Hello everyone, welcome back to TV Tuesday! Today I’m going to be talking about the first season of The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.

Well, my very first thought was ‘this is a lot like Riverdale’ BUT! it’s definitely more haunting and just altogether creepy and I’m really liking that.

So Sabrina loves everything horror, which is awesome, and her boyfriend Harvey is living for it too. So from my recollections from the Sabrina the Teenage Witch show I remember Harvey being a jock.

Wow so we get a kill in the first 10 minutes of the show. Sabrina’s teacher is killed by this witch who is after Sabrina because of what her father did. I like that we’ve started here because I have so many questions that I’m only hoping the show will answer. So that witch has now possessed the teacher’s body and is trying to kill Sabrina, lord.

So we learn that her witch baptism is coming and she’s not quite ready to let go of her human identity. I don’t think her friends or her boyfriend for that matter know she’s becoming a witch. Plus, the fact that she’s part mortal is not what the witches want and they don’t want her at their academy.

I love her aunts; Lucy Davis does such a good job playing Hilda, she’s come so far from being Dawn on The Office. Miranda Otto plays Zelda really well too; the two make this duo that is fun to watch.

Okay, so she drops this huge bomb on Harvey that she’s leaving for boarding school, and he’s sad that she wasn’t going to tell him. I feel him because she’s being so cagey. She tries to tell him that she’s a witch, and he freaks out a little, which is understandable, but she can’t stand to see him like that so she puts a spell on him so that he forgets. Poor Harvey.

I love how headstrong Sabrina is, trying to make it safe for her friend Susie at school. She’s also really headstrong on becoming a witch, she wants to make an educated choice. Her aunts can’t understand why she doesn’t want to join the church of night, as her father was the high priest there. Watching her struggle with this is actually really fun to watch because she’s asking all the right questions.

There is so much mystery around her parents; her mother was a mortal, her father a warlock, and of course the witches were not okay with that pairing, but it was her parents wish that she join the church at her baptism.

Ambrose is an interesting character. Sabrina’s cousin who is willing to do anything with her. He’s really, really into witchcraft.

Wait, so Ambrose deals with dead bodies, seems fitting. He’s gotten a body, but he realizes it’s a witch’s body, but the parents are human, so he’s really suspicious. He thinks there could be a witch hunt could be in the works.

I think Ambrose is supposed to be comedic relief, but sometimes he is, but sometimes he’s not funny.

Okay, so it’s the day time and a scarecrow is hunting her, it doesn’t even have to be dark for this show to be scary. I love how it’s Salem, her cat, who saves her. I’ve always loved Salem.

Damn, that second episode, if the first episode didn’t hook you, the second is sure to sink its teeth in.

Ah, so much girl power. I’m loving all of it. I love how Sabrina is so concerned about her friends, that’s what’s making it so hard for her to leave them for good. She goes against her aunts’ wishes and goes to a Halloween party, when she should be preparing for her baptism.

I didn’t think she was going to go to her baptism, but she does; she’s late, and when it comes time to signing the book, she can’t. Everything that the father told her, how she would have free will to leave if she didn’t like being a part of the church, but now that’s no longer the case. Plus, she sees figures who look like her parents telling her to run, so she really thinks something is up so she runs. Her aunts are disappointed in her, but I’m hoping that changes.

I really hate how this society is so exclusive, that she has to give up everything to be a witch. I like how this show (I’m hoping) is going to try and turn that around.

Man, the jump cuts with the sharp bursts of music are haunting and done so well. Really gives the show this edge.

So Sabrina has to go to trial for not signing the book but we find out her name is already signed in. Apparently her aunt Zelda signed it when she was born because her parents signed off their daughter to the dark lord in order to be married. Geez.

But then bam, Hilda brings this whole new plot twist to show proof that Sabrina was baptized in the catholic church, all in Sabrina’s mother’s doing.

After this, she ends up getting what she wants, into the witch world without having to pledge herself, but she’s also able to get her human life too.

I still want to know why everyone wants Sabrina in the witch academy.

There is some weird plot going on with Ambrose, the guy who died, Conner was a witch, and he had a pet iguana that he doesn’t know what to do with. At the funeral, he meets Luke, one of Conner’s lovers, and the two hook up, but when he wakes up the iguana is dead.

Oh god, my biggest fear right here. So Rosalind is trying so hard to get books unbanned from school, but the meeting to talk about it isn’t for another 3 months, and she’s found out that the degeneration in her eyes is getting worse. She’s told that in 3 months or less she’ll be completely blind, and all she can think about is all the books she can fit into such a short amount of time. As a bookworm, this catches you right in the feels.

Oh, my god, it’s their creepy teacher who is possessed that is killing Rosalind’s eyes! The teacher even sets up a secret book club to read all the banned books.

Why is Harvey’s dad a dick? His father wants him to work in the mines, but Harvey doesn’t want to, plus he’s scared because he saw this bull-like creature there when he was young. When he doesn’t go, his father is furious. Holy hell.

I know I already mentioned this show has a Riverdale feel, but even scenes are shot the same way, but this show I’m finding is a lot better creatively, it’s not so clichéd and plots have reasons.

So we finally get to see the academy, or as Sabrina is calling it “the expo”. So she’s going for the weekend I guess to feel it out. Well, of course the mean witches lock her in this prison and torture her, which is what they call a harrowing. Wow, Salem comes to her rescue. We find out that kids have been dying from the harrowing, and it’s other witches who are doing it. So now it’s become a bit of an all-out war.

Oh, so it’s the ‘father’ of the school who sent Prudence, the head bitch, after Sabrina, why do they all want her dead?

She meets this guy who is obsessed with her father’s theories and work. I can see her getting close to him to get close to her father.

We’re told that Hilda was banned from the academy, and I want to know what for. She’s flighty so I feel like it could be anything.

Susie has this weird Uncle Jesse who saw something in the mines that seriously messed him up… which is probably the same thing Harvey saw… I’m wondering if the humans are going to find out about witches.

Wait, Ambrose can’t leave the house? All these side characters have so much back story that I’m so ready to unpack. So Luke asks Ambrose on a date, but he can’t really go, but Hilda helps him go on this ‘virtual’ date, she puts him under a spell that makes his body stay in the house, but his spirit is at the coffee shop… but as Hilda watches over him, guess who comes to the door, the creepy teacher.

I’d really love to know what the point of the fifth episode is all about. To get to know the characters better? Because it does that quite well.

What is this weird fever dream where Sabrina and Harvey are getting married and as they do, all the mortals start chanting ‘kill the witch’ as they literally try to kill her. Sabrina’s want is to be with Harvey, but she’s afraid of him knowing about her witch family.

And then a dead body shows up at the mortuary and it looks exactly like Ambrose, he sees it, but Hilda doesn’t… until he starts to eat his own bitter heart. Now that he’s done that, he is free to leave the house finally. So everyone is under this fever dream? What is even happening? I seriously can’t explain what is happening. Ambrose wants desperately to leave the house, but his fear is knowing at what cost it is to be free.

So these fever dreams are all of the characters’ hopes, dreams, and worst fears all wrapped up in one. Now Hilda is starting to date Sabrina’s principle, all she wants his Zelda’s approval, but Zelda can’t give that to her. But of course this gets weird because the principle has his twin brother growing on his stomach, ew. Then she all of a sudden gets attached to Zelda. Hilda wants to find love, and to seek her sister’s approval, but she fears never getting that approval and being stuck with her sister forever.

Zelda gets to host the Dark Lord for dinner, and she decides to cook a child, whereas Hilda wants to bake a vegetable pie; Zelda thinks it’s rubbish, but when the Dark Lord chooses the pie over the child, she loses it. So she kills Hilda for the millionth time… only this time she won’t be coming back. Zelda wants nothing more than to please the Dark Lord, but her fear is knowing someone, especially her sister, please the dark Lord better than her.

Ohhhh, the point is, not only to get to know our characters better, but the demon that Sabrina lets loose wants the spell that breaks the curse on the house.

It’s her weird teacher, Miss Wardwell, who ultimately saves Sabrina from the weird fever dream. That’s when she finds out that not only is she a witch, she’s been spying on her and that Sabrina’s father entrusted Miss Wardwell to look after her. Well, Sabrina is pissed. So much lying.

Ok, ew so no Susie, Harvey and Rosalind are being haunted by these demons? They try to tell Sabrina, but she of all people should believe him. Oh my god, she tries to get rid of the demon, it inhibits her body for a second, yikes. And she’s still going to try to fix this. Damn, she’s stopping at nothing, she’s going to perform an exorcist. When Miss Wardwell agrees to help she’s back in Sabrina’s good books. What a scene, it was engrossing to watch. They got the demon out, and I think it’s going to come back though because they just threw it down a well. In the end Susie’s uncle dies. Boo. Shit, of course Miss Wardwell killed the uncle, of course. I’m surprised, but I don’t know why I’m surprised because she’s evil.

I like that Sabrina questions everything because some of these rituals are weird af. Like, servicing your body to the Dark Lord… why?

Wow, Prudence, one of the mean witches, was right about Harvey’s family… they are witch hunters.

Sabrina, Miss Wardwell, Prudence and two other witches go into the forest to see an ancient witch to try and turn Prudence away from becoming Queen and giving herself to the Dark Lord, but guess who they run into, Harvey’s family. I can see some manipulation at play here. Miss Wardwell is trying to get Sabrina to see the bad side of Harvey, but Sabrina’s not buying it.

We find out that the High Priest’s wife wants to make Prudence Queen because she wants her gone. That’s when we find out that Prudence is in fact the daughter of the High Priest and that the Dark Lord isn’t choosing her. So much back-stabbing and betrayal.

Just as the High Priest announces that there will be no Queen, this witch Mildred slits her throat and becomes Queen; talk about dramatic.

So witches have cursed Rosalind’s family with blindness, interesting. Because she’s going blind, she now sees visions and that’s how she saw how the mines went down… I’m willing to bet she’s going to have a vision with Sabrina in it.

There’s an accident in the mines, which was caused by Doris and Agatha, Prudence’s ‘sisters’, and Harvey’s brother, Tommy dies. Well, Harvey is never going to be the same and Sabrina knows this so she wants to resurrect him. In order to do that she has to kill someone, an eye for an eye.

This dark Sabrina and light Prudence is a duo I can get behind.

They pick Agatha to kill… but Sabrina thinks she’s caused a loophole, by burying Agatha in dirt that will bring her back so that both stay alive. This all just sounds really bad, but I’m so into it.

Oh, she resurrected Tommy alright, but Agatha is dying. She has unbalanced the worlds. Everyone tells her it’s a bad idea, but she has even better ideas to go to this other realm to get Tommy’s soul. Well, that doesn’t work either because good ol’ Miss Wardwell is there to ‘help’ her through it all. She leaves Sabrina in the realm to fend for herself and tells her Tommy’s soul is gone. In order to put things back in place Tommy has to die.

Now Sabrina must tell Harvey the truth about everything, and he is pissed! He has every right to be though. He’s agreed to kill Tommy himself, so he goes and shoots him, and after all is said and done he breaks up with Sabrina. I actually feel bad for her, all she ever wanted was justice.

Ah, I was right, Rosalind figures out and thinks that Sabrina is a witch so she and Susie confront her. The love and support they show for her is beautiful.

There’s a big storm brewing where the witches want to take out all of the humans from Greendale. Again, Miss Wardwell tricks Sabrina into thinking their only hope to save everyone is to sign the book of the beast. We get this montage of the whole season up to that point as she (unfortunately) signs the book.

Well, Sabrina is able to burn the 13 witches who have come to Greendale and everyone seems to survive the storm. So Miss Wardwell is “grooming” Sabrina to take her place as Satan’s henchwoman because she wants to be the Queen of Hell.

So the High Priest’s wife has twins as expected, but Zelda was wrong when predicting it would be two boys, one was a boy and one a girl. She makes up this lie that the boy ate his twin in the womb so that he would know there is only a boy… and she takes the girl home to be raised by her.

There’s this weird curse? on the first born boys. I don’t understand it.

Wow, what a transformation. She now Sabrina is saying goodbye to her human life and has joined the club at the academy. Well, the future is going to get a lot more interesting.

I’m going to spend some time talking about the Christmas episode. Sabrina wants nothing more than to speak to her mother because she knows she’s in limbo so she wants to create a séance. The only people who she can get to help her is the witches at school.

Of course Miss Wardwell, that bitch blows out their yule log, which is warding off the bad and protecting, and of course it happens right when Sabrina is doing her séance. All Sabrina wants is to help her mother.

Damn, there is a spirit of some sort in the house and everyone is being haunted by it. Really, this show knows how to be freaky. Zelda almost loses her baby, but it’s Sabrina’s mother who comes in to see who will take the baby. Witch hunter vs. Zelda. Zelda can’t do it and we’re led to believe the witch hunter won, only to realize it was all a trick and they enchanted a teddy bear.

What is that weird plot with Susie? She gets abducted at her job as an elf.

Her dream job turns into her worst nightmare. It turns out the Santa is a demon who hurts children by dipping them in wax. It’s that same witch hunter who saves Susie and hunts the demon.

Sabrina’s mother comes back one last time to give her wise advice about Harvey and about being a witch, and it not being a great idea to lead a mortal down that path.

Again, Sabrina tries to help Harvey by enchanting his father to stop drinking, but he’s so done with her magic. They were so cute, but I get it.

This Christmas special was definitely an added bonus that not only got us to see our characters in the holiday spirit, but it took us down some weird plots that will progress things for next season.