Freeform’s ‘Coven Academy’ Is Magical, Dark and Totally Captivating: TV Review

From “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series” creator Tim Federle, Freeform’s latest YA drama, “Coven Academy” — originally intended for Disney+ — follows three young witches as they navigate their burgeoning powers and friendship amid the chaos, anxiety and joy of being teenage girls. Intriguing and heartfelt, with sinister elements, the show highlights the importance of sisterhood, the confounding nature of first love and why secrets can never really be vanquished.

“Coven Academy” opens at nightfall in New Orleans, Louisiana. Three teen girls walk home to their dorms at Crescent Veil Academy when a group of vampires accosts them. By sunrise the next day, the girls are gone. Elsewhere in the city, a sullen Briar Roberts (Malina Weissman), still grieving the recent death of her mother, arrives at the airport. Ill-tempered and aggravated, she tells her Uber driver Ollie (Louis Thresher) that her dad has essentially banished her from their home in Brooklyn to attend Crescent Veil, which she believes is a school for troubled young women.

Briar’s attitude flares further when she meets Crescent Veil Headmistress Emma Graves (Tiffani Thiessen), who seems to know all about Briar’s anger issues and her late mother. However, Briar is stunned to discover she is also a witch. Though Briar is desperate for answers, Ms. Graves remains tight-lipped, pushing Briar to focus on perfecting her craft. Overwhelmed by the news, Briar immediately starts plotting her escape from Crescent Veil. But Tegan (Ora Duplass), a sweet witch with timeshifting abilities, thwarts her mission. Unfortunately, Tegan’s best friend, Sasha (Jordan Leftwich), an empath who senses Briar is hiding something, isn’t exactly thrilled with the raven-haired witch’s arrival, which puts the trio on a rocky foundation.

Determined to figure out what happened to her mom and how it connects to Crescent Veil, Briar slowly opens up to Tegan and Sasha. She also finds herself intrigued by Jake (Malachi Barton), a warlock whose powers seem far beyond his years, and Ollie, who has his own bloody conundrums. Over the course of a semester, Briar begins honing her abilities, uncovering long-buried secrets and forming a tenuous bond with Sasha and Tegan, even though boy drama and dark magic seem destined to fracture their fragile sisterhood.

“Coven Academy” is mostly really well done. The show grounds audiences in the inner workings of Crescent Veil Academy while illustrating other sectors of the magical environment, including evil warlocks, vampires, hybrids and werewolves. Yet the glaring issue is that the series is unnecessarily chopped into bite-sized pieces, likely to appeal to fans of microdramas. The 21 episodes, ranging from 10 to 22 minutes, could easily have been condensed into seven 45-minute episodes or 11 30-minute episodes. Though the suspense and cliffhangers are well placed, watching the credits roll after just 10 minutes of action feels absurd and repeatedly pulls viewers out of the show’s intricate world.

Still, the narrative and performances on “Coven Academy” are strong enough to keep viewers tapped in for the next episode. Supernatural series can easily descend into cheesy chaos, but fun special effects, some truly terrifying adversaries and even the typical YA turmoil involving unsavory romance choices and aggravating adults who continually underestimate the resolve and tenacity of determined teenagers make for a highly entertaining show. Episode 11, “The Night It Happened,” and Episode 12, “Between Worlds,” reveal pivotal clues about what really happened to Briar’s mother, upending everything Briar thought she knew about Crescent Veil and the magical realm she’s just been introduced to.

Despite the bizarre episode pacing, “Coven Academy” is fun. Though many of the themes, like a forbidden romance between a witch and a vampire, a near three-decade-long mystery and even some friendship tensions, are par for the course in magic-themed series, solid performances and creator Federle’s ability to anchor several multi-dimensional characters while infusing extremely layered plot points will undoubtedly make audiences eager to return to Crescent Veil Academy, should the show be greenlit for a second season.

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The first nine episodes of “Coven” debut Oct. 1 on Freeform, with the entire season premiering Oct. 2 on Disney+ and Hulu.