Summary
“Chapter Thirty-Six: At the Mountains of Madness” is a sublime ending that encapsulates the efforts that have brought the characters to this moment. It has all the hallmarks of a “final ever” episode, and it makes absolute sense. Fans will be understandably disappointed that the story has ended and that there is little chance of a continuation, but few can argue that it did not end on the right terms.
This recap of Netflix’s Chilling Adventures of Sabrina season 4, episode 8, “Chapter Thirty-Six: At the Mountains of Madness” — the ending explained — contains significant spoilers.
We recapped every episode — check out the archive.
The opening
Well, here we are folks — the final ever episode of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. While we are still scratching our heads as to why they did not want to continue this wonderful universe, there’s no denying that Season 4 has an ending of all endings.
“Chapter Thirty-Six: At the Mountains of Madness” begins with the title screen, “Meanwhile…” which follows from “To Be Continued…” in the last episode. Ms. Wardwell is holding an evening on the Eldritch Gospel on behalf of Faustus, whose head is still on a plate. She talks about the Void two days before Halloween. The penultimate chapter held more weight than we thought.
The Void is coming
Meanwhile, Sabrina Spellman and her friends are enjoying a horror movie while all hooking up. They are all couples now. It’s Sabrina’s 17th birthday soon, and they want to plan something for her. On the way home, Nick gives Sabrina an early birthday present — a necklace each, with their photos inside so they can always find each other. While hooking up, Sabrina Morningstar storms through the mirror and casts a spell on it. She tells Sabrina Spellman that the Void is coming.
Sabrina Morningstar dies in Sabrina Spellman’s arms after delivering the warning, and she’s devastated at losing her best friend. Sabrina blames it on herself. Meanwhile, Faustus is excited that the Void is coming and asks his body to stand up — they reattach to each other. Chilling Adventures of Sabrina season 4, episode 8 is not making this a ceremonious ending — it’s taking the story’s closure seriously.
Family update and the trinket man
Ambrose updates the family that the cosmos has vanished. Sabrina tells them that this is the Void, ready to consume them all. Sabrina Morningstar’s death compounds Sabrina; she wants to be alone with her and asks to be left. When the others leave, she picks up the Imp of the Perverse, but before she makes a wish, the trinket man knocks on the door and asks for it back. He tells her it would be unwise to use the Imp to stop the Void.
The trinket man shows Sabrina a box that belonged to the daughters of the Gods in the name of Pandora. He believes Pandora’s box could trap the Void. They make a trade — the Imp for the box. The trinket man explains that to trap the Void, you have to open Pandora’s box from inside the Void. You can already sense where this is going before it even comes, bringing anxiety to the audience.
Sabrina’s proposed sacrifice
Knowing what she must do, Sabrina leaves a letter for all her loved ones — she believes she must be the one that goes inside the Void to trap it inside Pandora’s box. She believes it’s the least she can do after Sabrina Morningstar’s sacrifice. Salem meows at her. Sabrina asks the magic mirror to deliver her to the Void. Sabrina walks through the magic mirror and enters the Void. From here, we are given a dramatic, explosive finale.
Inside the Void
The Void is a white room, showing big letters stating “THE VOID” and planets laid out on the floor, highlighting the imagination of the creators of this season. There are portraits on either side of the room. Sabrina looks at the planets. Meanwhile, Hilda, Zelda, Ambrose, and Nick enter the Observatory, and big letters stating “THE VOID” are splashed on the wall. Salem keeps meowing at them and tells Ambrose that Sabrina has teleported to the Void. The witches try and teleport her back, but it doesn’t work — the Void is holding on to Sabrina’s body.
The Void speaks
The Void asks Sabrina why she has come to her willingly. It’s a female voice and explains that she is “nothing”, and everything is “nothing”. Sabrina introduces the Void to Pandora’s box and opens it. The box starts sucking everything into it to trap the Void. At this stage, everything is looking simple for the final ever episode.
Bringing Sabrina back
Meanwhile, Ambrose believes they can put Sabrina’s soul into Sabrina Morningstar’s body. The witches chant as Sabrina continues with Pandora’s box. She panics as she hears the chanting. Before she finishes the job, her soul is transferred into Sabrina Morningstar’s dead body. Sabrina tells the others that she was trapping the Void and that bringing her back means that Pandora’s box is left at the edge of the Void. It seems saving Sabrina at this stage causes more problems.
“It’s over”
Prudence asks Ambrose to head to the Observatory. “THE VOID” letters have gone. They believe Sabrina had managed to trap the Void before she left it. Ms. Wardwell continues to tell her story to the church and states the story doesn’t end happily for Sabrina Spellman. There’s real anxiety in Chilling Adventures of Sabrina season 4, episode 8 — a sense that the ending will be unsettling.
Faustus asks Ms. Wardwell to preach
In the present story for Ms. Wardwell, Judith, Judas, and Faustus visit her. Faustus has a Frankenstein look about him. He asks for help. He wants to prepare for the coming of the Void; Faustus asks Ms. Wardwell to preach about the Eldritch Terror at the Church; hence why she’s telling the story.
Lilith comes with news
The final ever episode then flits to Halloween — Sabrina Spellman’s birthday. Hilda explains how Vinegar Tom ate Sabrina’s pancakes, but Zelda insists the dog didn’t — the problems begin here. Meanwhile, Lilith tells Lucifer that the Queen, Sabrina Morningstar, is dead. Lucifer and Caliban are sad about it. Lilith wants to tell them more, but she wants reassurance that her powers will be restored if she tells the truth. Lilith then reveals that Sabrina Spellman is using the Queen’s body to house her soul. Caliban tells Lucifer that they are mocking him — he tells him to kill Sabrina Spellman so they can do a royal burial. Lilith knows where Sabrina and the others will be to take the opportunity. Caliban attacks the miners first. A mini-war is brewing outside of the Void storyline.
Lucifer demands his daughter’s body
As Sabrina starts serving trick or treaters, her bowl is empty, and there are no treats; she is confused. Her family then bring her birthday cake, but then it disappears as she blows the candles. Ominous music then plays and outside, Lucifer had gathered the army of miners; one of them is Harvey’s father. Sabrina heads outside, and Lucifer wants confirmation that Sabrina Morningstar is dead. Lucifer is appalled that he was never told. Sabrina tells Lucifer that he can have her — she gives in to his chants and walks towards Lucifer. No matter what happens in “Chapter Thirty-Six: At the Mountains of Madness”, Sabrina seems to accept her fate.
Making people disappear
Ambrose raises his wand and Caliban declares treachery and releases the miners. As a couple of miners are about to attack Sabrina, they disappear. Sabrina realizes she is making things disappear — she makes all the miners disappear including Harvey’s father and she looks back at Harvey, her eyes filled with tears. Lucifer is confused because he removed her magic powers — he believes it wasn’t magic.
Lilith takes back her powers
Lucifer returns to Lilith, and he’s furious; he believes Sabrina has manifested Godlike powers. Lilith wants her powers back as promised, but Lucifer wants to destroy Sabrina. Lilith stabs Lucifer in the back and takes her powers back by taking his celestial blood. She smothers his blood all over her face. She’s no longer mortal, and this scene is appealing to fans as we see her finally taking on Lucifer with courage.
Lilith sits on top of Lucifer and asks him to remember when they first met. She threatens to kill him with a blade, but she doesn’t want to end his suffering. Instead, she banishes Lucifer from the Court of Hell and tells him to wander the mortal realm. This will be torture for Lucifer.
Sabrina is angry, emotional, and lost
Harvey tells Sabrina to bring back his father, but she is emotional and doesn’t know what she did. More things start disappearing. As they all press her, she gets angry and tells them all to leave her alone. Ambrose calms her down and asks Nick to accompany him.
Sabrina is the Void
Ambrose tells Sabrina that her body is completely empty — she is the Void. By sucking her soul into Sabrina Morningstar’s body, they must have sucked some of the Void as well. Sabrina believes she has killed people and wants to go far away as possible — she disappears. This is the turning point of the final ever episode — Sabrina is the biggest danger to everything that exists.
Planning to get Sabrina back
Ambrose and Nick return to the others and explain how Sabrina has disappeared. Nick believes they should find Pandora’s box that is floating in space and finish the job. He shows everyone the necklace locket and explains how it is a beacon. They can bring Sabrina Spellman’s body and Pandora’s box home based on Nick’s theory. Ambrose suggests using the Weird’s body that he has preserved and meld it into an Eldritch oxygen mask in space. The series was obviously going to give Ambrose his final moments to come up with innovative solutions.
An unlikely team
Sabrina Morningstar has exiled herself at the Mountains of Madness. Faustus finds her, and she threatens to unleash the Void, but he is immune. He offers to teach her how to control the power of the Void. Sabrina wants to learn, including finding where the disappeared are. In an unexpected twist, Faustus and Sabrina team-up.
The Void needs feeding
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina season 4, episode 8 then moves to two weeks later; Ambrose, Prudence, Roz, and Agatha arrive at the Mountains of Madness pretending to be worshipping travelers. Faustus tells them the Void will devour them without question and that their wands will not work. Faustus then explains that the Void must be fed. He brings them to a pit and Sabrina reveals herself with a walking stick, looking weak. Faustus calls Sabrina the “face of the final shadow // the clock-keeper of doom”. Sabrina is not speaking as she’s taken a vow of silence.
Sitting at the table
Faustus and the others sit down, and Prudence uses her powers to learn that Faustus is looking for the rest of the Void — “It’s trapped. In space”. He wants to bring the rest of the Void to Earth, put it inside Sabrina, and rip it out of her. The witches then realize that Faustus has concocted a lie and that they are not sitting at a table, it’s a sacrificial altar. Sabrina tells them she isn’t going anywhere and asks them to leave before anything happens. The witches use their powers to help her stand up as objects start disappearing. Roz and Prudence then disappear. As Ambrose leaves with Agatha, Sabrina tells him she will see him again, at “the end”. The finale is doing everything to come up with solutions but then beats them down with a hard hammer — the writers wanted to make this as complex and dangerous for our lead character as possible.
Sabrina’s message
When Ambrose returns to the Spellman house, he reveals that Sabrina used telepathy, instructing when to return to her — “At the precise moment when Blackwood intends to sacrifice her when the poles of the Earth are furthest away from the sun, and the Void is if not containable, perhaps controllable”. This scene is funny as Hilda makes a sarcastic comment about “cutting it fine”.
The new plan
Nick returns from space with the dead body of Sabrina Spellman and Pandora’s box. Ambrose has a new plan; save Sabrina by extracting the remainder of the Void inside her by using the box.
Confronting Faustus
So the Sabrina rescue team return to the Mountains of Madness. Faustus enters the scene with a blade, and when he’s about to stab Sabrina, Ambrose tells him they have what he wants — all the Terrors, including Pandora’s box. They try to negotiate — the box for Sabrina. Faustus goes against the deal and opens the box, but he ends up in agony. It was a normal mystery box with gunpowder. Faustus is now blind. Let’s be frank, even though Faustus is greedy; he was extremely dumb in this situation.
Sabrina’s plan
Sabrina explains her crash course on the Void, including how to defeat it. Before getting rid of the Void, Sabrina wants to bring back the disappeared. She wants to bleed out, so the Void opens a gateway, and then, as she bleeds, she wants Ambrose and Harvey to enter the gateway and bring back the disappeared. She also wants them to put all the Eldritch Terrors into the Void to get rid of them forever. Hilda and Zelda do not like this plan as they believe it risks Sabrina dying. Sabrina tells Nick also to enter the gateway and use Pandora’s box to drain the Void and leave before it shuts. By Sabrina’s insistence and mannerisms, you can tell that this is not a straightforward plan that works in her favor, leaving the audience to wait with bated breath.
Bleeding open
They start Sabrina’s plan and open the Void by making her bleed on the table — noticeably, her blood is white, representing that she’s empty and hosting the Void. The gateway opens. Ambrose, Harvey, and Nick enter while holding a rope. Zelda and Hilda stay by Sabrina’s side, and it’s an emotional moment as Sabrina remembers growing up with her family and memories flash before her. The aunties are getting worried as Sabrina gets cold. Sabrina starts saying goodbye to everyone as flashbacks show more memories. This is a great montage for the fans; bringing together key moments for Sabrina — love and friendship — signifying that this ending encapsulates the seasons before.
A sacrifice
The miners return from the gateway, and then so do Roz and Prudence. Nick also returns after unleashing Pandora’s box — the Void is trapped along with the Eldritch Terrors, but it’s too late. Sabrina is dead. There is shock and sadness in the room. Hilda believes Sabrina knew she was going to die as the room grieves loudly. Ms. Wardwell continues her story — “It was time for the Spellmans to bury their dead”. While many fans will be upset, this is a suitable ending — Sabrina pushed the boundaries between realms and witchcraft too far. This was suggested at the end of Season 3 that having two Sabrinas was a step too far. From a writing perspective, there’s logic to appreciate.
The end of the Eldritch Gospel
“Chapter Thirty-Six: At the Mountains of Madness” flits to the funeral of Sabrina Spellman and Morningstar. Zelda remarks that she was a cheerleader by day, Queen of Hell by night. The aunties are shaken and emotional from recent events. Hilda wants to return to the mortuary so the Spellmans can stick together. Zelda sobs again and asks the Dark Mother why she didn’t preserve Sabrina. She doesn’t feel it is right that Sabrina is gone.
Prudence visits Faustus in his prison cell and chainsaws him. She scatters his body and tosses them to four corners of the earth so he can never return. Ms. Wardwell continues her story — “And so ends the Eldritch Gospel according to the Right Reverend Lovecraft”. While Sabrina’s story ends with grace, Faustus’s story ends in a lifetime of torture.
The ending
“Chapter Thirty-Six: At the Mountains of Madness” ends with Sabrina in a white room, very similar to the Void but warmer. Big writing is on the wall that says “The Sweet Hereafter” — it’s the afterlife. Nick walks behind her and asks her if the seat is taken. He explains that he went swimming in the Sea of Sorrows and there was a wicked undertow — he’s dead. He’s happy to be with her again — “forever and ever.” The couple kiss, ending the Netflix series one last time on romantic and loving terms.
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina season 4, episode 8 is a sublime ending that encapsulates the efforts that have brought the characters to this moment. It has all the hallmarks of a “final ever” episode, and it makes absolute sense. Fans will be understandably disappointed that the story has ended and that there is little chance of a continuation, but few can argue that it did not end on the right terms. It did, and it’s a testament to the writers for applying their wholesome imagination and bringing a complete finale.
