Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Part 4 Review: A Chaotic But Satisfying Final Bow

Warning: This review contains some spoilers for Part 4 of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.

The team behind Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (CAOS) was not aware this season would be their last and while there are clearly some seeds for what a potential Season 5 would bring about, this season surprisingly serves as a decent farewell.

Plus, this outing of CAOS, while arguably the strongest of all its seasons, is still emblematic of everything the show did well and everywhere it struggled. So it died much as it lived (and if you’ve watched the full season already, yes, I’m being tongue in cheek here, praise Hecate).

The season focuses on Sabrina, the Fright Club, and the coven’s battle against the Eldritch Terrors, a group of dangerous entities that Father Blackwood has unleashed on Greendale. That monster-a-week mentality isn’t new to CAOS, but the overarching construct and connection between the Terrors gives this season valuable structure. 

Every viewer will likely have a specific Terror/episode that speaks more to them than others (I personally liked the Buffy-esque energy of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Season 4 Episode 3 “Chapter Thirty-One: The Weird”) but the seventh Terror (and its accompanying episode) warrants the most discussion.

Before the season premiere, Netflix released a teaser clip of Beth Broderick and Caroline Rhea’s guest appearance, but the entire sitcom-centric episode is worth watching, even if you’re not entirely caught up on other installments of CAOS.

Broderick and Rhea are famously Sabrina’s “aunties” on TGIF’s Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Season 4 Episode 7 “Chapter Thirty-Five: The Endless” is a witty, brilliant, sinister, meta hit-piece, both paying tribute to the beloved sitcom and blasting viewers who rejected CAOS‘ dark undertones and creative differences from the original series. 

The episode is devilishly smart and imaginative (plus, Salem gets his biggest showcase yet!). It’s a perfect episode of a show that often struggles to execute and live up to its ambition. But this time, thankfully, it does.

The “sitcom” episode isn’t the only bit of fan service this season; for super-fans, there are multiple visual and narrative references to both the Sabrina comics that inspired the series as well as the Riverdale-Greendale universe the show inhabits.

There are some marked improvements over other seasons. After a rather uninspiring arc in Season 3, Roz (Jaz Sinclair) gets more screen time (that isn’t Harvey-centric thankfully) exploring her “cunning” abilities and discovering she too is a witch. There is finally some closure to the Weird Sisters plot line, after Dorcas (Abigail Cowen) was unceremoniously killed in Season 3.

Plus, Father Blackwood (Richard Coyle) is taken down as a “Big Baddie.” Granted, this comes seasons after he stopped being an interesting or appropriate antagonist but still – at last!

CHILLING ADVENTURES OF SABRINA (L to R) ABIGAIL COWEN as DORCAS NIGHT and ADELINE RUDOLPH as AGATHA NIGHT in episode 214 of CHILLING ADVENTURES OF SABRINA Cr. DIYAH PERA/NETFLIX © 2020

With that said, even this improved iteration of CAOS falls victim to some of its old habits.

There’s the matter of Prudence (Tati Gabrielle), which the show has never really understood how to utilize. Her path from antagonist to ally always felt short-changed but this has been exacerbated by the writers’ decision to make her primary focus on Season 3 and Season 4 obtaining revenge on her father. That singular focus is limiting for her as a character and honestly, confounding as a viewer.

Gabrielle oozes charisma and intelligence, and handily executes everything she’s given. That’s why when Episode 3 “Chapter Thirty-One: The Weird,” comes around and Prudence finds herself teamed with Jaz and Mambo Marie (Sky Marshall) as the new Weird Sisters, it’s baffling that the show doesn’t dig in and follow that story.

It’s also utterly disappointing, both as a fan of Prudence and as someone who’s long wanted the show to examine the experience of Black women in magic. It’s just another example of CAOS‘ half-hearted commitment to diversity.

Speaking of diversity on CAOS, most people point to the inclusion of Lachlan Watson’s Theo. Theo’s a fan favorite, and I’ll give credit to the show for following his identity-journey, but after the first two seasons, CAOS hasn’t really known what to do with him.

The entirety of his Season 4 storyline focuses on his relationship with hobgoblin Robin (Jonathan Whitesell) and even that barely registers. This may be indicative of a larger issue that CAOS has always had.

CAOS wants to be a show about the balancing act between the tribulations and triumphs of Sabrina’s mortal life and her one in Hell/the magic world, but it doesn’t do that particularly well nor has it figured out how to combine the worlds in a way that feels honest and true.

The Fright Club is no Scooby gang, so character development and plot suffer as a result.

While I’m a fan of the Nick and Sabrina pairing, I have some mixed feelings about their (obviously inevitable) reunion.

His final sacrifice on Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Season 4 Episode 8 “Chapter Thirty-Six: At the Mountains of Madness” where he swims in the Sea of Sorrows and from what I can tell, commits suicide in order to join Sabrina in the afterlife, is an odd narrative choice for a show aimed at teens and young adults.

As a society, we really have to stop glamorizing the Romeo and Juliet narrative. Nope, nope, nope.

There’s also the matter of Sabrina ending the series with a love interest in the first place. Romance is a huge part of anyone’s coming of age experience, but for a show that wants so desperately to be a feminist celebration, it’s deeply obsessed with Sabrina’s love life. 

While it mines the challenges of being solo while your friends are coupled off on Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Season 4 Episode 1 “Chapter Twenty-Nine: The Eldritch Dark,” it doesn’t necessarily show how single people can be happy and too many times throughout the season, Sabrina seems on the cusp of discovering something new about herself or solving a problem only for Nick to pop up.

I don’t mind seeing them as “endgame,” especially since it helps gives fans some closure at this point, but I wish the journey to get there had given Sabrina more space and time to grow.

For the most part, I’m satisfied with how CAOS ended. It never quite reached the heights that it could have but ultimately, its final ride is a solid closing chapter.

Lingering thoughts:

• I recognize that this show has a habit of trying to cram too much into a season, but failing to explore Sabrina’s duality, especially when there’s a physical manifestation of it, seems like a missed opportunity.
• Between Season 3 and Season 4, it’s clear there’s a writer living out some musical fantasy. You all picked up on the Sound of Music references on Episode 3 “Chapter Thirty-One: The Weird” and Season 4 Episode 4 “Chapter Thirty-One: The Imp of the Perverse” right?
• The joy and humor of Sabrina Morningstar and Sabrina Spellman dancing together to “Dancing With Myself” is one of the single best parts of the series. For a show that deals with a lot of doom and gloom, this season delivers on the humor far more than you’d expect it to.
• If you or anyone ever need some good birth control, I recommend watching Lilith’s childbirth scene on Episode 3 “Chapter Thirty-One: The Weird.” That’ll solve that problem right quick.

What did you think of this season of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and the series overall? Did it meet your expectations and hopes? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is currently streaming on Netflix.

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