Netflix’s Chilling Adventures of Sabrina
Chapter Twenty-Five: “The Devil Within”
Directed by Roxanne Benjamin
Written by Matthew Barry

* For a recap & review of Chapter Twenty-Four: “The Hare Moon” – click here
* For a recap & review of Chapter Twenty-Six: “All of Them Witches” – click here
Nick comes back from the brink, chained to the floor. He didn’t overdose, he just got stoned and let the Dark Lord go free before passing out. He took a mix of things, including “dragon‘s tears” and “red mercury.” Ambrose can compress 30 days of detox into a single day using what he found at Loch Ness. In the meantime, Nick rages at his girlfriend: “I hate you!” She refuses to give up on him.

Then there’s Roz, stuck as a statue. Ambrose keeps on studying while Sabrina talks to Theo and Harvey about what’s going on with the pagan witches. She advises them to stay safe while the coven deals with the carnies. Continually, Harvey finds himself dragged back into a magical world even when he’s not with Sabrina, just like the rest of her friends. On top of everything else Sabrina has to deal with she’s got to do the 2nd challenge for the Throne of Hell against Caliban.
Next, they must retrieve the next artefact: Pontius Pilate‘s bowl, in which he washed his hands figuratively of the blood of Christ. The Queen of Hell won’t accept Caliban’s challenged for Round 2 at the moment, worried about her friends. Lilith blames everything on Sabrina because of a refusal to accept fate. Like the young witch doesn’t have enough on her shoulders. What’s a girl to do?
Head to Golgotha a.k.a Calvary via one of Dorian’s paintings, to find the bowl.

Agatha is caught in the Pan-induced mania. So her Weird Sister, Prudence, is going inside her head to figure out what happened. Prudence tries to focus the racing thoughts in Agatha’s head “like a tsunami” but it’s difficult. She’s able to see a vision of “the great god Pan” himself in the forest, which is what drove Agatha crazy. This troubles Ambrose deeply, knowing Pan’s amongst the “oldest of the pagan monsters.”
At Dorian’s place, Lilith and Sabrina head through the painting to Golgotha, or “the Place of Skulls.” Off the younger witch goes seeking the Temple of Jerusalem where she’ll ultimately locate the bowl. She douses herself in the water exposed to the strange egg, meant to help her with the issues of space and time. Lilith disappears, leaving Sabrina to walk through the “time of Anno Domini.” She meets a Roman and a centurion eventually. Bad news?
The real bad news is some of the coven are starting to think they should give Sabrina up to the pagans. They’ve also discovered the Dark Lord continues to lurk around the Academy, looking to push his flock into the arms of the pagan witches. So spiteful! They only get killed and sacrificed to the Green Man, anyway. Lucifer’s a messy bitch. Elsewhere, Ambrose has a potential plan: use ancient buried stones in the Greendale woods to amplify their depleted energies. If they can do that, they might be able to send a distress signal to other wayward witches and seek help. Also, unbeknown to the others, Hilda may have had a yucky spell cast on her by one of the pagans. (THAT OOZING GROWTH ON HER FACE IS GIVING FATHER GORE THE PUKES.)

Sabrina’s taken by the centurion to a cage, where Caliban is also locked up tight. There are other wretched souls in the cages, too. One man warns everybody dies there, nobody escapes. This is Barrabas, perpetually pardoned and never getting to be executed. He tells them everyone goes through one of Pilate’s sick “passion plays” as he reenacts the crucifixion of Christ. Oh, great!
Back at home, Theo helps Robin out of a jam with a couple jocks. They talk a little afterwards. Theo mentions how great their friends have been, and Robin avoids telling too much about himself. Let’s hope that Theo isn’t hurt because of this, they’ve been through so much already. Encouraging how Robin says the beliefs of his family make less sense to him as he gets older. Perhaps he wants to change.

Soundtrack: “Lullaby” by The Cure plays while Theo and Robin make out

Barrabas, Sabrina, and Caliban are brought in front of the crowd at the Place of Skuls. Disembodied voices call out as Pontius asks who shall be pardoned— like always, it’s Barrabas, leaving the two foreigners. The witch and Caliban are slated for execution. Barrabas runs off with the bowl, except it’s actually Sabrina pulling tricky magic. Impressive! First she has to get away from the centurion, managing to reach the time stone before it hunts her down. She doesn’t feel great about leaving Caliban behind, though she’s determined to help Nick/the coven before heading to see the Infernal Kings.

“All thieves shall pay in blood
in wormy beds of putrid mud.”

Satan has decided to tempt the mortals, not just his coven. He’s urging Harvey to rush off and deal with the carnival on his own. Uh oh. Theo and Robin get wind, the latter urging they have to stop him. Back at the Academy, Ambrose is working on his plan with the stones, requiring every bit of the coven’s current energy including Sabrina. They call out together to summon other disenfranchised witches. Probably not so great that Agatha’s left alone, where Lucifer finds her to sew more seeds of discord. She attacks her coven and they subdue her. Agatha tells them about Satan, right as they all find out about the pagans killing one of their own.

Harvey and the jocks face a creepy confrontation at the carnival. One of the women offers to go with them and see Roz, however, the other guys grab her and she touches them one by one, turning them into pigs. We have confirmation of this other mythological deity: she’s Circe. Later, Robin’s ready to admit the truth to Harvey and Theo.

More traction on Nick’s troubles: there’s literal Satan residue inside him.
Like “tar in a smoker‘s lungs” that’s alive and corrupting him. They’ve got to lure it out with a stronger host, one that’s got the same blood. So, Sabrina will have to let the residue enter her. She and Ambrose conduct a ritual, dripping her blood on Nick to bring the residue out. The Satanic substance slithers out and jumps at Sabrina. She washes it off into Pilate’s bowl and Ambrose uses a spell on it. He may have another use for the residue, too. Finally Hilda admits to Zelda the pagans did something to her, even if her sister doesn’t take it seriously enough. Then Ambrose comes to them, suggesting they might use Satan’s residue for protection. Meanwhile, Nick is back to normal, yet he worries about the future of his and Sabrina’s relationship. He thinks something is wrong with him and needs time for himself.

A heartbroken Sabrina must return to her Queen of Hell duties, heading down to meet the Infernal Kings with Pilate’s bowl. Caliban shows up after all, having waited 2,000 words as clay under the dust. He’s determined to beat Sabrina, now that they’re tied 1-1 in their big competition.
Whoever wins the final trial will be Hell’s monarch.
Doesn’t help to have Lucifer running around out there. Neither does it help to have Gryla and other horrific faces showing up at the Academy, unhappy to have been called out of the depths for what they think is no reason— they want to kill all the witches for it. Shit.Fantastic, exciting episode.
Looking forward to the upcoming battle.

Chapter Twenty-Six: “All of Them Witches” is next.