Now that Part 3 of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina has come and gone, it's nice to look back on the latest season and consider what succeeded about the story and what should have been left behind. Overall it was another solid entry into this dark teen witch series, but it still felt like a significant departure from the earlier installments of the series.
So here is 5 things that we loved about season 3 of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, along with 5 things that we hated about it.
Loved: Sabrina The Soul Hunter
One of the most unsavory aspects of being the queen of hell is having to collect on the souls that have been traded to the devil in some Faustian bargain.
Or at least, that's the case in most instances. It was cool seeing Sabrina renege on many of these dastardly deals that trapped good people in bad predicaments, but it was even better seeing Sabrina enact some righteous justice on truly evil people who were gaming the system.
Hated: Father Blackwood's Return
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina has a mix of likable and unlikable characters, but no character is more irritating and downright evil than Faustus Blackwood. And on a show where one of the characters is the literal devil, that says a lot.
Faustus disappeared off the face of the earth last season, and we were hoping that he'd stay gone. But he didn't, and his presence in the series did nothing but destroy good characters and achieve even more of Blackwood's vile ends.
Loved: Sabrina's Squad
Although Sabrina Spellman's life seems to be in a nearly constant state of flux, one thing that she and the audience can rely on are her ride or die mortal friends.
Harvey, Theo, and Roz have always proven themselves to be extremely loyal pals and generally awesome people, but it takes an extraordinary squad of buddies to literally willingly march into hell to have each other's backs. Sabrina's life may be changing entirely, but her mortal friends aren't going anywhere.
Hated: The Duality Of Sabrina
Sabrina might be the long lost daughter of the Dark Lord, but she has never fit in with the Underworld. Sabrina's attempts to live on both sides of the spectrum, and ending off the season literally split into two people (one Sabrina living in her real world, and the other Sabrina taking the throne in hell) was just a bit too much.
Obviously having two versions of the same person running around is bound to throw the mystical world into chaos, and it's foolish for Sabrina not to realize that.
Loved: The Pagans
So far the mythology of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina has been totally focused on the world of Satan and his servants, so discovering the Pagans was a really awesome way of expanding that magical universe and exploring what magic is like outside of the Dark Lord's clutches.
But of course, introducing new mythology isn't much fun unless the new ideas are as cool as the old ones. Luckily for everyone, the Pagans fully lived up to their potential and were a richly developed and formidable opposition to Sabrina and company.
Hated: Nothing Besides The Pagans
The Pagans and their entire storyline was a cool one, however once the season was over, it felt like their story was really the only story that was fully told throughout the season, everything else didn't feel complete.
And given that it was an entire season of the show, it felt like the scope of the story should have been a little larger. The Pagan storyline felt independent of almost everything else that matters in the series, so it shouldn't have been the biggest story in the entire season.
Loved: The Hedge Witches
Witchcraft is obviously the main draw for Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, so expanding that world of magic in any way possible is always going to be fun. But few things in the season could have been more fun than the hedge witches.
Although they were only a brief part of the season, these natural witches were wacky and intriguing, and their allegiance to the Satanic witches against the Pagans is interesting. We can only hope that they'll be revisited on the show at some point in the future, and given even more screen time.
Hated: Caliban
Caliban may have been pretty to look at, but beyond that his presence in the season is baffling. Presumably the writers wanted Sabrina to have someone who served as a simultaneous rival to Sabrina and potential love interest, but as a result of trying to play it both ways it really felt like Caliban was pointless.
Plus, Sabrina certainly has her charms, but having yet another leading man fall for Sabrina out of nowhere feels a little played out and Mary Sue-ish.
Loved: Lilith Playing The Game
Sabrina Spellman may be the heir to the throne of hell, but Lilith is the one who is working for it. Her character has always been easy to love or love to hate, sometimes both at the same time. But regardless of how anyone feels about her, it's hard not to respect her hustle this season.
After millennia of getting manipulated and abused by Satan himself, Lilith finally made some proactive moves and seems to have the Dark Lord over a barrel, at least for the time being. Instead of waiting for Lucifer to give her power, she's finally taking it for herself.
Hated: Sabrina, Queen Of Hell
Perhaps it's because Sabrina spent so much of her screen time fighting against anything and everything that the Dark Lord wanted from her, or perhaps it's because Sabrina is too firmly entrenched in the side of good for us to really believe it, but honestly her decision to become queen of hell just feels so out of character for her.
Yes, Sabrina wants to have the best of both worlds always, but is being Queen Morningstar really the best of any world for her? Sabrina Spellman is many things, but the ruler of evil is not one of them.