The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina
Daredevil Season 3
New Netflix series The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina focuses on Sabrina Spellman ( played by Kiernan Shipka , who most notably portrayed Sally Draper in Mad Men) during her teenage years in the 1960’s. Like the comic, it’s a dark take on the characters. It’s written by the comic book writer, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa. It’s rare for the writer/creator to be the show runner, The Walking Dead has Robert Kirkman as its producer but not as a show runner, Aguirre-Sacasa really pushes things as far as he can when the story opens with Sabrina, a young witch about to undergo a ‘dark baptism’ on her 16th birthday. This is her initiation into the ‘Path of Night’, many abilities and powers as well as an extended lifespan, as a witch. It also means leaving her old life behind as well as her boyfriend Harvey (played by Ross Lynch). Her aunts, Hilda (played by The Office UK star Lucy Davis) and Zelda (played by ‘Australia’s own’ Miranda Otto) pressure her to follow through with the dark baptism but Sabrina is adamant that if the Dark lord wants her to have a free will and choose, then she’s not sure if she wants to commit to leaving her old life behind. Essentially the dynamic is one of a young woman being forced to conform to religious expectations - where it could well be the story of a young woman being pressured into taking on the vows of sisterhood in a convent and all the associated pressures and expectations and angst - here it’s Satanism - and the calling is to a life of duty and servitude to the Dark Lord. Her cat Salem also features, although he’s not a wisecracking muppet, rather an extremely dark and malevolent spirit who has decided to be her familiar, in feline form. It sounds dark, and well – it is. It’s also brilliant fun.
Frank Miller’s reworking of the Daredevil character in the comics saw the ‘Devil of Hell’s Kitchen’ become a conflicted vigilante who wrestles with deep-seated Catholic guilt, something which provided a strong moral core for the character. This season sees him wrestling with that guilt as well as his faith in general. It also sees the return of Vincent D’onofrio as Wilson Fisk/Kingpin, delivering a searing performance as Matt Murdock/Daredevil’s nemesis. The blood flows freely, as Matt pays for his faith - or lack of it and the stunts are pretty phenomenal too, with numerous single-take - and very lengthy - fight sequences. Perhaps the best of the three seasons thus far.