From the developer of the hit teen CW show Riverdale comes The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. Just like the name implies, this show is not the fun and lighthearted version of Sabrina that we’ve seen Melissa Joan Hart play once before. Instead, Kiernan Shipka plays the title role in a supernatural-horror slow-paced Netflix series. The show starts off somehow good, but then it slows to the point where you almost forget what happened at the start of it. I was excited at the idea that the series will tackle relevant subject to today’s youth, but unfortunately, it was handled very badly, almost sounding like propaganda against movements like Feminism. It promotes the idea that banning books is wrong by having students reading books like Lolita to protest it, a movement led by the villain. The villain even uses women empowerment to get Sabrina to sign a slavery contract. The portrayal of every adult person as misogynists and abusers does little to convince me that the witty and cool satan worshipers are the heroes in this. Especially when their hobbies include Cannibalism. The show doesn’t just undermine these issues, but it makes a mockery out of them. In most shows, it might not be a problem, but considering the fact that the target audience is mostly from an impressionable age, then it is considered one. The plot gets over the place sometimes, but it remains solid. Lucy Davis and Miranda Otto outshine Shipka easily. Sabrina’s character comes off as a know-it-all and self-centered, and while shows like How to Get Away with Murder showed us that female characters don’t need to be likable to exist, this one doesn’t execute it well, or even at all. One of the few things this show does well is that it develops Sabrina’s friends enough, proving that they are not just there for woke points. Sabrina doesn’t shy away from showing it’s true nature like Riverdale does, it also doesn’t hold back on the self-awareness, no matter how controversial it may be. The best aspect of Sabrina is by far the cinematography which is miles ahead of what we’re used to from shows with a similar target audience. My review might seem negative, but in the end I really didn’t dislike it. Overall it was enjoyable, the little matter of poorly handled social awareness was enough to tip the scale for me, but not enough to stop me from watching part 2.
