Chilling Adventures of Sabrina: Part 2

-SPOILERS ahead-

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On April 5th, the second part of the Netflix TV show “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” premiered on the platform. I have to admit it was much more captivating and memorable than the first season because it unveiled many dark secrets about Sabrina`s true origins rather than the first season`s bland approach on the witch society. The first season was a bit more mundane and it mostly consisted of Sabrina`s relationship with her friends from Baxter High as she tried to figure out her real identity learning to accept herself as a half-mortal, half-witch teenager. She had a hard time pondering on whether she should remain a typical high-school student and never talk about her true nature or whether she should sign her name in the Book of the Beast and continue her studies at the Academy of Unseen Arts, leaving her mortal self behind.

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Consequently the second part comes as an improvement of the series because Sabrina, portrayed by Kiernan Shipka, is now much more convinced she is supposed to be a witch and present her father`s teachings to others, so she spends her time at the Academy focusing on how to become a  powerful leader. This way she gets to face Father Blackwood whose moral beliefs stand for a new sexist doctrine concerning the leading of the Church of Night. Their feud goes on the entire season since Sabrina is so certain that the way to lead the humanity to prosperity is by conjoining the mortals and the warlocks, as her father wrote in his Manifesto. Sabrina is now seeking to avenge her parents` deaths for which she blames Father Blackwood since he has had a dispute with the Spellmans from the very beginning.

The young witch participates in a race to be the next Top Person at the Academy against her soon-to-be love interest, Nicholas Scratch, the most skilled disciple. Her running for the most important student position- primarily known as Top Boy- comes as an empowering feminist message that anyone should be able to lead despite their gender identity or race (since Sabrina is half mortal). Certainly as expected, during her preparation for the challenges, Sabrina`s life is being threatened by the three Kings of Hell: Beelzebub, Asmodeus and Purson -and it really felt like they were some cool cameos on the show.

Another surprising appearance was..Dorian Gray, the owner of a club exclusively destined for warlocks. I honestly liked his part but I wish he was much more involved in the series because.. who is more magical than the man whose painting ages instead of himself, right?? When it comes to her family, Sabrina`s fierce aunts had a great narrative in the new season as Zelda Spellman, played by Miranda Otto, agreed to marry Father Blackwood so as to become the High Priestess and get accepted as his true partner in front of the coven. Aunt Hilda, played by Lucy Davis, also had a bigger part in the new series considering her concern for the personality changes that occurred since her niece signed her name in the Book. Ambrose, interpreted by Chance Perdomo, has a lot more to his story this season than he had before, if he used to be the trained warlock who attempted to destroy the Vatican and therefore was punished by spending multiple decades in house arrest, he is now depicted as a new victim of Father Blackwood`s vicious schemes.

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The episode whose narrative stunned me the most was the fourth one, entitled ''Doctor Cerberus`s House of Horror'' illustrating the story of a fortune-teller who entered the book store and offered to give tarot readings while seeking shelter on a stormy night. Her visions were very specific and concerned the main characters in several scenarios. A nice trademark of the series was the mysterious manner in which the episodes were written to captivate viewer`s attention and interest in the story.

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An additional inspiring scene was the one where Susie decides to try out for the high school`s basketball team and announce everyone her new identity is Theo. This involved many difficult moments, such as dealing with his personal emotions or telling his father about his true self and at the same time, handling the bullying coming his school colleagues.

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Mrs. Wardwell unveils her real name and purpose as Lilith (the one who should have been crowned Queen of Hell next to the Dark Lord), this being the reason why she lies to Sabrina and does not want to let her know about her destiny. Prior to this, what stuck in Mrs. Wardwell`s head was why the three Kings of Hell did not want Sabrina ''to ascend''. The only meaning of all this would be that Sabrina is in fact, the only heir to the throne. The new strange side of the TV show depicted many secrets about the life of the teenage witch, but the most interesting of all was that her real father is actually the Dark Lord... And if this was not odd enough, after forcing her to marry him and rule over everything together, she finally defeats him and traps his soul in Nicholas` body so as to send him back to the inferno. 

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Overall, the second part of the series was much better and "chilling" than the first one. If you are looking for an amazing supernatural TV show for teenagers, this is certainly the right one for you.

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