This week’s episode of Riverdale features many revelations and a lot of drama, but what’s new? Last week, Archie was attacked by a bear and this week, we begin with Jughead’s voiceover as he explains what really happened. The rangers found Archie and according to Jughead, Archie Andrews died at 8:47 on a Wednesday morning, or “at least the Archie we knew.” And honestly, that’s probably not what happened. Archie woke up at the hospital and decided he was done running and he returned home to Riverdale with his dark hair.
Archie believes he can survive Hiram considering he survived a bear attack and within less than a day of being home, he and Veronica are having sex in her speakeasy. Poor Reggie! But everything is not back to normal as many things about Archie have changed and his friends have noticed. The SATs are this upcoming Saturday and he starts panicking. Apparently they now have to find the time to study for the SATs.
Betty is busy dealing with the fact that her mother just gave away all of Betty’s money (including her college fund), in order to help the Farm. Betty realises that her dad’s signature on the form has been forged by her mother and she has to go get her father to sign an affidavit stating that Alice forged his signature. Meanwhile, Principal Weatherbee meets with Archie in order to suggest that he repeat junior year and he’s probably right as Archie’s SAT studying isn’t going well with his combined score of 600 on his practice test. Archie is working with Betty and Jughead on studying for the SAT, and when Jughead leaves, Betty decides that what he needs is to dye his hair back and then go to Veronica’s welcome home party.
At the welcome home party, Archie storms out and Reggie then knows he’s had enough. He attempts to confront Archie in the locker room, but when Reggie sees the scars from the bear attack, he backs off.
Elsewhere, Fred threatens Hiram’s life if he ever comes after Archie again, and Hiram decides that Claudius will be the new sheriff of Riverdale whether he likes it or not. As for Fangs, he successfully infiltrates the Gargoyle Gang and tells Jughead about a ceremony taking place the following night in Fox Forest. The plan is for the Serpents to show up and take down the King.
Speaking of the Gargoyle King, when Betty goes to jail to get her father’s signature, he claims that he was the Gargoyle King during the Midnight Club days and that he was the one who invited everyone to ascension night and killed Principal Featherhead. He then signs Betty’s affidavit in exchange for a G&G manual. But Hal has been lying. Penelope Blossom has been paying him visits, posing as Alice Cooper and she told him everything he knows about ascension night, so he lied in order to keep Betty coming back. And it works because by the end of the episode, Betty visits Hal for actual fatherly advice.This is all because Alice gave away all her money so that the Farm could buy the Sisters of Quiet Mercy’s old convent, giving the Farm a permanent home in Riverdale. As she explains, Hal’s the only one who can understand Alice’s particular brand of crazy.
Then, at the Gargoyle King ceremony, we finally learn who the Gargoyle King is. When the Serpents manage to tackle and unmask the Gargoyle King, it’s Tall Boy, whom I swear was dead. Once they tie him up in the bunker, Tall Boy confesses to scaring Betty and Alice that night in her house and for killing Joaquin. He agrees to help them get to Hiram and needs bait who happens to be Archie.
Archie agrees and Tall Boy calls Hiram but Hiram doesn’t show up to the meeting and instead Claudius is sent. FP makes a citizen’s arrest and Claudius ends up dead in a jail cell later on. Hiram calls Hermione who is at work and then gets shot in his office.
At school, Reggie is swiping on a dating app when Archie shows up to ask him about cheating. Archie means on the SATs but Reggie thinks that Archie found out about him and Veronica which is his mistake. By the time Archie gets home, Veronica is waiting and upset. Archie assures her that she didn’t do anything wrong but it’s not the same between them. Archie asks if they can have the conversation tomorrow and stay together tonight (aka have sex) and she agrees.
The next day at the SATs, Archie storms out and when he meets up with Veronica later in the day at the hospital, Hiram is in intensive care. She asks if he was the one who shot her dad and he is horrified that she would think that. It’s clear their relationship is over. Reggie shows up to the hospital with flowers and hugs Veronica and I am so glad that they didn’t blow off Reggie and Veronica.
Then, Tall Boy tries to escape and Fangs accidentally shoots and kills him. He and Sweet Pea are distraught and Jughead covers it up by throwing a party with the Serpents. At their party a cop car shows up and Fangs is convinced they know and will arrest him. However, the cop turns out to be FP who is the new sheriff, appointed by Hermione herself.
We end the episode with Archie whose room is bare and now contains a punching bag. He also keeps a bottle of alcohol in his drawer and takes a swig from it. When Fred asks if he’s okay, he responds that he is. And I am officially not a fan of the new Archie.
Final Thoughts?
This episode was okay but I am very confused and wondering what direction this is going in. I’m kind of glad that Archie and Veronica have broken up as sometimes it seemed like a toxic relationship. Archie needs to sort through everything now.
