CHILLING ADVENTURES OF SABRINA Season 1: This is Not Your 90s Sitcom

One of the most anticipated series premieres of the year, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina did not disappoint. Now don’t get me wrong, it did have its low points, yet looking at the series as whole, I was more than pleased with the reboot that flooded my mind with nostalgia. Honestly, I am chomping at the bit for more!

From the moment the series begins, viewers are flooded with reminders that this, at its roots, is a comic book adaption. The introduction is saturated with deeply contrasted graphic comic book images and accompanied by an eery, hypnotizing soundtrack that seemed at times to be a crossbreed of a theremin and the Men in Black score. After a few episodes, Netflix allows viewers to skip the intro (which by normal tv standards is rather long), yet I have to admit I did not skip it once. Setting the tone for the darkened nature of the reboot, this was the perfect way to enter the newly reimagined world of Sabrina the Teenage Witch.

Riverdale

As the score ends and the introduction concludes, viewers are whisked into the heart of the town of Greendale, accompanied by an introduction very similar to each episode of Riverdale. Originally published by Archie Comics, and sporting the same executive producers of the highly popular series on the CW, fans will undoubtedly be looking for any and all references to Riverdale – as well as any clues that could allude to a possible crossover in the future.

Fans do not have to wait long. As Greendale comes into view, the theater in the center of town becoming our main stage for the opening scenes, there is an immediate Riverdale feel – and not just because Greendale is a neighboring town. Besides the voiceover provided by Sabrina paralleling its predecessor, the lighting and cinematography screams Riverdale. Its likeness in color and contrast is the first tool utilized to snare and entrap loyal viewers of Riverdale – like moths drawn to a flame. These visual tools are slowly leeched out, leaving Sabrina with its own look, a darkened sense of a series forever changed.

Beyond these moments, there is not much more for viewers to latch onto. The town of Riverdale is mentioned a few times, each time an excitement building for more of an acknowledgement of its counterpart, and the episode titles are structured the same, utilizing chapters. With the series already planned for a holiday episode and a season 2 release date announced, there are plenty more chances ahead for this to change.

This is not your 90s sitcom

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina was different from both the movie and the series. It was dark with heavier themes (i.e. hazing and adultery), that extended beyond the focus of the world that surrounded Sabrina. While many of the themes included Sabrina, the series broke away from making her a constant central figure, giving the aunts, her friends and even enemies time to experience a deeper development in character and motivation. Where the ’90s used secondary characters as tools, this reimagined series finds that they each have their own stories to tell.

One of the biggest difference was almost a downfall for the series. With the ’90s sitcom, each episode started and typically concluded within a half hour time slot. Each episode had a lesson to be learned and an opposing force that needed to be conquered. While each episode presented a different story, you knew what to expect each week. With the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, this was not always the case.

Sabrina almost faulted from an inconsistency in its tone. The first two episodes “Chapter One: October Country” and “Chapter Two: The Dark Baptism” are great, revolving around Sabrina’s induction to the faith during her Dark Baptism. They are incredibly hypnotizing and seductive, luring you into a binge-like cult much like Sabrina is with the dark faith. Yet, as these episodes conclude, the series enters a stagnant stage. With “Chapter Three: The Trial of Sabrina Spellman” and “Chapter Four: Witch Academy”, there is this unrelenting stance between Sabrina and the Dark Lord, one that should have given the other characters time to develop more than they had, at the same time giving us a deeper understanding and affection for Sabrina and the world she is immersed within.

This section of the series starts to feel very out of place for the vibe and inclusivity of current young adult productions. It was the first time I felt I may be too old to enjoy the series – the first time I felt YA adult television was not for adults. It was as if for a moment the creators lost their confidence in the series, falling back on tired tropes and prolonging what should have been concluded more quickly. This ability to shift through multiple storylines, timing out their launch and conclusion is what was so successful in Riverdale and The Vampire Diaries – they never truly gave viewers time to get bored.

Thankfully, the series does slowly begin to save itself by the end of “Chapter Seven: Feast of Feasts”. From here, the third half of the season swiftly rebuilt the vibe that had been introduced in the series premier, and the excitement that had been waning swiftly returned, leaving me hungry for more as the finale concluded. By the series’ third half, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina came more into focus, culminating into one hypnotizing, edge of your seat finale.

Characters reimagined

There were a lot of elements of the film and series that were drastically altered within Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. Where the movie had taken place in Riverdale, the series was now set in Greendale. Where Sabrina had gone to live in the warm and brightly lit home of her aunts, her new humble abode was the dark and dreary cottage over a morgue. Oh! and did we forget to mention that in Chilling Adventures, Sabrina is not keeping away from her mother to prevent her from being turned into stone. Here Sabrina is an Archie Comics Harry Potter, her parents deceased since she was a baby – an “accident” depending on who you ask.

One of the biggest changes noted was to the characters. Sabrina (Kiernan Shipka, best known for her role in Mad Men) was one of the biggest, and most important, changes within this reboot – and they were all for the better. Sabrina has her powers to begin with, stepping away from the archaic belief that power within a woman can only be imbued when she has turned 16, proof of a growing cultural shift that she fits well with. Sabrina is still perky as ever, yet this Sabrina is more in charge of herself and her destiny. She is a strong female figure who is driven with a strict moral compass. Where at times it was a bit overkill with her Archie Andrews-like All American Feminist girl, it was heartwarming to see her character become just that!

The aunts were also a drastic change from the ’90s television series. While the same feeling of the original aunts seeps through each performance, they are darker, and harsher, with a deeper development in character and motivations that give them more of a rounded appeal to audiences. Zelda Spellman (Miranda Otto) is still the brainiac sister, a highly educated and revered midwife, though her loyalties to family are much more blurred, as her loyalty to the Dark Lord and his high priest, as well as the faith, take precedence. Though as the series continues, her idea of loyalty begins to take a different shape, bringing this Zelda closer in form to the previous. Hilda (Lucy Davis), while reminiscent of the series, is darker, most noticeably quieter. Yet, while she appears to be weaker, her actions on and off screen speak otherwise, maintaining the defiant nature of the original character.

The biggest disappointment with the change of characters was with Salem the Cat – he doesn’t talk! One of the best parts of the ’90s sitcom was Salem. With his witty repertoire, he was the perfect comedic counterpart to a series hilariously trying to portray the life of a teenage witch. As the series is darker, and the wit is no longer needed, it makes sense that he would be a silent figure. But that doesn’t stop me from hoping for verbal communication in the future.

The Church of Satan

Why can we not have a depiction of Satanism that breaks away from the dark side of Catholic restraints? I recently wrote about my frustration with this representation and depiction on screen for a recent episode of American Horror Story: Apocalypse. There is this belief in cinema that the Satanic faith can only be and is only a darkened mirror image of Christian faith. Dark gospels, psalms, prayers – it’s okay to include some, but create your own identity. If you are going to reimagine characters that have already been adapted for TV and film, you would think that adaption would seep into these areas as well. It felt lazy, and ungenuine. There was so much attention to detail and then dud.

I feel that satanic evil can be reimagined if we let it. There is such rich storytelling potential that has not even been tapped yet. We can come up with a million ways to present a killer, a horror and a death – yet when it comes to true evil, we succumb to classic tropes and give way to what has already been done. And I feel as though the church of Satan agrees.

Shortly after the release of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, The Satanic Temple sued Netflix and Warner Bros. for copyright infringement. The Temple claimed that the monument used within the School of Unseen Arts, in the series modeled after the image of their Dark Lord, is similar to the real-life Baphomet monument. A monument of their temple and a dark symbol of the series, the Satanic Temple claimed that its use brought an image of evil to their congregation and this use was unauthorized. This lack of originality brought Netflix and Warner Bros. a $50 million lawsuit, forcing them to extend copyright and potentially sustain from further use of the symbol in the future. Even Satanists want some originality!

This is my only concern for season 2 going forward, that we will be further immersed within this Satanic world of unoriginality. In the last episode, we did break away, yet I fear with the newly chosen path Sabrina finds herself on, there is room for old habits to find their way back in.

Cultural References

As mentioned earlier, Riverdale is referenced a handful of times – while exciting, it was to be expected. What wasn’t expected was the immensive amount of cultural reference outside of Archie Comics the series was able to intertwine within its own nostalgic return – proving the series knows its audience and demographic range.

After the Riverdale feel at the beginning of the premiere, for a moment loyal CW viewers will find they are no longer experiencing ’90s nostalgia, but rather a nostalgic return to another beloved series. As Ms. Wardwell (Michelle Gomez, a cultural reference in herself as she starred in Doctor Who) drives home from the theater, she is stopped on a foggy, eerie road by a body limping on the side of the road. Both the scene and its lighting scream The Vampire Diaries.

Suspiria is also referenced within the series – the Academy of Unseen Arts a modern version of the dance academy from Dario Argento‘s 1977 horror. The witches within the academy all sleep in the same room, mirroring both the classic horror and the sleeping arrangements of the dormitories of Hogwarts. The most in-your-face reference, though, comes in episode 8 “Chapter Eight – The Burial” when a prominent view of the stained glass ceiling in the Spellman mortuary is an exact replica of the one in Suspiria.

A Nightmare on Elm Street also found its way into the series – multiple times. In the third episode, Sabrina is startled to experience a vision of a bloodied girl looking at her through the classroom doorway. As the girl leaves, a path of blood left in her wake, Sabrina follows after, much as Nancy did following the body of her dead friend in one of her early Krueger riddled dreams. Later in episode 6, Harvey (Ross Lynch) is seen sporting a white tee with the number 10 on it, matching the one Johnny Depp‘s Glen wore before he feel asleep, meeting his untimely death. The entirety of episode 5 is also a nod to the famous horror classic, with a creature named Batty Bat torturing the Spellman household in her dreams.

Speaking of Batty Bat, episode 5 was also a beautiful and subtle nod to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The make-up design of Batty Bat screamed Buffy, the ’90s styling to the features, face and hair nostalgic of a variety of weekly monsters and demons Buffy had faced over her 8 seasons. Speaking of feel and exact recreations, there is a beautiful shot in episode 6 that parallels the classic scene from The Exorcist of the priest arriving at Regan’s home, lighted only by the street light above him – a light in the darkness. I could go on and on with the references the series was able to infuse within itself, but we would be here forever.

Something wicked this way comes

For those in love with the Archie comics, the original Sabrina and Riverdale, this is sure to please. Its reimagining of a hit ’90s sitcom, thrusting it into the deep end of dark storytelling, will have a little something for everyone. While it does have its moments, faltering ever so slightly for a moment, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina finds its footing, proving it has the power to stay around for many more seasons to come.

With that being said, Netflix not only knows its audience and demographic, it knows demand – as was seen this week in the “Friends Frenzy of 2018”. On December 14, Netflix will be releasing Chilling Adventures of Sabrina: A MidWinter’s Tale, a move that proves the confidence the streaming service has behind its latest addition to its programing. Need more proof? This week, Netflix also released the trailer for Season 2, which is set to premiere in April of 2019 – a trailer that gives us our first true callback to the ’90s series, with Sabrina changing outfits in front of the mirror, as well as the feeling that things are about to get much, much darker.

What are your thoughts on the first season of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina?