In 2010, a Tumblr user named nuclearmedicine posted one of the earliest versions of a Harry Potter meme that has since become nearly canonical. The post, which explains how the Harry Potter books would be titled differently if told from Hermione’s point of view, is comprised of seven identical bullet points. Each reads, “Hermione Granger and the Time I Got Two Idiots Out Of A Crisis.” The joke: bushy-haired, Muggle-born Hermione is brilliant and capable, but less important to J.K. Rowling’s narrative than chosen one Harry. As fans of the series have grown up, they’ve begun to chafe at that—leading to an entire subgenre of writing about how Hermione deserved more, from fan fiction to a Web series positioning her as its protagonist to an eloquent 2016 essay by Sarah Gailey asking, “What is Hermione? . . . She’s an overachiever who consistently stands in the shadow of The Hero. She pursues victory without ever receiving credit. . . . . To Harry, she is a sidekick. To us, she is a heroine.”

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Netflix’s new series Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, from Riverdale show-runner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, creates a spooky, gothic wonderland of magic quite different from Harry Potter’s cozy spells and potions. But the show’s Sabrina (Kiernan Shipka) is a lot like Hermione—a plucky, righteous, fiercely intelligent witch in a world too unjust for her liking, ostracized in the magical community both because of her lineage (she’s half-human) and her relentless insistence on helping the mortals around her. She’s more acerbic and less bookish than Hermione, but both she and Rowling’s character are told by others that they are likely the greatest witch of their generation. This ought to be thrilling. But instead, it's a little anticlimactic.

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina has a lot going for it. It’s one of Netflix’s more successful binge-watches—a 10-part series that rips through plot with enthusiasm, supporting its biggest twists and turns with an ever-growing cast of zany magical characters. (Particular kudos to Miranda Otto and Richard Coyle, who as the dastardly adults behind Sabrina’s education throw their weight into scenery-chewing roles as grave pillars of the occult.) Unlike the cheesy 90s sitcom Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Chilling Adventures is lush and stylish, filled with candlelit interiors, misty woods, and stone-walled chambers.

Yet Sabrina herself is the show’s weakest link. Where Hermione would bury herself in study and preparation, Sabrina excels at confrontation—run-ins with bitchy rivals, takedowns of evil demons. But Sabrina’s other feelings seem trapped behind the resolute set of her features. Being good matters deeply to her, and at first that’s wonderful: she targets bullies and exorcises evil spirits with infectious zeal. The problem is that she never seems to feel the warmth of service, or the serenity of peace. This Sabrina cares about being good, but it’s difficult to ascertain why when so many of her peers—mortal and infernal—delight in tormenting those weaker and stranger than themselves. Her guardian aunts, Zelda (Otto) and Hilda (Lucy Davis), certainly aren’t too troubled with their moral alignment, preferring to stay in the ill graces of the Dark Lord and his chief servant, Father Blackwood (Coyle).

Maybe that’s why by the end of the season, the mantle of goodness slips from Sabrina’s shoulders as she opts—minor spoiler alert—to embrace the anger-fueled power of dark magic. In order to be the protagonist, she has to aggressively seize the narrative. In the season’s final moment, as she struts toward the camera, Sabrina is unrecognizable—the magic has changed her character so thoroughly that the viewer, unsettled, cannot quite place her. Shipka is now a coy flirt, winking at the camera with a knowing smile.