By the Moonlight Side

Apr 10, 2019 | Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Goggle-eyes, Retirement

Into my second week as a not-employee and the come down into normality is taking hold. I’ve made bread, watched some DVDs, done a lot of background reading for the next novel, and even had a long meeting from which occasional paying work might come later in the year. I previously said my intention for the first few weeks was to let things wash over me and make no hasty decisions, and I am sticking to that.

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Last November I made a fleeting reference to The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina season one. I’ve now watched season two and enjoyed it a lot more (strictly I think it is part two of season one, which seems contrived). The confirmation of the show’s renewal seems to have added a confidence to how it is produced. Crucially, Kiernan Shipka has found the truth of the character and is much more assured in the title role. Standing that I’m not its target demographic, there were still a couple of things that bugged me about it but they’re not that significant compared to the pleasure of watching Lucy Davis come out of the background.

And there were a lot of ofther things to like, including the sly use of background music (such as Hungry Like The Wolf, Man Eater and Under Your Spell at the dance in the episode Lupercalia).

The one thing that has grated somewhat about the publicity for the show has been the comparisons with Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The latter part of the season did seem to flirt a little with the comparison, with its own version of the Hellmouth and the emergence of something perilously close to a Scooby Gang, and I got to wondering why people can’t be content to let it be its own thing. Having said that, there was a brief moment of joy and expectation where I was reminded of Penny Dreadful: more of that please.

By contrast, season two of American Gods continues to be a disappointing mess, although it did redeem itself somewhat with episode five, The Ways of the Dead, directed by Salli Richardson-Whitfield whom some of us remember as Doctor Allison Blake in Eureka. By happy coincidence Salli also directed Lupercalia in Sabrina.

One of the things that cable channels often trumpet is their ability to be more ‘adult’ which, in American Gods means so many F-Bombs it’s more like F-Shrapnel. I find this tiresome rather than edgy.

In the meantime, here’s Sabrina with added Joan Jett