TV Review: Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Is Wickedly Good

If someone told me Sabrina The Teenage Witch would be fighting off satanic worshippers and hell, itself, in 2018, I would say, “Not my Sabrina! She has French for second period!” Long gone are the days when Sabrina was a simple, high school girl taking a few happy, magical misadventures. Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is American Horror Story meets Riverdale……. and I like it!

By the end of the first episode, I kept on saying to myself, “Sabrina? Is that you?” If you are coming with the 90’s perspective, then open your mind because this show is a 180. It very much has a Riverdale aesthetic of greying scenes to elaborate pops of sparkling color. You feel darkness and tension in every corner, despite a killer 1950’s pop anthem playing in the backdrop. Yet, you cannot deny that, like Riverdale, certain, cinematic shots are beautiful and zested with youth. This allows Kiernan Shipka to be the face of innocence in a world that will make you grab a Bible, some Holy Water, and your grandmother’s rosary.

Shipka is perfect as Sabrina. She is strong and morally righteous, but unpretentious and extremely kind. The dynamic will attract viewers to cheer for her as she appears like a Nancy Drew with powers. She is curious, smart, and 100% determined to fight off evil. Through her and her friends, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina adds a campiness to its sinister edge. This is particularly true as you watch her interactions with her charmingly, humorous cousin, Ambrose Spellman(Chance Pedromo) and her eternal love: HARVEY KINKLE! (Ross Lynch). These three further an enlightening heart to this show that could race with grimness.

Created by Roberto Aguirre Sacasa, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina moves towards the original comic in two ways: through its Gothic style and Harvey and Sabrina’s relationship. While I already mentioned, although you will not believe me, how dark this show gets in terms of occult and the underworld, the original comics were really heavy on both. Through the years, Sabrina’s world became more colorful and benevolent, but Sacasa is aiming more for the original one. This will be especially true when people witness 2018 Aunt Zelda and Aunt Hilda. While in the 90’s, they were the sweet, loving aunts trying to guide Sabrina to a lighter path, these ladies can switch the W in witches into a B.

While Lucy Davis’s Hilda has a tender heart, despite supporting Evil, itself, Miranda Otto’s Zelda has Constance Langdon tendencies that make her deliciously hateful. You will loathe her, but the potential for her to be the wicked witch we all guiltily love is there, especially as she creates a “ying/yang” dynamic with Hilda that is darkly hilarious. These women HATE each other, but their love for Sabrina and their desire for her best, even if wrong, binds them. Yet, I do not think even they know the importance of Sabrina. There are, definitely, apocalyptic clues surrounding Sabrina that make you wonder if she is the trigger or the one to stop it.

 I will say it again, “THE SHOW IS DARK!” I kept on thinking, “So, God is not going to intervene here?” Yet, as I waited for Jesus, Sabrina proved he works through people, especially the ones we love. Part of the reason this series is sooooo bingeable is because of Sabrina and Harvey. Ross Lynch makes Harvey deeply loyal, loving, and generous. #dreamguy I love when shows give its audience a solid couple that makes you set high relationships goals. Sabrina and Harvey are good to each other, and though, they are still growing up, the show sets a chemistry between them that claims they will grow together. Their love is so potent and youthfully noble, it radiates a romance that will last, even if the smooth talking, bad warlocks named Nicholas Scratch (Gavin Leatherwood) try something. (I REBUKE IT!)

In terms of magic, this show is on point. I can already see people reciting its poetical spells or cringing at its scarier ones. While Shipka makes Sabrina feel ethereal, she is surrounded by shade, especially in the form of Prudence (Tati Gabrielle). She can serve Real Housewife levels of petty, and when Sabrina begins attending Baxter High, a school for Dark Magic, Prudence is ready to make her time their wretched! There is an exciting potential for this school to be Gossip Girl meets Hogwarts, and, as the season progresses, the scenes set there are most exciting. After all, who has not dreamt of going to a magical school?

All in all, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is exceptionally good, and I have absolutely no doubt it will garner a mass fandom. Of course, people will miss the talking Salem. I kept on wishing to hear a snarky comment from that cat, but c’est la vie! This show has so much to offer, and brilliantly sets, from its beginning, that you ARE NOT watching Sabrina The Teenage Witch. Instead, you are watch a good human being fight off a near Biblical battle for her soul and her power: both figuratively and magically. Chilling Adventures Premieres October 26 on Netflix.