Witching hour
‘Chilling Adventures of Sabrina’ casts magical spell
Let’s get real: Fall TV — “The Conners,” “Manifest,” that wretched “Magnum P.I.” (is anyone else rooting for that imposter to drive off a cliff ?) — has been more punishment than pleasure.
It’s so bad, I’m watching “Dancing With the Stars.”
My TV has me on a suicide watch.
Finally there’s something fun to binge and share with friends.
Netflix’s “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” takes the impish witch you might know from Archie Comics and the ’90s sitcom “Sabrina the Teenage Witch,” which starred Melissa Joan Hart, and spins her into a gothic tale somewhere between “Goosebumps” and “American Horror Story.”
It’s not always convincing, but it’s hella fun.
Kiernan Shipka — “Mad Men’s” Sally Draper — stars as Sabrina Spellman, and it’s just refreshing to see an actual teenager as a teenager (and not someone in their late 20s playing 15). Shipka is one of the finest young performers out there, and Netflix was smart to grab her.
Sabrina’s father was a high priest in the satanic church who defied tradition by marrying a mortal. Both died in what is said to be an accidental plane crash.
Sabrina’s 16th birthday is days away, on Halloween, and it’s a key moment for the half-mortal, half-witch. She must choose between the worlds of mortals and witches. At midnight, under a blood moon, she is to participate in a dark baptism and pledge her eternal loyalty to Satan. Hey, no pressure though. Sabrina lives in the rustic town of Glendale with her witchy aunts Zelda (Miranda Otto, “Homeland”) and Hilda (Lucy Davis, just as much a scene-stealer as she was in “Wonder Woman”) and her warlock cousin Ambrose (Chance Perdomo), who has been under magical house arrest for the last 75 years. Zelda and Hilda have a Cain and Abel kind of relationship, right down to the homicide.
As Sabrina grows more anxious about her day of reckoning, the dark one tries to stack the deck: Sabrina’s favorite teacher Miss Wardell (Michelle Gomez, “Doctor Who”) is actually a demon trying to use Sabrina’s connection to humanity, to her friends and her boyfriend Harvey (Ross Lynch, “Austin & Ally”) against her.
Still, Sabrina is one confident teenager. As her nasty principal (Bronson Pinchot) refuses to question the football team for some homophobic harassment, he chides her: “You’re suggesting a witch hunt.”
“I don’t care for that term,” she replies coolly.
Her magical vengeance against those jocks is both creepy and hilarious.
Like CW’s “Riverdale” — which exists somewhere in this universe — it’s hard to pin down what year this show is set in. The clothes and cars would seem to indicate early ’60s. The teenagers don’t have cellphones glued to their hands, but the pop culture references are current.
This just might be the most curious adaptation of a comic book. The title of the same name has yet to finish its first story. In four years, Archie Comics has only published eight issues. It would be like HBO adapting “Game of Thrones” if George R.R. Martin hadn’t finished even the first novel.
The same writer, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, writes and produces the series so there may be answers to the looming showdown: Satan vs. a teenager.
Bet on ’Brina. She’s just magic.