The queerest moments from Chilling Adventures of Sabrina

29th October 2018

We are loving The Queer Adventures of Sabrina!

Netflix’s gritty, Buffy-esque reboot of Sabrina the Teenage Witch premiered last week after months of anticipation and hundreds of thousands of articles by moi, and thankfully, it’s absolutely brilliant.

The series – which stars American actress Kiernan Shipka in the title role – has received universal acclaim, with fans and critics praising its dark tone and inclusion of LGBTQ characters.

We binged the whole series over the weekend, and decided to do a round up of the series’ queerest moments, because we are… Gay Times. Mild spoilers ahead.

Ambrose and Luke’s relationship

In the third episode, Ambrose Spellman (Chance Perdomo) meets the very hunky Luke Chalfont (Darren Mann) during a wake. It wasn’t Tinder, Grindr or Chappy – imagine that! They instantly click, and by the end of the third episode they’ve ripped each other’s clothes off and done the hanky panky. Later, because Ambrose is housebound for crimes he committed against the Vatican, he astral projects to a coffee shop to go on a date with Luke, which doesn’t go very well. However, Aunt Hilda (Lucy Davis) comes to the rescue and drugs Luke with a potion to help their relationship blossom. Liquid courage always helps! Their relationship is then fleshed out throughout the series, with Luke telling Ambrose that he loves him. We may not be the Cunning, but even we think there’s more to this than meets the eye as we go into the second season, especially after our interview with Chance…

Susie Putnam’s storyline

All throughout the series, Sabrina’s best friend Susie Putnam (Lachlan Watson) is bullied – and at times attacked – by a group of Greendale jocks, who continuously mock their gender identity, which leads to the formation of WICCA (Women’s Intersectional Cultural and Creative Association). Later, they’re misgendered as male by Roz’s (Jaz Sinclair) blind grandmother, which they brush off, and we find out that their great ancestor wore men’s clothing as a ‘fuck you’ to the patriarchy. In an interview with SYFY Wire, Lachlon opened up about their own gender identity and how it influenced the character. “I dived in head first and some of the conversations [with Roberto] were just about my thoughts on gender and my personal life and my transition, very strange transition as it was, and kind of the person that I’ve become. I knew who I thought I was supposed to be. I knew how I thought I was supposed to identify and how I’m supposed to act and how I’m supposed to dress. I knew that and I think that may be a bit where Susie is right now, is that they think they know that they’ve landed where they need to be but I think a queer journey [is] ongoing, a little bit.”

That orgy scene…

The series’ seventh episode is when it gets saucy. When Prudence is selected as queen at the Feast of Feasts, which means she’ll be sacrificed and eaten by her peers in exchange for becoming part of the Dark Lord’s soul, she lives her last few hours like any of us would: living at her nemesis’ house, hosting an orgy. Never in my life did I think I’d be writing an article with the words ‘Sabrina’ and ‘orgy’. We’ve come so far! We don’t see any nudity, but we do witness Prudence getting frisky with two women, Ambrose, Luke and Nicholas, with the latter inviting Sabrina to join. Does she join? Go to episode seven around the 19:25 mark to find out!

Uncle Jesse’s possession

When Roz, Harvey and Susie all experience frightening hallucinations of the latter’s Uncle Jesse, Sabrina astral projects into his room and discovers he has been taken over by Apophis, a parasitic demon. We later find out that Jesse is gay, and when the demon explains why he chose to occupy his body, he claims it’s because Jesse is a “sodomite” – which is a biblical term for someone who engages in anal intercourse. After Jesse’s exorcism, he is then killed by Ms Wardwell/Madam Satam. They had to kill the gay guy didn’t they?

“He’s in lust with you, by the way”

During the finale, Susie heads to the book shop where she is cornered by two of the Greendale bullies, who comment on her lack of “boobs'” and label her a “little dyke girl”. Hilda comes to her defence and uses her powers to read them for filth, before telling the blonde (above) that his dark-haired friend (again, above) is in “lust” with him. Sub-plot for season two please!