Spoiler alert: If you haven’t finished Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Part 4, you might want to turn back now.
This look on Sabrina Spellman’s face says it all: that ending was a choice.
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina‘s final episode (“Chapter Thirty-Six: At the Mountains of Madness”) claims the lives of several major characters — from Sabrina Morningstar, who doesn’t survive the journey back to her original reality, to Father Blackwood, who finally gets what’s been coming to him since Day 1. And those aren’t even the episode’s biggest losses.
In order to rescue her friends and their loved ones from the Void, Sabrina must participate in a spell that brings her to the brink of death. And while the teenage witch is able to successfully save everyone, she dies in the process. But unlike so many other “deaths” on this show, which have turned out to either be misleading or reversible, this one sticks. Sabrina Spellman and Sabrina Morningstar are buried next to one another outside the family mortuary.
Then comes the good news… and the weird news: Viewers are reunited with Sabrina Spellman in heaven, aka “the hereafter,” which basically looks like an enormous, spotless museum. She appears at peace, until she suddenly hears a familiar voice behind her. Why, it’s Nicholas Scratch!
SABRINA: What are you doing here? This realm is only for…
NICK: I went swimming in the Sea of Sorrows. Wicked undertow.
SABRINA: Oh, Nick, no. Nick, no!
NICK: Hey, what’s important is that we’re together here — forever and ever.
SABRINA: That is a plus.
Cue the big kiss. Cut to black. The end.
If you don’t think about it too deeply, putting Nick and Sabrina together for all eternity is a lovely way to end the series. But if you do think about it, with even a modicum of depth, it gets a little troubling.
First of all, did Sabrina really have to die? We’ve watched enough supernatural series to know that the main character often ends up in the afterlife, but Sabrina is neither a centuries-old vampire nor is she wearing a bad grey wig to show that she lived a long, fulfilling life. She is, in fact, just a dead teenager. Kind of a downer.
As for Nick, did he really need to kill himself in order to be with Sabrina? CAOS loves a loophole, so couldn’t this couple have reunited under slightly less tragic circumstances? Just a little worried about the message being sent there.
How do you feel about the series’ final moments? Are you glad that Nick and Sabrina are together forever, or are you a little puzzled as to why either them had to die? Grade the finale and all of Part 4, below, then drop a comment with your reaction to this abrupt ending.