WARNING: The following contains spoilers for 30 Coins Episode 5, "The Double," now airing on HBO.
HBO's 30 Coins threw fans for a loop when it was revealed the tormented Father Vergara's long-lost colleague from Catholic school, Fabio Santoro, was one of the chief Cardinals in the Vatican. More so, Vergara realized Fabio was indeed part of the demonic cult, the Cainites, hellbent on bringing down Christianity and the modern world under the Pope's nose. Luckily, Vergara gets some help after Fabio's secret society traps him with the hope of conditioning him to join. However, in the process, the villain raises the show's most disgusting monster to kill Vergara's ally, a key hero, in a heartbreaking moment in "The Double."
Vergara decides to entertain Fabio's pitch to sign up, touring their secret chambers and discovering more of their Antichrist relics. Bit by bit, it seems like the rebel in Vergara wants to give in as everything he's questioned in the past has been proven right. Fabio reinforces this by showing him evidence that proves that God's fallible and that Jesus was an illusion meant to control the masses. At this point, it seems like Vergara buys in.
Thankfully, his friend, Sandro, has come to Rome to find him after a vision connected them. He infiltrates the church and is shocked to find Fabio there, as he thought the priest died in a gateway to hell years ago. However, Sandro's taken and beaten badly, with Fabio asking Vergara to slit his throat in a rite of passage. This will complete the indoctrination since Sandro believes in a false messiah.
Vergara stabs Fabio instead, and he flees with his beaten friend. Fabio, bleeding out from the stomach, then conjures a spell and turns one of the priests into a monster that outdoes the spider-monster seen early on this season. The priest starts to swell and grows multiple legs in a scene feeling pulled from the mind of David Cronenberg. He turns into a spider-monster with a mouth and razor-sharp teeth at the base of his body, but there are some human parts left, making this more disgusting to look at. It's also bigger and faster than the previous spider-monster.
As Vergara and Sandro cut other priests down, the monster catches up and grabs Sandro, squashing him in half and leaving his entrails all over the place. Vergara looks on in shock, but it buys him time to stab the beast and run out. As much as he wants to save his pal, he has to retreat, since Sandro was dead before he hit the floor. This kill offers Fabio some recompense as he hated Sandro for not wanting to meet Satan and for constantly pulling Vergara back towards the mainstream Bible, but here, his vindictive actions may have pushed Vergara further away when he's clearly a necessary pawn.
Starring Eduard Fernández, Megan Montaner, Miguel Ángel Silvestre, Macarena Gómez, Pepón Nieto and Manolo Solo, 30 Coins airs Mondays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on HBO and is also streaming on HBO Max.