TV Review: The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Season 2

The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Season 2

Starring: Kiernan Shipka, Michelle Gomez, Miranda Otto, Lucy Davis, Richard Coyle

Rating: TV-14

Runtime: 9 episodes

Forgive the pun, but I found the first season of the Sabrina reboot to be less than spell-binding. Still, I liked the characters enough and the strong theme of gender roles which ran throughout was enough for me to stick around for the second season. And Hell’s Bell’s, I’m glad I did!

Made by the same creators of Riverdale, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is based on the comic series from the same era but with a more mature, darker twist. The series follows Sabrina Spellman, her friends, and family in the town of Greendale. Of course, Sabrina isn’t quite like every other teenage girl around – she’s half mortal and half witch, living with her full witch aunts, Zelda and Hilda and her cousin, Ambrose.

While the first season saw Sabrina struggle to balance her human life with her witch heritage, it ended with her making a choice with huge consequences: Sabrina underwent the Dark Baptism and the choice promised the series would take a darker turn. Early on in the second season, these changes are evident with Sabrina herself, who as well as gaining a bright new hair colour (silver is so in right now, after all!), is also evident in her intention to commit fully to witch life and forsake her human one. Which involves leaving her school in Greendale and attending full time at the Academy of Unseen Arts. While saddening, this greater focus on the world of the witches is to the show’s benefit – as likable as Sabrina’s mortal friends can be, it is the witches like Prudence, Zelda, Hilda and Nicholas Scratch who were truly interesting in the first season. Allowing the series to delve more into their lives, allows for more mature storylines and a chance for them to take the spotlight and really shine.

The problems which I previously had with the first season are not wholly gone – some of the storylines are still ridiculous and I do find Sabrina herself irritating at times with her constant need to rebel every time someone denies her. But there are some really strong moments and characters such as Miss Wardwell (playing with perfection by Michelle Gomez) and Prudence are total scene stealers. The story finally builds to something we’ve been promised from the beginning of the series – a confrontation finally between Sabrina and the Dark Lord. While unfortunately over too soon, there is the promise of more to come in the future and the consequences of this initial encounter are devastating for Sabrina herself.

The theme of women’s power versus male dominance is extremely strong throughout Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, and this helps to focus the series even if it sometimes drives home its point a little too heavy-handedly. In this, it feels sharper than it’s sister series Riverdale, which tries to juggle too many plot points and gets a little lost. Here’s hoping the next season of Sabrina keeps doing what it’s doing!