In its penultimate episode, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina set the stage for its finale. But it really took its time. Netflix shows are somewhat notorious for their punishingly long runtimes, and “The Returned Man” certainly overstays its welcome by a bit. It doesn’t help, of course, that the episode stretches out an ongoing subplot that could have been executed more tightly.
Many of these final episodes revolves around Sabrina’s decision to resurrect Harvey’s brother, while also trying to outsmart the supernatural powers that be by sacrificing Agatha, only to bring her back from the dead via her magical garden. In the ninth episode of the season — and the third to follow this story arc — Sabrina realizes what she needs to do in order to restore balance to the scales of the living and dead, while those around her (in the magical and mortal world) start to discover what she’s done. While this subplot is certainly interesting, and has some well executed moments, it’s become redundant.
At this point, it truly feels like the series is just trying to fulfill some length obligation, and it hurts the character development that had been executed well throughout the first part of the season. Sabrina, for example, makes one dumb decision after another, ignoring signs that something is obviously wrong with both Harvey’s brother and Agatha to a point that is exasperating. As for Harvey: his obliviousness to the supernatural world around him reaches almost comedic levels in this installment, as his brother acts creepy and decidedly demon-like, but he ignores it and goes on watching old movies and trying to play football. It’s strange and distracting.
It’s a testament to how entertaining Sabrina is that the rest of the episode works so well, even with these annoying plot elements. The series’ style is consistently impeccable, and the way comedy, teen melodrama, and horror is mashed together makes for supremely exciting television. The scares involving Harvey’s brother are genuinely unsettling, as is the gross-out body horror involving Agatha’s inability to fully join the living. The last few moments, which take place in some sort of witches’ purgatory, are interesting and suspenseful, while the cliffhanger makes it hard to resist firing up the last episode right away.
And what this episode lacks in main narrative progression, it makes up for in the genuinely thrilling growth that we’re seeing with Susie’s subplot. There is something mysterious about Susie’s relationship with the ghostly Dorothea, and all the different possible conclusions remain equally interesting. There is also a very sweet moment between Susie and Sabrina’s Aunt Hilda, who quietly steals the episode with some wisely underplayed warmth.
But it is a shame that Sabrina has, apparently, fallen under the Netflix curse of overstaying its welcome. It would have been nice to see the writers condense this story arc into fewer episodes, or shorten each episode so they had runtimes that were easier to digest. But, as it stands, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is an entertaining series, and fans will undoubtedly be hyped for the finale once the ninth episode’s credits start to roll.
