Things get a lot darker this episode for our teenage witch as her Dark Baptism is upon her. ‘The Dark Baptism’ really shows us more into the darkness Chilling Adventures of Sabrina explores when Sabrina teams up with the Weird Sisters to get payback on some of Baxter High’s jocks, along with also seeing what the Baptism entails. Naturally with Sabrina living two lives currently, this is contrasted with her spending her birthday with her mortal friends and knowing she will not be part of their world properly ever again.
During the last episode, we were introduced to the residents of Greendale and learn Sabrina is half-witch and half-mortal. With her sixteenth birthday drawing near, Sabrina gains a familiar, who goes by the name of Salem and will protect her, and then pledge herself to the Dark Lord. She has loving friends and a boyfriend, but she also has enemies such as the Weird Sisters. At the end of the episode, Sabrina receives a visit from Father Blackwood who is here to ease any doubts about the Baptism.
Question Time
Father Blackwood (Richard Coyle) explains the rite and Sabrina (Kiernan Shipka) wants to know about her doing the Dark Lord’s bidding and giving her soul to him. The Dark Lord is apparently above good and evil, but Sabrina is worried about Hell, except witches are exempt from Hell. We learn that Sabrina’s father was given a blessing by the Dark Lord so he could be with a mortal. Sabrina later asks Hilda (Lucy Davis) if she has any regrets, and she says some days she thinks about watching the whole forest burn, which Zelda (Miranda Otto) overhears anyway. Afterwards, Zelda, armed with a hammer, finds Hilda in the garden and promptly smashes her in the face and buries her. Eventually, Hilda rises from the dead, and apparently each time it takes longer for her to rise. Sabrina then overhears her say that Sabrina has no choice when it comes to the baptism.
Harvey (Ross Lynch) drops by the next morning and Ambrose (Chance Perdomo) admires Harvey’s comic illustrations, but Harvey is there to ask Sabrina if they can celebrate the day after her birthday. At school, the jocks tear up the posters for WICCA when Susie (Lachlan Watson) decides to attempt to tackle one of them, but instead she is slammed hard into the ground. Sabrina coaxes the names out of Susie and so she summons the Weird Sisters. She wants to teach the boys a lesson in exchange for not going to the Academy, but don’t worry, she crossed her fingers behind her back.
Ambrose shows the body of the deceased boy to his parents and asks about him and the investigation. They say he had an iguana who he would talk to often, which piques Ambrose’s interest as he believes it to be the boy’s familiar.
The Power of Four
The jocks are enjoying some beers when the lights flicker as Sabrina and the Weird Sisters approach them. They invite the boys to a party, and they take them to the Devil’s Doorway—also known as the Greendale mines. They continue taunting them and they remove their dresses, causing the boys to get undressed also. Next thing we know, they’re paired off and hooking up, but then it’s magically revealed the boys are actually hooking up with one another and the witches take a photo. The boys of course want the photo, but Prudence (Tati Gabrielle) has other ideas and rids the place of light and scares the shit out of the boys with their skeletal faces. They also take their ‘boyhoods’ which appear in the form of birds, and it means they won’t be rising to any occasion until the birds are released.
Later that night, Sabrina asks Harvey if a wizard could offer him superpowers in exchange for giving up his life, would he accept? He says that he’d never give Sabrina up.
The Dark Baptism
Sabrina has to stay home with her baptism near and Ambrose has to explain to her that witches can’t have meaningful connections with mortals, which Sabrina will eventually learn to accept. However, Sabrina wants one last night with her friends and decides to don her baptismal gown, which was also her mother’s wedding dress, for the occasion. Cue Harvey staring longingly and in awe with ‘Strange Magic’ playing overhead. They head to the Halloween party, which turns into a celebration of Sabrina’s birthday. After a fabulous night of dancing, she realises the time and tells Harvey she loves him and races into the forest.
Sabrina’s dress turns black (serious wardrobe envy right there) and walks through the blue flames to her baptism. The rite begins and she agrees to it all, but when it comes to signing the Book of the Beast with her blood, she realises she will lose her free will and so she runs. Vines begin to tangle around her to pull her back, but she breaks free and arrives at the house, along with the entire coven after her. She claims another path and she will not sign the book. With that, Ambrose says there is a spell of protection around the house and the witches leave, but he somehow lied. Meanwhile, Wardwell (Michelle Gomez) apologises to the Dark Lord and promises that he will have Sabrina.
Things are tense in the Spellman house and Zelda says her piece about Sabrina’s decisions, but Sabrina tells them she saw a vision of her parents telling her to run. Back at school, just as they’re about to have their first WICCA meeting, Sabrina is called to the principal’s office. While she’s there, the Dark Lord takes over his body and threatens Sabrina.
Overall Thoughts?
Now this was a fun episode! With our characters and setting established, we can get into the nitty gritty and learn more about the structure of the Church of Night and what Sabrina is about to face. Essentially, the Dark Baptism came across as quite cult-y with its pledging allegiance with the use of blood, and that somehow always makes things intense. It was also great to see more magic and seeing Sabrina team up with the Weird Sisters to get revenge was interesting, and definitely helped give her a reality check on what she’s about to sign her life away to…
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