*Spoiler Alert*
To celebrate Halloween, Netflix released the first season of the new series, “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina”. The ten-episode season follows Sabrina Spellman (Kiernan Shipka), a young witch in Greendale that must make a choice on her sixteenth birthday as to which world she wants to be a part of. Does she join her father’s coven and continue to explore her magical heritage or does she leave it all behind to stay in the mortal world where her mother came from? As a product of both worlds, Sabrina struggles to figure out which one she’s meant to belong to. This latest rendition is based off the comic book series of the same name by Archie Horror (an imprint of Archie Comics).
As her sixteenth birthday approaches, Sabrina prepares for her Dark Baptism, a ceremony where she pledges her loyalty to the Dark Lord (Satan) in exchange for power. Refusing to complete this ceremony would mean that Sabrina renounces her witch heritage and would lose her powers forever.
Without her parents to help her with this choice, Sabrina seeks guidance from her relatives. Sabrina’s Aunt Zelda (Miranda Otto) is a devoted member of their coven, the Church of Night. She urges Sabrina to complete her Dark Baptism and she’s willing to do whatever it takes to make sure that she fulfills her destiny as a witch. Sabrina’s Aunt Hilda (Lucy Davis) is a bubbly witch that is more interested in Sabrina’s well-being than the coven’s agenda. With an open-mind, Hilda is welcoming to everyone and she’s willing to try mortal things while Zelda would refuse such a choice. If Sabrina couldn’t find help in her aunts, she would run to her cousin first for help. Ambrose (Chance Perdomo) is Sabrina’s partner in crime and he’s willing to give her answers or point her into the right direction instead of keeping secrets from her. He pushes her to truly open up about what she wants and to think when she is indecisive. Unlike the rest of the family, Ambrose is forbidden to leave the Spellman property due to the house arrest he was placed under by the Witches Council for his crime decades ago. Sometimes Sabrina seeks guidance and protection from her goblin familiar, Salem, who takes the form of a black cat.
Then there are witches that are against Sabrina. Prudence (Tati Gabrielle), Dorcas (Abigail Cowen) and Agatha (Adeline Rudolph) are a trio of witches known as the Weird Sisters. They are students at the Academy of Unseen Arts that relish in tormenting Sabrina, believing that she doesn’t belong in the Church of Night. Then there is Father Faustus Blackwood (Richard Coyle), the High Priest of the Church of Night and the Dean for the Academy of Unseen Arts. He does whatever he could to fulfill the Dark Lord’s wish to have Sabrina as one of his loyal followers. Lastly there is Mary Wardwell (Michelle Gomez), one of Sabrina’s teachers at Baxter High who turns out to be a witch in disguise that serves the Dark Lord. She manipulates whatever situation she could to ensure that Sabrina follows in the footsteps that the Dark Lord has set for her.
With so many people involved in Sabrina’s witch life, her indecision stems from her desire to not abandon her mortal friends. Together, they support each other in the craziest of discoveries and they stand by one another.
One human that Sabrina doesn’t want to abandon is her mortal boyfriend, Harvey Kinkle (Ross Lynch). Sabrina’s love for Harvey is truly tested when circumstances push her to make decisions that would break the rules. Despite being unaware of Sabrina’s secret, Harvey had a mysterious run in as a child with the dark forces that surround Greendale. Sabrina’s best friends, Roz (Jaz Sinclair) and Susie (Lachlan Watson), band together to help support Sabrina while undergoing their own journeys of self-discovery when they dive deeper into their personal family histories.
This rendition of the teenage witch is very different from its earlier sitcom counterpart, “Sabrina the Teenage Witch”, that starred Melissa Joan Hart as Sabrina. This dark rendition explores the cultures connected to the Church of Night and how they parallel or oppose mortal customs that Sabrina grew up with. The adventure truly tests Sabrina’s will and morals while also testing her to see if she’s willing to do what needs to be done for the safety of her loved ones.
Season 2 is set to be released on Netflix on April 5, 2019.
Publication Note:
This was written as a personal interest piece for this blog.