A ghostly visit makes Sabrina even more suspicious of Blackwood as the Anti-Pope comes for the wedding, and Wardwell starts getting comfortable with Adam.
The Weird Sisters interrupt Blackwood as he shaves to share a prophetic dream they had, warning of bloodshed and that the Spellmans will be the end of the Blackwoods.
He shrugs this off, telling them he has the Spellmans under his control, and suggests they go back to bed. Prudence remains and asks if Zelda will take his name, and he of course says yes. She then asks about Sabrina, causing him to cut himself, and he growls that Sabrina will never be a Blackwood, having as little claim to the name as Prudence herself. Wardwell agrees with Stolas that the time has come to again push Sabrina toward the dark path and have her "bring down the temple," twisting the Nazarene miracles. Adam hears and comes to check on her, but she tells him to go back to bed. The Spellmans are stuck listening to Zelda gush about marrying Blackwood, though Hilda points out she can't go due to being excommunicated. Zelda plans to speak with him about this so Hilda can be her maid of dishonor, since otherwise it falls to Sabrina, who doesn't approve of the wedding and doesn't believe she's in love. Salem meows, so Ambrose, who's been watching the cat, hurls a box and insults him. The others demand that he stop; he believes Salem ate Leviathan. Hilda knows he's grieving Luke, but says it's normal. He admits it's as if Luke suddenly didn't exist, and Zelda interrupts that they should focus on the wedding. Sabrina vents with Nick, who says it's cool the Anti-Pope will be officiating the wedding. He explains this pope is the one who rules over everyone and decides laws, and although Sabrina constantly breaks them, he was a big fan of Edward. Just then, Edward's ghost appears at the top of the stairs, visible to both of them. Sabrina approaches, and he warns that Blackwood brought down his and Diana's plane, and he'll kill Zelda if he succeeds in marrying her. He urges her to avenge his death and finish the work in his manifesto, then fades into the darkness. Sabrina returns to Nick, and we see the ghost was actually Wardwell.
Back at the Spellman house, Zelda sees Constance Blackwood just before Prudence arrives, asking that she convince Blackwood to legitimize her.
Zelda is unsure she can do anything, but agrees when Prudence brings up how she helped spirit away Leticia and has kept the secret. Sabrina arrives to call a family meeting and tells them about Edward, but Zelda believes the council's inquiry that found no foul play. She points out Sabrina was day-drinking when this happened, and prefers to think about Constance, revealing how she saw her spirit in the cemetery. Zelda returns to talking about the wedding, so Sabrina brings up Edward again; Zelda says she won't believe until he shows himself to her, sarcastically telling Sabrina to send him her way if she sees him again, and invite him to the wedding. Sabrina storms out, but Ambrose follows. He claims he believes her, telling her about the tarot reading and how the Judas Society is meeting that night. Wanting to find out what the meeting is for and how the pope fits into everything, she decides to go to Wardwell. Wardwell says Edward's manifesto was reform suggestions for the church, something a traditionalist like Blackwood, who oversaw the inquiry, would hate. Edward had the only copy of the manifesto, and their plane went down over the Devil's Triangle, so Sabrina decides she needs to retrieve it and get it to the Anti-Pope. While planning the wedding, Zelda convinces Blackwood to reverse Hilda's excommunication, then moves on to Prudence's request. Adam asks about Sabrina later, and after believing she just takes great interest in her students, he proposes. In the Spellman bathroom, Sabrina has candles set up and bickers with Salem about the pressure of the ocean and how long Nick can hold his breath. He successfully retrieved the manifesto from a giant squid, but Hilda enters to ask Sabrina to be bait for Constance and tells Nick to put a shirt on. Constance comes to Sabrina, who has a sheet over her, to warn Zelda that she'll haunt her forever if she marries Blackwood. Hilda enters and threatens to bind her in a box with sanctified dirt. Constance explains that Zelda killed her, and after stealing her baby, wants her husband, too. Hilda says this isn't true and asks why she thinks this; Constance admits Sister Jackson told her, so Hilda tells her the truth and convinces her to rest.
That night at the Judas meeting, Blackwood leads everyone to mourn Luke, then explains their tenants: the Earth is theirs to rule, mortals are not to be lain with, they shepherd the mortals, witches are subservient, and warlocks rule the church.
Blackwood approaches Ambrose, who went off to the side, to ask that he guard the Anti-Pope when he arrives. The mission is for the most loyal, originally slated for Luke. Zelda shares the good news of Blackwood's decision with Hilda, who in turn reveals Shirley's manipulation, and says she's going to handle it. Zelda says Hilda has one more duty as her maid of dishonor: to "attend her" tomorrow evening in case the Dark Lord arrives to lie with her. Hilda is shaken, but agrees. Sabrina and Nick show Ambrose the manifesto, with Edward's laws: mortals and witches share a common home; it is the prerogative for witches to lie with mortals; witches are revered matriarchs of the church; magic should be used for pleasure, gain, and to satiate senses; and the union of mortals and witches will bring Lucifer's era. Ambrose is shaken, but believes there thinking that Blackwood murdered her parents so they couldn't reform the church. He reveals Blackwood's own tenants, which he calls backward and misogynistic, that Blackwood will present tomorrow, which Sabrina wants to stop. With Ambrose there for sure as a guard, she suggests they present Edward's manifesto against Blackwood's to stop his tenants and hopefully the wedding. Blackwood and Zelda welcome the Anti-Pope (Ray Wise), who takes an interest in Zelda and enters the Academy. Zelda has to give Prudence bad news about Blackwood's decision as the Anti-Pope meets students, pleased at Nick's abilities and amazed to meet Sabrina. He praises her father as an amazing warlock but laments that they never got to meet, so he never knew what plans Edward had for the church. Prudence steps in as Blackwood leads the Anti-Pope away, but her father simply introduces her as "Prudence Night, one of the gutter orphans the Academy fosters."
Hilda sits for cookies and tea with Shirley, who feigns ignorance about Constance but says he doesn't hate just Zelda; he hates Edward for dumping her for Diana.
She found their deaths just and rose in the church's ranks, only for Zelda to step in, and she refuses to let a Spellman pass her by. Pointing out how much Zelda has done to Hilda, Shirley suggests they team up for revenge, but Hilda admits that while everyone sees her as meek and mild, she loves Zelda, and warns there will be Heaven to pay if Shirley hurts her family. Shirley counters she's had magical protection since Zelda's earworm trick, but Hilda says this is precisely why she's eating almond cookies, as almond masks the taste of cyanide. Shirley suddenly slumps to the table, which Hilda notes will leave a bruise. Blackwood's request to call a summit surprises the Anti-Pope, who notes that Edward tried a reform in the past as well, and asks who would lead this. As Blackwood puts forth his society's tenants, Sabrina barges in, and presents Edward's manifesto, taking note of Blackwood calling it impossible. Blackwood tries to get the Anti-Pope to disregard her, but he agrees to look at both manifestos and decide which, if either, should be adopted. While having dinner, Adam brings up his proposal and how she wanted to get married, but Wardwell says she's a different woman now. He believes marriage is a blessed way for two people to show their love, but Wardwell cynically describes it as a woman's loss of self. To her surprise, he stays adamant that he cares only about her, and assures her he won't hurt her like some man may have done in the past. Breaking down, she admits that "He" was only ever cruel to her, and accepts a kiss. Sabrina worries about the manifesto, but Nick reminds her they did all they can, which was an amazing feat, and gets frisky while they wait for good news. Blackwood comforts his son, saying the Spellmans won't overthrow him as he has contingencies set up, and soon will come blood followed by glory. The Dark Lord appears to Wardwell as she pours a drink, telling her to get rid of the "distraction" of Adam and ensure the temple falls, and says she belongs to him. One of Ambrose's fellow guards is annoyed as his stomach starts growling, and Ambrose becomes puzzled when he realizes he has a craving. Zelda anxiously awaits the Dark Lord, and just as she accepts he might not come at all, the doors swing open and Hilda takes her leave as Zelda kneels. A shrill cry breaks the night, however, and a violent scandal soon rocks the community and impedes Sabrina and Nick's efforts.
This was certainly a confusing series of events, with the show for once actually leaving me puzzled if certain characters were lying or not.
Edward's visit to Sabrina caught me off-guard, especially since Nick was able to see him as well, but of course this turned out to be Wardwell. She gives Sabrina yet another massive push into her dark nature, making her certain Blackwood is responsible for her parents' deaths. One gripe I do have with this scene is how after successfully tricking the girl, Wardwell steps out of the shadows to gloat about how things are going. I don't understand why she'd do this in such an open place, especially in Dorian's, where girls entering is a rarity, and somehow Sabrina and Nick don't see her. I feel like in that situation, it would've made sense for Sabrina, if not seeing Wardwell from the corner of her eye, to look up just because of what she experienced, and perhaps hoping she'd see Edward again. This is really the only bit of plotting Wardwell does for this episode with the remainder spent trying to keep Adam at arm's length. His marriage proposal catches her completely off-guard, and given her past relationship experiences, it's natural that she isn't excited about the idea. Like she says, for her marriage has simply been a way of forcing subservience on women and taking away their identity. Adam believes this is just the result of some jerk from the past, of course, unaware that she means Lucifer and how cruel he was to her. Michelle Gomez gives another great emotional performance, but now I'm confused about her plan and how she sees Sabrina. In a past episode after learning the Dark Lord intends to make Sabrina an important figure in his rise, she decides she wants to make sure she can ascend even beyond Sabrina and rule as Satan's equal. It confuses me that she wants to rule alongside the Dark Lord, rather than completely overthrow him, but it's clear he has great control over her. Perhaps she does wish to overthrow him, really, but it's clear whenever he's around, she's completely terrified, which is what you'd expect in an abusive relationship. On the opposite side of the relationship spectrum, you have Nick and Sabrina, with the former being willing to risk the crushing depths of the ocean for the manifesto. For the rest of the episode, he's then completely on Sabrina's side, as he's been before, certain that Blackwood needs to go down. Although she gets manipulated in this episode yet again, Sabrina comes up with some an interesting plan to trick Blackwood. In Hamlet, the title character's dead father returns as a ghost and tells him the new king, Hamlet's uncle Claudius, murdered him. Using what his father tells him, Hamlet alters a play to resemble the murder, with the intent to watch Claudius, and determine his guilt based on his reaction. For Sabrina's plan, they have the ability to use glammers, so they decide to pretend to be Edward and Diana and accuse Blackwood of murdering them. Little seems to go exactly as planned in this show, but I found Sabrina's plan to be quite clever, and I'm starting to believe she's right about Blackwood. Although Wardwell is trying to manipulate her, she has a point that Blackwood, who opposed Edward's ideals, headed the investigation committee. Furthermore, there's Blackwood's reaction to Sabrina having the manifest, as although it's posslbe he just knew Edward had a single copy of it, he would've needed to know this for sure and that it went down with him. Despite potentially slipping up there, he is surprisingly the one holding all the cards now, while Wardwell is faltering. He's surprisingly certain the Spellmans are no challenge in the end, and that the Weird Sisters' dream won't come true. Of course, by the end of this one it partially does, with Blackwood himself saying there will be blood followed by glory, like how they said there was blood. Blackwood is really showing how manipulative he can be, as he's clearly been planning his manifesto presentation for a while and has contingencies set up. His big one is Ambrose, whom we know he's been manipulating,a nd although Ambrose has realized this, Blackwood notices his changed demeanor. Before, Ambrose was excited to do anything for Blackwood, but now he closes himself off from the rest of the society, and when Blackwood asks him to guard the Anti-Pope, you can tell Blackwood notices his anxious reaction. This manipulation manifests eventually, and I was glad Ambrose's craving comment ended up having actual importance. Opposite Blackwood's success this episode is Wardwell, who is becoming distracted as she falls for Adam and opens up. Her intention was to get Sabrina to make the "temple" fall, which I assumed meant succeeding in toppling Blackwood's regime. Adam's kindness distracts her, however, especially his impassioned speech about how he'll never hurt her like her previous lover must have. She seems to actually be infatuated, to the point Satan comes to demand that she get back to business and reminds her that she "belongs" to him. Probably my favorite part in this episode is when Hilda has her sit-down with Shirley and takes revenge so calmly and coldly. The entire time she keeps up the appearance she knows people expect from her, only to reveal her dark intentions with the cookies. I loved the touch of mentioning early on that they were almond, as I've heard before about cyanide tasting like it, but assumed they were just another truth concoction like they gave the Blackwoods before. I can get behind the proud devotion Hilda has for her family, and seeing her go so brutal was amazing, especially as it didn't phase her when it happened. I did find myself wondering about Shirley, though, because Constance mentioned in her desire for revenge that Zelda spirited her baby away. She says Shirley is the one who told her everything, but the only two who should know what Zelda did with Leticia are Zelda and Prudence, so how did she find out? At one point Prudence convinces Zelda to talk to Blackwood by mentioning how she helped and kept her secret, but maybe she didn't. She's jealous this episode that Zelda is going to receive the Blackwood name while she isn't, so maybe she had a hand in Constance arriving. This could have been hinted with how Prudence shows up at the Spellman house right after Zelda first sees Constance's ghost. I don't think she would've just told Shirley herself, as it seems more likely that Shirley would jsut take the info right to Blackwood himself. Whatever the case may be, the Spellmans are now in a complicated position, especially with Blackwood, as Wardwell tries to push Sabrina further into darkness.
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AuthorI love the entertainment side of things. Video games, tv shows, superheroes and movies are my passion and I'd love to get the news out for things I enjoy. My contact page has links to my social media, so if you enjoy what I have to say, likes, shares, comments, and follows are always greatly appreciated! Archives
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