Ah, Sabrina. Now this Sabrina isn’t the one you may be thinking of, instead Netflix’s Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is something entirely else. Based on the comic series by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, this series is described as tonally in the vein of Rosemary’s Baby and The Exorcist. However, the series packs plenty of humour and quips to break it up, along with incorporating timely messages about equality and gender. The first episode will immediately intrigue you with it jumping right into the world and small town of Greendale where our young witch resides and she is torn between two worlds as she is a half-witch. With mortal friends, but also possessing great power, Sabrina has a choice to make…
Welcome To Greendale
With an epic illustrated title sequence featuring various iterations of Sabrina, including that of the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina comic and the one from Archie comics, we are teased of the characters to come.
Narrated by our leading lady, she tells us of her dilemma of having to choose between two worlds, and we learn she has a real fondness for horror films. Sabrina (Kiernan Shipka) and her boyfriend Harvey Kinkle (Ross Lynch), along with her two best friends Rosalind Walker (Jaz Sinclair) and Susie Putnam (Lachlan Watson) head to Dr Cerberus’ after their movie, and it seems to be a blend of a cafe, bookstore, and overall quirky store.
As for other residents of Greendale, Sabrina’s teacher Ms Wardwell (Michelle Gomez) is Greendale’s unofficial historian, and she also is very kind because she picks up a woman on the side of the road. Upon arriving at her ‘little cottage’, the bedraggled woman asks if Sabrina is one of Wardwell’s students and after confirmation, a demonic voice claims to know Sabrina’s father and that he broke witch law by marrying a mortal. Then, Ms Wardwell is dead until the woman assumes her identity…
The Spellmans
With Sabrina’s 16th birthday approaching, Harvey gives Sabrina a necklace and utters three little words to her for the first time as he knows he will be unable to celebrate her birthday since she will be with her family. Let’s just say, her family is quite interesting.
Zelda Spellman (Miranda Otto) is serious and a dedicated witch, while Hilda Spellman (Lucy Davis) has much more of a softer side in comparison to her sister. The Spellmans are part of the Church of Night, who follow the Dark Lord and mostly focus on dark magic, but it can still do good. With Sabrina’s dark baptism around the corner to bring her into the fold of the coven, she is required to pick a familiar which takes the appearance of an animal. However, Sabrina would rather summon one so they can volunteer instead, and she also decides her baptismal name will be Edwina Diana to honour her parents, Edward and Diana.
Also part of the Spellman househould is her cousin, Ambrose Spellman (Chance Perdomo). Ambrose has been under house arrest for 75 years, and he helps us viewers learn more about the Dark Baptism. The Baptism involves going into the woods, along with the rest of the coven, to sign the witches name in the Dark Lord’s book to essentially become a fully-fledged follower. After this, Sabrina will be required to attend the Academy of Unseen Arts, while she’ll also stay younger causing her to eventually leave her mortal friends behind.
Aunt Hilda and Zelda run Spellman Sisters Mortuary and praise Satan because and a man has been stabbed, and if they can’t get his flesh, at least they will have his blood for Sabrina’s baptism. Later on, Ambrose begins work on the deceased when he notices a witch’s mark and it seems the boy may have been murdered.
The Weird Sisters
Sabrina heads to the woods to cast her spell for a familiar when Agatha (Adeline Rudolph), Prudence (Tati Gabrielle), and Dorcas (Abigail Cowen) appear. Known as the Weird Sisters, they’re not thrilled Sabrina will be attending the school due to her half-breed nature. With that, they threaten and curse her, which results in Sabrina calling them ‘succubitches’ after they leave. Sabrina’s curse still lingers, and according to Hilda, it’s a blood curse so it looks like it’s saltwater baths for a while. Sabrina also brings up what the Weird Sisters said about her parents death, however, they are very adamant they died in accident.
Sabrina eventually tells Harvey that she’s “leaving for a boarding school in Connecticut”, but he’s not buying it. He wants to know what she’s hiding, so she shows him where she was born: the forest. She tries to explain that she’s going to be reborn and that she is a half-witch, except he doesn’t it take it well, so Sabrina makes him forget everything she just said.
At Baxter High, a group of jocks tease Sabrina’s friend Susie to determine whether she’s a boy or girl, and so Sabrina visits Principal Hawthorne simply suggests Susie finds another school. We are then introduced to the new Ms Wardwell who’s sporting more make-up, hairspray, and clothing, and she suggests Sabrina tackles that misogynist and lets it slip about Hawthorne being afraid of spiders. She asks Ambrose for his help with a spell and Hawthorne is covered in hundreds and hundreds of spiders.
A Kitty Cat And A Dash of Uncertainty
After calling for a familiar, Sabrina is approached by a demonic looking creature who calls out her name, before turning into a sweet black cat who shall be known as Salem. The next morning, Sabrina isn’t so sure about joining the Church of Night and receives a stern lecture from Zelda. Ambrose says Sabrina clearly enjoyed the spider spell, but she will lose it all if she doesn’t sign her name in the Book of the Beast. He recommends Sabrina finds a malum malus, which will grant knowledge and may even show her future. However, Wardwell’s familiar, a crow named Stolas, watches on and reports this back to her.
Meanwhile, with the principal away, Sabrina starts up her ‘women supporting women’ club, which is aptly named WICCA: Woman’s Intersectional Cultural and Creative Association.
Sabrina goes apple picking and searches for the oldest tree to obtain her malum malus when she’s attacked by a scarecrow, which is being controlled by Wardwell. Thankfully, Salem kills it. She makes it to the tree and she’s shown visions of the slain witches and the Dark Lord. When she arrives home, her family introduce her to Father Blackwood (Richard Coyle), High Priest of the Church of Night who is there to convince her to sign her name.
Overall Thoughts?
It’s an interesting start to the series! We’re given a taste of each character and we will most likely be seeing more of them and their backstory as the series continues. It’s quite fascinating to have a series on witches where we focus on the darker side, as many (if not all) seem to focus on the light while fighting the dark. Also, while many fans were excited to have a talking Salem, it seems we won’t be getting that this series as Salem only speaks in his demonic form, which is perfectly fine by me because it would add possibly a little too much humour and cheesiness to the series. As for its adaptation from page to screen, I read the comics and this seems to be quite different, but I’m not complaining! Since the creator of the comics is leading the charge with this series, no doubt it’s in capable hands.
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