Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina – Season 4 Episode 4 Recap & Review

The Imp Of The Perverse

Episode 4 of Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina Season 4 shows Sabrina rehearsing her speech as she and Roz campaign to be student council presidents while Roz finally comes clean to Harvey. Unfortunately, he is having trouble coming to terms with the revelation that his girlfriend is a seer and a witch, creating tension between the two.

In the night church, a salesman comes in, selling trinkets. Faustus sees that he is selling the imp of the perverse; the fourth terror. Its power consists of warping and perverting reality.

In the observatory, Prudence notices some activity and asks for her sister’s help. Both Roz and Mambo concentrate and they see what Faustus is up to. They see that he has summoned the terror so they ask her where he is. She refuses to tell them as she wants to kill her father herself. She teleports to him and as she tries killing him, he disappears. Suddenly, we see that the world has changed and turned into an authoritarian society where Faustus is the emperor.

In school, Sabrina and Roz soon realize that everything has changed. The school is now called Blackwood High and Sabrina is public enemy number one – so she quickly change her appearance.

In class, everyone has to pledge allegiance to emperor Blackwood as Mrs Wardwell starts to give her history lessons on the danger of witches. The emperor soon arrives with Prudence and other cadets. He declares that Robin is a witch and sends his lieutenant to arrest him. Robin disappears and they arrest Theo, thinking that he is the witch.

Roz and Sabrina meet in the bathroom and discuss what is happening. They conclude that this could be the work of the Eldritch terror who has perverted the world but both are immune to it since they came in contact with one previously.

They head to the mortuary next and find Ambrose about to run away after the house has been marked. Sabrina tries knocking some sense into him but he denies knowing anything about witches or her. After he drives off, Sabrina decides to head to the academy to speak to her aunt Zelda while Roz speaks to Harvey.

In the academy (now an art school) Sabrina bumps into Nick and then heads to see her Aunt, who also doesn’t remember her. After revealing herself, Zelda recognizes her but claims she is public enemy number one and orders her to get out of the school. Sabrina then casts a spell to bring her memories back, but has to quickly leave as the emperor has arrived to check up on the school.

Meanwhile, Roz tries to get the real Harvey out and asks him why he is in Blackwood’s army. She tells him she is a witch and that Blackwood is also a warlock. He becomes agitated and silences her, threatening to get her arrested. She has some final words for him, reminding him of their first time together.

Back at the academy, Blackwood’s army find objects to burn and take Nick away as Blackwood declares that he is a witch. After they leave, Sabrina appears and tries to make everyone remember who they are. Zelda gives her some instructions to get a book from the store as she explains that there might be people able to help.

Ambrose crosses the town line and remembers who he is. He meets the trinket man who tells him that a madman took one of his trinkets; the imp of the perverse. Ambrose realizes what Blackwood has done and that it only affects the people of Greendale. The trinket man offers him the stone of Omphalos from the Greek myth which Ambrose knows to be the stone of reality.

He gives it to him for free but warns that once he crosses the line, he will only have 30 seconds before his mind is perverted again. Suddenly, Robin teleports next to him and offers his help.

Roz and Sabrina reconvene in the book store and find Hilda there. After giving her Zelda’s message, Hilda takes them to the back room where she introduces her to the resistance. Mrs Wardwell and Agatha, who is not insane anymore, are also there.

The latter reveals that Blackwood has the mark of Cain and is therefore immortal. Ambrose suddenly appears and quickly tells Sabrina to use the stone of reality. Unfortunately, he is not able to use it as his mind becomes perverted again. Hilda has an idea and since the stone was eaten by Cronus in the myth, she thinks they should make a stone soup.

The soup seems to work as everyone remembers after drinking it. On the back of this, they hatch a plan to destroy the imp. Sabrina brings the soup to the convent for everyone to drink while Harvey and Billy arrive at the book store and find the resistance group. After Roz begs Harvey to turn away, he takes her and leaves the rest of the resistance there.

Their memories and mind restored, Zelda and her witches vow to get Blackwood down. They head to the emperor celebration where Nick is being tortured, ready to be executed. Sabrina suddenly gets up from the crowd, revealing herself and claiming to be a witch.

While she distracts him, Ambrose casts a spell and destroys the imp. It turns out to be a fake so Sabrina then throws the remainder of the stone and reveals that Blackwood is a witch. He staggers and calls the twins to help. The rest of the witches stand up and the two sides face each other.

Roz convinces Harvey to help and he stops the twin. Prudence gets ready to defend her father but Agatha and Ambrose manage to get to her just in time. Prudence reveals that they cant destroy the imp but they have to wish upon it.

Robin then teleports to Blackwood’s office and grabs the imp. Sabrina takes the imp and tries wishing for the world to go back to normal. When it doesn’t work again, she quickly realizes that it is Blackwood’s dog who is the real imp. She makes the wish again and the world finally goes back to what it was.

We then cut back to the beginning where Prudence is finally able to stab her father with her sword. Unfortunately, since he has the mark of Cain he doesn’t die and the convent keeps his head in the dungeon.

In Baxter High, Sabrina and Roz walk out of the bathroom and see that everything is back to normal. Harvey takes Roz aside and apologizes to him. He promises to be there for her as he wants to be at the right side of history. Sabrina then gives a new speech with Roz and present themselves as teenage witches; unapologetic feminists ready to make a stand.

The episode ends with Nick declaring to Sabrina that he still has feelings for her. She asks him about Prudence so he tells her it is not what they had and declares that they are end-game.

The Episode Review

The fourth episode doesn’t do much to move the plot forward as Blackwood uses the third terror to create his perfect world. Even if it did feel like a filler, this was still an interesting and thrilling chapter though. It was certainly intriguing to see a very dark and scary world, especially showing what would happen if Blackwood had complete reign.

We are now halfway through the final season and all bets are off as to how the show will end and just what terrors are coming next. As predicted, Nick comes clean about his feelings and I wonder if the finale will bring the two back together.

As with each season, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina does bring its usual dose of agenda-driven politics around feminism that can sometimes feel a little on the nose. However, it is never too overbearing and the show carries on doing a great job blending the dark and magical storytelling with enjoyable teen drama. Roll on the next episode!