S01.E01: Chapter One: October Country

[Athena]

Quote

While Greendale readies for a Halloween eclipse, Sabrina faces a crucial decision and Harvey makes an unexpected declaration.

 

[allonsyalice]

I really enjoyed the pilot! I enjoy Kiernan Shipka as Sabrina and I think the cast is truly on point. Kiernan and Ross are great together and I really loved the scene of them in the woods together. also loving Sabrina's very 60s costuming and the music choices!

[jay741982]

Just watched the Pilot and really enjoyed It! Loving Sabrina, Harvey, Ambrose, Roz and Susie so far. Aunt Hilda seems pretty cool and more likeable then Aunt Zelda who reminds me of Alice Cooper from Riverdale a character I don't like. I also suspect Sabrina 's parents were murdered 

Edited October 26, 2018 by jay741982

[BonnieD]

Kiernan Shipka has grown into acting ability I never felt she had as a child in Mad Men. She really is doing a fine job. And if you want to see her stretch even further and go way darker, check out this horror gem for Halloween: THe Blackcoat's Daughter. I'm not easily horrified by horror movies but this one was verrrry unsettling after a long slow burn.
I imagine what she will discover is that her parents were working on ways to merge the witch and mortal worlds in perfect harmony without any need for a Dark Lord. Thus the importance of winning over Sabrina to the Satanic side.
One niggling but super annoying complaint. As usual, my pet peeves in fantasy are when the "real" parts aren't depicted in a true to life way. Apple orchards do NOT have blossoms and fruit at the same time. Do these people know nothing about how the fruit is actually formed? Did they all flunk biology? Do they even bother to think about it? Also, the ancient tree was clearly not an apple but some sort of live oak with apples hot glued onto the branches LOL. 

Such minor things aside, I thought episode one was fun and I'm looking forward to the rest, 

[jmonique]

Wow, I can't believe how much they packed into the pilot. After a while, I was convinced I had moved into the second episode, then I checked, and it was still the first episode.

They've done a really great job of creating a universe. 

[tennisgurl]

I was a huge fan of the 90s Sabrina growing up, so I was both excited/nervous about this, but i thought this was a really good set up episode. I like that you can see the influence both the original comics, the newer comics, and the TV series, and I am hoping that we see more shout outs to them as the show goes on. Also, apparently Salem (the best part of any Sabrina story) is basically two characters: The actual black cat named Salem, and her cousin Ambrose, who is in exile at the Spellman residence for some magic crime that happened years ago. 

They really managed to get a lot of information about how this universe works in a really short amount of time, its a really great job. And Kiernan Shipka is a really great Sabrina so far, and still looks adorable in 60s style clothes! And I am loving the 60s soundtrack as well. 

[PWHCHCH]

Why is everything so blurry in the background? It’s really distracting. 

[twoods]

I agree that’s it’s really distracting. I first thought it was my internet connection and Netflix going crazy on me, but clears out pretty quickly. Are they going for a spooky vibe?

Edited October 27, 2018 by twoods

[Blue Plastic]

11 hours ago, BonnieD said:

One niggling but super annoying complaint. As usual, my pet peeves in fantasy are when the "real" parts aren't depicted in a true to life way. Apple orchards do NOT have blossoms and fruit at the same time. Do these people know nothing about how the fruit is actually formed? Did they all flunk biology? Do they even bother to think about it? Also, the ancient tree was clearly not an apple but some sort of live oak with apples hot glued onto the branches LOL.

Did they shoot this in the spring or something?  It looked really funny with the blooms and the apples on trees at the same time.  Plus the apples were so carefully spaced on the branches.

1 hour ago, twoods said:

I agree that’s it’s really distracting. I first thought it was my internet connection and Netflix going crazy on me, but clears out pretty quickly. Are they going for a spooky vibe?

Every time something extra spooky is going on, the background gets all weird.  I think maybe it's supposed to foster a sense of claustrophobia or something?

I like it so far.

[AngelKitty]

I've been waiting for this show to start so when my soap opera was preempted by a news report yesterday, I was happy to put this show on. And I was not disappointed. First you have to understand that I am an old white lady who has loved any supernatural, fantasy, scifi shows and movies since I was a child starting with Casper the Friendly Ghost. I did read the Archie comics, but I don't remember any about Sabrina the witch, so she must have come after I stopped reading comics all together. I'm familiar with the first TV show, but only watched snippets because I was familiar with the two aunts, but it was too young for me and just didn't satisfy my Buffy longing.

I'm telling you all this because I really enjoyed the show but being old with no children, I'm not going to know a lot about the story or a lot of the modern jargon so I'm asking you to be patient when I ask what may seem to be stupid questions.

So let me start by asking about this choice Sabrina has to make. Is this a choice between light and dark, like in Lost Girl? Is it a choice between being a witch or not, like Charmed?

Thank you.

[rainsmom]

I just watched the first episode of the new Sabrina and it’s really entertaining. BUT it’s jarring because the witches are pledged to their “Dark Lord Satan.”

Witches aren’t part of the Christian pantheon. They don’t worship Satan, because they don’t believe in Satan.

This show is as jarring as having a show about Christians – who are constantly, repeatedly referred to as Christians – who are doing their work for their Blessed Lord Zeus. Sabrina literally makes no more sense than Christians worshiping Zeus.

Also every time they mention "the Dark Lord," I think they're talking about Voldemort. I sincerely don't care if their use of it pre-dates Harry Potter. Harry was bigger and better known. That ship has sailed. I hope their Satan has no nose.

[HighwayFlower]

The Satan stuff was so annoying. Witches do not worship Satan. I love the show, but I hate that they went that route. 

[BonnieD]

Quote

Did they shoot this in the spring or something?  It looked really funny with the blooms and the apples on trees at the same time.  Plus the apples were so carefully spaced on the branches.

It's literally impossible. blossoms are at beginning of summer, fruit are in fall. They were probably bare trees and the design dept attached both blossom and fruit because they're dumb.

[tennisgurl]

7 hours ago, AngelKitty said:

So let me start by asking about this choice Sabrina has to make. Is this a choice between light and dark, like in Lost Girl? Is it a choice between being a witch or not, like Charmed?

 

Yeah, not much room for being wishy-washy in the supernatural world, huh? I think the choice is between being a human, and fully joining the human world, giving up magic, and becoming a full time witch, giving up her life as a human and going off to Dark Hogwarts. 

They seem to be going off of old witch legends for their witch mythology here. Not like in wicca or modern witchcraft, which is more about nature, its playing off medieval/colonial style witchcraft mythology, where witches were people who met with Satan, wrote their names in his book, and sold their souls to him to gain powers. I guess if you want to do a darker and edgier Sabrina, they decided that being harmless wicca style witches wouldn't work as well as Satan worshiping ones from the witch trail era. 

[Lady Calypso]

This was definitely an interesting first episode. I guess the thing that distracted me was Halloween being on a Friday in this universe, so I'm not sure whether this is actually a different year or a fictional 2018. 

The whole Dark Lord stuff was jarring, to say the least. I guess I didn't expect witches to praise Satan like they do in this series. But then again, all the witches so far seem to be quite dark and twisted. 

Sabrina, as a character, was very well done. They clearly showed her struggle between the witch world and the mortal world. Plus, I think Sabrina and Harvey are a decent pairing together. I did like their scene in the woods.

Ambrose is a good foil for Sabrina. And the fake Ms. Wardwell is a good villain, though I assume she's just a temporary villain masking the real one. 

Overall, it was a decent pilot. It didn't make me itch to watch the second episode right away, but it did allow my curiosity to spike with the season.  

[Blue Plastic]

2 hours ago, BonnieD said:

It's literally impossible. blossoms are at beginning of summer, fruit are in fall. They were probably bare trees and the design dept attached both blossom and fruit because they're dumb.

Well, I thought maybe they filmed when the trees were in bloom and couldn't postpone shooting just because of that, so they just attached fake looking apples to blooming trees.  If in fact they attached the blooms AND the apples, that's spectacularly stupid all right.

[DietCokeJunkie]

When Hilda and Zelda were looking at the body in the embalming room, Zelda said it was too bad the family wanted an open casket because they haven’t had “long pig for dinner in ages.” What does that mean? Do they eat body parts off the bodies they prepare in the mortuary? Excuse me while I heave. I’m also a little scared to consider what “long pig” could be. 

[theatremouse]

1 hour ago, Lady Calypso said:

I guess the thing that distracted me was Halloween being on a Friday in this universe, so I'm not sure whether this is actually a different year or a fictional 2018.

I think they did it for two reasons: one the text onscreen specifically said "current year", rather than specifying a year, so they're trying to make it evergreen. (Plus they're already doing a lot of retro styling that's simultaneously 50sish and currentish. So "no year" works with that.)

Plotwise I think they wanted to have her birthday be on a Friday so when she told her friends she couldn't hang with them on the day, the friends could be pacified by the theoretical option of weekend plans.

Re: "long pig" I don't know the origin of the expression but I'm pretty sure I first heard it referring to cannibalism on an episode the Twilight Zone.So yes, it means humans.

[ApathyMonger]

1 hour ago, DietCokeJunkie said:

When Hilda and Zelda were looking at the body in the embalming room, Zelda said it was too bad the family wanted an open casket because they haven’t had “long pig for dinner in ages.” What does that mean? Do they eat body parts off the bodies they prepare in the mortuary? Excuse me while I heave. I’m also a little scared to consider what “long pig” could be. 

Yup, "Long Pig" is human.

[iMonrey]

This is just strange. What an odd concept, to take comic book characters generally geared towards children and do something this dark with them. It goes a few steps beyond what the CW is doing with Riverdale. Sabrina and the witches pledging to their Dark Lord Satan? Good grief.

I'll probably check out at least a couple more, but this was just weird.

[roctavia]

1 hour ago, iMonrey said:

This is just strange. What an odd concept, to take comic book characters generally geared towards children and do something this dark with them. It goes a few steps beyond what the CW is doing with Riverdale. Sabrina and the witches pledging to their Dark Lord Satan? Good grief.

I'll probably check out at least a couple more, but this was just weird.

My understanding is that this is based off of a series of the comic books called the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina that are much, much darker and violent... so they are following the comic books, just a different line of the comics.

Edited October 28, 2018 by roctavia

[BonnieD]

FYI: 

long pig

noun

a translation of a term formerly used in some Pacific Islands for human flesh as food.

[kitcloudkicker]

On 10/27/2018 at 3:26 PM, BonnieD said:

It's literally impossible. blossoms are at beginning of summer, fruit are in fall. They were probably bare trees and the design dept attached both blossom and fruit because they're dumb.

I read this as a clearly intentional decision to make the setting feel more otherworldly. 

Other literally impossible things that happened in that scene: the one hallucinogenic apple hanging off an oak tree, it turning into maggots when it was bitten into, and the goatbeast satanic vision, and also, all the witchcraft.

[starri]

I wish we'd gotten to spend more time with Ms Wardwell before she got possessed.  Anyone who knows Michelle Gomez from Doctor Who probably figured out where she was headed, and doing it so quickly didn't quite let anyone suspend that for a very long time.

[theatremouse]

The "blur" seems to be an intentional motif when "something magical is happening". Almost like suggesting magic itself is disorienting.

[CousinAmy]

I never had a backpack when I went to school in the 1950s and 1960s, but I did have schoolbags. Sabrina's red plaid schoolbag was perfect. And when the teens went into the schoolyard to have their lunch, Sabrina had an "Archie's" thermos. This girl's style is somehow flexible in time, while her worldly friends are living in the current year. I'm really more interested in these styling choices than the horror, which has never been my favorite genre, but it's nice to see Kiernan carry her own show.

[Miles]

Did not know this was a dark retelling of Sabrina the teenage witch. What a pleasent surprise.

I screemed at my screen when they killed Michelle Gomez. You don't give me Michealle Gomez and then take her away right away! But then the witch turned into her and it was okay. Still, I think it would have been more fun and surprising if Michelle Gomez would have been the evil witch from the beginning and the girl her helpless victim. Also would have made more sense. I mean who takes somebody seemingly traumatised and potentially injured home and not to the ER?

I haven't quite figured out when this is supposed to be set. The esthetic is very 80s maybe even earlier. The cars, the cinema, the clothes, the house, the school. But the language is very modern and Sabrinas cousin had a Laptop... So I guess it has to be modern day.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

This started out a little slow but I got more interested as the episode went on. They definitely covered a lot in an hour, which is not surprising since it was the first episode and they had a lot of world building/rule setting to deal with.

Although I want to like the character of Harvey, the actor playing him is boring me.

It was interesting to see how much disdain Aunt Zelda has for humans. My sister watched Sabrina the Teenage Witch so I am used to a much nicer version of Aunt Z.

[questionfear]

On 10/28/2018 at 11:24 AM, iMonrey said:

This is just strange. What an odd concept, to take comic book characters generally geared towards children and do something this dark with them. It goes a few steps beyond what the CW is doing with Riverdale. Sabrina and the witches pledging to their Dark Lord Satan? Good grief.

I'll probably check out at least a couple more, but this was just weird.

Yes, this is based off the "Chilling Adventures of Sabrina" series of comics. It's specifically been designed as a dark retelling of Sabrina, much like there's a dark Archie series (Afterlife with Archie)

[CrazyDog]

I was/am really looking forward to this, but maybe because I'm just coming off The Haunting of Hill House, which I really liked, this didn't hold my attention and I tuned out after 20 minutes. I'm not sure why. It's obviously a huge hit, but I don't know. I like Riverdale, and I want more Halloween viewing, but meh. I'll have to try again tonight.

Edited October 29, 2018 by CrazyDog

[IDreamofJoaquin]

I had forgotten how cute I thought Harvey was in Sabrina the Teenage Witch.  I looked him up now. Oh no, it's not good. 

I liked the show but very dark.  

[Ms Lark]

On 10/30/2018 at 10:39 AM, IDreamofJoaquin said:

I had forgotten how cute I thought Harvey was in Sabrina the Teenage Witch.  I looked him up now. Oh no, it's not good. 

Yoiks! After Nick Bakay's snarky Salem, Harvey was my favorite. Oh well. Beats the alternative!

Kiernan Shipka is the better actress, and the new Sabrina is interesting, but I think I liked the original (earlier episodes anyway) best. It was light and fun and silly. Plus, orig. Salem is still priceless. I'll watch the rest, but I wish it wasn't quite so dark.

[iMonrey]

Quote

Yes, this is based off the "Chilling Adventures of Sabrina" series of comics. It's specifically been designed as a dark retelling of Sabrina, much like there's a dark Archie series (Afterlife with Archie)

Oh, I did not know that. Well that makes a little more sense. Thanks for the explanation!

[millennium]

I enjoyed this!  (and was all prepared not to).

Kernan Shipka's Sabrina is immediately likeable.   The sets are fantastic.  Love that house, especially after just visiting Salem, Mass., this past weekend, where several houses feature that severe colonial architecture and mullioned windows, most notably the Witch House:

 

 

I always enjoy Miranda "I am no man!" Otto, although her character here is a bit repellent.  Great to see Richard Coyle too, though it took me a moment to place him.   Then I remembered him as Paul from the series "The Collection."

Count me among those who miss snarky Salem the cat from the older Sabrina TV series.   But I suppose a similar character would detract from the more "chilling" aspects of the series.

I don't have a problem with the show's Satanic elements, but I'm an adult.   At the risk of sounding alarmist, I suspect this show will resonate with some impressionable young people and lead them to explore/embrace the path of black magic, which is not known for having a positive effect on kids.

On 10/27/2018 at 3:53 PM, tennisgurl said:

They seem to be going off of old witch legends for their witch mythology here. Not like in wicca or modern witchcraft, which is more about nature, its playing off medieval/colonial style witchcraft mythology, where witches were people who met with Satan, wrote their names in his book, and sold their souls to him to gain powers. I guess if you want to do a darker and edgier Sabrina, they decided that being harmless wicca style witches wouldn't work as well as Satan worshiping ones from the witch trail era. 

I think that sums it up, especially as they drew a parallel between the histories of Greendale and Salem.   But then the show muddies the waters by having Sabrina's girl group call itself WICCA.

[Hawkes]

On 10/27/2018 at 1:46 PM, HighwayFlower said:

The Satan stuff was so annoying. Witches do not worship Satan. I love the show, but I hate that they went that route. 

You're right that we don't but I look at this more from the viewpoint that it is a complete work of fiction and not showcasing real life witches.  Even the use of the title warlock would never be used in Wicca.  In my tradition of Wicca the title represents an oath breaker.  While those in Wicca are Witches and use that name to describe ourselves (both women and men), not all witches are Wiccan.  So there could be male practitioners that use Warlock as their title. 

The production designer is a pagan as well and she'll be bringing in a mix of different of the different pagan beliefs into the magical aspect of the show.  I think that's very interesting to see how real life beliefs in magic are being weaved into the fictional aspect of magic in this show.

https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2018/10/sabrina-real-life-pagan-lisa-soper?fbclid=IwAR0o34I3AzeVKz87XFaoK1OISxYJx_up_tswO_Lip-8uB14KQQu9-UvpxJw

I loved the first episode and I'm watching the second one now.  :)

Edited November 2, 2018 by Hawkes

[marketdoctor]

Quote

I haven't quite figured out when this is supposed to be set. The esthetic is very 80s maybe even earlier. The cars, the cinema, the clothes, the house, the school. But the language is very modern and Sabrinas cousin had a Laptop... So I guess it has to be modern day.

I heard about a movie that did this (I forget which one) to intentionally create a feeling of discomfort and unease without explaining why.  (Probably more than one.)

If it helps, I've met a number of Wiccans, pagans, and neo-pagans, and none of them worship the devil.  I met one person who didn't know that Wicca and devil worship were NOT two different things, but he also didn't believe was meat, so he was a renaissance idiot.   That said, some people, especially children, get some of their understanding of the world from television, so it would have been nice if they'd thrown in a line that Wicca is a different franchise, or later have a reference to how they take advantage of the confusion about Wicca and Satanism, because misdirection is evil and it distracts the Justice Leauge Dark (I know, also a different franchise.)

[methodwriter85]

On 11/1/2018 at 1:33 AM, millennium said:

Great to see Richard Coyle too, though it took me a moment to place him.   Then I remembered him as Paul from the series "The Collection."

I remember him from a BBC film he did with Toby Stephens where he has this creepy codependent friendship with him. Age and his hairstylist were very kind to him. He looks hot here and I never would have thought that.

[Mabinogia]

57 minutes ago, methodwriter85 said:

On 11/1/2018 at 1:33 AM, millennium said:

Great to see Richard Coyle too, though it took me a moment to place him.   Then I remembered him as Paul from the series "The Collection."

I remember him from a BBC film he did with Toby Stephens where he has this creepy codependent friendship with him. Age and his hairstylist were very kind to him. He looks hot here and I never would have thought that.

I remember him as Jeff on Coupling. and it blew my forking mind when I finally realized that was him. He could not possibly be more unlike Jeff. Between him and Balki as the principle, and Missy as the teacher, this is like the trippiest crossover fanfic ever. 

[HunterHunted]

On 11/1/2018 at 12:33 AM, millennium said:

I enjoyed this!  (and was all prepared not to).

The sets are fantastic.  Love that house, especially after just visiting Salem, Mass., this past weekend, where several houses feature that severe colonial architecture and mullioned windows, most notably the Witch House:

 

It was intentional.

https://io9.gizmodo.com/the-12-coolest-horror-references-we-spotted-in-chilling-1830107666

[millennium]

1 hour ago, Mabinogia said:

I remember him as Jeff on Coupling. and it blew my forking mind when I finally realized that was him. He could not possibly be more unlike Jeff. Between him and Balki as the principle, and Missy as the teacher, this is like the trippiest crossover fanfic ever. 

Coyle's characterization of Faustus is not unsimilar to his portrayal of Paul Sabine, founder of a Paris fashion house in the 1920s, in "The Collection."

53 minutes ago, HunterHunted said:

It was intentional.

https://io9.gizmodo.com/the-12-coolest-horror-references-we-spotted-in-chilling-1830107666

I enjoyed an ice cream cone in the parking lot of the House of Seven Gables last weekend.    The Spellman House is larger, taller and more looming than the House of Seven Gables.  But I see the similarity.

[lezlers]

On ‎10‎/‎28‎/‎2018 at 4:11 PM, Ivydoom said:

Melissa Joan Hart is still my favourite Sabrina.

I had a pretty hard time enjoying this episode because I only ever saw the tv-show and while I knew it was based on comics, I was never a comic person. So for me Sabrina is airy and light, while this version feels very heavy. It's also very dark, and as mentioned by others; the vagueness of the background is very distracting at times. I really dislike the way it is filmed. (eta:) They do such a good job on decor, and then they blur it all out!

It also doesn't help I'm wiccan myself, the dark lord stuff is really weird. Church of the dark? CHURCH?!?

See, that's what I really liked about it.  I watched the 90s show all the time and the fact that it's the same characters in a completely different setting and vibe totally fascinated me.  I really liked it.   As a fellow pagan, however, the Satan stuff is REALLY annoying.   I just keep reminding myself that it's fantasy.  

[methodwriter85]

8 hours ago, Mabinogia said:

He could not possibly be more unlike Jeff. Between him and Balki as the principle, and Missy as the teacher, this is like the trippiest crossover fanfic ever. 

Balki somehow looks younger and better than he did on The Surreal Life back in 2004-2005. Late 50-something really agrees with him. (And maybe some really good work? I can't tell.)

[ElectricBoogaloo]

1 hour ago, methodwriter85 said:

Balki somehow looks younger and better than he did on The Surreal Life back in 2004-2005. Late 50-something really agrees with him. (And maybe some really good work? I can't tell.)

I think the dark lighting (is that an oxymoron?) is helping too.

[Bruinsfan]

On 11/3/2018 at 9:41 AM, marketdoctor said:

I heard about a movie that did this (I forget which one) to intentionally create a feeling of discomfort and unease without explaining why.  (Probably more than one.)

The filmmakers deliberately used that in It Follows to make the setting dreamlike and unsettling. Lots of stuff looked out of the 70s, kids watched VHS tapes like in the late 80s and 90s, some characters used cell phones, and one had some sort of futuristic e-reader that didn't yet exist.

[galaxychaser]

Richard in eyeliner yes please. What a fox. 
 

[chediavolo]

On 10/26/2018 at 3:07 PM, BonnieD said:

Kiernan Shipka has grown into acting ability I never felt she had as a child in Mad Men. She really is doing a fine job. And if you want to see her stretch even further and go way darker, check out this horror gem for Halloween: THe Blackcoat's Daughter. I'm not easily horrified by horror movies but this one was verrrry unsettling after a long slow burn.
I imagine what she will discover is that her parents were working on ways to merge the witch and mortal worlds in perfect harmony without any need for a Dark Lord. Thus the importance of winning over Sabrina to the Satanic side.
One niggling but super annoying complaint. As usual, my pet peeves in fantasy are when the "real" parts aren't depicted in a true to life way. Apple orchards do NOT have blossoms and fruit at the same time. Do these people know nothing about how the fruit is actually formed? Did they all flunk biology? Do they even bother to think about it? Also, the ancient tree was clearly not an apple but some sort of live oak with apples hot glued onto the branches LOL. 

Such minor things aside, I thought episode one was fun and I'm looking forward to the rest, 

Just started watching this. I’m new to streaming.  so far I like it. only watched two episodes. About Real parts: yes we said the same thing about the apple tree also apple trees don’t get that big. Another thing I think it was this episode,  was her cousin using a laptop on the porch?!! 

On 10/27/2018 at 12:12 AM, PWHCHCH said:

Why is everything so blurry in the background? It’s really distracting. 

I though it was my overpriced, crappy, worst customer service, Spectrum again at first! 

[chediavolo]

On 10/29/2018 at 12:53 AM, Miles said:

Did not know this was a dark retelling of Sabrina the teenage witch. What a pleasent surprise.

I screemed at my screen when they killed Michelle Gomez. You don't give me Michealle Gomez and then take her away right away! But then the witch turned into her and it was okay. Still, I think it would have been more fun and surprising if Michelle Gomez would have been the evil witch from the beginning and the girl her helpless victim. Also would have made more sense. I mean who takes somebody seemingly traumatised and potentially injured home and not to the ER?

I haven't quite figured out when this is supposed to be set. The esthetic is very 80s maybe even earlier. The cars, the cinema, the clothes, the house, the school. But the language is very modern and Sabrinas cousin had a Laptop... So I guess it has to be modern day.

It makes no sense. It seems Sabrina’s cousin is the only one that has modern items, his T-shirt and a laptop. All the language & the feel overall is very modern