Dark take on TV classic has its ups and downs
Those of you who remember the original television show Sabrina, the Teenage Witch will have an idea of what to expect from Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, which is a reimagining of the classic TV series. However, there are some key differences between the two which could be intriguing or off-putting depending on your tastes.
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina follows Sabrina Spellman (Kiernan Shipka), a teenage girl who is half witch and half mortal and is torn between the competing cultures of her heritage, as well as two different schools and cohorts of friends. This is the least of her worries however, as Sabrina’s hometown of Greendale is beset by power-hungry warlocks, mad cultists, demonic invaders, and more. It is up to Sabrina, along with her friends and family, to stop them.
In addition to the original Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Chilling Adventures also draws from Riverdale, its sister show. Both are set in the same universe, and Riverdale is mentioned a few times. As a matter of fact, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is actually an adaptation of the Archie Comics series of the same name. This may account for the retro stylings and dark and gritty atmosphere of Chilling Adventures. I have not seen Riverdale, but they seem to have a similar look and feel. I suspect that people who enjoy one will enjoy the other. Chilling Adventures has certainly made me interested in checking out its muggle sister.
In addition to Sabrina, the other core characters from the original show are back too: her aunts Hilda (Lucy Davis) and Zelda (Miranda Otto), and of course Ambrose (Chance Perdomo). You remember Ambrose, don’t you? And Salem? Oh yes, he is there too, but he is pretty much a non-entity. He barely makes an appearance, and he does not talk or do much of anything. If you were hoping for wisecracking hijinks coming from a black cat (or anyone else for that matter), you will be disappointed. The character of Ambrose seems to be a replacement for Salem, and while he can be fun at times, he is just not the same. In general, I think the setup had a lot of potential for humour, especially of the dark variety, which is sadly squandered.
Instead of the lighthearted tone of Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Chilling Adventures is darker and more serious. This certainly works to some extent, but I think more episodic monster-of-the-week style plots would have been better suited to the setting and characters than the dramatic story arcs the show went with. There is a hint of this kind of episodic formula in season one, but seasons two and three devolve into Game of Thrones-style power politicking and looming supernatural threats, and have far too much going on at once. Season four returns to form somewhat and is much more orderly and to the point, but I still think some opportunities were underutilized.
The world-building also feels shallow and scattershot overall. Some things, like the witches of Greendale being Satanic, feel like edginess for the sake of edginess. It would have been interesting if the “path of night,” as it is called in the show, were explored and contrasted with mortal morality, but it mostly just devolves into blood rituals, orgies, and other such window-dressing meant to shock and provoke. This got them in trouble with real-life Satanists who sued the producers over copyright of a statue of Baphomet seen prominently in early seasons.
Lucien Greaves, spokesperson for The Satanic Temple (TST), which owns the copyright on the statue, also stated that, “Given the show’s utilization of the Baphomet statue to represent an evil cannibalistic cult, a perception falsely associated with Satanism even in modern times, TST would have denied its use to the show creators.” Other aspects of the show that become important, such as the fact that there are other kinds of witches, are set up in the first season very little or not at all. Oftentimes, it feels like the writers were making things up as they went, and just throwing in whatever they thought was cool.
This is not to say I dislike the show. The actors of all the major characters give excellent performances, and I find the retro/gothic aesthetic of the setting very appealing. I also appreciate the various nods to history, mythology, and popular culture — some obvious, others more subtle — that are inserted throughout. And for all the convoluted intrigue and haphazard world-building, it does get me thinking about the implications and possibilities, which is something I really like in a show.
As for the show’s ending, I can certainly see why it is controversial. In particular, one character commits suicide for reasons that are very self-serving, even frivolous, which I imagine many people would be offended by. Putting that aside, the series does not end the way most people would expect; it does not feel entirely satisfying, not because it fails to tie up loose ends, but rather that it does so too well.
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is certainly enjoyable if what it (and Riverdale) offers is your cup of tea. Even so, I feel that Chilling Adventures could have been so much more if it had a clearer sense of itself and what it was going for. It tried to do too many things at once, and as a consequence, it did not do anything especially well. Yet, it does well enough to be worth watching.
