Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. Series 4. The final series - an uncertain start nevertheless went into a thoughtful and satisfying conclusion

https://youtu.be/gENO66DUgaQ

Well,interesting. Towards the end of the previous series, I thought that the idea of ‘the two Sabrinas’ seemed distinctly unpromising and, as I said, it seemed to be trying to have one’s cake and eat it. But, finally, this series showed, to me at least, that it pretty much worked .At the start of this final series the concept of the sequence of Eldritch Terrors which had been unleashed looked as if it was going to be be rather dully schematic - the Terror arrives, causes a degree of devastation, its nature and, most importantly, its weaknesses, are understood by ‘the gang’ and they unite amd manage to defeat it. This was very much the situation for the first three episodes and I was not optimistic about the final resolution.

But I was wrong. From Episode 5, the 2 Sabrinas concept became a lot more plausible and effective, the Eldtritch plotline was definitely workng and there were powerful and moving situations (e.g. the cursing of Lilith) throughout. It was by no means as simplisitic and schematic as I first feared it would be. The episode with the Battle of the Bands managed to be enormously entertaining and dramatically appropriate and powerful - and hail to the writers for using Time Warp!

The penultimate peisode - which showed the scenario where one Sabrina had been banished to another closely-related alternative reality - was very witty and amusing as she ended up in the TV sitcom Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, complete with talking cat Salem - who turned out to have a far more signifcant role. This episode included, I believe, appearances from some of that original cast (the aunts?). And this of course was the genesis for this series. But this also made some sharp comments about the nature of sitcoms as well - very entertainingly meta! And the final conclusion was both emotionally and dramatically powerful and satisfying. I think any attempt to bring it back may well not work - but that would depend on the imaginative creativity of the writers so I do not totally rule it out.

The Mess You Leave Behind: Entertainingly lurid Spanish melodrama that nevertheless finally had more substance than initially seemed

Equinox. Slowly-developing intriguing drama that resolved effectively and powerfully when it could have 'jumped the shark'.