There’s a new tenor to the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, as our eponymous heroine appears to be dabbling in the dark side of her powers.
The trailer presents Sabrina’s “Praise Satan!”-esque power-tripping as more of a fun than an angst-filled ride, which I for one would appreciate. Set to the strains of The Runaways’ “Cherry Bomb,” we see Sabrina up to all sorts of magical mischief. Ever since her Dark Baptism at the end of Part 1, it would seem, Sabrina’s stopped caring about the consequences of using her gifts.
It may be that she’s out of control—even Madame Satan herself implies that there’s no stopping Sabrina—but all of this looks like a setup for some deliciously soapy spell-laden TV.
With a few caveats, I enjoyed the first part of Netflix’s Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, and the show’s strong cast can make even the most over-the-top situations entertaining. It seems as though Part 2 will be giving star Kiernan Shipka more of a personality range to play as she explores Sabrina’s witchy impulses. While Sabrina probably won’t go irredeemably evil, it’s the rare show that can completely flip its protagonist’s motivations and character. The Sabrina that we first met was kind-hearted—if stubborn (for good and ill)—and tried to be guided by good intentions. Now we’ll get to see her cut loose.
A love triangle’s a-brewing between Sabrina, ex-boyfriend Harvey, and magic school pal Nick. The official description says that Sabrina will have to “choose between the familiar mortal Harvey Kinkle, and the sexy warlock Nicholas Scratch.” No offense to Harvey fans, but when given the choice between “familiar” and “sexy” …
Based on the trailer’s YouTube comments, many fans are loving the chemistry between Sabrina and Nick, who at least won’t hold being a witch against her. It would be great if the show didn’t fall back on much-exhausted love triangle tropes of the past but found new ways to surprise us. Sabrina’s a modern girl in a strange world, and you never know what direction the creatives who have a hand in Riverdale will go. That Riverdale association feels like both a blessing and a curse. Somehow, even with Satan, witches, ghosts, and a goblin-cat, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina‘s more limited run could mean the show is more reined in and cohesive than Riverdale in the end.
I’m crossing fingers that Sabrina will handle the weird consent-related issues involving cousin Ambrose and his boyfriend Luke (who Hilda dosed with a love potion), as well as give Lachlan Murdoch’s non-binary Susie Putman space to further explore their identity.
The always-wonderful Lucy Davis and Miranda Otto as Sabrina’s aunts make most episodes worth watching—as does Tati Gabrielle’s ever-more-interesting friend/foil to Sabrina, Prudence Night. Also, I would happily watch Michelle Gomez read the phone book, so I’ll be tuning in to see what kind of trouble she stirs up this go-round.
Part 2 of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina hits Netflix on April 5th.
What did you think of the trailer?
(image: Netflix)
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