Ah, 2018, the year of remakes. Sabrina the Teenage Witch got a very satanic make over. From the creators of CW’s Riverdale, I expected a teen drama similar to Pretty Little Liars. Instead, I was pleasantly surprised by a show tailored to an adult audience that is American Horror Story meets Stranger Things.
As aesthetically pleasing as its predecessor, a perfect show to celebrate Spooky season. Kiernan Shipka playing Sabrina, the Hermione Granger of Greendale, is a half mortal witch promised by her late father to sign her freedom away to the ‘Dark Lord” more commonly known in the mortal world as Satan. But here in Greendale, Satan is not synonymous to evil, but instead the freedom to love or hate as you choose. Rebellious among her own kind, Sabrina always has to do the right and moral thing even if that means life threatening “chilling” adventures (they weren’t kidding about the chilling part.) A strong, fearless teenage witch, not even Satan can scare her, quite literally.
Sabrina’s need to constantly meddle and do the right thing does get annoying. As does her inability to see what is right in front of her face. The plot line is entertaining enough to keep us through the entire series, but not enough to join the ranks of cult classic, Stranger Things. The plot line lulls at points where it takes us on Sabrina’s adventures that don’t necessarily push the plot line forward. The audience is fed small innuendos that hint of secrets of Sabrina’s parents past, their untimely death, but the audience is left with no antidote for the unfulfilling thirst for answers. I’m sure we will learn more in part two of the series, but the writers could have quenched at least part of our thirst.
Dark rituals, murders, demons, and exorcisms, the show is a stunning contrast to the original. Sabrina the Teenage Witch was a a lighthearted show where a half mortal witch got herself into silly, comedic situations using magic and then used her magic to get out of it. Salem is now a character split in two: a English cousin, Ambrose (Chance Perdomo) who is on house arrest for attempting to blow up the Vatican and a “familiar” in the form of a cat that does not talk.
The show feels familiar, a story we have already been told. Is this only a remake of Sabrina the Teenage Witch or a remake of Harry Potter reimagined? Lets talk the parallels between Sabrina Spellman and Hermione Granger.
Both come from muggle ancestors, righteous, brilliant witches. Sabrina even looks eerily like Emma Watson. They are political figures, both feminists.
They each created their own organizations for the betterment of social justice. Hermione created the Society of Promotion of Elfish Welfare (S.P.E.W) and Sabrina created Women’s Intersectional Cultural and Creative Association (WICCA) Both morally inclined to always do the right thing and fight for what is right. They have both been ostracized by their witch communities for having muggle blood. Sabrina was given a test sort of like a witch’s rubiks cube that no witch or warlock could ever solve before, except her father. And yet, she solved it in a matter of seconds. Brilliant and completely unrecognized, just like Hermione; the solver of every riddle, every problem, the true heroin behind the curtain. Always finding the solution without glory and constantly in the shadow of Harry Potter.
But Sabrina has no shadow. Sabrina is something that Hermione is not, hasty, naive, and a rule breaker. She acts without the proper research on spells or consequence. She comes up with plans whimsically to constantly meddle and save the day and ignores all advice to not. She’s impulsive, but she’s powerful. Sort of like Harry Potter.
Both Harry and Sabrina’s parents were murdered and they were sent to live with their aunts. They break all of the rules. They recklessly jeopardize their safety and the safety of others to courageously fight their own Dark Lord. They seem to be immune to fear as they both constantly find themselves in situations where they end up the hero. And finally, they are both apart of a prophecy that speaks of their divine power.
Could it be a series rewritten to have combined two wizards into one gothic, righteous, hell blazing mudblood named Sabrina Spellman? Is the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina really a pseudonym for the Chilling Adventures of Hermione Granger without the Shadow of Harry Potter? Maybe that’s a stretch. After all the Spellmans do worship the same Satan than Sabrina plots to defeat. But the similarities are curious. The writers are feminists, that is unquestionable. They speak about the patriarchy and mens fear of powerful women repeatedly throughout the series. So maybe this is the Harry Potter reimagined, a witch they believed we deserved. A witch without a shadow.
**This article was revised after a reader pointed out that I had mistakenly wrote that Hermione Granger was half-blooded.**
As a result of their parents’ deaths, Harry and Sabrina go to live with their relatives. Harry moves in with the Dursleys and Sabrina moves in with her Aunt Hilda, Aunt Zelda, and cousin (Ambrose Spellman).