Getting to see all of our favorite ladies get their power and freedom back felt like coming full circle.

As tension built up, the end goal became restoring everything that the women lost. But that is just what happens when you underestimate a powerful combination of people in Greendale. 

During Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Season 1 Episode 19 and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Season 1 Episode 20, Sabrina is desperate to not fulfill a prophecy that leaves her working with the Dark Lord. To succeed there first need to be errors along the way, which includes actually finishing the prophecy and bringing the Dark Lord to Greendale.

Then it is up to Sabrina, her family, and her friends to create different ways to trap the Dark Lord, but not before he reveals that he is her father.

Madam Satan helps them figure out a way, which has Nick sacrificing himself for Sabrina and the promise of more to come. 

" Chapter Nineteen: The Mandrake," by  Joshua Conkel and " Chapter Twenty: The Mephisto Waltz" by  Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa is ambitious episodes that prepare Sabrina for a showdown that she was destined to be a part of.

The Dark Lord manifests, creating changes to Greendale that many characters will have to navigate from now on.

But these two episodes were also the perfect conclusion to a chaotic season, ending a contained story and creating a new one in the process. 

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Review: The Missionaries and The Miracles 

Sabrina Spellman's Future

There is nothing but possibilities for Sabrina, fresh off the steps of destroying the Dark Lord. 

Destroying is a strong word, since he is still in her boyfriend's body, and there is no chance that the show will wipe him out completely.

Looking forward, Sabrina's biggest concern is Nick and how to save him from Hell. Which is fair.

Why can't people just be nice to me? Oh. You're very nasty boys.

Fake Sabrina

• Permalink: Why can't people just be nice to me? Oh. You're very nasty boys.

The only issue with that is in an attempt to get her to that point where the Dark Lord was gone and she was on another mission, the weight of Sabrina and Nick isn't as heavy as it should be.

They spent the whole second part of the season together, and yet in recent episodes, their relationship didn't shine as much. The attention wasn't as strong, so their bond wasn't as fresh in our minds.

Nick and Sabrina were together, but if their relationship was going to be such a big twist, it needed to have more focus.

Then if you take a step back, Nick was playing Sabrina for the entire first season. He did end up falling in love with her, like everyone's favorite trope, but so much of their journey has been a partial lie. 

Sabrina forgiving him so quickly, that also didn't come across as too realistic. But again, if Nick was going to sacrifice himself then the story needed Sabrina at that place of love for him again. 

Also for a season that was so focused on getting women to a place of empowerment, having that final line be about Sabrina's search for a boy wasn't as strong for me.

Your every choice you have ever made has led you here. I've made quite sure of that. Haven't I, Nicholas?

Dark Lord

• Permalink: Your every choice you have ever made has led you here. I've made quite sure of that. Haven't...

To be fair, women can have power and be focused on a romantic relationship, but these two episodes proved that she could conquer without the drive of a relationship.

Sabrina had enough on her plate, and what fell flat in a finale that was so strong was the way that her relationship was looped into it. In fact, it would have been stronger to have Nick sacrifice himself for Sabrina without that big reveal that he was first working against her.

If his betrayal was going to be forgiven so quickly and wasn't a big issue for the relationship, why have it at all?

Obviously, the challenge for Sabrina will go beyond just saving Nick next season, but it is better to address the issue before it exists.

Sabrina and her potential is what rocks Greendale most, and if Zelda will be creating another school maybe there will be room for a Church of Sabrina?

Just a thought.

Beyond that though, the Dark Lord and Sabrina actually had a really strong back and forth. Their relationship, however terrifying, is intense enough that it creates change and always keeps the show on its toes. 

As long as the show is airing, there should be that existing strain between Sabrina and what the dark side might have planned for her.

One thing though to maybe leave behind in Season 1 is the manipulation though.

Sabrina has been tricked by too many people around her, and it won't work again in future storylines. It takes away her agency, while at the same time making the journey feel useless.

If there is a plan set in place already, and Sabrina is being pushed from every direction to get her there, then what was the point?

There should be twists and turns, but the organic way to evolve from here is to not let the lead become a pawn in someone else's story. 

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Review: A Marriage and a Funeral

Friends and Family

While we reflect on what lessons could come from the first season, the idea of incorporating the other characters has never felt more real.

The conclusion proved why everyone working together is the way to get anything done. Everyone from Sabrina's family to her friends needed to be involved, and they all played a part.

This can happen whether the season builds up their stories or not, but why not allow these characters more screentime?

It isn't fair to tag them into the big final number, and yet not let them appear in most of the other numbers. 

Theo, Roz, and Harvey specifically have a lot to offer as characters with individual arcs and then as a big group at the end of the story.

It doesn't have to be one or the other, which the show should remember when their stories get lost in the shuffle. It comes as if their stories matter when Sabrina needs to learn something from it, not when they grow because of it.

Harvey: I'm never going to eat another vegetable again.
Theo: Like you ate vegetables before?

• Permalink: Like you ate vegetables before?

The priority is Sabrina as the lead, but the other characters matter too.

Prudence is a big example of that too, where she was made to be blind to someone who kept showing her how evil he was.

It could be reasoned that at first, she wanted a family and didn't dwell on it, but that couldn't last as long as they made it.

I restore to you your full witch abilities. So now, my dear, you have both power and freedom. And may you never give up either again.

Madam Satan

• Permalink: I restore to you your full witch abilities. So now, my dear, you have both power and freedom....

The strength of the show will always be the way that the characters come together as one, group dynamics are the way to defeat any evil. The least that could be done in anticipation of that is allowing everyone to prosper, and not just hang around until they are needed. 

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Review: The Passion of Lupercalia

Stray Thoughts

• Ms. Wardwell returning is a blessing and a confusing curse. There is no chance in Hell, pun intended, that  Michelle Gomez can be out of our lives. Madam Satan might be gone, but there are other options and Greendale always has a way of bringing someone back if necessary. 
  
  There is that question of if Madam Satan is now in another form. She has to be if she returned Ms. Wardwell back to Sabrina, which is a change to prepare for.
  
  It will be kind of nice to see  Michelle Gomez taking on such an innocent role in the context of the show, and if that might change once Sabrina goes on her mission

• Just when you think Father Blackwood couldn't get any worse, he announces a plan to marry his children to one another. His view of women is so archaic that he needs to assign his daughter to a man, his son before she can even speak.
  
  That was really his downfall, his hatred and distrust in women left him going nowhere but down.
  
  It is even embarrassing in a way because in the end he was taken down by the idea of Sabrina Spellman. It would have been great though if he didn't go all " drink the Kool-Aid" on his coven before he disappeared like a coward. 

• Prudence and Ambrose holding hands like that and going off together is the stuff of dreams. It is like a personal attack because they work so well together, in a way this is everything that the season was preparing the audience for.
  
  They have this connection based on their view on family, and not to get all sentimental but this could be them becoming family to one another too. 
  
  And as always, if this gives them more time to tease us with their chemistry and with more screentime, then this is the greatest potential arc for them. 

• Roz and Harvey were cute and had their potential, only to now become less of that. It could be an issue once again with screentime, they don't have enough of it but there are those steps they have to take. The relationship had to reach a point where Harvey was no longer interested in Sabrina, and it had to build a strong connection.
  
  Telling is one thing, and it doesn't compare to the audience actually seeing that build up. Much like Theo, it felt like we were outsiders looking in at a relationship.
  
  Their milestones come off like there is a rush, and get invested in a bigger way doesn't seem as easy. To be fair though, the same could be said of Nick and Sabrina because of how quickly they went from betrayal to forgiveness to a rescue mission.
  
  It isn't easy to buy what the show is selling when it comes to romance, which only means we deserve more scenes focused on that if it will matter this much going forward. 

• Those poor children, is there a chance that they will be raised by someone competent in the near future?

• Is there a plan in place for that body that Hilda left behind? He deserved it, but maybe they need to move it somewhere so it can't be traced back to her. 

• Madam Satan restored Sabrina's powers, does that mean the way they were before she lost them? Does she have that ability to not have to pay a price for each spell?
  
  Will she be able to do things that the other witches and warlocks aren't capable of? Chances are yes, especially since Madam Satan isn't going to strip Sabrina of her potential like she was.
  
  Women supporting women will never stop being our favorite part of the show.

What did you think of the way the first season ended? Are you already waiting to see what will happen next?

Who else thinks that Prudence and Ambrose deserve their own adventure spinoff? Who else is reworking their thoughts on Roz and Harvey as a couple?

Will the Dark Lord return to Sabrina's life soon? And will she be able to save Nick in Hell?

What are you hoping to see come out of the next season? What are you hoping to see less of next season? Let us know what you think below.

And don't forget that you can watch Chilling Adventures of Sabrina online while you wait for the next season, right here on TV Fanatic!

Yana Grebenyuk was a staff writer for TV Fanatic. She retired in April 2021.