The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina:Illuminating the Path of Night
The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina isn’t a reboot, revival or rip-off of the 90’s sitcom Sabrina the Teenage Witch... no, it’s so much better. It’s a series based in horror that touches on the occult, cannibalism, necromancy, exorcisms—in short, so distant from anything shown on the G rated sitcom that you can’t compare the two more than the characters’ names and source of inspiration. This new Sabrina—still a half-witch, half-mortal teenager living with her aunts—is curious, provocative, and complex, a strong female lead who’s confronted daily with the battle we all encounter: How do you beat the devil? Sabrina is a hell of a show that succeeds in entertaining and captivating its audience with three dimensional characters who develop brilliantly through the discovery of their ancestry; strong settings that place the protagonist in thrilling situations; and the questioning of religion, traditions, and authority, which grounds our young witch’s progressive mentality.
The tone of the show is immediately established with its spooky opening credits and dark lighting, optimizing the setting of the town of Greendale where the spirit of Halloween prevails perennially. In her review of the show on bloody-disgusting.com, Meagan Navarro writes, “From a visual standpoint, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is stunning. The set pieces are pure Halloween, designed with the horror fan in mind […] There’s a dark whimsy to the series’ aesthetic that isn’t afraid to get ugly when the horror calls for it.” We’re aptly introduced to Sabrina Spellman, her boyfriend Harvey Kinkle, and her best friends, Rosalind “Roz” Walker and Susie Putnam, at a movie theatre, watching a black and white horror film, which we learn is Sabrina’s favorite genre. What else would entertain our half-witch? She, along with her aunts Zelda and Hilda, and her cousin Ambrose, are witches and faithful followers of Satan; they belong to a coven, the Church of Night; and they practice witchcraft, something Sabrina shields from her mortal friends. In the Spellman residence, practicing witchcraft means being a servant to Satan, the Dark Lord, and recognizing any other religion as “the false god” and “the false church.” They utter expressions like “Praise, Satan”; own a Cain pit in the backyard, which resurrects any witch or warlock should death befall them; and they work and live in a funeral home, the Spellman Sisters Mortuary…in other words, they pleasantly cohabit with the dead.
Sabrina is a formidable force in her town as she stands up to bullies, her principal Mr. Hawthorne, and founds a clandestine female empowerment club dubbed: Women’s Intersectional Cultural and Creative Association, a cheeky acronym for WICCA. Rather than frighten Sabrina, she’s fortified when she’s confronted by her own ambiguity towards proceeding with her Dark Baptism, which will occur on Halloween, her sixteenth birthday. She isn’t afraid of the questions she has about the things that will disrupt her life like her religious expectations; the sacrifices she’s supposed to make; and the impact her departure will have on her mortal friends. “Balancing her two opposing worlds is a struggle for Sabrina, especially when dark forces beyond her control or knowledge pose a constant threat upon those she loves most” (Navarro).
The major conflict for Sabrina is choosing to willingly consign her body and soul to Satan; moreover, her family expects her to be steadfast in the traditions she was groomed to follow. Sabrina has been led to believe that it’s her decision to be baptized, sign her name in the Book of the Beast, and abdicate her free will in exchange for power; however, the truth is the decision to sign her name away was made for her by her late father Edward when she was an infant. Sabrina’s dismay when she discovers this betrayal is relatable because it reminded me of my own Catholic baptism, which was performed as a baby. Her father, like many parents, make serious decisions for their child without thinking of what that child might want for themselves in the future. I enjoyed picking out the parallels between Satanism and Christian religion because, while it’s easy to view Satanism as a cult, it’s harder to view Christianity through the same lens when you’re rasied in it; through a fictional show we can more easily understand the troubling nature of religion.
In an article titled, “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Season 1: This is not your 90s sitcom,” Stephanie Archer doesn’t see the originality in comparing Satanism with Catholicism, believing that the show could’ve enriched its storytelling by being more creative with its depiction of the Satanic cult. She asks, “Why can we not have a depiction of Satanism that breaks away from the dark side of Catholic restraints? […] There is this belief in cinema that the Satanic faith can be and is only a darkened mirror image of Christian faith. Dark gospels, psalms, prayers—it’s okay to include some, but create your own identity.” I disagree. Probably because I was raised Catholic, I appreciated the nuances of the archaic religion that Sabrina is rallying against and the desperate need for change. As someone initiated in Catholicism from birth (and only recently distancing myself from the practice), I loved seeing the parallels. Sabrina’s aunts, subjugated by their unholy father, follow his orders with unequivocal faith at the cost of losing their wavering niece. It reminded me of how a parent’s love is tested when their child conducts themselves in ways the church would consider wayward behavior. Her family might view Sabrina’s negligence towards giving herself to the Dark Lord as shameful and humiliating, but Sabrina is adamant in keeping her freedom and fights for her soul in the witch’s court of law.
We realize Sabrina’s family deceived her to satisfy their own agenda, and are fully conscious that they’ve played a part in sealing her fate. When Sabrina flees from her Dark Baptism, under the impression that she has the free will to do so, she’s befuddled to discover her refusal was illicit and is sued by the Church of Night for breaking a contract. The revelations in the courtroom illuminate some hurtful truths that push Sabrina further away from her family and deepens her inner turmoil like a violent storm. Not only does Sabrina learn that her father, with the help of Aunt Zelda, bartered Sabrina’s soul to Satan, but her mother Diana, assisted by Aunt Hilda, had Sabrina baptized in a clandestine Christian ceremony. As a teenager, growing and developing, this is the time when Sabrina is supposed to figure out who she is and who she wants to become, but the decision is unfairly taken out of her hands by the adults in her life who, perhaps not for malicious reasons, felt they knew what was best for her, better than Sabrina could. This is a common, arrogant mistake made by parents who think their offspring could never make rational decisions without their “wise” input. The grown-ups in Sabrina’s life underestimate her, and they shouldn’t.
Sabrina isn’t a weak witch who goes along with things just because—she doesn’t see the glamour in exchanging her free will for power; she wants to have both. In her piece, “How Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Thinks About Female Power,” Sophie Gilbert highlights a scene in which Sabrina explains her confusion to fellow witch Prudence, one third of the Weird Sisters and Sabrina’s frenemy, over heeding Fr. Blackwood’s advice and signing the Book of the Beast. “Sabrina bristles at the idea that she’s supposed to ‘give the Dark Lord dominion over [her] soul,’ even more so when another witch, Prudence, tells her she will only be giving up freedom for power.” What Prudence can’t fathom is that Sabrina doesn’t want to exchange one for the other; however, Sabrina has more to lose. She doesn’t want to renounce her mortal life. In the end, she doesn’t have to. Sabrina wins her trial but at a compromise: she must attend the Academy of Unseen Arts to continue her education down the Path of Night. No one realizes the lethal ultimatum Sabrina’s been offered as her goal becomes to conjure, bind, and banish the Dark Lord. Sabrina plans to use her education at the academy to conquer Satan but she’s going up against far more than just the patriarchy; she has a battalion of greedy adults in her life who want to steer her down their path, not hers.
Sabrina has several mentors who guide her down the Path of Night—her aunts, Fr. Blackwood, and Satan’s concubine, Lilibeth, under the guise of Ms. Wardwell—to help her fully embrace her magical side, heralding the ostensible truth that what she will receive in return for her servitude of Satan outweighs her losses. But Sabrina isn’t like most witches; she’s half-witch, half-mortal, savoring another piece of life that her relatives know nothing about. She’s also incredibly intelligent and intuitive. Gilbert writes, “[Sabrina] is also a character deeply of her moment: a teenage witch for the Teen Vogue generation. Sabrina is savvy enough to sense entrenched injustice in both her worlds, and she’s brave enough to challenge it.” Similar to how Sabrina stood up to school bullies and her misogynistic principal to defend her besties, she understands she’s capable of standing up to Fr. Blackwood and even her own family. Aunt Hilda’s confession to Sabrina that she too was hesitant of her Dark Baptism, and wondered if she should stay on the Path of Night, is refreshing because adults aren’t keen on admitting their doubts, especially to children. When Sabrina becomes privy to this admission, it makes it all that much easier to explore her curiosity and emboldens her resolution of sustaining her dual natures. She also explores the reasons behind every decision made for the coven by their male leader.
The seventh chapter of Chilling Adventures titled “Feast of Feasts,” is one of my favorites, and I think a peak of the show demonstrating its best elements: Sabrina’s controversial views, her friends’ supernatural roots to the town of Greendale, and the compelling and mandatory discourse of tradition and faith. The Feast of Feasts is the coven’s holiest holiday, the equivalent to our Thanksgiving, but with a gory twist—one female witch is selected as “Queen,” a superficial title meant to disguise itself as a reward for being chosen…to die. The queen sacrifices her slain body for her coven in an annual demonstration to the Dark Lord, and to commemorate the act of altruism performed by a witch centuries ago to save her own coven from famine. Sabrina acutely explains that their present coven isn’t starving; therefore, there’s no need to reenact this barbaric act and perpetuate a misogynistic tradition. Her Aunt Zelda’s response is horrifying, but predictable for a devout follower: they continue the tradition because it’s their duty to obey and participate, not to ask questions. This answer doesn’t suffice for our young, progressive witch and she digs deeper into the matter, disrupting everyone’s traditional views. It’s thrilling to see Sabrina challenge the old ways to make her coven more modern, the way her father had intended when he was High Priest. She brazenly questions everyone’s motives towards participating in cannibalism and what she unearths is unsettling.
The crucial conflict in this episode is if it’s the Dark Lord’s wish for women to draw a lottery to select a queen for sacrifice in the reinstated Feast of Feasts or is it merely the desire of a simple man—the purist, Fr. Blackwood—corrupt with power. Sabrina’s father had rightfully banned the feast; however, when Blackwood became High Priest, he claimed to have received a revelation from the Dark Lord to return to their old ways. Prudence’s enthusiasm over her selection as a tribute (for the opportunity to be queen), leaves Sabrina nonplussed. Prudence’s pejorative name for Sabrina—half-breed—has resonance when Prudence explains to Sabrina that she couldn’t possibly understand their holy holidays because she’s half mortal. What Prudence doesn’t understand is that it’s Sabrina’s unique lineage that allows her to perceive the duality in others. Sabrina doesn’t trust Fr. Blackwood’s claims and voices her opinion whether anyone around her wants to hear it or not.
Once Prudence is coronated as queen (and Sabrina, the handmaiden to the queen), Sabrina urges Prudence to question what will really happen to her after she dies, and to think about the possibility of nothing occurring, no transubstantiation, merely darkness. Jessica Goldstein writes in her review, “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina: Recap Eat Your Heart Out,” “Prudence is a true believer—she wants to be transubstantiated and reside in the Dark Lord’s heart until the trumpets of the apocalypse sound, which is one way to spend eternity—and Sabrina is the voice of doubt. But aside from Harvey, does Sabrina believe in anything?” That question shouldn’t be viewed negatively. I believe it’s Sabrina’s dubious nature, her refusal to succumb to blind faith and instead to grope for the truth, that preserves her and, consequentially, Prudence’s life; to believe in nothing leads one to investigate the motives behind everything, which only ends in enlightenment. And if this series shows you anything, illumination to the truth is the last thing a leader wants in their followers. Ironically, Ms. Wardell uses the truth to manipulate Sabrina’s choices when she assigns her students to delve into their family trees.
Sabrina isn’t the only one in Greendale with ancient ties to the town—specifically, a connection to witches—which enriches the storytelling and heightens the development of the secondary characters. Once Sabrina’s friends start digging into their family histories, we discover that the women in Roz’s genealogy were cursed by witches with blindness, which converted to “the cunning,” a sixth sense that gives a Walker prescient abilities. Roz’s special gift aids Sabrina in her protection of Harvey and his family whom the Weird Sisters have a vendetta against. While ransacking her ancestor Dorothea Putnam’s trunk, Susie finds her journals and learns that Dorothea granted safe passage to witches escaping religious persecution… so it turns out Sabrina’s a good judgment of character when it comes to picking her friends. Susie sees apparitions of Dorothea, which not only buoy her gender nonconformity, but help her in understanding the truth about the Spellmans. Harvey’s ancestry is not as sublime as Roz or Susie’s; Harvey comes from a long line of witch hunters who annihilated witches in Greendale. This discovery doesn’t sit well with Harvey who already feels like an outcast in his own family and, unbeknownst to him, is in love with a witch. When Sabrina reveals who she is to Harvey and how she used magic to meddle in his life (if only to save his brother), their relationship is doomed and Harvey begins resenting magic. I really loved that the minor characters have their own narrative arc that enhance their individuality, connecting them to the central story in an organic way. Sabrina’s friends aren’t regular mortal friends who can be shielded from her half-witch make-up. They can relate to the idea that your ancestors’ actions have significant implications on their descendants’ present and future. There’s a bit of foreshadowing in Harvey as he proves that the behaviors and inherent natures of his ancestors don’t have to be repeated. As Harvey turns his back on his ancestors’ witch hunting genes, Sabrina too can make her own choices.
There’s a great scene where Ms. Wardwell takes Sabrina and the Weird Sisters to meet Dismelda, an ex-communicated witch who, at fourteen, spurned the title of queen because her High Priest had seemingly received a message from the Dark Lord permitting him, the High Priest, to have his way with Dismelda as her initiation into the coven. If one High Priest could conceal his own agenda into the workings of the Dark Lord, why can’t another? The very one who reinstated the feast right after the previous had banned it? Dismelda’s story sheds light on the corporeal needs of even a High Priest but sadly, Prudence is obstinate in her baseless beliefs. Dismelda’s account is interrupted by gunshots and the real reason Ms. Wardwell ventures into the woods with the girls is revealed. She doesn’t care about convincing Prudence to reject her title. She wants to show Sabrina Harvey’s true character so that she can sever ties with her mortal life. While Harvey’s grandfather is in town for Thanksgiving, his family goes hunting and mistakenly shoot a familiar, a goblin embodying the physical form of an animal. The bigger mistake is when the group is falsely led to believe that it was Harvey who murdered the creature since it’s in his genes as a witch hunter after all. Prudence, armed with the knowledge that Harvey’s ancestors were witch hunters, bristles at Sabrina’s faith in his innocence and asks her how her faith is different from Prudence’s. But it’s simple: Sabrina has faith in Harvey because he’s a good guy and has given her no reason to doubt him. Conversely, the Dark Lord’s rules make his followers act in strange ways that put their religious obligations above everything else, even family. And that merits suspicion.
Everyone around Fr. Blackwood is enchanted by him because he’s Satan’s emissary. They’d never dare to consider he’s using his position for personal gain. Sabrina plots to cajole the truth from Lady Blackwood and subvert the perception that the selection of queen is divine and unadulterated. Prudence should be grateful Sabrina is only half-witch because it takes someone like that to think outside the box. She has Aunt Hilda bake a truth cake; one bite and Lady Blackwood apologizes for unburdening herself at the table. We find out that Prudence wasn’t chosen as queen for the feast by divine intervention but through the officious workings of a jealous wife who wanted the legitimate daughter of Fr. Bkackwood dead—Prudence. It’s revealed that Fr. Blackwood can receive “revelations” as swiftly as the wind changes course; it doesn’t take much to finagle the high priest into abolishing the tradition of the feast in exchange for the secrets at the table not venturing outside the Spellman home. It suited Fr. Blackwood to lead his coven through the darkness that is the path of night. But we know one brilliant witch who can take him down.
Archer, Stephanie. “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Season 1: This is not your 90s sitcom.” Film Inquiry, 10 Dec. 2018, www.filminquiry.com/chilling-adventures-of-sabrina-season-1/chilling-adventures-of-sabrina/.
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. Developed by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, Netflix Streaming Services, Warner Bros. Television Distribution, 2018.
Gilbert, Sophie. “How Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Thinks About Female Power.” The Atlantic.com, 29 Oct. 2019, www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2018/10/the-revenge-fantasy-in-the-chilling-adventures-of-sabrina/574075/.
Goldstein, Jessica. “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Recap: Eat your heart out.” Vulture, 27 Oct. 2018. www.vulture.com/2018/10/chilling-adventures-of-sabrina-recap-season-1-episode-7-.html/.
Navarro, Meagan. “[Review] Netflix’s ‘Chilling Adventures of Sabrina’ is Delightful Satanic is Delightful Satanic Witchery Full of Halloween Magic.” BloodyDisgusting, 15 Oct. 2018, www. bloodydisgusting.com/tv/3526411/review-netflixs-chilling-adventures-sabrina-delightful-satanic- witchery-full-Halloween-magic-embargoes-10-15/.