The 'Sabrina' Christmas Special Seals Harvey & Sabrina's Fate... For Now
Happy Solstice and praise Satan, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina has given fans an extra episode this season. The Christmas special, called "A Midwinter's Tale" clears up a few things after the events of the first season, but (due to the nature of the special only being an hour) moves the ball forward only slightly regarding Sabrina's relationships in the mortal world. The first season ended with Sabrina estranged from her friends and broken up with Harvey. Will Sabrina and Harvey get back together? Warning: Spoilers for Chilling Adventures of Sabrina: A MidWinter's Tale follow.
The good news is this holiday installment manages to good hard on the scares while still maintaining a lighthearted touch most of the time. (I will admit when Ambrose nearly got attacked by the dead body, that was a bit much.) But while some of the frights were worthy of Halloween, the story solved two immediate dangling plot threads from the Season 1 finale. First, it answered why Sabrina's mother was in limbo, and then it got Aunt Zelda to be logical and figure out what to do about Father Blackwood's extra baby.
But when it came to Sabrina's relationships, it mostly showed she hadn't learned anything at all.
Sabrina is still totally in love with Harvey, but she's blind to both how much she hurt him, and how frightened he is of what's she's become. Roz has "the cunning," and Susie's dealt with a demon or two. But Harvey lost his older brother, his protection in an abusive situation. Moreover, Sabrina made losing him so much worse when her plan to "fix" it went awry. Harvey isn't going to look upon magic very kindly.
He makes a heroic effort by accepting the enchanted drawing pencils, but it's like Sabrina doesn't understand it's as far as he can manage. Worse, when she hears Harvey's dad's still drinking, her first move is to meddle in it with magic. Even if Harvey were still innocent enough not to put two and two together over the eggnog, Sabrina has proven terrible at keeping her mouth shut, so he'll find out sooner or later.
As it is, Harvey's no fool. Sabrina suddenly brings over eggnog, after agreeing his father shouldn't drink? The next morning, his father suddenly gives up drinking and pours all the alcohol in the house down the sink? Harvey knows this is magic at work, and he doesn't appreciate it in the slightest.
Sabrina argues it worked, so Harvey shouldn't be mad. But what if it hadn't? Then Harvey would have had no brother and no father, and Sabrina would have been to blame for both. It's the ultimate breach of trust for her to do such a thing twice.
Harvey draws a hard boundary on Sabrina ever doing this again, and returns the pencils, refusing even the smallest bit of magic in his life. If she'd hoped they get back together, it's not happening. By the end of the episode, the two of them are farther apart than they've ever been.
