I didn't see the metafictional aspect you saw there, even having read your spoiler first, but that does sound like a thing that could maybe happen anyway? If so it just doesn't seem to be being telegraphed very hard.
The more obvious telegraph that I see is a form of a classical paradox I don't know a name for: doing good for the sake of earning do-gooder points doesn't count as doing good toward your point count, but if you know that because of that your good deeds won't earn you points, yet you still do good deeds anyway, those good deeds were done out of genuinely good motivations and so count for do-gooder points, unlike good deeds done just to earn points. So, by thinking they are doomed, yet choosing to do good anyway, they're actually not doomed. The only questions remaining in my mind are: did Michael set that up on purpose, tell them they're doomed, as that's their only hope for not being doomed; and, will the Judge know or at least suspect that someone might have realized that realizing they're doomed yet doing good deeds anyway was the only way to still earn points, and therefore not award points after all because once again the good deeds were done for the wrong reason?
I also really like Chidi's spiraling out into nihilism. I've been there and only barely pulled back out of it because my inner Elenor eventually said to my inner Chidi pretty much exactly what Elenor says to Chidi in this episode, so that was great to see.