Something Witchy: A Sabrina the Teenage Witch Rewatch

What use would an Other Realm sheep-witch have with an oven? Who knows! We definitely don't find out in Season 3 Episode 19, "The Big Sleep." But BOY do we learn plenty of other trivia! Sabrina tries to be proactive in solving the family secret and reaches out to a hidden family relative to ask for a clue. But this relative is highly offended at having her decade-long nap interrupted and fills the Spellman house with poppies. It turns out that Other Realm poppies are deadly to Spellmans and they send the aunts into a deep sleep (but somehow THIS isn't the family secret?). Sabrina has to try and clean up the poppies while also hosting an allnighter study session after Valerie poisons the original members of the Brain Busters. Now it's up to Harvey, Valerie, and Libby (honestly so brave of her to go back to that house) to learn everything they can while Sabrina falls asleep at the competition. Where is Gordie for this very nerd-centric activity, you might ask? GOOD QUESTION.Listen in for an episode full of trivia and tangents, including: Mad Max, Sweeny Todd, The Big Sleep, Mark McGwire, Savannah Bananas, *69 & *67, Margaret Chase Smith, threads trends, Studio 54, The Pod People, Frederico Fellini, and Rogers & Hart. 

It was a dark and stormy night when Skye and Laura recapped Season 3 Episode 18, "Sabrina, the Teenage Writer." Not really but we did record at night.Sabrina is finally not perfect at something when she gets a C- on her short story. This sends her into a tail spin and she is determined to channel her inner William Faulkner to bring her grade up. We also learn more about William Faulkner than we could ever use at pub trivia. Unfortunately, she does so on Hilda's magical typewriter which makes whatever she types about become real and a spy story takes over the school. We all learn about the importance of character development alongside Sabrina and surely we will have no reason in the future to criticize the writers' inability to keep this concept in mind.The aunts attempt to help Sabrina but are caught up in myriad of curses after they fail to forward on a chain letter. We discuss how we are also cursed after the loss of Windows XP. Overall, this was an extremely challenging episode to write for and discuss in an audio-only format, but we tried our best and we got the phrase "Hilda bra squirrel nut finger" so we'll count it as a win.

It's the inaugural episode of "Cauldron Talk" featuring everyone's favorite nerd, Curtis Andersen aka Gordie! We talk to him about his experience on the Sabrina set as well as other hit teen shows of the 90s and how special it was to be part of that cultural moment. We also talk about the two other things we have in common (a disdain for Ronald Reagan and asbestos exposures?) and he weighs in on the house cat soul debate from 3.17. We get some fascinating behind-the-scenes stories of the Violent Femmes episode, talk about what Curtis is up to now, and Laura FINALLY gets to ask him about "Work and the Glory." You won't want to skip this episode, especially if you've ever wanted to hear Curtis Andersen "meow."
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Season 3 Episode 17 is a bittersweet one for us. In "Salem, the Boy" we get some of Curtis Andersen's best work, but we also say goodbye to Gordie. This episode is a wild ride and brings up a lot of tangents, especially about how to explain the sudden house cat "soul" that inhabits Salem's cat body when Salem takes over Gordie's. Is it a cat version of man dough? Is it aliens? Is it a weird immortal cat thing?The aunts get into some ancient Roman hijinks and Laura has to apologize to Skye for making a false promise back in Season 1. Additional questions we're still pondering include: Would Salem be pro-Kennedy? Was Dr. Pepper not loved in the 90s? How old is Salem?

Would you rather date a genie, a Martian, or an enchanted tree? This is just one of the questions raised in our rewatch of Season 3 Episode 16 "Sabrina, the Matchmaker." Cousin Marigold comes for a visit, bringing along the "delightful" Amanda and a new addition named "Aly." Sabrina decides to do her Cupid-ordered matchmaking service by getting Marigold together with a mortal plumber that Sabrina seems weirdly familiar with. Things obviously go awry (Amanda's involved) but at least we get some consistency...from Sabrina Goes to Rome, of all places! Hilda and Zelda also get into a tiff when Hilda's new beau has a striking resemblance to Mr. Kraft, but only physically. 
Listen in for discussions about Kesha, Florence and the Machine, zombie chickens, and Walden: The Video Game. Then weigh in on what kind of dog you think Harvey was turned into.

Break out the rum and let the pirates out of your basement! It's time to recap Season 3 Episode 15 "Sabrina and the Pirates." We start off strong with a discussion about catnip alcohol and it only gets more nonsensical from there.Sabrina gets fake IDs for her and Valerie so they can sneak into an *NSYNC concert (we don't blame them) but that causes Sabrina's magic to become fake. Hilda and Zelda are trying to rehabilitate pirates that have been trapped in their basement for the past 100 years and Hilda gets stabbed at least twice. And poor Salem has to put the family secret board back together multiple times when it keeps breaking. Eventually Sabrina comes clean about her illegal activity and has her magic restored just in time to save her aunts.Listen to the episode to find out how Skye reacted to the reveal of the family secret board (hint: it doesn't go well) as well as some more SWORD FACTS!

[Mariah Carey voice] It's TIIIIIIIIME! Skye finally finds out why they have a sticky note that says "Mr. Kraft. Wife. Has one." And BOY does Mr. Kraft have a whopper of an ex-wife.In Season 3 Episode 14 "Mrs. Kraft," Mr. Kraft moves in with the Spellmans which is the worst thing that has ever happened to Sabrina, or so it seems to her. Somehow Hilda manages to actually be mature about the whole thing...for a while. Eventually both she and Sabrina snap and zap in Mr. Kraft's ex in an attempt to break up him and Zelda. This plan backfires (of course) when it's revealed that the former Mrs. Kraft is actually a witch! Shenanigans ensue that actually cause us to feel...empathy...for Mr. Kraft???Besides those horrors, Salem is training a dog to get meat from its butcher owner and we get a few new camera angles, as a treat. At the end, we're still wondering: would we get back with one of our terrible exes to escape the Infinite Horror?
(PS: Should we buy frozenslushy.com?)

Do you love Sheryl Lee Ralph? Then have we got an episode for you! In Season 3 Episode 13, "What Price Harvey?," she guest stars as cousin Zsa Zsa and helps Sabrina give Harvey a little extra ambition. This leads Harvey to becoming the ultimate supervillain billionaire who just discovered "THE" internet and Sabrina has to find a way to give him some perspective.
While Sabrina's boyfriend is tearing down Westbridge High, the aunts swap personalities for a few days to better understand each other and Salem turns invisible. We also get through some outdated references that clearly the writers inserted from their own youth, ignoring the fact that kids in the 90s would never get it. And we continue to blame Salem for why the world is just *gestures wildly.*

Sabrina ignores her aunts' warning not to cast charitable magic spells. She does so anyway. Chaos ensues, as per usual. This time her target is Valerie. Valerie's mom makes a wish on a wishbone that Valerie would be like Sabrina (harsh!). The wish is granted and pretty soon Valerie has magical powers! Meanwhile, Salem ropes Hilda into a moneymaking scheme involving art that predictably goes awry.
Listen in as we "riffle" through Season 3 Episode 12, "Who's So-Called Life Is It Anyway?" (Or is it rifle?) Some questions we ponder: What is Salem's screenplay about? Where did that wishbone come from? Do you remember the PBS show Wishbone? What is art? At the end of the day, Valerie needs therapy and maybe so do we after this episode.

Sabrina erases Christmas. Laura is a reindeer. Skye is a lizard. It's just a normal week here at Something Witchy when we recap Season 3 Episode 11 "Christmas Amnesia."
Sabrina is being a Grinch (again?) and this time actually makes Christmas disappear. She has to find a way to bring back the Christmas spirit to those around her or risk losing it forever, just as we've lost Bobunk. Eventually Sabrina realizes that the true meaning of Christmas is spending it with those you love, which is something you can cherish all year long.
Laura and Skye start this festive episode off strong with a very wild tangent about Utah! the musical, as well as other Utah-specific media from the 90s. There's also debate on when witches are and are not affected by spells and which lunch meat sandwiches would be served with ketchup on them. So sit back, relax, "take a pill, smoke a joint, drink some alcohol," and enjoy this week's episode.