Kiernan Shipka wasn't just a teenage witch; she was a cultural reset for a character we all thought we knew from neon-colored 90s sitcoms. When Chilling Adventures of Sabrina season 1 dropped on Netflix back in October 2018, it didn't just lean into the spooky vibes. It sprinted headfirst into a world of cannibalism, devil worship, and blood-soaked rituals that made the original Archie Comics source material look like a Sunday school pamphlet. It was dark. Like, genuinely "hail Satan" dark.
Most people went in expecting a bit of magic. What they got was a gruesome coming-of-age story that traded talking cats for astral projection and the literal Prince of Darkness.
The brilliance of that first season—the one everyone still argues about on Reddit—wasn't just the aesthetic. It was the tension. Sabrina Spellman is caught between two worlds, and for once, that trope didn't feel cheap. You’ve got the mortal world with Harvey Kinkle and the feminist "WICCA" club, and then you’ve got the Church of Night. It's a messy, violent tug-of-war.
Honestly, the show was at its best when it was forcing Sabrina to choose between her soul and her friends.
The Dark Baptism and Why It Defined the Show
The centerpiece of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina season 1 is the Dark Baptism. If you haven't seen it in a while, go back and watch Episode 2. It’s uncomfortable. It happens in the woods, under a blood moon, and it isn't some sparkly "chosen one" ceremony. It’s a legalistic, terrifying surrender to the Dark Lord.
Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, the showrunner who also gave us Riverdale, took the Afterlife with Archie comic vibes and turned the dial to eleven. He didn't want a "Witch Lite" experience. He wanted the occult.
Sabrina's refusal to sign the Book of the Beast is the catalyst for everything that follows. It's a massive middle finger to patriarchal structures, disguised as a horror show. Zelda and Hilda Spellman—played with incredible chemistry by Miranda Otto and Lucy Davis—represent the two ways to survive in a cult. Zelda is the devout, terrifying loyalist. Hilda is the warm, banished aunt who just wants to bake cakes and occasionally murder her sister (only for Zelda to resurrect her in the Cain Pit later).
That Cain Pit? Pure genius.
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The idea that the Spellman sisters live in a house where one can kill the other in a fit of rage and just wait for her to crawl back out of the dirt the next morning is the kind of world-building that made the first season feel so tactile. It wasn't just CGI sparks. It was soil and blood.
Greendale vs. Riverdale: The Tonal Divide
While Riverdale was busy with bear attacks and musical episodes, Greendale felt stuck in a permanent, misty autumn. The cinematography used a "blur" effect—the diopter lens—that literally made the edges of the screen look fuzzy. Some people hated it. They thought their TVs were broken. But it served a purpose. It made the world feel claustrophobic and hallucinatory.
You weren't just watching a show; you were looking through a crystal ball.
Sabrina’s mortal life often gets overshadowed by the flashy magic, but the struggle of her friends—Rosalind and Susie (later Theo)—provided the necessary grounding. Roz dealing with her family's "Cunning" (a generational blindness that grants visions) and Susie dealing with the ghost of Aunt Dorothea gave the "normal" side of the show its own stakes.
It wasn't just "Sabrina is special and her friends are boring." Everyone was haunted.
The Weird Sisters and the High Priest
Let’s talk about Prudence Night. Tati Gabrielle stole every single scene she was in. As the leader of the Weird Sisters, she wasn't just a mean girl; she was a victim and a victor within a brutal system. Her relationship with Sabrina is complicated. They hate each other, then they’re performing a "harrowing" together, then they’re seeking revenge on the men of the Academy of Unseen Arts.
Then there’s Father Blackwood.
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Richard Coyle played Faustus Blackwood with such a slithering, bureaucratic evil. He represented the "old guard" of the Church of Night. His version of Satanism wasn't about freedom; it was about rules and misogyny. This is where the show got intellectual. It asked: If you're going to worship the Devil because he represents free will, why are there still so many men telling you what to do?
The Actual Horror Elements People Forget
Because the show was on Netflix and featured a cast of gorgeous twenty-somethings, it’s easy to dismiss it as "teen drama." But Chilling Adventures of Sabrina season 1 had some genuinely disturbing imagery.
- The Sleepwalker: The demon Batibat trapping the Spellmans in their own nightmares.
- The Feast of Feasts: A literal lottery to see which witch gets eaten by the rest of the coven.
- The Resurrection: Sabrina trying to bring Harvey’s brother, Tommy, back from the dead, only to realize that the soul she brought back wasn't Tommy at all.
That Tommy Kinkle subplot was the turning point. It’s when Sabrina realizes that magic has a price. You can’t just "fix" things. When she goes into the Limbo of the Lost to find his soul, the show stops being a fun romp and becomes a tragedy. Watching Harvey have to put down his own brother because of Sabrina's ego? That's heavy. It’s the moment their relationship effectively died, even if it took a few more episodes to bury the corpse.
Madame Satan: The Master Manipulator
Michelle Gomez as Mary Wardwell/Lilith is perhaps the best casting choice in the history of Netflix. She managed to be campy, terrifying, and deeply sympathetic all at once. Her goal throughout the first season is simple: groom Sabrina to take her place as the Footstool of the Night, so Lilith can finally sit on the throne.
But as the season progresses, you see the cracks. Lilith has been serving a master who doesn't respect her for millennia. Her tutelage of Sabrina is manipulative, sure, but there’s a weird mentorship there too. She’s teaching Sabrina how to be powerful in a world that wants to keep her small.
The finale of the first season—the arrival of the Red Angel of Death—is where all these threads collide. To save the town, Sabrina finally does the one thing she swore she’d never do. She signs her name in the Book of the Beast.
The image of her walking away with platinum white hair, a dark smirk, and the Weird Sisters by her side? Iconic. It changed the trajectory of the show from a "will she or won't she" to a "how far will she go?"
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Why Season 1 is the Gold Standard
Later seasons of Sabrina got a bit... messy. There were musical numbers and time paradoxes and cosmic horrors that felt a bit detached from the core of the story. But Season 1 was focused. It was a tight, gothic horror story about a girl losing her innocence to gain her power.
It captured the feeling of being sixteen and realizing the world is much bigger—and much meaner—than your parents let on.
Real-World Occult Influence
The show got into some hot water with the real-life Satanic Temple over the Baphomet statue used in the Academy sets. They ended up settling a lawsuit, but it highlighted how much the show tried to lean into actual occult iconography rather than just "Hogwarts but with candles." The production design team, led by Tony Wohlgemuth, did an incredible job of making the Spellman Mortuary feel lived-in and ancient.
Every book on the shelf, every jar in the kitchen, felt like it had a history.
Actionable Takeaways for a Rewatch
If you’re planning to dive back into Chilling Adventures of Sabrina season 1, here’s how to get the most out of it:
- Watch the background. The Spellman house is full of Easter eggs from classic horror movies like Suspiria and Hellraiser.
- Track the color red. Notice how Sabrina’s wardrobe shifts. She starts the season in bright, innocent reds and slowly moves toward darker, more structured outfits as she loses her connection to the mortal world.
- Listen to the score. Adam Taylor’s music is haunting and minimalist, which contrasts perfectly with the occasional 60s pop needle drop.
- Pay attention to the laws. The show sets up a lot of "witch law" in the first few episodes that pays off in the trial in Episode 3. It’s surprisingly consistent for a fantasy show.
The first season remains a masterclass in atmospheric storytelling. It didn't care about being "likable." It cared about being evocative. Whether you're here for the ship drama or the literal demons, it’s a ride that holds up remarkably well years later.
If you want to understand why the show became such a lightning rod for fans, look no further than the final shot of the "Chilling Adventures of Sabrina: A Midwinter's Tale" special. It bridges the gap between the girl who wanted to have her cake and eat it too, and the witch who realized she’d have to burn the bakery down to survive.
To truly appreciate the evolution of the series, start by revisiting the pilot and noting the specific silence of the woods. That silence is where the real horror lives. Grab a cup of mulled cider, dim the lights, and remember that in Greendale, it’s always a few days away from Halloween.