Time for more Riverdale! Last week on Riverdale, Archie headed to prison where he was selected to become top dog, Ben committed suicide, and Betty and Jughead begin investigating once more.
The Farm and the Scripture
This episode opens up with Archie who has been thrown into solitary after refusing to be the warden’s new Mad Dog. Then we cut to FP and Alice in bed which then cuts to a shot of Jughead and Betty in bed together. Do we need this parallel? No thanks. What’s even weirder is that Jughead and Betty are in Dilton’s bed in his secret bunker as they claim that the bunker is the only place where they can get privacy away from their parents. Jughead then figures out that they need to find a rule book.
After Betty convinces Veronica to stop putting her life on hold for Archie and to open the speakeasy so that Pop’s doesn’t go out of business, she and Jughead revisit Ethel. Ethel is back at school and Evelyn is trying to get her off the medication that she literally just got on to stop the seizures. Then Betty starts wondering if there is a connection between the Farm and G&G, which I’m sure we’ve all been wondering since episode 1 of this season.
While Jughead convinces Ethel to make him ‘worthy’ of the game’s ‘scripture’, Betty joins Evelyn’s school chapter of the Farm, but they are the only two members. Her plan backfires when Evelyn tells Alice and an entire group of Farm members who are waiting at Betty’s house to welcome her. Betty loses her temper when she finds out that Polly and Alice have told the Farm everything, including things that are sure to get them in prison. Betty outright accuses Edgar Evernever of being the Gargoyle King and then Betty realises something about the game. Betty looks like she is going to pass out and heads upstairs.
Jughead meets Ethel in Dilton’s bunker to play his first game. It starts out simple as Jughead picks a player and gets his first ‘quest card’, but then Ethel reveals he has to prove his worthiness by flipping a coin and drinking from one of the goblets (one has cyanide in it as we know), and Jughead wants to quit. However, he knows they need to read the scripture/rule book so he risks his life, and luckily gets the safe cup (no cyanide!). Then Ethel says he has to kiss her and she hands over the scripture. Just as he starts to read, Ethel drinks from the other cup which poisons her and Jughead has to rush her to the hospital. These teens are insane!
The doctors get Ethel an antidote in time, but the bad news is that Ethel’s plan doesn’t end there. Basically, FP and Alice discover the scripture in Jughead’s trailer and ask if that’s the only copy, which Betty and Jughead reluctantly say yes. FP throws it into the fire, seemingly ending the game. However, Ethel has more copies and by the episode’s end, Ethel has put a copy of the rule book in every student’s locker at Riverdale High. We see her bowing on her hospital bed saying, “soon they’ll join us,” and the Gargoyle King is casually standing in her room (not creepy at all).
Veronica Opens Her Speakeasy
While everything with the Gargoyle King is going down, Veronica is busy opening up her speakeasy with Reggie who is basically a bartender, doorman, and a delivery guy. Basically Reggie is her sidekick in this job and I’m loving it. With her opening night approaching, Veronica asks Josie to be her resident singer and Kevin to be the emcee. Veronica then visits Cheryl and Toni to ask them to help spread the word of La Bonne Nuit’s opening which they gladly do.
Unfortunately, Penny Peabody visits Veronica and says that she wants to offer the Ghoulies’ services of protection. Veronica rejects her proposal and she tells her to think on it. Reggie then brings in a shipment of things, but the boxes turn out to be full of Jingle Jangle. Moments later, Sheriff Minetta shows up and Veronica goes to distract him, telling a distressed Reggie to get rid of it. Reggie manages to get rid of all the drugs before Sheriff Minetta inspects everything and so Veronica figures out her next move as she knows Penny and the Sheriff have her father in common. However, she’s not confronting her dad without blackmail.
Veronica goes to find Jughead, but when she can’t, Toni and Cheryl agree to help her get into the basement of the Whyte Wyrm which is where the Ghoulies are running their drug operation. All three women sneak in and take a bunch of photos. Then, Veronica approaches Hiram about calling off his lackeys. Hiram responds with showing up to her opening night with the portrait of her that used to hang in his office. He says he’s ‘proud’ of her, but she still doesn’t trust him. There’s probably a freaking camera in that picture…
La Bonne Nuit’s opening night is a success and most of the teens are in attendance. Even Betty and Jughead decide to show up, despite everything else they have going on. Josie sings a sultry rendition of ‘Anything Goes’ and I’m obsessed.
At the end of the night, Hiram approaches Veronica at home, and he basically informs her that his drug lab has been moved so now her blackmail is pretty much useless.
Archie In Juvie
Meanwhile, Archie discovers what it means to be the warden’s new Mad Dog. It means that he has to join a fight club that takes place in an empty pool and the guards bet on the inmates who fight until someone’s knocked out. Archie agrees to be the new Mad Dog when he witnesses Joaquin being beaten to a bloody pulp. Then, Archie meets a few members of the fighting team: two of which who are called Baby Teeth and Thumper (interesting names!).
Archie wins his first fight with two quick punches and the warden is not happy. Apparently, for a fight to be entertaining, the warden says it has to go for at least 5 or 6 rounds. So, Archie comes up with a way to make that happen without killing anyone. In his next fight, Archie lets his opponent beat him up for five rounds before knocking his opponent out.
When Archie returns to his cell, he’s been given a bunch of Mad Dog’s hand-me-downs, including his TV and books. The warden also gives him a bottle of rum and Archie throws it through the bars of his cell in anger while flashbacks of Hiram sending him to jail play across the screen.
However, thanks to Mad Dog, Archie is now in possession of a small rock hammer, that he hid in one of his books. With it, Archie claims to his team (and Joaquin) that they’re going to escape.
Final Thoughts:
This episode was another crazy one. I loved the speakeasy, though many other parts of this episode were questionable, especially Ethel who is basically worshipping the Gargoyle King as if he’s some kind of god. More of a devil if you ask me….
