual execution.

It is hard to shake the idea that there’s an infinitely better show lurking within the just-okay one we are presented with.

Take, for instance, the matter of Susie (Lachlan Watson). Susie, who henceforth will be referred to as Theo, comes out as trans in Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Season 2 Episode 1 “Chapter Twelve: The Epiphany.”

The stories of genderqueer or transgender characters, particularly those that are young people and transmasculine, are not often featured in television or film, so it’s a welcome development that the show tries to give voice to Theo’s experience of reclaiming his identity (though it does need to work harder at making Theo’s storylines more dynamic in general, so this isn’t the only thing we know about him).

While this storyline does not dominate the season, it does come up again, most notably on Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Season 2 Episode 4 “Chapter Fifteen: Doctor Cerberus’s House of Horror.”

On that episode, Theo envisions a world where his physical appearance better reflects how he feels inside and what would happen if he resorted to magic to help aid in his transition to a more traditionally masculine physical presentation.

Though the plan backfires and takes a grotesque turn, it is possible to see that the writers were trying to be creative in how to tell a story about transformation and gender identity but as with so many things, the execution is clumsy.

There’s also the matter of its too-on-the-nose feminism and its overcomplicated mythology and world-building.

From the outset, it’s been clear that Chilling Adventures of Sabrina wants to be a feminist-centered show. However, it continues to struggle with how to this successfully. 

There are numerous moments throughout the season where the show is heavy-handed in its portrayal of the patriarchy.

For example, Zelda is scolded and told to walk behind new husband, Father Blackwood, and not beside him. Episodes later, Father Blackwood tries to reform the church to better align with his own misogynistic tenets.

The message here is basic: the patriarchy is bad and women should be able to do anything they want! This elementary approach to addressing toxic masculinity and feminism holds the show back.

While the approach to gender is somewhat basic, the players and rules of the Church of Night are incredibly complicated. Following doctrine of the Church of Night and understanding how Sabrina (Kiernan Shipka) fits into the prophecy for the apocalypse feels harder to grasp than it should.

The logic behind certain kinds of magic does not always make sense and we are treated to a lot of exposition and a seemingly endless string of new characters, laws, and traditions.

To that end, the show can sometimes focus so much on world building that it sacrifices character development.

With all of that said, the show does succeed in a few key respects.

First, it creates a compelling love triangle, or rectangle if you will, between Sabrina, Nick, Harvey, and Roz. While most fans of the comics and the original TGIF show consider Harvey-Sabrina endgame, this version makes a compelling case for alternate pairings.

While Harvey and Brina reunite briefly at the start of the season, most of the season shows Harvey (Ross Lynch) and Roz (Jaz Sinclair) pairing off with Sabrina and Nick (Gavin Leatherwood) following through on the flirtation that was present during much of Season 1.

While it may be controversial, these two pairings actually work better. Harvey and Roz have far more natural chemistry than Sabrina and Harvey ever did and that relationship appears to have emboldened Harvey.

The bigger surprise though is Nick, who could come off as slick and one dimensional in much of the first season. 

Here, however, he is significantly more fleshed out and complex. Yes, he has retained his suave cool-boy nature, but he’s also overwhelmingly supportive of Sabrina and surprisingly sensitive.

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Season 2 Episode 3 “Chapter Fourteen: Lupercalia, ” one of the most enjoyable episodes the entire season, showcases Nick and Sabrina’s evolving connection amidst Valentine’s Day in the witching and mortal world.

Nick’s taken with Sabrina and fascinated by her mortal side but while they get to participate in more normal teenage activities like attending the school dance, they are also tasked with fending off attacks from Nick’s enraged, jealous familiar, Amalia, and ultimately have to murder her (oddly enough, not the worst Valentine’s Day someone’s ever had).

When he breaks down crying and overwhelmed with guilt after revealing that he lied about killing Amalia earlier, it’s a watershed moment for the two of them. You get the sense that this is the most honest he’s been with anyone, ever, but it’s also a sign of problems to come.

Nick may be enamored with Sabrina, likely more so than he knows what to do with, but he also lies well. It’s part of what makes the revelation that the Dark Lord initially urged him to saddle up to Sabrina so devastating and his protests that in spite of this, he truly fell in love with Sabrina so heartbreaking.

There are also more moments of levity. As a whole, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina takes itself very seriously, sometimes to its own detriment.

However, this season does feature more moments that remind us that Sabrina is a teenage witch, after all, and teenagers need to have a little fun. “Chapter Twelve: The Epiphany” features a playful montage of Sabrina changing outfits as she gets ready for school, which feels straight out of Sabrina the Teenage Witch.  

“Chapter Fourteen: Lupercalia” shows Sabrina astralprojecting to Roz for a session of girl talk. While the show is clearly trying to explore grander themes, it is important to acknowledge that its protagonist is coming of age.

Lastly, the show is able to end on a high note after a slow start to the season.

In the last episodes, all of the allusions and parallels between Sabrina and Jesus that the show has been dropping, particularly on Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Season 2 Episode 6 “Chapter Seventeen: The Missionaries” and Season 2 Episode 7 “Chapter Eighteen: The Miracles of Sabrina Spellman” are finally illuminated and more easily understood.

Sabrina’s two worlds — that of her mortal community and of her witching world — come together as her friends, Roz, Theo, and Harvey successfully prevent the gates of hell from opening and dub themselves the Fright Club, committed to going on supernatural missions.

These last two points hold a lot of promise for what’s to come in Season 3 and what I hope is a stronger, more consistent, and narratively rich season. Perhaps the third time’s the charm?

Lingering questions:

•  Both Prudence and Ambrose, two of the more charismatic figures in the show, are criminally underutilized, but it appears the show is setting up a revenge plot line for them in Season 3. What can these two accomplish when they team up?
• Why do the show runners insist on such long episode times? Multiple episodes clock in at 50 minutes or over; each chapter feels bloated yet still is missing some essential plot information. It’s a problem and one that needs to be fixed for Season 3. 
• Who will the witches worship now that the Dark Lord has been eliminated? What is Satanism, without, well…Satan?

What did you think of the second season of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Season 2 is now streaming on Netflix.

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