[7.0/10] This is a mid-1990s T.G.I.F. show, so the humor is broad and dated and mostly safe. There’s extended gags about spinsters and divorcees that feels very of the time, jokes about mean girls and holidays drunks that come off stock, comedy centered around bratty kids and expiring snack food that play about to the level of a ten-year-old, and tidbits like a bunch of high schoolers dressing like stars of the 1950s and 1960s or streaking being a reason for everyone to snicker at you that feels like a strange case of Disney trying to preserve their family friendly image.
But you know what? The bones of this one are good! The idea of Sabrina making a double who can only say three phrases so she can attend both her family’s obligatory shindig and her friends’ fun party is a neat Bewitched-style premise. The fact that for witches, Halloween is more akin to Xmas, with an attendant sense of holiday obligation, is clever. And the fact that despite her grumbles, Sabrina ends up learning the true meaning of the season through her aunts’ kindness is a fun spin on the sitcom Halloween episode.
There’s not a ton of depth there, and most of the performers play things to the hilt. But both Hilda and Salem have some great one-liners that bring up the comedy quotient, and there’s an earnestness to Zelda that adds heart to the proceedings. I forgot how saccharine sweet Sabrina is as a character, in a way that’s too-good-to-be-true, but her reunion with her dearly departed grandmother is still at least a touch heartwarming.
This is one of those episodes of television that’s good if you set your expectations correctly. This is definitely the kind of humor and storytelling that was more my speed when I watched it originally as a kid in elementary school. But there’s some novelty and cleverness too, to where I can still appreciate the fun of this whimsical world and the big shtick that suffuses the show.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2023-11-01T20:08:31Z
[7.0/10] This is a mid-1990s T.G.I.F. show, so the humor is broad and dated and mostly safe. There’s extended gags about spinsters and divorcees that feels very of the time, jokes about mean girls and holidays drunks that come off stock, comedy centered around bratty kids and expiring snack food that play about to the level of a ten-year-old, and tidbits like a bunch of high schoolers dressing like stars of the 1950s and 1960s or streaking being a reason for everyone to snicker at you that feels like a strange case of Disney trying to preserve their family friendly image.
But you know what? The bones of this one are good! The idea of Sabrina making a double who can only say three phrases so she can attend both her family’s obligatory shindig and her friends’ fun party is a neat Bewitched-style premise. The fact that for witches, Halloween is more akin to Xmas, with an attendant sense of holiday obligation, is clever. And the fact that despite her grumbles, Sabrina ends up learning the true meaning of the season through her aunts’ kindness is a fun spin on the sitcom Halloween episode.
There’s not a ton of depth there, and most of the performers play things to the hilt. But both Hilda and Salem have some great one-liners that bring up the comedy quotient, and there’s an earnestness to Zelda that adds heart to the proceedings. I forgot how saccharine sweet Sabrina is as a character, in a way that’s too-good-to-be-true, but her reunion with her dearly departed grandmother is still at least a touch heartwarming.
This is one of those episodes of television that’s good if you set your expectations correctly. This is definitely the kind of humor and storytelling that was more my speed when I watched it originally as a kid in elementary school. But there’s some novelty and cleverness too, to where I can still appreciate the fun of this whimsical world and the big shtick that suffuses the show.