Archie Comics’ Sabrina Returns

Many of our childhoods were inundated with Archie Comics and the world of Betty and Veronica. I can clearly remember the countless hours I have spent as a child immersed in the most recent Betty and Veronica fight or reading about Jughead’s various escapades. Archie Comics has been a large part of many people’s lives, especially people born before the 2000s. Even members of Generation Z  have heard the names of characters such as Cheryl Blossom or Kevin Keller despite not having read the comics!

Obviously, many Archie Comics’ fans were excited when they heard about the release of the televised version of the comic, Riverdale, featuring beloved characters such as Betty Cooper, Jughead Jones, Archibald Andrews, and Veronica Lodge. However, fans couldn’t help but notice that one of Archie Comics’ finest characters was missing from the televised adaptation! Who, you ask?

Sabrina Spellman, of course! Well, there’s no need to be worried. Sabrina Spellman and other characters from the world of Greendale recently got their own show called Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.

It was released as a Netflix special on October 26th and the first season consisted of ten episodes, each being an hour long. Filming for the second season is well underway and it is rumored to be released early next year. The show received a 7.9 out of 10 on IMDb and a rating of 90% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is a spookier and more unnerving readaptation of the cult classic “Sabrina the Teenage Witch” and has been marketed as a dark coming of age story. It contains elements of satanic worship, horror, as well as the more family-friendly themes of love and loyalty.

The show’s lead character Sabrina Spellman (Kiernan Shipka) is half-witch and half-mortal. She had a high-ranking warlock for a father and a mortal mother, both of whom died in a “plane crash” over the Vatican when Sabrina was a baby. The first season mostly revolves around Sabrina’s 16th birthday and her dark baptism. On her 16th birthday, she must sign her name and free will away in the Black Book to Satan. Many factors prevent her from being as enthusiastic about this as most other witches are. Her mortal side is attached to her friends, her family, and most importantly to her boyfriend Harvey Kinkle (Ross Lynch). The second half of the season becomes dark and gory and is just a true pleasure to watch. She, her friends and family must stand against the evil forces which threaten not only her but all of Greendale.

A large part of the show deals with feminism and the questions which arise when Sabrina has to sign her will away. It approaches gender inequality with the amount of sensitivity and respect a topic such as feminism deserves.

The show is similar to its counterpart Riverdale (starring the likes of Cole Sprouse, and Cami Mendes). One thing to note, however, is that Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is extremely dramatized, and although it takes its roots from the happy-go-lucky Archie Comics, nothing else is similar between the two. As popular news company NBC says, “Netflix’s “Sabrina” isn’t a reboot: It is its own individual, spooky entity thrusting viewers right into the dark — both literally and figuratively — a world of witchcraft, Satanism, cannibalism and so on, down a distinctly female-centric, feminist path.”

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is quaint yet gory and is also filled with just the right amount of horror and drama.  As a person who watched all ten episodes the day they dropped, I can tell you with confidence that the show is definitely worth watching. And, if you’ve already watched the show or will devour the ten episodes as fast as I did, there’s no cause for worry. A special Christmas episode is set to be released on December 12th.