S01.E05: Chapter Five: Dreams in a Witch House

[Athena]

Quote

A mysterious demon wreaks havoc on Spellman Mortuary. Sabrinagoes rogue and puts her powers to the test.

 

[GaT]

Wow, this episode was boring.

[roctavia]

The dreams had interesting nightmares, but did drag to get to the point... and it was very obvious that it was going to end up being dreams and not have the demon captured right away. 

The episode was fine, but not the most thrilling. Did blackwood know there was a demon in the puzzle and want sabrina to solve it and get killed? Or is that just coincidence? I was expecting him to be in on the Nick guy giving her the journal in the last episode. 

I'm curious to see the story Wardwell gives her next episode, so I guess the episode did at least keep me interested in watching more.

[Keywestclubkid]

Her popping in oops wrong nightmare killed me 

[Blue Plastic]

Very repetitive, having to wait for each occupant of the house to start their dream and have it turn into a nightmare.

[Keywestclubkid]

10 minutes ago, Blue Plastic said:

Very repetitive, having to wait for each occupant of the house to start their dream and have it turn into a nightmare.

They did the same basic dream concept with each dream starting sepertly in Buffy I thought it was well done it was funny 

[Lebanna]

'I do not wear the cheese...'

I really missed the cheese man. This episode was pretty similar to that one in Buffy. Basically nothing actually happened, did it? But they needed a way to out Mrs. Whatsherface the teacher.

[kitlee625]

I liked this episode. The first three episodes kind of dragged for me. It was clear that Sabrina was going to wind up with her powers and at the Academy, and the whole will-she/won't-she dragged on. But now that that's been established, I'm interested in getting into some adventures. Plus I think the production design of the Spellman house is pretty cool, and I liked getting to see more of it in this episode.

 

Because it's on Netflix, each episode is a full hour, and I feel like the writing would be a little tighter if it were just a few minutes shorter -- more like the 44-ish minutes you would get on network TV. I just don't feel like there's quite enough action to fill a full hour.

[AngelKitty]

No more predictions for me.

[theatremouse]

8 hours ago, roctavia said:

The episode was fine, but not the most thrilling. Did blackwood know there was a demon in the puzzle and want sabrina to solve it and get killed? Or is that just coincidence? I was expecting him to be in on the Nick guy giving her the journal in the last episode. 

Nick said that Blackwell had been trying to solve it for 20 years, so I do not think he gave her the puzzle expecting her to solve it and get killed. I think he gave it to her as impossible task. Like "sure I'll let you skip to advanced classes if you spin this straw into gold" except, oops, she did it. I don't think he had any idea what was inside either.

[Miles]

I love that everybody went through horrific torture, except Zelda whose worst fear seems to be that the Dark Lord might like Hilda's cooking better than her's. XD

Well at least at first. Turns out the real torture was Hilda being dead.

 

Also loved that Michelle Gomez got more to do this episode. She is the perfect fit for the mother demons (I guess Lilith). So weird and otherworldly.

Edited October 29, 2018 by Miles

[AnimeMania]

Ms. Wardwell was rocking that cleavage, I am surprised it only got a TV-14 rating.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

This was the first episode that reminded me of Buffy which is never a bad thing. I'm okay with it not advancing the plot much because this episode was more about the characters realizing their fears. And OF COURSE even after Zelda learned that one of her fears/regrets is treating Hilda horribly, after they woke up she only apologized to Sabrina. Heh, I did laugh that the beginning of her dream was all about her jealousy that the Dark Lord liked Hilda's vegetable pie.

Principal Balki's belly brother Bob was creepy, but his whole "I absorbed my twin" story reminded me of Dwight Schrute which always makes me laugh.

[millennium]

Oof, that was boring.   I couldn't make it through the episode.   Ambrose's dream was like an endless ride through a haunted castle at some tired old amusement park.   I shut it off.  Hope I didn't miss anything important, though I doubt it.   With each new episode, I become more convinced that the showrunners have no idea where this series is going.   It started out with such promise.

In case anybody's interested, the title of this episode is a riff on H.P. Lovecraft's short story, "Dreams in the Witch House."

[Lady Calypso]

I see where they were going with this episode and suspect they did it as a Very Special episode (dreams turning into nightmares), but I didn't think it was particularly well done. It just felt like they were trying to do a Very Special Episode. It didn't feel natural at all, especially through the not-so-great dialogue. Here's the demon telling everyone what their fears are and to demand that they give it the spell.

We already knew that Sabrina's fear was telling Harvey she was a witch and him rejecting her. We could have already suspected that Ambrose's fear was being stuck in the house forever. I do think Hilda and Zelda's nightmares were decently done. Hilda's weird nightmare with Principal Hawthorne's "I ate my brother" was hilarious, rather than downright scary for me. I surprisingly enjoyed Zelda's nightmare the most. I think it was the most well done and it diverted away from what I thought was Zelda's real nightmare, which I thought was going to be her being a mortal.

I guess I was expecting the demon to be more subtle. I know they were trying to go for a whole "Your fears will eventually dictate your choices" lesson. I don't know; I just wasn't as impressed, even if the characters were unaware that they were in a dream....

It wasn't a bad episode, per say, but it felt very stilted at points. I think it did pick up around Zelda's nightmare and then when Sabrina was back in the dream world.

[Last Time Lord]

It’s too bad Battibat’s prison was comeletely destroyed. Would have liked to have seen Sabrina just slam the opened thing down on Father. Blackwell’s desk and ask to get transferred to that conjuring class he promised her. 

[AngelKitty]

This episode was a disappointment to me because I really wanted whatever was in the puzzle that her father built to be something to help her.

[iMonrey]

This was actually the first episode I can say I enjoyed. I've sort of been on the fence about this show but this one might keep me going. I liked all the dream stuff and thought it was sort of "fun," for a show that's been so dark.

[tennisgurl]

So everyone has these dark, violent, horrible dreams about their owns fears and self doubts...and Zelda is horrified that Satan likes Hilda's salad more than her roasted child! The horror! Alright, that wasn't her real fear (which was reenacting Cain and Abel almost word for word) but that was still hilarious. Almost as hilarious as the "oops, wrong dream!" running gag. 

I liked this episode. 

[LakeGal]

I rarely like dream episodes in anything.  So this was not a good episode to me.  I was bored and just wanted the episode to end.  I was so happy when Sabrina's dream ended only to realize I had to sit through the rest of the house having their nightmares too.  Hopefully I will enjoy the next episode more.

[lezlers]

I loved this episode, it was very Buffesque (goddamn I miss that show) with the dark theme periodically lightened up a bit with the wandering in to the wrong nightmare gag.  I like that they seem to be falling into a "big bad per episode" formula.   

[rubinia]

I’m guessing that Balki’s twin was a reference to the cheesy 80s horror movie “Basket Case.”  And the “demon in the puzzle box” is pretty obviously a Hellraiser reference.

[cleo]

This was the first episode I really disliked. Yes a very bad ripoff of a brilliant BtVS episode. Appallingly bad.

I do like Wardwell.

Edited April 26, 2021 by cleo