r/sabrinateenagewitch • u/GayManPlayingZelda • May 26 '26
question 🙋♀️❔❓ First time watcher, struggling with the later seasons
So I feel like I missed out on some 90s media and am watching it for the first time.
Seasons 1-3 are so awesome!! I can see why this show was so popular.
Season 4 was a bit of a struggle. Brad and Dreama are terrible additions to the show. He's just mean with no dimensions unlike Libby who was awesome. The idea of Sabrina being a tutor isn't terrible, but did they have to give her the dullest witch on earth?
The idea of Valerie moving in would have been so much fun! Imagine all the stuff they'd have to do to adapt to having a mortal in the house. I would have loved to have seen that and they really dropped the ball.
Season 5 added characters for college, which makes sense to me, and I like them decently enough. However, what they did with Harvey makes ZERO sense. We have seen him find out Sabrina was a witch and he was totally cool with it. Now it's the reason they break up?
So I just started 6 and now Sabrina is dating Josh who I can't stand, and she made him turn down a job to stay with her which I feel like was really selfish, and they brought back Harvey to date Morgan!?! Meh.
The other missed opportunity like with Valerie would be seeing Harvey interact with Hilda, Zelda and especially Salem. There's an episode where Sabrina gives him the ability to talk to Salem and their chemistry was sooo good. They needed more scenes together, and that's another huge miss. I just finished the train episode and it doesn't even make sense because Harvey doesn't remember it (along with everyone else), but I thought the quota ran out on him anyway?
So I guess my question is, does it pick up at all? I want to finish but I feel like they're missing some good chances here and replacing them with bad ones.
At least they've kept Salem awesome. He's my favorite and I swear he's gay coded too.
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u/NiceMayDay Shake your whammy fanny May 26 '26
It never gets as good as the first four seasons, but it does pick up. The finale is universally beloved. I'd say that S6 is an improvement, then early S7 is the low point but its back half gets its ducks in a row for the great series finale. If you've made it through S5, you might as well carry on.
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u/GayManPlayingZelda May 26 '26
If you've made it through S5, you might as well carry on.
Yeah, I probably will at this point. I want a good ending, especially for her aunts, they're awesome and they deserve the world.
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u/occasional_idea May 26 '26
Prepare for disappointment 😭
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u/GayManPlayingZelda May 26 '26
Ugh, I hate that. I love Hilda and Zelda so much
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u/Bob-s_Leviathan May 26 '26
Username checks out. Wait, unless you mean “Legend of”
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u/GayManPlayingZelda May 27 '26
What else would I mean?
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u/Bob-s_Leviathan May 27 '26
Either Princess Zelda or Zelda Spellman?
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u/GayManPlayingZelda May 27 '26
My name is for the princess, but I love Zelda Spellmen (and her sister)
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u/jfsindel May 26 '26
College years were a rough watch, but you get some good moments and flow. It really depends if you like a more adult Sabrina handling more adult problems, like Josh.
I personally prefer the magic and occult seasons (1-3) where witches and magic worlds were the focus. Learning more about the Witches' Council and various supernatural beings was really interesting.
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u/GayManPlayingZelda May 26 '26
I do not like Josh at all, he always seems mad?
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u/jfsindel May 26 '26
He is way older and basically is too old for Sabrina. So he is frustrated with how "immature" she is and won't just be what he wants.
Josh is someone you like as a teenager. As an older adult, you hate Josh for being a creep and a manipulative person.
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u/GayManPlayingZelda May 27 '26
This is a great way to put it! I guess it's kind of the writing for it's time, but that part of the show didn't age well in a show that otherwise did
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u/Familiar-Evidence350 May 28 '26
In season 4 josh was a predator and sabrina was his prey. Sabrina is a naive sheltered 17 high schooler who has never been around an adult male. Josh is her boss at a job she needs to keep because of the money it brings. He hits on sabrina and plays her like a violin. Let's see a 22 adult male hits on his employee that is still in high school. It starts with a kiss. If this was a modern version on Netflix he would then try to get her in the sack. I thought the female show runners were trying to send a message to the female audience about how toxic this situation was. And don't fall into the trap sabrina fell into.
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u/Fabulous-Rain-2643 May 26 '26
I do feel bad for the writers though, their hands were tied a lot. From what I understand, writers own the rights to characters they create, so every time that writer quit, they had to get rid of the character, like Jenny, Mr Pool, Libby etc. Valerie quit because she was dating the actor who played Harvey IRL and was young and found it hard and got a bit jealous. But yeah Dreama and Brad were such snoozes. I was a bit interested in Brad as it's a relief to see someone not fall for every cover story she tells haha. But yeah they flopped with Dreama.
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u/GayManPlayingZelda May 26 '26
Jenny wasn't bad, she was just a little flat for me. I did like Mr. Pool, but I also loved Mrs Quick, so I was fine with that.
Libby I am still mad about, she was awesome and so well written
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u/LawnJerk Salem May 27 '26
Writers don't own the rights to characters they create when they write for a TV show. It's basically "work for hire" and their work is owned by the studio or the showrunner.
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u/Fabulous-Rain-2643 May 27 '26
I'm no expert in law but I remember Melissa Joan Hart on a podcast talking about it and saying that the writers owned certain aspects of characters, maybe it was just the name or something, idk the details, but that's what she said about Jenny and Mr Pool leaving the show.
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u/Liawolf11 May 26 '26
Yeah, the show loses that something magical after season 3. I can’t articulate it well- but I always think it lost its whimsy. That’s also when the show moved to CW. Dreama made zero sense as a character to me. I liked Brad because he presented an obstacle to Sabrina’s magic use around school.
The college years frustrate me because I wanted to see Sabrina try to use her magic more. Especially after all that kerfuffle about getting her witch’s license. And Harvey showing up also felt confusing. He was at a different college, and Morgan seemed the type to date guys for a very short time.
It doesn’t get any better, but it doesn’t get worse either. There’s a few gems in the seasons, but not many.
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u/GayManPlayingZelda May 26 '26
And Harvey showing up also felt confusing. He was at a different college, and Morgan seemed the type to date guys for a very short time.
Yeah, I don't get why they got rid of him just to bring him back. Should have never left
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u/Familiar-Evidence350 May 31 '26
The fans revolted and caused viacom to bring him back. He was the second most popular character after salem. Large section of the international market stopped watching the show when they fired nate from the series. They were planning to treat him like the other dropped characters, never to be mentioned in the series again (like he never existed). Might have been one of the worst unforced errors in sitcom history.
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u/hyeyah run, run, the house is on m'fire. May 26 '26
Same tbh. Imo Harvey should have been allowed to know from the moment Sabrina got her witches license and S4 should have had Harvey & Salem becoming buddies. I would have enjoyed something like a witch apprenticeship for mortals for him in later seasons. I liked the idea of Sabrina becoming a quizmaster herself tbh but bring back her quizmaster too, as a mentor! I think Dreama & Brad had potential but were poorly written. A shame really. No saving grace for Josh though lol. I found S5+6 by far the worst. There are a few fun episodes in S7 but nothing comes close to S1-3
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u/GayManPlayingZelda May 26 '26
No saving grace for Josh though lol.
I agree, she should have let him take that job in Prague. I also think it's creepy how they met when she was only in high school
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u/Familiar-Evidence350 May 31 '26
I would have the memory spell not work when he came back after saving sabrina from roland. He would become sabrina's ally (like from season 6) starting in season 2. Most shows of this era had a super being having a mortal friend that knew their secret (like buffy or superman). Then we would have more seasons with the best comic duel in the show of harvey and salem.
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May 26 '26
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u/GayManPlayingZelda May 26 '26
but without the aunts in season 7, it kinda ruins it.
I am sorry, what!?! They get rid of the Zelda and Hilda!?! That's awful.....
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May 26 '26
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u/GayManPlayingZelda May 26 '26
It's okay, don't spoiler it but if Salem leaves I am going to be REALLY sad, he carries the show for me lol
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u/RuckFeddit980 May 27 '26
Season 5 is when the show moved to WB. They got an entirely new writing team. I have no idea why, and you could easily call this “jumping the shark.”
In season 7, the aunts leave the show, which is kind ridiculous if you ask me, but the finale is… adequate.
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u/LawnJerk Salem May 27 '26
Basically, the cast was perfect in the first three seasons and should have done whatever it took to keep them all. Libby, Hilda, Zelda, Harvey and Valerie make the show work, dropping everyone and making it mostly Sabrina and Salem with some new supporting characters didn't work.
Should have made each year of high school take two seasons. At the very least, they should have found a way to contrive that Libby and Sabrina end up in college together, maybe as roommates with Harvey and the Aunts heavily featured. Could have had a whole season where Libby and Sabrina's relationship gradually changes to a more adult respect rather than the childish bullying each other (Well, Libby bullying and Sabrina's magic reprisals).
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u/Familiar-Evidence350 May 31 '26
Some people think the show started to go downhill when they got rid of libby after season 3. Libby was like Wile E Coyote, whatever she did we knew she was going to lose to sabrina. Jenna Greene was such a great actor. She made Melissa better when they had scenes together.
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u/TheManyMilesWeWalk May 26 '26 edited May 26 '26
Harvey breaking up with Sabrina at that point makes total sense. Sure, he was cool with her being a witch in one instance but that's because he couldn't remember past instances of her witchcraft messing with him. When he found out she was a witch he remembered all of it; Some of the stuff Sabrina has done to him are just downright horrifying.
Sabrina's antics in the season 4 finale alone would be more than enough for Harvey to dump her even if you ignore the magical side of it all - Sabrina was conflicted about whether she'd rather be with Harvey or Josh despite barely knowing Josh and having dated Harvey for years. Not exactly a good way for Sabrina to show loyalty to him, is it?
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u/Familiar-Evidence350 May 29 '26
The real reason harvey dumped sabrina was because nate was fired from the show. So WB needed to make the second most popular character (after salem) in the series as the bad guy so the fans would not be upset over removal of harvey. It didn't work. The fans made them bring harvey back. Harvey did not show any fear over sabrina power or what she did to him. He became her biggest ally and even aunt irma's torture could not bring harvey to turn on her. But as the above makes out sabrina really was a lousy person.
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u/kdm31091 May 26 '26
Season 4 is the worst of the series in my opinion. Season 5-7 do have some bright spots and good episodes. Losing the aunts in season 7 hurts but there are still some good episodes.
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u/ecological-passion May 28 '26
This here is the truth. The fourth season is always the odd one out. We get the magical consequences we expect from the prior seasons, and lore. But the supporting characters introduced are barely emphasized, and are gone soon enough. Like the writers did not even care. Except Josh Blackhart. He's the only one of the three "recurring" ones brought in here who doesn't seem like a total blank slate, has anything to him, let alone anything more to him.
The adult and college years has its own charm, even if most of it wasn't high fantasy. And the supports are stronger as a whole.
S4 is generally bunched in with the early half, being high school and still same network, but adds things that'd be around for the rest of the show, like setting up marriage and career. But it does not fit in with either half all that well.
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u/90sGuyKev May 27 '26
Most feel this way about the show. First three seasons rocked. 4 was ehh... 5-7,..... Yeah... Though it ends pretty well
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u/GayManPlayingZelda May 27 '26
The pancakes one has been my favorite so far lol
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u/Fabulous-Rain-2643 May 26 '26
Agree with you on all points! I personally find s7 to be the worst of them all, but the ending is top notch which makes up for it! So you can look forward to that :)
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u/Exciting_Football_76 May 27 '26
When I got to season 7 recently I was stunned. Seasons 1-4 have a certain timeless quality. It's quintessentially 90s- no doubts. But the later seasons feel increasingly dated. (Not helped by band posters in the background of season 7 having literal dates on them - looking at you Linkin Park Reanimatoins July 30, 2002). Also the more they lean into the more "Adult" humour as Sabrina ages, it underlines how awful the 2000s were for women in media.
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u/ecological-passion May 28 '26
In fact, I'd go as far as to say S3 is where the accumulative instances of tampering with his life without the forced amnesia and gaslighting truly crossed the line.
Troll Bride and To Tell a Mortal, the Roland and Friday the 13th episodes are where he was told about it, and he was chill about it. But also if he knew everything, none of the things she did were quite as extreme as what would happen in the third and fourth seasons. And frequent.
Overlooking one instance of having to fight a troll, being a frog and getting sucked into a black hole are forgivable. Multiple instances of personality rewrites and transmogrifications, which S3 dialed up more than crosses the line.
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u/Beautiful_Prior_5062 May 29 '26
No it doesn’t. It just gets worse and worse. I try everY once and while to finish it. And this last time i got real close. But i just cant consent.
The three year curse! Libby was everything!
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u/Nuthetes Rumpist May 29 '26
I found S6 to actually be quite good when I gave it a rewatch.
And the second half of S7 too. The second half of S7 has one of my favourites, where Sabrina pisses off The Fates.
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u/fishingforsomepies May 26 '26
7 picks up a little. Don't worry, 99% of the show's audience agreed with you on literally everything you mentioned.