Congratulations to Chilling Adventures of Sabrina for accomplishing what very few Netflix shows actually achieve: ending on its own terms. In a year rife with premature cancellations, the fourth and final season of the supernatural teen drama now has eight new episodes that build up to a definitive ending that is irrevocably terrible.
This is not a spoiler-free review and it would be difficult to describe exactly why Chilling Adventures ends poorly without putting it all out there, so if you don’t want to know how the show ends, halt. If you do or you already know, please continue.
Sabrina dies! That’s not the bad part. There are worse things a show can do for their finale than kill off their main character. That main character can become a lumberjack, for example, or burn King’s Landing to the ground and get shanked in front of the Iron Throne. Sabrina’s death is fine on its own, but the final two minutes of the show reveal that Sabrina’s warlock boyfriend Nick died by suicide to be with her in the afterlife. This is presented as a romantic, happy ending for two dead teenagers.
This incredible error in judgement is reminiscent of Netflix’s 13 Reasons Why, which portrayed youth suicide as romantic and was linked to an increase in teens dying by suicide. While 13 Reasons Why and Chilling Adventures have different creative teams, it’s mind-boggling that Netflix would host two popular, youth-oriented shows that make the same mistake. Regardless of what else there is to say about Season 4 of Chilling Adventures, the fact that it all added up to the horrendous message that true love means dying by suicide is unforgivably irresponsible.
The tongue-in-cheek manner with which “Chilling Adventures” usually treats death does not mitigate how bad its ending is.
The tongue-in-cheek manner with which Chilling Adventures usually treats death does not mitigate how bad its ending is. Characters have previously died and come back with the aid of magic dirt, visited hell and returned, and appeared as revenants, but Sabrina’s and Nick’s deaths are presented as the irrefutable end of their lives. Their “afterlife” is separate from hell (which in the context of the show is not that bad) and everyone else they may know, and Nick joining Sabrina in death is presented as an opportunity for the two of them to be together forever thanks to Nick’s “sacrifice.”
Perhaps a second viewing of this season (one that this reviewer will not undertake) might reveal some foreshadowing or thematic buildup that explains this ending, but nothing can justify it. Upon an initial watch of all eight Season 4 episodes, Chilling Adventures appeared to be up to its usual business of delivering spooky, Riverdale-adjacent weirdness with a bite. Season 4 begins with the threat of yet another apocalypse, a repeated series thread that even the characters seem to acknowledge has happened two too many times on this show, but this one comes in the form of eight eldritch terrors that roughly correspond to one unique monster per week.
Some of the terrors are forgettable, like the one that just makes it dark outside, while others, like the evil squid-looking thingy that takes up residence in Sabrina’s abdomen and the reality-warping tchotchke that warps Greendale into a fascist alternate universe, are a lot of fun. There’s even an eldritch terror that causes one of Chilling Adventures’ best episodes yet — a meta-nod to the original Sabrina The Teenage Witch show complete with Salem the talking cat puppet. It’s par for the hell-course witch shenanigans, which only makes the ending more unfortunate.
No amount of Aunt Zelda zingers, Fright Club meetings, or amazing Prudence outfits could make up for the fact that the creative team behind Chilling Adventures of Sabrina chose to end their show on a destructive, hopeless note disguised as a fairy tale ending. Instead, the show ends with an unintentional homage to its title. When Nick admits that he ended his life to be with Sabrina, the only acceptable adjective is “chilling.”
If you want to talk to someone or are experiencing suicidal thoughts, text the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 or call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. Here is a list of international resources.