REVIEW | Chilling Adventures of Sabrina - SEASON 2

Giving procedure to the plot of Greendale's little witch, the second season of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (Netflix) completely disregards her predecessor, and not in a positive way. Focusing on Sabrina's life after she signed the book of the beasts, the series begins by exploring the consequences of Sabrina's estrangement from her mortal life and her greater engagement with her witch side. This is made explicit as her relationship with his mortal friends prove to be conflicted by building one of the likely worst plots of the season, which is hard to judge. His former love partner, Harvey, as well as remaining a completely indispensable and undeveloped character, is engaged in a completely unexpected romantic relationship and at the same time cliché with Rosalinda, another character who is lazily worked in the exploration of his bow in relation to blindness.

And laziness is not something rare to find in history: the plot of Theo, the former Susie, for example, is one of the greatest demonstrations of lazy development, as its conflict around gender identity is constructed in an extremely played way , without giving the character a reasonable development time around the issue. To make clear the level of mediocrity: Susie's transition to Theo simply takes place after a basketball game, in which Susie, struggling to be accepted on the team and taking help from Sabrina for this, decides that her name is Theo from there on. There is no concern to deepen the development of Theo's new identity, the way the scene is worked out ultimately trivializes the personal conflict of the character that followed a more careful path would have explored his bow much more sophisticated and convincing, something that the scenes played and random that the script gives to the character ends up not coming nor near to deliver.

Leaving aside mortal conflicts and returning to the problems of the witch world, where there is the true expectation around the story, the deception is blatant, the motive is simple and is the main problem of the whole season: there isn't an established story, a major plot, a major problem. From the first to the fifth episode the series focuses on less relevant subplots that do not lead to any place and simply repeat the already exceeded drama of Sabrina's dilemma around her moral conflict, as we see in the episode in which Sabrina is tempted by Satan to steal a chewing gum. The narrative's preoccupation is tied to an attempt to establish Satan's darker and obscure plans for the main character and gets lost by not giving an enlightened motivation plot to the character herself.

Things begin to change after the fifth episode in which High Priest Faustus Blackwood is definitively established as a main villain, and connections as to his controversial actions begin to be explored. As a villain, Faustus is one of the good points of the season: he transmits a sense of threat and a clear motivation, not to mention the excellent performance of Richard Coyle, who has been able since the first season to work well on the exaggerated caricature of his character, while demonstrate organic elements to their performance. Another well-crafted character is Sabrina's new romantic couple. Unlike a number of other characters that are deconstructed or poorly worked this season, Nicholas has a consistent development and in sync with what has been worked on the character since his introduction. His relationship with Sabrina, his idealistic yearnings and at the same time his overbearing behavior are all relevant elements in the plot.


Giving room for more positive points can not fail to mention the characters of Miranda Otto and Lucy Davis, the aunts of Sabrina, who since the beginning season give a show of interpretation and charisma. The two characters prove extremely relevant to the plot and go through important developments that contribute to the story. Another outstanding character is the leader of the Strange Sisters, Prudence, who has a better established plot, having a direct relationship with the development of Faustus' antagonism. However, the set-up does not last long, since the established villain is set aside in order to give space for the role of Satan in the main problem of the season, which could give the spectator an interesting experience, if was not done in an extremely precocious way and without any planning.

From the first season Sabrina's confrontation with the figure of the lord of the dark is an element worked and even very well constructed as it explores the moral discussion present in the series. But, the feeling was that this would be the general and final journey by which history would be guided. However, in a sudden change of plans you are confronted with the main villain being confronted and with a completely gorgeous bow thrown into the face of the viewer in two episodes. It just doesn't work. No longer enough the incoherent plot, the spectator is obliged to swallow a series of bad written dialogues and extremely superficial performances that spoil the experience even more. The second season of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina sins from start to finish, does not live up to its predecessor, and knocks down expectations for what can come next. With a lost script, fragile performances and a forced plot, the series conveys an experience that ranges from boredom to the shame. What remains now is to cheer for a new season that will compensate for the problems of what was delivered this time, because even in the face of its stumbling blocks, Netflix's version of Greendale's witch has its potential and when it does, it knows how to have fun.