I am not familiar with either Archie or the comic. When I saw this on coming up on Netflix I dismissed it as a rehash of a mediocre sitcom that I should probably avoid. Seems like it might be worth trying.
More often than that.
I would rather rewatch Buffy 7 than Sabrina.
Cool.
I watched this through last week and still don’t really know what I think of it beyond “Ambrose is great.” The tone is… odd, and I’m genuinely surprised that the oddly earnest Satan worship hasn’t garnered a louder backlash (not least from Satanists).
I’ll tune in for the second season to see where they’re going with it, though, so I guess I enjoyed it enough.
A couple of thoughts:
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Oh my God! That’s Jeff from Coupling!
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They really lean into the Satan worship. Surprisingly hard.
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The new Hilda and Zelda dynamic reminded me a lot of the old House of Mystery/House of Secrets from DC with Cain and Abel forever reenacting their story while telling other horror tales. Kind of loving, but hating each other as siblings.
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There’s some cheese here, the FX can be spotty, and there’s some tween plot shenanigans going on that you have to give a pass to, but this is pretty darned good. I’ll watch a season 2.
Yeah, we got the same vibe.
Yeah, we watched it this week and feel similarly.
The last three episodes go pretty dark and are fun in a more Buffy-like way. BUT the tone varies wildly and the mix of horror, cheese, and tween targeting seem like odd choices that often don’t work.
Diego
The only part that really irked me was how Sabrina didn’t catch on to Ms. Wardwell being a part of the witch world until way late. In fact, I thought at one early point when Wardwell was pointedly suggesting Sabrina punish some boys with magic that she did know, but then later she acted as if she didn’t. Weak. But I guess that’s what you get with a tween show.
Also, it’s pretty funny that they had to rewrite a bunch of stuff because Kiernan Shipka turned out to be allergic to cats. Sorry, Samuel!
My daughter (who grew up with the original TV show) recently marathoned this show. It is not her childhoods Sabrina. :)
So what’s the deal with Susie? I would assume her father knows, approves, and supports her. But it seems like something everyone in a small town like Greendale would know. Also, Madame S killing those people with no known repercussions? Lame.
I have not been watching this show, but this caught my eye in the old news feed:
You’d think the Satanists would be happy for the exposure.
I thought any publicity was considered good publicity.
Just finished. I thought it was very good overall.
The vague setting, in terms of year/era it was set in, was certainly on purpose and well done. I recognized Bronson Pinchot immediately which I guess makes me the real mvp. Although funny enough the first thing that popped into my head was not the odd couple sitcom whose name I suddenly can’t remember but the scene in True Romance where he gets busted by the cops with his face covered in cocaine. He practically looks the same as he does in that scene that feels like it was filmed 50 years ago. It’s witchcraft!
Tonally it is unusual, being much lighter at times than e.g. Stranger Things, but still embracing a good bit the comic (which continues it’s glacial non-release pace, alas). For Sabrina, she starts to understand that the witch world isn’t just a cute side thing (a nice contrast with the 90s series) the night of her sixteenth. But it takes the entire first run for that to really hit home, IMO, which is why you get some of the contrasts that you see (e.g. the book banning). But I think it works.
Otto and Gomez seem like they are having the times of their lives. Overall the casting was very strong. If ever a show needed Richard E. Grant in it, surely this is that show.
Season 2 should already take us beyond what’s in the comic, so I wonder how they’re going to proceed once it airs next year.
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I thought Ambrose’s reactions to what’s his face saying “I love you” might have revealed him thinking something is off there. They never really went back to the fact that Hilda casually slipped him a love roofie.
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Speaking of which, I quite liked the way Hilda got up in the two jocks’ shit when they were harassing what’s her face in the book store.
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I feel like Sabrina wasn’t careful enough in considering the costs of using magic to solve problems like she did, and that maybe her current predicament might turn out to be a result of that. I dunno. I think Madam Satan was saying something that suggested they were trying to coax Sabrina to do certain magic things all as part of the master plan. But I can’t recall the specifics of that conversation anymore.
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Guess Bronson won’t be showing up in Season 2. Alas.
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I felt like they overdid the Familarsposition in that one episode. I like that they have Sabrina talking to Salem occasionally and it makes for a good way to introduce some knowledge. But I was surprised to see Madam Satan’s familiar taking in the last ep.
Well, it’s not written by Joss Whedon. That guy could write some snappy dialogue. But the cast is pretty great all around. Kiernan “Sally Draper” Shipka is a strong lead. Richard Coyle does chew up the scenes. Hard to believe it’s been nearly twenty years since Miranda Otto was Éowyn, damn.
Second season launching on April 5th!
That seems unusually fast.
My understanding is that the first two were filmed together - it’s basically just one long season that got broken into two parts.
There’s also a Christmas special out next Friday.
Just in time for… Easter?
