The Unholy Regalia
Episode 3 of Season 3 begins in Harvey’s house as he discusses with Roz the upcoming fair while Sabrina and Nick enjoy their reunion. However, their happiness is short-lived when Nick wakes up screaming from a nightmare and Sabrina notices that he has a deformed foot. The next day at breakfast, Zelda remains upset at Sabrina for going to Hell without their permission. She then speaks to Ambrose and asks him to be the librarian of the academy. Sabrina plans a day alone with Nick but she’s stopped by Lilith, who summons her to court in Hell as they want to know her plans. Everyone is gathered at the table as she tells them that she wants to stop the contracts in Hell. Calaban arrives to challenge the throne as he has gathered 666 signatures. As she refuses, he then challenges her to a quest of the unholy regalia which are the three most powerful occult objects in history with the first one being Herod’s crown. Meanwhile, the coven is in crisis after one of the warlocks falls to his death after flying and other witches start falling ill. Zelda and Hilda decide to stay strong and act as if nothing serious is happening while Theo discusses inviting his new friend Robin to go to the carnival with them. Ambrose finds Sabrina and tells her he may have found the location of the crown in Riverdale. With help from a magic compass, they decide to head there to look for it. It leads them to a tree and upon finding it, Sabrina tells him she wants to destroy it. Ambrose stops her though as he wants to harness its power to restore the coven to its full strength. After they leave, a corpse bursts out of the tree, growling after his crown. Back at the academy, Sabrina finds Nick in the church trying to cut his foot off as he doesn’t feel like himself. She stops him, telling him it’s only temporary while Ambrose tries to understand the powers of the crown. Suddenly the corpse of Herod arrives and renders Ambrose unconscious before taking his crown back and going after Sabrina. Sabrina and her friends head to the carnival and meet the strange man in charge while we see Mr Cee proposing to Hilda. Theo and Robin decide to go on the Ferris wheel and end up kissing. As Nick and Sabrina head into the Tunnel Of Love, they’re soon ambushed by Herod, who’s there for Sabrina. As they fight him off, Calaban suddenly appears and steals the crown. Fortunately, Ambrose arrives to save the day and manages to make Harrod explode. Nick decides to go back to the academy and visits Dorian. He tells him he thinks Sabrina has a new suitor and asks for the playmates he offered earlier. We then see two girls asking Nick what his pleasure is and he replies pain, as he needs to forget what happens to him. Sabrina storms into hell and confronts Caliban about not helping them when Herrod was attacking. She tells him it will be the last round he wins and promises to slice his throat before she lets him have her throne. The episode closes with the carnies discussing Sabrina as we also see that Robin is one of them. They then start performing a ritual, chanting and using a human sacrifice. We finally meet the new antagonists in the third episode who uses a carnival to blend into the town. Robin has also managed to infiltrate the group as he slowly grows closer to Theo. While their plan remains unclear, Sabrina trying to keep her position in hell is another new challenge for our teenage witch to overcome. I’d imagine that each episode will show her trying to get one of the artifacts now, while we still follow the main story line. There was a small nod towards Riverdale too, teasing the upcoming cross-over event. Sabrina and Ambrose driving there to collect the crown was a nice touch and should please fans of that sister show too. This season has so far been quite refreshing and thrilling, with plenty of great plots and twists. Quite what will happen next though remains to be seen.
