‘Chilling Adventures of Sabrina’ Episode 8 Recap: Making a Murderer

There are certain phrases you just never expect to type in life, until a Netflix show forces your hand. “Kiernan Shipka slitting throats” certainly falls into that category, and yet, here we are. Yes, our girl ‘Brina does get into some nasty business in Episode 8 of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (“The Burial”), but let’s rewind a bit.

We pick up after the rogue Fentys have staged their voodoo doll attack: The mine has caved in. Sabrina, who has announced she’s fasting after last episode’s cannibalism debacle, rushes to see if Harvey’s OK. Harvey, with a gash on his forehead, has come out, as has his brother Tommy’s blood-covered and smashed helmet. Yikes, bad sign. Harvey is stressed and keeps trying to go back into the mines, telling Sabrina that he shouldn’t have made it out and Susie actually does go back in on Aunt Ghost’s orders. All Sabrina can do is rub Harvey’s arm and tell him that it’ll all be alright. (It won’t be.)

The other five miners, including Tommy, are dead, as Ambrose finds out via astral projection. The witches can’t warn the mortals, however, because that would be too meddlesome, and would raise questions about how they knew. Dad Kinkle has given up already, anyway, making plans with the insurance adjustor to bury an empty casket and cut the check.

Sabrina goes to Evil Wardwell, distraught on Harvey’s behalf. She muses that since Tommy’s body hasn’t been found yet, there couldn’t be too many questions if he were to just…come back…would there? Wardwell plays at being shocked that Sabrina would cross the line into necromancy, but just so happens to mention that she has a copy of the Book of the Dead and all but dogears the page with the ritual on it for her. Sabrina also does some sneaky recon about how Hilda comes back to life every time Zelda kills her — turns out they have some biblical dirt from Cain and Abel’s homestead in the front garden that has restorative powers. Check. The third card in the Clue solution envelope is added when Prudence happens across the wayward Fentys acting extremely shifty about the mine accident, and Roz separately has a vision that confirms that they’re to blame. Check and statement-lipped check.

And now, to pull it off, we get the greatest team-up since popcorn and butter: Sabrina goes to the woods and summons Prudence. Sabrina is like “Hello, I need to get revenge” and Prudence is like, “Yes, hi, I love revenge, tell me more.” Prudence owes Sabrina one for saving her from getting eaten by her peers, so she confronts the Fentys, playing a full-on creepy game of pattycake, with her. When asked if they had anything to do with the mines, Dorcas immediately sells Agatha out as the leader of the plot to kill the Kinkle Brothers, and Agatha spits that she wishes they had both died. (Harvey, it turns out, was protected by a charm Sabrina whispered during one of their smooch sessions.) Sabrina reveals that she plans to trade Agatha’s life for Tommy’s, and Prudence is on board.

In the woods, the Fenty Triplets, Sabrina and Nick stand at the points of a pentagram while Sabrina begins the ritual by summoning the hounds, opening the door between the worlds, then fully slitting Agatha’s throat, dead-eyed, while saying, “remember, you brought this on yourself.” Evil Wardwell is, as usual, lurking, watching with beetle-eyed delight as Agatha’s corpse bleeds out.

Of course, our girl wouldn’t just go slitting throats and murdering willy-nilly. There’s a plan: She was told that to resurrect Tommy, a corpse would have to go into the ground in his place. But there wasn’t anything about the corpse having to stay dead. The group drags Agatha’s body to the Cain soil to wait for her to come back to life, which she does with a classic hand thrust up through fresh grave dirt. Now, Sabrina says, they just have to wait 13 hours for Tommy to come back.

Except he doesn’t. Mopey Harvey is back at school to avoid his dad, and Sabrina is stressed about this whole corpse situation. She vents to Ambrose, who sets her straight that 1.) her plan is stupid and b.) Tommy won’t be teleported if the ritual works, he’d come back to life where he died — the mines.

When she arrives, there’s a man-shaped hole busted through the boards blocking the entrance. Starts with a “Z,” ends with…a big problem Sabrina and friends are going to have to take care of. She’s horrified. Back at the Kinkle homestead, rhythmic pounding on the front door. As soon as Harvey reaches out his hand for the knob, we smash cut to the credits.

Kase Wickman is a writer, editor, Ravenclaw and certified fraidy-cat who lives in Brooklyn. If she had powers, she’d never have to wash off mascara again. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram, if you dare.

Watch Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Episode 8 ("The Burial") on Netflix