Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Season 3 Review

January 20, 2020 at 8:05pm
By Jason Stettner

This is a Netflix Original Series that dives into the darker elements of Sabrina, and this third season further embraces that concept. It’s a much tighter, less drama driven look at the character and her group of friends. It’s less about certain teenage issues, and more about dealing with a growing darkness that surrounds Sabrina (Kiernan Shipka). They waste no time jumping right into the action and cover a plot point that I thought would have been dragged out in this season. They wrap it up almost immediately.

It’s less about finding her boyfriend that was sent to Hell, and more about the situation that she created by imprisoning Lucifer (Luke Cook) prior. Things haven’t been going well across the realms, and Sabrina will need to deal with the duties of Hell as they take more of a priority. There’s also a deeper sense of survival for the coven. There are new threats rising such as a prince of Hell, Caliban (Sam Corlett) threatening to take over the thrown and another mystical group based around Earth/Blood magic.

They’re a fun integration, so I’m only lightly touching upon their presence with that note. I’d also like to mention that this is part three, but we’re going by seasons so we consider this the third season of the series. Going back to the story, this season has a faster pace to it and less time is spent with some of the secondary characters. That actually helps quite a bit, and keeps things focused which provided a better time. Things got far darker as I mentioned and perhaps gorier as well.

I really feel that the cast has gotten into the groove of their characters. Shipka is once again delightful as Sabrina and the supporting cast is also far more confident this time around. I particularly liked the usage of Ambrose (Chance Perdomo) and Prudence (Tati Gabrielle) in these episodes as they’re taking on more of a hunting role. I do wish that Salem was a bit more present, only a few moments seeing the cat.

I know there are some allergy issues, but even just more background appearances would have been nice considering the character’s position in supporting Sabrina. Hell was handled well, I loved the quests that were involved there. It was a creepy place, less fire and more dread which was excellent. Perhaps more of a balance between regular life should be brought back, but honestly those elements were a tad dragging in previous seasons so it’s good to move away from that for at least a little while.

There’s a very interesting setup that’s possible going forward, and I think they’re going to find the right mix in the part that follows this one as we already know that’s on the horizon. The world is definitely well done here, they have a great sense of atmosphere going on and I think there’s an episode in here that will truly surprise everyone. I didn’t see it coming, and that was neat, I mention this as the set design was excellent there.

The Conclusion

The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Season 3 is the best season yet, truly embracing the darkness and bringing the lead down below to a place that’s been promised. It has great character development for the core individuals, but you will notice that some of the cast has been pushed a bit to the side. You don’t get a lot Salem, or human life and yet that worked out well for this selection of episodes.

It’s also a bit shorter than usual, but that kept the narrative tighter without any sort of extra episodes that felt out of place. It was all to the point, moved the timeline along well while also setting up a promising next season. I’m very intrigued to see where this will head and I certainly thoroughly enjoy this series. Just generally a darker, more intense and far more creepy evolution for these chilled adventures.

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Season 3 Review at Home with Streamed Viewing
Screening was Provided by Netflix

Rating Overall: 9.0