Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Season 1 Review: This Sabrina is Darker, Grittier, and Wholly Modern

(Warning: This review contains spoilers for the entire first season of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.)

In case the promos and previews didn’t make it clear, I’ll begin by clarifying: The central teen witch at the heart of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is not the Sabrina Spellman you remember from the beloved ’90s sitcom. In fact, she couldn’t be more different. But that’s not a bad thing, at all.

The new Netflix series, which debuted its first season in its entirety on October 26, is a complete reimagining (in the truest sense of the word) of the characters we all grew to know and love in Sabrina the Teenage Witch and the Archie comics spin-off on which that earlier show was based.

This Sabrina is darker, grittier, often downright disturbing, and wholly modern.

The Acting

One thing that is immediately and strikingly impressive across the board is the quality of the series’ cast.

Kiernan Shipka leads the pack as the title character, and her Sabrina is fully distinct from other iterations that have come before. Shipka first rose to prominence playing Sally Draper throughout the seven seasons of Mad Men. She was the rarity: A child performer who grew into a genuinely talented actress.

I hadn’t seen her in anything else aside from Mad Men until now, but her work in Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Season 1 makes it clear that her role as Sally was no fluke. She’s immensely talented, never prone to overacting (even when the material gets a bit over-the-top and farcical), and has oodles of natural chemistry with every single other person she shares a scene with.

The supporting characters also have their chances to shine, particularly Mirando Otto and Lucy Davis as Sabrina’s aunts Zelda and Hilda (respectively). Chance Perdomo, as Sabrina’s pansexual, house-bound cousin Ambrose — clearly the series’ invented pseudo-replacement for Salem the talking cat from the original sitcom — also has a few great scenes.

As the season’s primary and secondary antagonists, Michelle Gomez’s Mrs. Wardwell/Madame Satan and Richard Coyle’s Father Faustus Blackwood are particularly impressive. Both manage to strike a balance between menacing, dangerous, and seductive — yes, even Blackwood, with those disgusting pointed nails.

The trio of Weird Sisters immediately stuck out to viewers from the early trailers — the makeup and stylistic choices for Dorcas, Agatha, and Prudence are spot on — and Tati Gabrielle shines in her nuanced, excellent performance as Prudence. (Fans of The 100, where she played Indra’s daughter Gaia, probably aren’t too surprised by that.)

Sabrina’s mortal friends largely aren’t as interesting as the witch side of her life — more on that below.

But Jaz Sinclair, Lachlan Watson, and Ross Lynch (as Roz, Susie, and Sabrina’s much-beleaguered one true love Harvey Kinkle) do their best with material that isn’t quite as strong as that of some of the other supernatural characters.

The Season Overall

Season 1 starts out rough, to put it mildly. There are some good moments and plenty of striking visuals — the cinematography and direction are consistently works of art — but the series struggles to find its footing right off the bat.

The attempt at quick world-building over the course of the first four episodes is rushed and comes off as clumsy. Worse, I find it difficult to care at all about any of the characters in these early installments, when Sabrina is determinedly and stubbornly intent on keeping her place in the mortal world.

During this time, the show leans too heavily on performatively woke moments, which come across as forced, cringe-worthy, and insincere.

Don’t get me wrong. Toxic masculinity and transphobia (of the kind demonstrated by the footballers tormenting genderqueer Susie) are serious, timely issues.

Censorship, like the school’s banning of Roz’s books, is also terrible. But the show introduces them inelegantly, and these storylines (which are all introduced and wrapped up within an episode or two) come across as “Very Special Episodes.”

I also have to point out the glaringly bad writing decision to have Sabrina enlist the help of the Weird Sisters on Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Season 1 Episode 2, “Chapter Two: The Dark Baptism,” to scare the footballers into backing off of Susie by magically tricking them into a gay orgy and blackmailing them with the footage. It is unbelievably ironic and in a bad way. How did that subplot make it past an entire writers room?

Juxtaposed against Sabrina’s battle of wits with literal Satan, it’s simply hard to care about these mortal issues that the show doesn’t put much time, energy, or skill into developing or carrying through.

The show’s feminist themes are obviously central and important, but the writers are wise to drop WICCA (the cleverly-acronymed feminist alliance Roz and Sabrina organize for Susie at school) in favor of Sabrina battling her duality and accepting her place as the Coven’s most powerful witch.

In retrospect, the first four episodes of the season basically serve as a convoluted way to set up the “rules” of the Path of Night world, while also setting up how Sabrina is able to remain in both worlds at once. The show kind of bends itself into knots setting up and explaining that loophole.

Upon my first watch, I really did not care for the show at all until Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Season 1 Episode 5, “Chapter Five: Dreams In a Witch House.” This is undoubtedly the real turning point of the season, where things get super dark and weird and delicious.

On “Chapter Five: Dreams In a Witch House,” Sabrina goes toe-to-toe with Batibat the Sleep Demon. As someone who has watched plenty of supernatural series — notably Buffy the Vampire Slayer and OG Charmed — I have no qualms saying that Batibat is one of the most wonderfully rendered and portrayed demons I’ve ever seen on TV.

The special-effects make-up and lack of CGI are a fantastic choice, and Batibat manages to be genuinely creepy in a scarily realistic way.

Specifically, Batibat reminds me of the Boogeymen in the Disney Channel Original Movie Don’t Look Under the Bed. I know that’s a really random reference point, but early aughts DCOM fans will know exactly what I mean.

“Chapter Five: Dreams In a Witch House” is one of the season’s best — if not the best — episodes. The show really embraces its kooky and surrealist elements, and the dreams of each of the Spellmans perfectly encapsulate the character arcs and themes they deal with throughout the season as a whole. It’s also extremely Lynchian, which I adore.

For Sabrina, it’s her fear that Harvey will never accept her as a witch and her uncertainty about their relationship. For Zelda, it’s her complicated zealotism and her combative relationship with her sister. For Ambrose, it’s the feeling that he’s wasting his life away under house arrest. For Hilda, it’s her fear that she’ll never escape Zelda and never be allowed to live her own life.

The following five episodes, which close out the season, build upon everything that’s set up in the fifth installment. Most notably, Wardwell finally reveals herself to Sabrina at the end of that episode, leading to all of the events that follow until the season finale, when Madame Satan successfully accomplishes her mission: To get Sabrina squarely onto the Path of Night.

Sabrina and Wardwell

Wardwell is one of the best things about the show, and she may be my favorite character. I’m not sure yet; I think I need to do another rewatch before I decide on that.

One thing is for sure, though: She gives us the series’ mission statement in one beautiful line of dialogue, at the moment right before Sabrina finally gives in to the Dark Lord.

Wardwell: I know you’re scared, Sabrina. Because all women are taught to fear power. Own your power. Don’t accept it from the Dark Lord. Take it. Wield it. Save your friends.

Gomez’s portrayal is absolutely fantastic. Wardwell is menacing and sinister, even when we don’t quite know who she is or what she’s all about. Her big moment, of course, is in the closing moments of the finale, as she reveals to a bound and gagged Principal Hawthorne her true identity and her larger plan: to become the Queen of Hell and reign at Lucifer’s side.

This is a great monologue for the character, so much so it hardly even matters how silly it is that Wardwell tells her entire plan to some mortal she just kills instantly after. It also makes Wardwell and Sabrina’s relationship that much more interesting.

Like Sabrina’s relationships with her aunts, Wardwell is yet another version of a replacement maternal figure for the young witch. Unbeknownst to Sabrina, Wardwell doesn’t exactly have her best intentions at heart.

Madame Satan, formerly known as Lillith, confesses that she’s just using Sabrina as a pawn to elevate her own status. She wants Sabrina to take her place as Satan’s foot soldier, so she can rise to his ranks. Interestingly, her crow companion Stolas points out a bit of a hiccup: What if the Dark Lord wants Sabrina as his Queen instead?

This sets up a really cool dynamic for the two women heading into Season 2, and I’m excited to see how the two will go head to head once Sabrina figures out who Wardwell really is and what she’s done to put Sabrina on this path.

This revelation also re-colors Wardwell’s above line about taking power from the Dark Lord. She’s kind of talking about herself!

The Mortals

As I said above, I find it hard to care about Sabrina’s mortal world problems for the first half of the season. When things start becoming more and more entwined with the witch world, it gets a whole lot more interesting.

The entire point of the season — Wardwell’s mission — is to create a rift between the mortals and Sabrina so that Sabrina would be willing to sign herself over to the Dark Lord. In the end, she obviously accomplishes this, and along the way, everyone in Sabrina’s life finds out that she’s a witch.

Things only start getting interesting among the mortals when Susie’s uncle Jesse becomes possessed on “Chapter Six: An Exorcism in Greendale.” Sabrina performing the exorcism is the first example of her attempting to use her powers to help her mortal friends and having it go wrong.

Of course, this is only a precursor to the far worse situation in which Sabrina inadvertently half-resurrects Harvey’s brother Tommy after he’s killed in the mines, thanks to Agatha and Dorcas.

“Chapter Eight: The Burial” and “Chapter Nine: The Returned Man” are when I finally become invested in the mortal characters.

Lynch is perfectly good as Harvey, but he and Sabrina are unfortunately a bit boring when they spend the first chunk of the season merely professing their undying love to one another over and over again.

It’s totally possible that this is just my bias against “Nice Soft Boys Who Only Want To Draw And Not Work In Mines” talking, but I just don’t care much about Harvey or his relationship with Sabrina until shit starts getting real with the Tommy situation.

Their break-up scene, after Sabrina finally confesses that she’s a witch and explains that Tommy is basically a zombie, is one of the most emotionally affecting moments of the season. Both Lynch and Shipka are stellar in it. It’s truly the emotional crux and turning point that makes Sabrina’s eventual sacrifice — giving herself over to the Dark Lord — possible.

And then Harvey insists on going to kill Tommy himself! Ugh, my heart.

Despite not particularly caring about the mortals at the start of the season, I’m left thinking about the trio when Sabrina severs ties with them to embrace her new, platinum-haired, full-witch lifestyle at the Academy with the Weird Sisters — particularly Susie’s bizarre communes with her ghost ancestor and Roz’s premonitory “Cunning” power.

The Spellman Family

At first, I was a bit iffy on Ambrose as an addition to the cast. But he grows on me as the season progresses. And I do find myself rooting for him and Luke, despite the fact that the writers barely give them any focus at all.

I’m also excited to see how Ambrose will fare now that he’s been granted something of a reprieve from his house arrest. I hope we see him come into conflict with Blackwood’s patriarchal, male-centric BS.

While I like Ambrose just fine, I’m far more interested in the Aunties and their respective dynamics with Sabrina.

Hilda is probably the closest character to her sitcom original. She’s more maternal to Sabrina, but also awkward and bumbling. She’s also probably the character I feel for most, given her arc throughout the first season.

Hilda starts off as distinctly under Zelda’s domineering thumb. It becomes clear from the start that she never quite fit in within the Church of Night and was basically just forced into it.

As the season progresses, she manages to find her strength (likely inspired by Sabrina’s resistance). Hilda comes forward to reveal that Sabrina was baptized in a Catholic Church prior to her name being signed in the Book of Night. Her subsequent excommunication allows her to seek out a job that actually fulfills her, outside of the mortuary.

I’m rooting for Hilda most of all in Season 2!

Zelda has a distinctly different arc over the course of Season 1.

Initially pious and a zealot, Zelda is often at odds with Sabrina over her niece’s repeated defiance of the Church of Night and the Dark Lord. But each subsequent episode after her nightmare in “Chapter Five” brings her further and further aware from blind allegiance to Blackwood and Satan.

This, of course, all culminates in Zelda’s impulsive (and frankly, insane) decision to snatch Blackwood’s daughter. Correctly realizing that he would harm the older girl child in favor of his second-born son, this is probably one of my favorite twists of the finale and the only thing that takes me genuinely by surprise.

The Academy of Unseen Arts

Yes, it’s a bit of a Hogwarts rip-off, but I largely like all of the various subplots that have to do with the Church of Night’s school and its cast of characters.

Blackwood is a great secondary antagonist. The threat he poses is obviously not nearly as critical as the one posed by Wardwell, but he’s a more immediate foe for Sabrina to face off with. He’s also just a man, not a demon, which makes him more complicated, fallible, and prone to mistakes.

His affair with Zelda is weirdly intriguing, even though it’s also kind of terrible. It’ll be interesting to see how that develops in Season 2, with Lady Blackwood having died in childbirth. The fact that Zelda, his son’s Unholy Godmother, secretly stole his other child is a fun complication.

Of the Weird Sisters, Prudence is really the only one of consequence.

She’s a pretty straightforward nemesis for most of the season, even attempting to kill Sabrina via Harrowing when she first arrives at the Academy on Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Season 1 Episode 4, “Chapter Four: Witch Academy.” But with “Chapter Seven: Feast of Feasts,” Prudence’s character deepens in a very interesting way.

This installment reveals the depth of Prudence’s devotion and also the fact that she’s not an orphan; she’s Father Blackwood’s illegitimate child, the product of one of his many affairs. While this doesn’t immediately cause Prudence to flip to Team Good Guy, it does notably soften her.

Given the fact that she’s in the room with Zelda when Lady Blackwood dies after delivering her twins, it also stands to reason that she knows the other baby survived and was a first-born girl. If that’s right, it sets up an interesting dynamic between Prudence and her father going into the new season.

Here’s hoping she’ll continue to break away from him.

Oh, and Nicholas Scratch.

I like that horny little rascal more than I expected to. He works well as a foil to Harvey and rival for Sabrina’s affection without coming across as a boring “Other Guy” trope. He’s his own character, and I’m actually left wanting to know more about his background and his allegiances.

He certainly appears to be loyal to Sabrina and the Spellmans — especially after stopping the Weird Sisters from killing Tommy and going to the Kinkle home to help protect Harvey. But among the witches and warlocks, I’m taking everything with a large grain of salt.

Oh, and his inclusion in the pre-Feast of Feasts orgy scene is pure gold. It’s one of the season’s funniest moments.

Looking Ahead to Season 2

The writers do a fantastic job of bringing the season to a cohesive close with “Chapter Ten.” Backed into a corner by Wardwell’s machinations, Sabrina is finally forced to give in and do what she’s been fighting all season: sign her name in the Book of Night, giving herself over to the Dark Lord.

The entire sequence leading up to this moment is one of the best things about the season. All of the events that have transpired flash in Sabrina’s mind in an extended montage, as she silently says goodbye to her mortal life in order to save everyone she loves. Shipka does a stellar job at conveying the complexity of Sabrina’s emotions in this moment.

While things are wrapped up in “Chapter Ten,” plenty of doors are left open with story to explore in Season 2.

Sabrina and Wardwell are headed for a clash when it comes to the Dark Lord’s affections. Hilda and Zelda will have problems of their own when Blackwood realizes they stole his daughter. And it remains to be seen how long Sabrina will manage to stay out of mortal affairs and keep away from Roz, Susie, and Harvey — given all we’ve witnessed, I’m guessing not very.

Lingering Questions:

• There are several fun Riverdale Easter Eggs, but my favorite is the appearance of Ben the delivery boy, delivering pizza to Wardwell — and then presumably being eaten by her? But I’m a little confused about the timeline here, given that Ben is shown killing himself on Riverdale Season 3 Episode 2.
• Why is Sabrina’s mother Diana trapped in mortal limbo? And more importantly, how did she and Edward really die?
• On that same note: Is Sabrina secretly a twin? It certainly sounds that way, based on Diana’s rambling about how “they” took her baby and told her the child was dead. Diana certainly knew that Sabrina was not dead, so she couldn’t possibly be referring to Sabrina. Plus, in that pre-Dark Baptism vision she had, Sabrina saw two babies on the altar. Yeah, she’s totally a twin. Calling it now.
• What’s the deal with Susie’s ancestor Dorothea? Why does the ghost just suddenly (and conveniently) begin appearing to her? It doesn’t seem that Wardwell had anything to do with that, but maybe I misinterpreted it.
• Just as soon as I start getting excited about Dr. Cee and Hilda, the writers go and throw that glowing-eyes curveball. So, what exactly is the former weatherman turned horror host? I’m guessing werewolf.
• Now that Wardwell ate Principal Hawthorne, who’s in charge of Baxter High?

What did you think of the first season of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Season 1 is now streaming on Netflix.

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