==_Preliminary review, my final review for Season 1 is in another comment (I didn't want to just edit over this, especially with the likes on it). Very light spoilers for the first few episodes ahead._==

I wanted to throw my hat in the ring because this comment section is mostly trash, and give a genuine review of the series as far as I've watched so far (I'll review it properly when I'm done with the season).

So, let's start with the Baphomet in the room (haha), and note that there is some very overt feminism in this series. As I hear, it tapers off as the series goes on, and I look forward to that, because while it is absolutely not pervasive to every corner of the series, it's a cringey part of the early episodes. I wholly support progressive movements, I am happy to see a non-binary character on the show, and Sabrina's attempts to defend said character. I wholly support Sabrina being a sassy, empowered female character who 'sticks it to the man'.

That said, constantly pointing to a plot element and going: 'This is women standing up to the patriarchy!' is unnecessary. As I said before, it's cringey. Let the work speak for itself.

That said, the series, while not a masterpiece, is interesting so far. I appreciate its willingness to broach Satanism (with all its LaVeyan trappings) and all the horror, gore, and sexuality that comes with it. When it just moves forward with the plot, and doesn't spend its time pointing out its progressiveness, it's a solid supernatural drama.

I do find Roz to be tedious. I think Harvey and Sabrina's relationship is unearned (they are way too lovey for 16 year olds with so many secrets between them, and Sabrina, so far, has been rather self-centered, while Harvey plays the devoted and doting boyfriend; feels very much like the criticisms feminists often have about the roles women play in their relationships with men in other stories). I hope that this gets approached with some maturity, instead of devolving into a mess of drama, but sadly, I feel it could easily go either way.

Ambrose is a great addition to the cast, fulfilling the morally ambiguous role that Salem played in the original (but also being properly morally ambiguous, in keeping with the dramatic tone, rather than comically so).

I'll make a proper review when I've finished with the season, but I just felt like this comment section could use a genuine review rather than the 'feminism is ruining everything!' crap that it has mostly seen so far.

What I expected was a mature, gritty version of Sabrina The Teenage Witch. What I got was a very political, very Christian, horror-themed version of Sabrina that still seems targeted specifically at a teenage demographic.

Is it just me, or was the original TV series accidentally progressive for showing an alternative non-Christian lifestyle in a positive light? This new series seems to undermine the progressiveness of its source material by re-imagining this non-Christian lifestyle as explicit devil-worshipping, where witches routinely commit murder and cannibalism. Sabrina's own aunt Zelda expresses disappointment about missing out on an opportunity to eat "long-pig".

The story also seems to take a few pages from Harry Potter with Sabrina being persecuted by pure-blood witches for being half-Muggle and it even has its evil version of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It actually really feels like it is a knee-jerk reaction to the popularity of Harry Potter; a story with a protagonist whose challenge is to resist the temptation of evil witchcraft.

Finally, why do they have to refer to everything as "dark"? When Sabrina tells [spoiler]Harvey[/spoiler] about her "dark baptism", maybe it would have sounded a lot less crazy if she'd just called it a "baptism"? It's like listening to Dr Evil (from Austin Powers) explain how he got his M.D. in "evil medical school". There's absolutely no subtlety to be had here.

Looking past the early attempts for brownie points I did not really find something to grasp onto.
I have very little memories of the previous TV adaptation but it's certainly sad to see an iconic character like Salem was be pretty much non-existent in this. This version of Sabrina not shying away from the darker implications of witchcraft is certainly one of the better aspects of the show but it was still weird to watch as it's those elements that bite with the more YA topics of it (which shouldn't be when it has a demographic of 18+ tbh).
At some point I feel like Netflix took the "we don't have to limit episode run times" moto as an excuse to just stretch out content to better fit their business model... you can watch a 10 hours long season only to get superficial storylines. Many aspects of the show are only just starting to develop (her "mortal" friends in particular) and a lot of what went on felt very contrieved. It's so inconsistent that it feels like someone forced them to do it that way. But remember, she is a bad ass witch yo..! How this comes to be does not matter. Morality jumps all over the place unlike Sabrina's powerlevel which is Mary Sue tier. Her relationship with her boyfriend is awkward to watch and must have been though for the actors as well, her friends are just background noise to randomly insert when needed... and so is a lot of the stuff (including the past of her parents)... At this point I feel like I could rant on for quite a while so I'm just going to go ahead and lower the rating further. Yes, you can watch it... but I'm not sure who really should.

==_This is a post-Season 1 review. It contains light spoilers (and any major spoilers will be spoiler tagged)._==

This series is a campy teen drama, as should have been expected from the creator of _Riverdale_. It's exactly the sort of thing you can expect from that, but with an extra dose of horror, sexuality, and blood. This is not your sitcom-y '90s Sabrina (though I loved that series so), but it also doesn't pretend to be. The themes here are entirely different. However, if you're down for a kitschy, overwrought teen drama, then let's get into it.

Let's start with the big, obvious issue at hand. This series plays hard on f-word: 'Feminism'. I'll make no bones about it, feminism makes me cringe. I love girl power, I came to this series hoping for a good dose of strong female lead, but I do not consider that a 'feminist' standpoint. I consider that a human standpoint, and I make a clear distinction on that. This series has a lot of good examples of why. The snappy, immature eyerolls of 'What did you expect? Satan is _**a man**_' simply do not do the series any favours ([spoiler]and holy crap, that little ending bit where the warlocks get all Third Reich-y around the High Priest's son is really on the nose[/spoiler]). There are a lot of great progressive themes here that become childish jabs when the series points and gapes at its own progressiveness while reminding you that the antagonists are 'the patriarchy'.

I would have loved to see strong women standing up and getting things done, and I'm happy to see men take a backseat, Dark Lord knows that women have played second fiddle to men enough times. I have absolutely no problem with that. I love that the series has a non-binary character. I am happy to see at least a bit more representation for minorities in the series in general. This all would have been great if the series didn't feel the need to point it all out at least once an episode.

Now, that said, the whiny, sore posteriors of the people crying '_WAHHH, progressive messaging!_' is absolutely no better. It's easily worse, especially since the series, while definitely overdoing it, still has other things going on.

As for other cons of the series, Harvey and Sabrina's relationship feels a little unearned. They lay the 'Lovey Dovey' on thick really early, without giving the audience any time to find it believable or grow to appreciate it. While I like that there's not this awful sexual tension, 'will they, won't they' laziness, it would have been nice to spend a little time with them to establish their relationship before it got heavy. That said, from my previous review, it does seem that series was willing to acknowledge (at least to a degree) Sabrina being a bit selfish, and explored those themes, hopefully it will do so more in the coming seasons.

Roz is still kind of tedious, though definitely moreso at the beginning than the end. Susie's storyline is interesting, but jerky and awkwardly written. The whole series shows its place as a teen drama, with a decent bit of janky storytelling to go with it. Still, if you're up for a teen drama, this should be par for the course. It's a little disappointing they didn't try harder, but it shouldn't be that big an issue for the type of show it is.

On the plus side, the series is happily willing to lean into its darker themes. It isn't afraid to throw in all the horror, gore, and sexuality that should come with a group of Satanic occultists (especially ones with a clearly LaVeyan bent). I also appreciate that it doesn't shy away from referring to Satan repeatedly, out of some fear for offending some poor Christian sensibilities. Like most of the series, the way it handles the 'Church of Night' is pretty overwrought, but at least it doesn't dance around things.

Ambrose is an interestingly ambiguous character, acting as the 'new Salem' (though Salem still exists), straddling between darker tendencies and still being Sabrina's companion (and even starts the series on House Arrest for some crime).

Ultimately, what it comes down to, is this is a teen drama with a dark supernatural bent, and with all the flaws that entails. If you're up for that, it's likely to be a lot of what you might expect. It's not great, but it's good for what it is.