Sabrina's one wish for Christmas causes ghostly problems at the Spellman house, and Susie's dream job hides a sinister force.
At a previous Christmas, Hilda and Mr. Putnam discuss the missing McConklin boy, one of many children who has gone missing, while Sabrina and Susie wait for Santa.
The jolly old elf (Brian Markinson) calls them up, and while Susie asks for a truck like her dad's, the morose Sabrina wishes she could see her mom. In the present, Sabrina places the photo from this time on the tree, though the Scrooge-like Zelda wishes she would call it "Yule," not Christmas. Zelda gushes about having baby Leticia in the house just in time for the holidays. Ambrose brings up how the child was abducted, but Zelda says she would've been unsafe with Blackwood, whom she compares to the Roman King Herod. Ambrose wonders how they'll keep the child a secret, only for Zelda to shrug and give the cover that she's a long-lost Spellman sent to live with them like Sabrina. Hilda is happy to see a photo of Edward and Diana, but notices Sabrina grow sullen; the girl wishes she could've had one solstice with her parents. To cheer Sabrina up, they decide to watch her favorite Christmas movies and have Ambrose read A Christmas Carol, as even Zelda enjoys it (for the ghosts). Zelda lights the Yule log, recounting it must burn from the shortest day to the longest night for protection, or dangerous creatures could come down the chimney. They perform a Solstice blessing, and Ambrose follows Sabrina out, wondering why she hasn't spoken; she feels this year is different since she signed Satan's book. He shrugs that life goes on, but she says she's also distancing herself from her friends so they can adjust to her being a witch; he suggests doing the opposite. She explains she wishes her mom could tell her how she handled learning Edward was a warlock and if she considered breaking up with him, but Ambrose says every girl wants to talk to their mom after a breakup. Sabrina reveals how she saw Diana in Limbo, and when Ambrose says she must have unfinished business, she suggests having a seance to help her. She reminds him this is the time the veil between living and dead is thinnest, but he counters that this is the reason for the log, to keep things out.
At Baxter, Wardwell prays to the Dark Lord about why she hasn't been called back, asking for a sign just as Sabrina arrives.
Sabrina tells her about seeing her mom and asks for her Book of the Dead to perform a seance. Knowing nothing will stop the girl, Wardwell agrees but urges caution. Wardwell turns to the now-stuffed Stolas and decides she has to interrupt the seance and prevent Diana from telling Sabrina anything they might dislike. Sabrina asks Roz and Susie to help, but the two find it too strange and soon, and while Roz is busy with family, Susie will be working as an elf at Santa's Play Land. Though the man playing Santa, Mr. Bartell, is apparently a Grinch, Sabrina and Roz agree to visit, knowing Susie has wanted to do this for years. Harvey's arrival pulls Sabrina away; though he still sees Tommy while with her, he says it's getting better. His dad is drinking himself into a hole, and won't let anyone help. She gives him a Christmas present of enchanted colored pencils that never ware, and though disheartened to learn they're magic, he assures her it's a great gift. They say goodbye, and Sabrina tears up as he leaves. Sabrina then heads to the Academy and finds the Weird Sisters, who admit they have no plans as everyone else is going home to see family for the holidays. She invites them to the seance, and Prudence agrees, as Dorcas and Agatha show excitement and she points out they know what it's like not having a mom. Roz meets the excited Susie at work, but Bartell calls her back, and she says they also have to close up later. As Susie operates the camera, Roz looks at Bartell suspiciously. While cleaning later, Bartell thanks Susie and asks about her plans. She says it's just her and her dad, and he urges her to be careful as she wipes a large doll. To her surprise, a tear goes down its cheek, and he stalks forward, saying he normally has to hunt down the prettiest child. She turns as the doll continues its oddness, just as Bartell throws a bag over her.
Meanwhile, Wardwell uses a gingerbread version of the Spellman house to perform a spell that puts out their Yule log as Sabrina and the Weird Sisters prepare.
They sit around Diana's dress and Agatha explains what will happen, then performs a chant. Her spirit proves itself by saying the number of her and Edward's final flight. Diana grants Sabrina's wish by appearing in the dress, but says it's not safe, and suddenly Agatha warns of other spirits causing interference. Spirits enter in the chimney below with childlike laughter, knocking the tree over. Hilda and Zelda enter and see the log, so they rush to warn Ambrose and Sabrina. Agatha decides to break the connection, and as Sabrina begs her mom to stay, Zelda enters, seeing her spirit, and the dress crumples. Zelda calmly demands an answer and sends the Weird Sisters away. Downstairs, Zelda finds it hard to believe that this is a coincidence, and upon learning about Diana being in Limbo, surprises Sabrina saying they would've helped. Having searched the house, Ambrose says any spirit left when they re-lit the log, but Zelda says they could also be good at hiding. She urges everyone to pray and sleep with a warding candle, and agrees Hilda should return to their room to sleep. Ambrose offers his condolences upon learning Sabrina got no answers, and she says she might try again after the solstice.
The next day, the shortest of the year, Zelda is playing with Leticia when Sabrina enters, and she makes a snide comment about Sabrina's failed seance.
They bicker for a bit, and Zelda relents that she believes Sabrina and says she's sorry she didn't get the answers she was looking for, offering to try again with her later. She leaves to bathe Leticia, and Hilda reveals she never let Diana in, regretting their bad blood after her death. Hilda thinks this is why she tries so hard to protect Sabrina. She says this time things aren't Sabrina's fault really, and the girl leaves to give Mr. Kinkle some special eggnog that will keep him from ever wanting to drink alcohol. Mr. Kinkle accepts it after Sabrina claims it contains rum, and she tells the suspicious Harvey they just had extra. Mr. Putnam goes upstairs and finds Susie's room empty. He immediately calls Roz, who is surprised to learn Susie never returned home. Susie wakes in a twisted workshop, screaming when she sees Bartell, who is hammering away at something, and now has a demon's head. Ambrose laments spending another solstice alone as he deciphers Blackwood's book. He repeatedly notices the corpse nearby in a mirror, standing, and has to protect himself when it gets close with a knife, sending it to the ground amidst laughter. The body lockers start slamming as the laughter continues, and as Ambrose approaches them, the body stands and snaps her fingers. Upstairs, Hilda is baking and finds her rolling pin keeps moving, followed by a flour bag dropping to the floor. A pair of footprints leads to the now-empty knife holder, and when she looks up, each knife is floating, and drops in a circle around her. Further upstairs, Zelda assumes a crashing sound is Sabrina, and tries to comfort Leticia, but her sewing machine kicks on. When she investigates, she finds the message "We have your baby," and Leticia disappears. She and Hilda go searching, and after being taken to the front hall, Hilda finds Leticia in the oven, which she was preheating. Ambrose enters, having locked down the embalming room, and says they have poltergeists, but Zelda says that's not it. They hear a noise that turns out to be Sabrina, and determine they've got Yule Lads, impish child spirits that come to unguarded homes in the midwinter. Hilda says they'll only leave if their mother, Gryla, tells them to. Zelda explains Gryla is a dangerous witch who made a pact with another woman to eat their children during a famine, but after eating Gryla's son, the other witch broke the pact. Gryla has since added children, especially orphans, to her "family," and they'll have to summon her and give an offering to be rid of the ghosts. Ambrose leaves for a party with Luke, as he learns Gryla hates and will eat men because her husband abandoned her, and Sabrina watches Leticia in the morgue so the witch won't try to spirit her away. Though everything seems well as Gryla (Heather Doerksen) accepts an offering of gin, Leticia's cries cause problems, and Susie is still trapped with a yuletide demon.
I was surprised to find this Christmas special is actually important to the main story, taking place after Sabrina signed the book, and with her desiring to help Diana.
This was something I was hoping to see explored more, as Diana was talking about how her baby was taken from her. This was suspicious enough, and then this episode Wardwell was determined to keep Sabrina from learning anything from Diana. There have obviously been things about Sabrina's parents the Dark Lord's servants are hiding from here, and this is a rather blatant example. Although there is bound to be stuff they don't want Sabrina to know, I really wonder why Wardwell was so afraid of the mere thought of Sabrina talking to her mom. As it is, I'm surprised Sabrina wasn't immediately asking questions about her mothers death when her spirit arrived, other than the plane's number being named. Heck, back in the first episode was when Prudence suggested their death wasn't an accident, and Sabrina has had visions suggesting they didn't want her baptized. I suppose in a way she assumes this would be related to her mom being in Limbo, but I was wishing she had asked more specific things in the short time she had. She also now potentially has reason to be suspicious of Wardwell, though I don't expect her to put the pieces together yet. Sabrina was suspicious after the Batibat incident, but her fears were easily quelled, and even after moments like Wardwell "not" wanting her to take her book, she continued to trust the woman. Now, however, the family should be suspicious in general because their Yule log randomly went out and Sabrina has reason to think of Wardwell. She knows she didn't put the fire out, the others obviously wouldn't, and I figure it's an enchanted fire that wouldn't go out from a simple breeze. This leaves Sabrina with a suspect, because she only told Ambrose, her friends, the Weird Sisters, and Wardwell about her seance plan. Ambrose wouldn't put it out, her friends wouldn't know about it and wouldn't put it out anyway, and the Sisters were ecstatic about helping. Then there's Wardwell, who like with her other endeavors, didn't want Sabrina to go through with her plan, but assumed she would no matter what. Wardwell has proven to be able to get spells into their house, and knew it would be vulnerable when Sabrina was performing the seance. For whatever reason, Sabrina just brushes past the strangeness of the log going out, but I suppose this could be chalked up to a simple plot device. It was also sad seeing how she interacts with Harvey now; it's clear they both still love each other, but he's having a hard time accepting her abilities. For him, magic is what took his brother twice, and he has no good reason to trust what it can do over what it might do. Whereas they were inseparable in the past, now they're both having a hard time with each other, and find themselves unable to stay in each other's worlds. I enjoyed the newfound sort of friendship between Sabrina and the Weird Sisters, which I assume is a result of her signing the Dark Lord's book. It was definitely strange, considering she's now chummy with a person she killed, especially since she and another sister are responsible for Tommy's death, but I suppose they can do it if Hilda and Zelda do. Now as the massive Christmas fan I am, I also loved the visuals and music for this episode, with everything radiating the holidays. Right near the start we get the establishing shot of the Spellman house, pictured at the top of this post, and I loved the gorgeous look. There is simultaneously a snowy, holiday feeling and look to it and the darker nature of the family, with the environment shrouded in black. There are moments like this throughout the episode, with a few shots of Wardwell's house, and just in general a lot of Christmas objects in the background. Much like that early shot of the house, there is also a creepy nature to many of the shots with Bartell, though it's not something you notice until a second viewing. Speaking of Bartell, I was surprised Roz didn't take action after her initial suspicions of him, because to this point we've seen the Cunning to be accurate and useful. She can't really be blamed for Susie getting captured, of course, but it's strange she waited until Mr. Putnam told her what was happening to wise up. Bartell and Gryla are fun antagonists for the episode, with the former being a Yuletide demon and the latter having a rather tragic backstory. Gryla is definitely the more interesting of the two; Bartell is a bit fun, but we don't see much of him, while Gryla gets fleshed out and has an unnerving presence. The background we get for Gryla is equal parts sad and disturbing, and the aunts being afraid of her both before and after she arrives says a lot about her abilities. Her offering request upon entering the house is hard alcohol, and whens he learns about Leticia, she immediately wants to spirit the baby away. Her children are unnerving in the episode as well, especially with how they dropped the knives around Hilda and hid Leticia in the oven. It's pretty obvious what they're going to do at times, like when the camera repeatedly shows Hilda's knives, but it's still creepy seeing what "mischief" they cause. Speaking of children, I was a bit confused with how open Zelda seemed to be about having Blackwood's child, even if they're pretending Leticia is a Spellman. She comes to a decision late in the episode, but even then, Luke is nearby at one moment where Ambrose talks about baby abduction. This could be referencing Gryla's kids taking Leticia, but you'd think they'd be more careful around someone so close to Blackwood. It might be early June, but upon reaching this episode it felt like a "Christmas in July" moment for a Christmas-holic, and along with loving the episode I'm now hyped to move on to season 2.
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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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