Netflix’s Chilling Adventures of Sabrina
Chapter Twenty-Seven: “The Judas Kiss”
Directed by Craig William Macneill
Written by Lindsay Calhoon Bring

* For a recap & review of Chapter Twenty-Six: “All of Them Witches” – click here
* For a recap & review of Season 2’s finale, Chapter Twenty-Eight: “Sabrina is Legend” – click here
A gunshot rings out as Zelda’s gunned down at the door by Ms. Wardwell. Sabrina and Ambrose rush downstairs to help their aunt. He rushes back upstairs to get Prudence and Mambo Marie. They take Zelda downstairs, where Marie removes the bullet. Marie says Zelda’s lost “between the land of the dead and the living,” a place she calls the “nether realm of the Gede Lwa.” All they can do is burn “violet candles” to try leading her back to them. Outside, an omen comes: the scream of a banshee. Prudence is sure this means someone in the Spellman family is going to die. Maybe even a couple of them. That’s really not helpful, girl.

The separation ritual has worked— Lucifer is back to his old self. Faustus is gone, along with the “Mark of Cain” so he can’t be hurt. Not just that, he gave Lucifer’s seed to Lilith. Oh, my. She’s bearing the child of the Dark Lord inside her. He’s angry until he finds out it’s a boy, meaning he’d be the proper patriarchal heir to the Throne of Hell and Sabrina would get the boot, or worse.

At the carnival, the pagans are angry, awaiting the Green Man’s return. Then a few of them find Faustus lurking around their camp. He wants to make himself useful to them, feeling betrayed by the Church of Night. He wants to help kill the witches as they sleep, only looking for personal revenge above anything else. A properly rotten man.

“Tell them daddy’s back…”

Robin and Theo get to know each other better, about to take a new step in their relationship quickly so Theo won’t get sacrificed for being a virgin. He reveals he’s “a hobgoblin” after Theo remarks they’re glad to be accepted for who they are, something they’d never thought would happen. Elsewhere, Roz and Harvey are getting close when she starts to have visions of him and Sabrina being intimate, the slithering sound of a snake in the background. She has to stop and ask if he’s still in love with his ex. He denies it, yet it’s hard to ignore her mystical vision. And he lets slip about the spell.

In Hell, Lucifer’s having trouble taking control again. Beelzebub reminds him that the competition must be finished. The 3rd and final artefact— Judas Iscariot‘s “30 pieces of silver“— must be found and a new monarch in Hell will be crowned. Not quite what the big boss man wanted to hear. Things work a certain way in the Underworld, and even Satan himself can’t stop it.

In the nether realm, Zelda wanders into a version of her house. She hears shots firing, fading out. She feels herself right where the bullet wound ought to be, then she hears her sister in the kitchen. Hilda’s fine and back to normal, making breakfast. She doesn’t want to talk about being “a giant spider” or anything else. Suddenly, their brother Edward walks through the door.
At school, Sabrina’s trying to gather a new, energetic coven to help with their depleted one. Who better than the cheerleading squad? She’s enlisting the help of Roz, who continues to feel awkward about things with Harvey. Right now, the ladies are joining forces to get the cheerleaders back to the Academy with help from a “spell of persuasion.” Perfectly, the squad uses “Mickey” by Toni Basil for their practice while Ambrose and Prudence call to Goddess Terpischore, one of the nine Muses, goddess of dance. The ladies are all worn out after they’re done, looking like the spell worked. Not the best time for Faustus and some pagans to come crashing the party.
What does Sabrina do? She transports the rest of the coven to Pandaemonium, while the cheerleaders and Roz end up back at Baxter High. Might be risky to take the witches to Hell? Not many options. At the Academy, Faustus finds the wild Agatha, covered in blood and ready to kill for him. He’s got other concerns. Down in the Underworld, Lucifer tells his daughter she has to go finish the competition. Ambrose and Prudence will look after things on Earth while the Queen of Hell goes seeking Judas’s silver.

In the nether realm, Zelda and Hilda ask their brother questions. They discover he knew about Sabrina’s true lineage. They also figure out that Edward is their spirit guide, helping to lead them to the right decisions and the correct path. Zelda feels this may be an advantage for them against the pagans. Not before they do a little learning. They peer into the past, “visiting a memory” of when Zelda and Faustus were students at the Academy. Young Faustus was trying to hide knowledge from Zelda. Now, she gets a chance to look at what he was hiding: a page from a book with strange characters on it, sigils perhaps, and a moon. They also see the day Sabrina turned up in a basket at their home. They notice a half moon on the blanket.

Sabrina gets help from dad when Lucifer tells her he’s the only one who knows where to find Judas. He tells her to go to the Ninth Circle of Hell. There, embedded in the walls, are the “three worst betrayers in history: Cassius, Brutus, and Judas Iscariot.” She goes there and discovers Judas, asking him where to find his silver. He wants something in return. She offers cold water. He says there are two ways to get the silver: it came come to you, or you can seek it out. She wants to choose the easier way. That means she’ll have to betray someone she loves with a kiss.
Oh, no. Is she going to do what Father Gore thinks? Sabrina goes directly to see Harvey at school. He’s busy worrying about things with him and Roz. She’s about to kiss him when he says he loves Roz. She refuses to betray them this way, even for Hell. So, she’ll go for the hard way. She must go to the Field of Blood. Judas’s silver is buried in a crypt with the first vampire, Vlad the Impaler.

The final night of the carnival is coming. Baxter High are invited. Roz, Theo, and Harvey get called to the office at school for prizes, only to see Pan and Medusa waiting. They run off to hide in the library, stalked by the pagans. Pagan talks about Greendale becoming the “new Eden” and tells them of the Green Man returning in a Great Flowering. They just need the blood of a virgin to get started.
Looks like Harvey’s in trouble!
Thankfully, Robin the hobgoblin uses his speed to get the gang out of there fast.

“Don’t mistake survival or co-dependency for love.
We are very much not together.”

Sabrina gets to Vlad’s crypt, retrieving the coins. Except she never anticipated he’d be alive. The Immortal Vlad stands up and gets out of his tomb, hypnotising the young witch and asking her questions about how she found him. She’s trapped under his spell. He bares his fangs then sinks his teeth into her neck. But her blood burns him, she’s part celestial. “And consent? It‘s real,” she says before giving him a kick.
Roz and the gang use Sabrina’s magic marker to reach Nick, who comes to their aid. They tell him everything going on with the pagans and the Green Man. Robin explains how the pagans will prepare for the Great Flowering, seeding people from Greendale through candy apple treats before they enact things further with the blood of a virgin. The group get caught by the pagans— Medusa has the scent of Harv’s virgin blood.

Crazy Agatha’s already killed Dorcas, now she’s about to kill Prudence. She’s thwarted, resulting in getting stabbed herself. That leaves Prudence at the mercy of Faustus. He’s literally stabbed her in the back. A truly horrible father. He wants to find Judith and Judas, hoping they’ll help find whatever he’s seeking. Ambrose comes inside moments later to see Prudence bleeding to death on the floor.

One more glimpse with Edward: the sisters are shown an elderly Zelda on her deathbed, where Sabrina’s come to see her and pay respects. Then old Zelda closes her eyes, passing over into death. Zelda figures out the meaning of the moons: the three phases of the moon correspond to “the three phases of a witch‘s life.” This gives her an idea of how to save the coven. She wakes to see the banshee in the morgue, along with Faustus, and Marie lies dead on the floor. Faustus immediately stabs Zelda in the chest.

Sabrina goes back to see Judas. He wants to hold the silver one final time. She naively puts them in his hand, forgetting Caliban is made of clay. Caliban puts her into the stone, taking the coins for himself. This is his plan to conquer the mortal world as Hell’s Tenth Circle. Back at the carnival, Robin’s been killed. Harvey gets placed in a giant Wicker Man-like structure for the Green Man’s virgin sacrifice to begin “the end of all flesh.” Harvey’s stuck, and so is Sabrina as her friends call out desperately for her help.
Another incredible episode. This one was especially intense, given that there seems to be so many people dying, or potentially dying, anyway. Will Prudence actually be gone? Please, no! And what will become of Harvey?

Season 2’s finale, Chapter Twenty-Eight: “Sabrina is Legend” is next.