Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Season 4 Episode 4 was a wild ride and one of the stronger installments of the season.
Though, that may just be me being biased as I love an episode that alters reality to test the characters.
Everything seemed rather dandy at the kickstart of the episode as Sabrina pitched her student council speech to her Aunties, Dr. C, and Ambrose.
However, they warned her not to underestimate the very real threat of the eldritch terrors coming to Greendale.
While Sabrina was busy planning her and Roz’s speech, Roz was delivering one of her own to Harvey to tell him that she’s a Sentinel, a seer that sees things others can’t.
Harvey is understandably shocked, which leads him to deliver one of the most iconic lines in the series: “Why does every girl I fall in love with turn out to be a witch?”
The moment is only made better by Theo’s response: “Maybe you’ve got a type.” Truth.
Meanwhile, a man bearing occult trinkets walks into the Pilgrims of the Night Church. Faustus Blackwood steals the imp of the perverse from him in an attempt to warp reality.
Prudence is on duty observing the realms and realizes something ominous is happening. She calls upon her fellow Sentinels, Roz and Mambo Marie, so she can focus her sight and find Faustus.
Once she locates him, she goes there with the intention of killing him, but by the time she arrives, he has already made a wish on the imp to become Emperor.
Reality, as we know it, has been altered.
When the wish is granted, Prudence finds herself without any recollection of the past. She’s donning a uniform as Emperor Blackwood’s Lieutenant and preparing for his birthday celebrations.
Related: ‘Chilling Adventures of Sabrina’ Season 4 Easter Eggs and Nods to ‘Riverdale’
Back at Baxter High, now Blackwood High, Sabrina and Roz, aware that something is very wrong, walk out of the bathroom to a very distorted and unrecognizable reality – one that praises the Emperor, who is more of a dictator reminiscent of the Nazi regime.
What’s worse is that Sabrina Spellman’s picture is displayed in the hallway as “public enemy number 1,” which prompts her to embrace a new look: brown hair and glasses… a far cry from the blonde bob and cherry red lips!
Roz and Samantha (her new name) stick around for class and realize that reality is even more bizarre than they could’ve ever imagined.
Harvey leads the class in a pledge of allegiance to Blackwood, while Wardwell hammers it home that witches are no good, very bad beings who are trying to ascend.
Emperor Blackwood pays the class a visit in honor of his birthday, but instead of a celebration, it’s more of a witchhunt as he accuses Robin Goodfellow of being a witch because of his green hair and pointy ears. That’s an eye-roll, even for Blackwood.
When Robin, who we know is a hobgoblin, escapes, the guards take Theo instead for assisting him.
Sabrina and Roz regroup after “class” to figure out what’s going on and why they’re the only two that seem to remember reality. Sabrina figures that they’re probably immune since they’ve both had contact with an eldritch terror – Roz touched the uninvited on Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Season 4 Episode 2 while Sabrina was a host for the Weird on Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Season 4 Episode 3.
They decide to head over to the Mortuary to get some answers, but they immediately realize reversing this terror isn’t going to be as easy as they hoped. Not only is the house marked as one where witches live, but Ambrose has no recollection of Sabrina. This makes things a bit problematic as Ambrose has been the key to helping Sabrina solve nearly every eldritch terror thus far. Without his vast knowledge of the arts, she has no one to rely on.
Roz decides she’s going to try to appeal to the real Harvey she knows is in there somewhere, while Sabrina ventures to the Academy, which, sadly, is also marked.
Neither Nick nor Zelda remember Sabrina, but that’s to be expected as everyone is under this eldritch spell.
When Sabrina removes her disguise, Zelda realizes that public enemy number one just waltzed into her school. Desperately, Sabrina does a spell to restore Zelda’s memories, but it wears off almost immediately.
Related: Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Season 4 Review: The Perfect End?
Zelda runs out to the foyer to welcome Blackwood, who is also paying a visit to the Academy to look for forbidden literature and art.
The choir sings him a song, but he’s unimpressed and calls out Nick for his lack of participation. He requests that Nick sings a solo and Sabrina spells him to sing from behind the curtains. And it’s a good thing she does cause not only is Nick a looker, he’s also got a great set of pipes.
Alas, Blackwood is unimpressed and arrests Nick for being a “witch.” It’s unclear on what grounds but this is Blackwood’s world so whatever he says goes.
Roz isn’t having any better luck trying to talk sense into Harvey. He doesn’t want to hear any talk of witches, and he most certainly doesn’t want to hear Sabrina’s name. Eventually, she gives up.
Sabrina attempts to get to Zelda by reminding her of her familiar, which seems to trigger something in Zelda as she secretly her the name of a book at the local bookstore.
Ambrose finally musters up the courage to leave Greendale, and when he does, he remembers everything.
He sees the trinket man, who informs him that Blackwood stole the imp of the perverse to reshape the universe in his image.
While he doesn’t have another imp, he does offer him the sacred stone of omphalos, the stone of reality that could presumably restore reality.
The only catch is that once Ambrose goes back across the border, his mind would pervert again and he’d only have about 30 seconds of lucidity.
Ambrose figures he has to find a way to teleport in when Robin swoops in and offers to help with his superspeed.
Sabrina arrives at the bookshop and asks Hilda for the “Haxan.”
Hilda is flabbergasted but tells Sabrina and Roz that they can follow her into the back where she introduces them to the resistance, a group of witches plotting against the tyranny of Blackwood. Even when Hilda doesn’t remember who she is, she’s still a badass!
Amongst the witches is Agatha, who is not crazy and remembers everything. She informs Sabrina that Blackwood doesn’t know she’s sane, so she’s been operating as a bit of a double agent.
As they ponder how to kill an immortal and destroy the imp, which Blackwood keeps by his side at all times, Ambrose and Robin pop in. He quickly tells Sabrina about the stone, but runs out of time before telling her how to awaken people with it.
Hilda recalls that Titan Cronus ate the stone, which isn’t something any of them can do, but Hilda suggests making it into stone soup. And it works!
In no time, Ambrose and the rest of the group regain their memories and begin plotting the destruction of the imp during the executions aka Blackwood’s birthday.
Sabrina delivers the soup to Zelda at the Academy, while Roz stays behind with the resistance.
Harvey and another guard enter Hilda’s after getting calls about secret meetings at her establishment. When Harvey checks in the back, he finds Roz and the rest of the group. She begs him not to out them and offers herself as sacrifice.
Agatha returns to home only to be confronted about being a traitor and told she’ll be participating in the executions.
The following day, Blackwood starts by punishing Nick. He places heavy stones onto him until he “tells the truth” about being a witch.
As part of the plan, Sabrina reveals herself to Blackwood while Ambrose tries to destroy the imp, but they’re unsuccessful as Blackwood is still in control of reality.
Sabrina throws the stone at Blackwood, which begins to work. Slowly but surely, everyone begins getting their memories back including Prudence, who informs them that Blackwood keeps the imp in a safe at Dorian’s.
Related: 9 Biggest Moments from ‘Chilling Adventures of Sabrina’ Season 4
Somehow, Sabrina manages to find the time to flirt with ex, and Roz calls her out on it, and it’s a necessary lighthearted moment amidst a very tense and dark episode.
Sadly, it turns out that the second imp is also a fake. It occurs to Sabrina that it has to be something people would be afraid to touch, and thus, she realizes it’s Blackwood’s rottweiler.
As reality restores itself, Prudence drives a sword through Blackwood before he can make his wish.
Roz and Sabrina walk out of the bathroom and breathe a sigh of relief when they realize they’re back at Baxter High.
Harvey apologizes to Roz about not being supportive about her being a witch.
Sabrina embraces her and Roz’s running slogan: witches united. She publicly redefines the term witches in a positive light by saying it means they are “powerful, disruptive women” who are champions of the oppressed, supporters of the other, unapologetic feminists, and who embrace that the shadow has its own power.
It’s a very pivotal moment in terms of these two women who they are and the powers they possess.
Back at the Academy, Prudence informs the coven that since she couldn’t kill Blackwood, she did the next best thing: brought his head on a platter. As Zelda puts it, “it’s a fitting end for his kind.”
Blackwood has caused way too much damage these past four seasons.
Nick grabs Sabrina for a heart-to-heart and informs her that he still has feelings for her. He refuses to deny that part of himself any longer, and when she asks him about his fling with Prudence, he says it wasn’t the real thing like his relationship with her.
And then, he utters the words we’ve been waiting for since the trailer – “Sabrina, we’re endgame.”
All in favor of Nick and Sabrina forever, raise your hands and comment below!
What did you think of the episode?
