Why Sabrina From Chilling Adventures Is a Bad Friend
Let's Admit It, Sabrina From Chilling Adventures Is Actually a Terrible Friend
Watch out! This post contains spoilers.
Image Source: Netflix
Ever since Sabrina Spellman from Chilling Adventures of Sabrina found out she was Lucifer Morningstar's daughter, she's been acting brand new. In season two, she would do anything for her friends and coven, but by the time season three rolls around, Sabrina's top priority is herself — fair.
Let's face it, Sabrina Spellman Morningstar has a god complex. While her mortal friends (Roz, Harvey, and Theo) are constantly bewitched by her charms, Sabrina shows very early on that she's a toxic friend who positions her own narcissism at the centre of the show's vortex. Proof? In the very first episode, Sabrina literally drags her friends to hell.
Sabrina's mortal friends were innocently minding their own business, in the midst of band practice, when she runs in and interrupts them: "You guys. I figured it out. It's time for operation hand basket." Their reactions were equal parts confused and concerned. "We're going to hell?" Theo asks, "Like, hell hell?" Sabrina responds, "Yup. I found a back door."
Image Source: Netflix
With absolutely no regard for the negative ramifications of bringing mortals to hell, Sabrina proceeds to prepare her human friends to enter the underworld. Let's also note that at no point does Sabrina even pretend to be interested in their adorable new band. OK, we get it, she's got bigger things on her plate, but it's the least she could do. In Sabrina's twisted concept of morality, she's doing a good thing — asking her friends to help her free her boyfriend from damnation — but aren't there more appropriate sidekicks for her quest than mortals with literally no way to protect themselves if things were to go south? Sabrina treats Roz, Harvey, and Theo more like her disciples than her friends.
It's not until Roz's stone body is shattered beyond repair that Sabrina bumps her best friend to the top of her to-do list.
When Sabrina needs something, she's there in a flash — interrupting their band practice, taking no interest in it, and literally dragging them to hell. But when her friends need her help, Sabrina is nowhere to be found. In episode four of the third season "The Hare Moon," the mortals visit the carnival to gather some intel on the pagans. Roz snoops around the snake charmer's tent, completely unaware that the snake charmer is actually the mythic monster Medusa. As the story goes, Roz slowly turns into stone after looking into Medusa's eyes. Despite Sabrina's best friend needing her help, the queen of hell was too busy trying to restore her coven's dwindling powers. It's not until Roz's stone body is shattered beyond repair that Sabrina bumps her best friend to the top of her to-do list.
Image Source: Netflix
Later on in "The Hare Moon," Sabrina shares another glimpse into her vanity. The coven encourages Nicholas Scratch to bring Hilda Spellman's moon pie to the pagans as a peace offering for disrespecting them. Nick refuses to appease the pagans and storms off into the forest, where Sabrina follows him for a chat. Sabrina confronts Nick about cheating on her with sex demons, but Nick isn't having it and quickly checks her. "Of course you'd find a way to make my suffering about you," he says. "It's always about you, isn't it, Sabrina?"
Sabrina just wanted to be a teenager and have a high school experience, but instead she inherited the throne of hell — not an ideal situation.
Nick explains that he feels "polluted" after being possessed and tortured by Sabrina's father, Lucifer. Sabrina acknowledges Nick's traumatic experience but continues to minimise his feelings. "You've been through trauma, that's all," Sabrina says. "That's all?!" Nick snaps back, "I went to hell. I took the dark lord inside me." Although Chilling Adventures of Sabrina doesn't acknowledge it outright, the show uses Nick's experience with the devil as an allegory for rape. "It was a catalog of violation," Nick admits, "I had no control over my body or my fate." But all that runs through Sabrina's mind is "Why can't things go back to normal?"
Image Source: Netflix
If we were in Sabrina's position, we'd be desperate for normality, too. It's an absolute fact that she's self-centreed, but she's also a young woman who fell into an extremely powerful position and then was forced to accept her destiny before she was ready. Sabrina just wanted to be a teenager and have a high school experience, but instead she inherited the throne of hell — not an ideal situation. The conflict between Sabrina's mortal and infernal obligations had us kind of understanding where she's coming from, until she showed us, once again, that she's only looking out for herself.
What Sabrina wants, Sabrina gets, no matter what kind of evil her decisions are conjuring in the background.
Sabrina's first and second red flags were dragging her friends to hell and gaslighting her boyfriend's PTSD. Her third red flag comes courtesy of the balance of the universe. From letting the chess player go to heaven in the second episode "Drag Me to Hell" to creating a time paradox by the final episode "Sabrina Is Legend," Sabrina has no respect for cosmic equilibrium, as long as she gets what she wants.
Image Source: Netflix
Throughout the entire third season of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, we watch Sabrina's decisions kick off a series of unfortunate events, culminating in the coven losing against the pagans by the seventh episode "The Judas Kiss." In the season finale, Sabrina discovers a way to go back in time, win the Unholy Regalia, and save her friends and the coven.
After fixing the mistakes of her past self, Sabrina decides against closing the time loop. Instead, she leaves two versions of herself to exist simultaneously — Sabrina Spellman on Earth and Sabrina Morningstar as queen of hell. Ambrose warns Sabrina about the dangers of a time paradox — "the ramifications of this is horrifying at best" — but all Sabrina cares about is getting "what we wanted."
We hate to love her selfish tenacity, but would the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina be so diabolically delicious without it? Certainly not.
What Sabrina wants, Sabrina gets, no matter what kind of evil her decisions are conjuring in the background. We hate to love her selfish tenacity, but would the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina be so diabolically delicious without it? Certainly not. By the closing scene of season three, Sabrina enjoys a semblance of normality while dining with her witch family. "Everything has consequences, and there are always loose ends," Ambrose says while eyeing Sabrina, but as soon as Sabrina begins speaking, the cuckoo clock falls to the ground and smashes. Foreshadowing says that father time is not happy with Sabrina's final choice, and we can't wait to see what pandemonium awaits her in season four.
