We are back this week with another Riverdale episode and this one shows the kids attending school again (though do they actually attend school and/or study??).
With one day of summer left, Jughead fills us in on how the past weeks have gone. Since Fred’s death, the core four have spent every day together to try and help Archie grieve and attempt to move forward. On their last night before the school year, they’re hanging out at Veronica’s (where there are no parents in sight), and reminiscing about how they suck at reminiscing. Also, apparently getting sentimental makes Betty horny because she starts making out with Jughead while both Veronica and Archie are still in the room. Archie and Veronica then go to her bedroom… All of them then oversleep and are late to high school the next morning.
The next morning, as the core four run into school late, they meet their new principal. Mr. Honey is the new principal as Weatherbee is gone. Mr. Honey is not okay with their tardiness and makes that very clear.
At school, Archie invites Mad Dog (who’s real name is Monroe) to join the Bulldogs, a move that makes Reggie very angry, mostly because Monroe makes Reggie look bad at practice and his abusive father watches every practice. Long story short, Veronica tells Archie about Reggie’s dad so Archie confronts him during practice one day, and then Reggie takes matters into his own hands and takes a baseball bat to his dad’s car’s windshield. Apparently this causes the two to talk things out, which seems very suspicious, but I’m glad that they are tackling this.
Elsewhere at school, Jughead is called to the principal’s office to meet Mr. Chipping, a teacher over at Stonewall Prep who served as a judge in a writing contest over the summer. It seems Jughead had submitted a short story, and even though it didn’t win, it left an impression on Mr. Chipping, who invites Jughead to switch schools. Jughead is not interested but when FP gets involved, he agrees to go on a tour with Betty.
The tour then turns into Jughead sitting in on an English class where they discuss Moby Dick and Jughead is so pleased that everyone has actually read the book. It’s Betty who tells Jughead that he should transfer schools. How much do you all want to bet that this school is creepy or has something weird happening in it because Jughead goes missing come spring break?
As for Betty, she spends the episode plotting with Charles. It seems Alice missed another check-in with the FBI and Betty is very worried. And when Kevin comes to her and tries to apologise for the way that he treated her (aka dragging her across the floor into an operating room so Edgar could harvest her organs), Charles sees an opportunity. After he catches Betty reading classified information, he just decides to tell her everything (okay, so he’s a terrible FBI agent), and explains that Kevin still texts with Fangs, but Fangs has refused to meet with him in person. So, Betty pretends to forgive Kevin and tells him some fake information about how they have found someone to testify against the Farm, and just like that, Fangs meets with Kevin to get the intel. However, the Farm won’t let Kevin come back in unless he finds out the identity of the witness.
Of course, Betty calls out Kevin on meeting with Fangs, and together with Charles, she interrogates him. But when Kevin claims he was lonely all summer and Fangs was the only person who would text him back, Betty believes him. She goes against Charles’ advice and warnings and tells Kevin the truth about her mother being an informant. She asks Kevin to help her find out where the Farm is hiding. She believes that if Kevin tells Fangs that Penelope Blossom is the informant, they’ll give him that information. And it works as Fangs takes Kevin to the Farm’s new digs at an abandoned motel, and though he didn’t see Alice, he did see Edgar and he’s armed.
In less exciting rivalries, Cheryl declares Mr. Honey her new enemy after he cancels the back-to-school dance because people were murdered at the last one, which honestly is a good idea to cancel it. Instead, Cheryl throws a party which is quickly broken up by the police after Mr. Honey calls in a noise complaint. Cut to Cheryl dropping a literal beehive on the new principal’s desk. Honestly, this is such a weird storyline. These kids have no respect for authority.
Veronica, meanwhile, finds herself at the center of a media scandal when an article comes out claiming that she’s responsible for the crimes that put her father behind bars. Also, apparently the paparazzi get into the school which is not something that would be allowed at all. With her parents’ court dates coming up, she’s being pushed to pick a side and release a statement. She visits her father in jail and asks why he leaked the story about her crimes (because he’s clearly evil, obviously), she makes a decision: she’s going to change her last name to Gomez (aka her mother’s maiden name) and she’s going to release a statement to the press.
She invites them to her club for a press conference, which comes after a ‘special performance’. She takes the stage with Toni and Cheryl and performs “All That Jazz” for no reason which was super random and unnecessary.
At the press conference, she admits to doing everything the article said she did, and says she did it under duress as Hiram threatened her. As for which parent she supports in the trials, she answers saying neither of them.
Final Thoughts:
I didn’t love this episode but it wasn’t terrible. I still think that there is a serious lack of suitable guardians in this town.
