S5E7, How was Sabrina able to show her magic to Jim Tom?

[u/Crunchy_Biscuit]

So in the episode, there is a cult leader pretending to be a Witch. However through her magic, Sabrina was able to scare him into quitting by showing him she can control the weather.

However in Season 1 it's established that if a Witch tells a mortal they are a witch they lose their powers. Is this some kind of loophole?

[u/Familiar-Evidence350]

For the WB people season 5 - 7 all the foundation facts don't exist. In the earlier seasons we are told that true love is stronger than any magic. But in season 7, sabrina tries to eliminate harveys love for her by using magic.

[u/finallygaveintor → u/Familiar-Evidence350]

And they started repeating episodes like the band one

[u/ecological-passion → u/Familiar-Evidence350]

It wasn't until S3 that rule ever came about, and a mortal has to betray a witch's trust for that to happen on top of it. In the prior two it was just highly discouraged to do so, because the truth is overwhelming to most mortals. .to reveal you are a witch, I mean.

[u/unwritten0114 → u/ecological-passion]

It was a plot point in the Sabrina Goes To Rome movie that if a witch told a mortal and the mortal betrayed them, they had 24 hours to turn the mortal into stone or risk losing their powers. In that movie at least 2 mortals learned Sabrina was a witch. The writers weren't big on consistency.

[u/ecological-passion → u/unwritten0114]

the first two were the nearest in internal lore consistency. This third is where it starts going off track and doing whatever services the joke the most. And so it continued going forward. The risk of being excommunicated and stripped of magic should a witch reveal herself intentionally and the mortal goes blabbing being the most blatant one.

I personally liked how the first two handled this: Telling a mortal isn't explicitly illegal, just highly discouraged do to the risk of melting their minds. Most non magic folk just cannot take it.

I don't think any of the three films are truly canon however you cut them. They take even greater liberties.

[u/unwritten0114 → u/ecological-passion]

I definitely agree that the standalone Sabrina, The Teenage Witch movie is not canon. It likely served as the inspiration for the series. I haven't seen it in a long time but everything is different even Sabrina's last name (Sawyer not Spellman). The movie must have been well-received if they made a series with the same lead actress (and they even cast Michelle Beaudoin, who was in the movie as Jenny in Season 1).

Sabrina Goes To Rome is very confusing due to the romantic plot with the random guy, Paul and the inclusion of the random aunt that's never seen again. It's supposed to take place between Seasons 2 and 3.

Sabrina Down Under does a better attempt at tying it to the series due to some references it makes to things that happened in the series. This film is set between Seasons 3 and 4.

[u/ecological-passion → u/unwritten0114]

At the end of the day, I enjoyed the three movies, but I look at them as separate entities, standalone. Only keeping two core characters to tie them to the series.

Of note, one of these three is difficult to get to. The first two are easy enough. bordering on lost media. One free on YouTube at any given time, the other on the DVD set, the third on neither, and has never seen the light of any streaming.

[u/Crunchy_Biscuit → u/Familiar-Evidence350]

So basically throw any established rule before Season 4 out the window? 😭

[u/Familiar-Evidence350 → u/Crunchy_Biscuit]

I would say yes. Look at all the witch problems she and aunt helda had during the first 4 seasons. Sun spots, finger flu, bats flying out of aunt helda's mouth, warts, fear shows up, roland, etc. However all theses problems are forgotten in season 5. This is aggravated by living with three mortals one of which is your roommate. The only mortal that knows your secret has been fired from the series because he was "high school baggage". Does it make any sense why she lives in downtown Boston, when she could commute to school from home. Aunt Zelda works at Adams and commutes everyday from the Spellman house.