Netflix’s Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is back with its third season and it brings plenty of new characters, storylines, and more into the fold!
The end of Season 2 saw Nick become a flesh Acheron to cage Lucifer and the best place to take him was to Hell. Lilith was appointed Queen and took Nick with her, while Sabrina vowed to do everything she could to rid Nick of Lucifer and bring him back to Earth. The season also saw Harvey and Roz become a couple, Susie transitioned and he is now known as Theo, Ambrose and Prudence teamed up to go after Father Blackwood who took the twins, Judas and Judith, with him.
One Month Later
The new season picks up a month after the end of Season 2 and Sabrina (Kiernan Shipka) heads to Hell in search of Nick. She frees Nick (Gavin Leatherwood) from being encased in a wall and Lucifer (Luke Cook) chases after them, but they manage to escape through the gates of Hell. After telling Nick she loves him, he replies with ‘Daddy loves you too’ and turns into Lucifer…but it was all a dream. Sabrina hasn’t given up on Nick yet as she’s been going to the gates every day to try and reopen them and Harvey (Ross Lynch) accompanies her every time she tries.
At the Spellmans, Hilda (Lucy Davis) gathers the Academy’s students for breakfast and Zelda (Miranda Otto) reminds them they have been there for a month after the collapse of the Church of Night. She wishes to reopen the Academy of Unseen Arts with herself as Directrix, but then there’s also the matter of Black Mass…who do they say it to now after everything with the Dark Lord?
The Academy is reopened and Zelda angrily smashes Blackwood’s statue into rubble when Hilda informs her the Council phoned to convene a meeting and Blackwood is meant to host. However, the Council isn’t aware of anything that has happened with the Church of Night. Later on, Hilda and Zelda say their prayers to the Dark Lord, but they feel uncomfortable doing so. Hilda suggests praying to Lilith, but Zelda doesn’t think she can take the Dark Lord from the students after what they have been through.
Hilda disguises herself as Blackwood, but she’s far too bubbly and it makes for quite the funny scene. The Council meet with fake-Blackwood and ask if he’s had trouble with the strength of his power, while also lying about being in contact with the Dark Lord. That night, the coven say their prayers to Lilith instead, which she hears and loves.
A Trip To Hell
At Baxter High, Roz (Jaz Sinclair), Theo (Lachlan Watson), and Harvey are worried about Sabrina and they want her to join the band or sign up for cheerleading with Roz. Meanwhile, the real Ms. Wardwell (Michelle Gomez) is back teaching and she’s focusing on Dante’s Inferno, which is all about a journey to Hell. Sabrina goes to check on her afterwards and Wardwell can’t remember the last three months and she’s also suffering from nightmares. Sabrina then gets an idea and she goes to visit Dorian (Jedidiah Goodacre) about potential paintings that may be portals to Hell. Dorian says he has one and she can use it if she retrieves a flower, La Fleur du Mal, from the Forest of Torment for him.
Fright Club, which consists of Roz, Harvey, and Theo, sings ‘My Sharona’ when Sabrina barges in saying it’s time to go to Hell. The group of four head to Sabrina’s and cover themselves in ghastly water so they can stay hidden, while also wearing dead people’s shoes.
Dorian says they must find their way to the city of Pandemonium and Sabrina must be holding his flower to return. Upon arriving in Hell, they find themselves on the Shores of Sorrow and Sabrina asks a blonde-haired and bare-chested man (Sam Corlett) for directions. She’s told to follow the blood-red road…Wizard of Oz, anyone?
Travelling down the road, Theo sees Uncle Jesse (Jason Beaudoin) and they stray from the road briefly. Lilith (Michelle Gomez) learns Sabrina is in Hell as she speaks to a tongue-less Nick, who is chained to her throne. They continue on through the Forest of Torment and begin searching for the flower, which Sabrina and Roz find. However, Theo and Harvey are attacked by a tin man and Sabrina arrives just in time to stop him. Harvey sees that it’s his brother, Tommy (Justin Dobies), but Sabrina shoots him because it wasn’t really him.
A Quick Trip New Orleans
In New Orleans, Blackwood (Richard Coyle) is with Ms. Dubois (Nathalie Boltt, who yes, plays Penelope Blossom in Riverdale), but she soon turns into Prudence (Tati Gabrielle) and Ambrose (Chance Perdomo) appears too. They are searching for the twins, Judas and Judith, and Prudence runs Blackwood through with her blade. Unfortunately, it was one of the Judas boys wearing Blackwood as a glamour.
Prudence and Ambrose visit a vodou shop and meet Mambo Michele Marie Le Fleur, Priestess of High Haiti (Skye P. Marshall) as they need help finding Blackwood. The pair follow Mambo Marie’s instructions and pour Prudence’s blood over a world map, which shows Blackwood is in Scotland.
Claiming The Throne
Sabrina and her friends come to a red door, which says Baxter High, and Principal Hawthorne (Bronson Pinchot) traps them in a classroom, aided by Nana Ruth (L. Scott Caldwell).
Meanwhile, the Three Kings of Hell question Lilith’s right to the throne and she formulates a plan, asking her minion to bring Sabrina to her in hopes she can solve two problems at once. Now retrieved from being tortured by Hawthorne and Nana Ruth, Lilith greets Sabrina and her friends, while we see Lucifer and Nick fighting within his Nick’s mind. At dinner, Lilith says she can have Nick if Sabrina crowns Lilith as Queen of Hell to help with legitimacy.
At the court, the Kings are angered about Lilith taking the throne and instead they propose Caliban, Prince of Hell, which is the man Sabrina met on the Shores of Sorrow. He wishes to conquer the Earth and remake it as their Tenth Circle, enslaving both mortals and witches.
Sabrina looks at Nick and is dragged into his mind where Lucifer says she must take the throne to preserve the realms as the ‘old ones’ are coming. Sabrina then takes the throne and appoints Lilith as her regent, but Caliban says she has no right to rule as half-mortal. However, she dismisses the Court.
Lilith releases Jesse’s soul to Heaven and the group, including Nick, stand in a circle and return with the flower. They place Nick in the Academy’s dungeons to keep him safe.
Drinking milkshakes, Sabrina’s friends think she’s moving to Hell and she changes the conversation by agreeing to try out for cheerleading. The door then blows open mysteriously…and we later see several horse and carriages roll into Greendale…
Overall Thoughts?
I certainly didn’t think Sabrina would go to Hell, retrieve Nick, and become Queen all in the very episode of Season 3 as one would assume that would be the entire focus of the season. However, it made me even more intrigued to see what will now in the season since episode 1 was jam-packed with so many plotlines and introducing a few new characters, including Mambo Marie and Caliban. It was also very surprising to see Nathalie Boltt in the series, which will likely excite Riverdale fans and potentially means Chilling Adventures is trying to make viewers more aware of the two series being set right next to each other.
