Netflix’s Chilling Adventures of Sabrina
Chapter Thirty-Three: “Deus Ex Machina”
Directed by Amanda Tapping
Written by Eleanor Jean

* For a recap & review of Chapter Thirty-Two: “The Imp of the Perverse,” click here.
* For a recap & review of Chapter Thirty-Four: “The Returned,” click here.
The Celestial Realm is watching what’s happening in the various spheres. Yes, that’s Pollyanna McIntosh as Metatron! In the Mortal Realm, Sabrina and Roz have been elected as co-presidents of the student council at Baxter High. They’re fielding ridiculous questions from other students. An unexpected arrival has come to Baxter, too: it’s Nick. He’s transferred there to be closer to Sabrina, in spite of her being weirded out by his latest professions of love. Locked away, Ambrose is questioning the head of Faustus to find out what they can about the rest of the eldritch terrors. He and Prudece try their best, but Blackwood’s locked up tight mentally. Then there’s Lilith, refusing to leave her room so she can protect Adam constantly. She wants to stay that way until Adam is 16; long haul. Hilda wonders if that plan’s a tad impractical.

Strange to see an earthquake hit Greendale, rupturing the school.
In the Infernal Realm, the other Sabrina’s chatting with Beelzebub, Caliban, and Lucifer about “overcrowding” in Hell. She wants a “one soul in, one soul out” policy because there’s too much needless, foolish suffering. Satan can’t concentrate, wondering what happened to Lilith, and naturally Beelzebub’s not saying anything. Then there’s interrupted by a couple Baxter High students; earthquake problems. Sabrina has to wipe her fellow students’ memories and send them back. Soon the two kids are back having milkshakes in Greendale like nothing ever happened. At home, Sabrina tells Ambrose of the earthquake and he has no idea what she’s talking about, which is probably not a good thing. There’s trickery afoot.That night, Theo hears strange noises in her room. It’s actually a hobgoblin, Robin says. Then, Moth reveals herself, and it trips poor Theo out. So Moth doses Theo with a bit of magic dust. After that the two hobgoblins are gone. Later Robin explains it was about the eldritch terrors. Hobgoblins are leaving for the fae realm forever and want Robin to go; he wants Theo to go with them, as well. Nevertheless they eventually decide to stay in Greendale together. The next day, Ambrose and Sabrina are looking at an obstruction from Hell that’s burst through the mortuary’s floor. The same thing’s happening in Hell with Greendale’s sign having crashed into Lucifer and Sabrina’s palace. Strange times. The realms are shifting, or collapsing.
Prudence and Roz get together heading for the Pilgrims of the Night Church. There they find horror. Faustus’s maggot-ridden corpse is there, festering in candlelight while Judas and Judith pray at its feet. All over town more of Hell is erupting into the Mortal Realm. Mambo Marie calls Ambrose and Sabrina to the academy where they see how the realms are pushing together. Turns out the two Sabrinas have fucked things up. Who would’ve known? Except Ambrose, who warned his cousin of this exact thing occurring. First thing they’ve got to do is tell the aunties, and Sabrina’s willing to take responsibility.

But the other Sabrina and Lucifer have gotten to Zelda first and the truth’s revealed. Aunt and niece have an angry conversation alone afterwards. Ambrose gets chewed out for knowing, too. The cousins are in big trouble with Auntie Zee. So, what now? Prudence and Roz get working on Faustus, hoping torture will start to loosen his tongue. If they can’t kill him, they can still make him suffer. Then the rest are discussing plans of action. One suggestion is kill a Sabrina, though Ambrose says that’s not necessarily going to work. The two realms are attracting one another, the Mortal and Infernal Realms like magnets. Mr. Scratch has a suggestion: use each realm’s polarity, in reverse, to repel one another. Now it makes sense why Zelda brought up The Parent Trap earlier. And, for anyone who’s seen any promo material for this season, this is definitely where we’re going to see a return of some Sabrina the Teenage Witch alumni—maybe not this episode, but soon(!). The coven goes about an invocation, yet Ambrose stops it, for fear it’s too dangerous.
Even the Celestial Realm is being dragged into everything. All the realms are clashing.
Then Metatron arrives at the academy to “restore order.” The angel says a Sabrina must die; either or is fine. The only other solution is the two Sabrinas must become one. There can only be a single Sabrina entity. Could be a few risks, too. A lot of them. The Sabrinas agree to the merge. First they’d like to have one last day, giving Morningtar a chance to spend time on Earth and Sabrina time to hang in Hell, before everything changes irreparably forever. Metatron gives them six hours.
Lilith has to have a chat with Lucifer, seeing they’re in the same place at the same time. She has Adam hidden so they can talk. She tries telling Satan about what Caliban did, trying to have Asmodeus and Beelzebub kill her and the child. The King of Hell doesn’t care, though. He’s only concerned with taking Adam back to Pandaemonium. He, too, gives out six hours before Lilith must give over their child. Meanwhile, the two Sabrinas are living their last hours as themselves. Morningstar goes with Roz and the others to have a jam session to “Total Eclipse of the Heart” as a band one final time while Sabrina takes her time to speak with Nick about their potential relationship.
Sad little bit when Theo’s told, by Moth, that if Robin stays behind in the Mortal Realm then he will eventually lose all his magic abilities. This devastates Theo. He tells Robin can’t give up what makes him special. He decides to push Robin away, in order to make him leave. But it isn’t what either of them really want, and before Robin goes he says: “I love you, Theo.” (This broke my heart…)

It’s time for the Sabrinas to merge. Metatron starts the process after the witches say their goodbyes to the others. And before the process is complete Ambrose flies through the door. He’s found out there are “three new realms“—DUPLICATES—on a collision course with the Mortal Realm; the next eldritch terror on its way. Cosmic horrors are coming for them all. So, is Metratron trying to pull a fast one? Yes. The others would like to try and save both Sabrinas’ lives, considering there are other realms at play now. Now Metatron wants to do the job, killing one or the other Sabrina. Or maybe both. Thanks be to Hell that the coven is strong, and Lucifer is also a celestial. This is where Metatron gets their neck snapped.
The coven must deal with the new cosmos created by everything.
Ambrose believes sending one Sabrina to the duplicate Mortal Realm might help. It comes down to rock, paper, scissors to see who goes to the Mortal Realm. The original Sabrina wins and this leaves Morningstar to go to the other Earth. They’ll now have to open a wormhole for Morningstar to travel. And thus, Morningstar is transported to the duplicate realm where YES WE SEE Beth Broderick and Caroline Rhea as Aunts Zelda and Hilda respectively, AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! What a treat.

We see Lilith has taken serious measures to keep Lucifer from taking their child away. She references Medea—great connection here with Hecate—and it’s already obvious where this is going. She’s killed Adam and served up the child on a silver platter. She then begs to be killed. Lucifer takes her by the throat, yet will not kill her. He then curses her “with humanity,” relieving her of her powers, but leaving her with immortality; she’ll get old and sick and weak but she’ll never die.

“Starlight, star bright,
first star I see tonight,
I wish I may, I wish I might
to have the wish I wish tonight…”

This season has really been running on all cylinders, even if the plot gets a tad convoluted occasionally. But why else do you watch a show like this? I know I love seeing so much occult/witchcraft subject matter smashed together with subverted religion. Lots of fun to dig deeper into the show’s references and homages, usually makes the material that much richer, such as the use of Metatron here.