sabrina the teenage witch season 1 episode 1

Her unwillingness to commit to the Dark Lord drives the narrative thrust of this debut episode, which like all pilots has the uneviable task of introducing all of the characters, establishing mood and laying out the narrative framework for which the rest of the series will be built upon.

Since childhood, they have been preparing Sabrina to declare her loyalty to Satan at a dark baptism that will occur on her 16th birthday…which just so happens to be on Halloween. Subsequently, Sabrina was raised by her abrasive Aunt Zelda (Miranda Otto) and gentle Aunt Hilda (a never better Lucy Davis). Sabrina’s late father Edward was as powerful of a member of the Church of Night as he was a controversial one - his marriage to a mortal woman, Diana, caused waves throughout the community and, as this episode intones, may have caused their untimely deaths in an accident shortly after their daughter was born.

It seems that this god-fearing community once had its own Salem-esque period where 13 witches were hanged from a tree, with the community’s coven practicing in secret ever since. We first meet Sabrina (Kiernan Shipka, late of Mad Men), her boyfriend Harvey (Ross Lynch) and best friends Roz (Jaz Sinclair) and Susie (portrayed by non-binary actor Lachlan Watson) as they take in a revival screening of George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead. This us fitting, as companion series Riverdale has already fimly established Greendale is a hub of supernatural activity.

Because if the road to hell is paved with series’ like this one, we are more than ready for the sublime damnation that will come from binging this.

Sabrina the teenage witch season 1 episode 1