Last week on Riverdale it was revealed that Jughead was never really dead and this week’s episode went into exactly how it all happened.
First, we get to see Jughead’s underground life, which he’s decided is about as close to death as one can come despite the fact that he’s obviously alive. For two weeks, he microwaved his meals, typed away on his typewriter, and studied everything he knew about the kids at the prep school. Oh and he didn’t shower (we think).
He also breaks down who knew what: Jellybean figured out he was alive on her own, and Betty told FP (but only after awhile). Archie went rogue and told his mother, and Veronica was backed into a corner and had to tell Hermosa after she started snooping.
Now, Betty and Jughead are headed to Stonewall Prep to lock Mr. DuPont, Donna, Bret, and Joan in a room and try to unravel this mystery, in an extremely dramatic way.
The two start at the beginning when Moose was invited to Stonewall Prep, then Jughead was drugged, woke up in a coffin, and was freed in time to find out Mr. Chipping had practically shoved Moose out the door and into the Army. Why would he do that, you might ask? Well, because Moose was going to get murdered and Mr. Chipping was trying to save his life.
This then brings us to the Baxter Brothers writing competition. Jughead reminds Mr. DuPont that he exploited his grandfather for the original Baxter Brothers novel, a secret he would do anything to keep lest someone find out that the franchise upon which he built everything wasn’t his idea. And it all goes back to the Baxter Brothers contract: Why did Chipping’s wife say he hated it so much? Because there was one part of the writing competition Jughead never heard about: In order to prove you could write the perfect murder, you first had to commit it. Betty and Jughead linked each of the missing Stonewall Four to the years that new ghostwriters. That brings us back to Moose.
Chipping invited Moose to Stonewall Prep to be the next victim to be killed by the next chosen ghostwriter. But when Chipping couldn’t go through with it, he told Moose to run, and then he killed himself. And when Jughead won the contract, DuPont gave the students a new challenge: Commit the perfect murder against Jughead and get the contract.
So, the students worked together: Donna kept Betty busy, while Bret led Jughead into the woods, and Joan hit him over the head with a rock. It was Jonathan’s job to make sure Jughead was dead (and he clearly failed). Then, they placed the rock in Betty’s hand and pointed Archie and Veronica in her direction.
But when Betty finally came to, she immediately started CPR on Jughead, while Veronica used the beanie to stop the bleeding. They were able to revive Jughead long enough to tell them not to take him to a hospital as Jughead had a plan. So, Betty called Charles and the FBI medical van to take Jughead away, where he didn’t regain consciousness for thirty-six hours.
Once Jughead came to, he met with the former Baxter Brothers ghostwriters and told them their theory: That they’re all murderers. Additionally, Jughead and Betty discovered that three members of the original literary society had been murdered, otherwise known as the only people who would know that DuPont stole the idea from Jughead’s grandfather. There’s only one living member left, and that’s when Betty opens the door to reveal FP, Charles, and the original Forsythe. Apparently, one of Forsythe’s classmates came to him and warned him about DuPont years ago, and when that person turned up dead a few days later, Forsythe had no choice but to abandon his family and run, and ever since he’s been collecting evidence against DuPont.
And that’s when Chipping invited Jughead to Stonewall Prep: as a way to lure Forsythe out so that DuPont could finish the job. Now, the FBI is at DuPont’s house but before Charles can arrest him, DuPont jumps out the window. (Charles is not a good FBI agent, as we’ve already seen.)
After that, Charles interrogates the world’s most privileged kids, and when that doesn’t work, he lets FP and Jughead work on Bret with some brass knuckles – so clearly a bad FBI agent – until he gives him the location of his videotapes and Quill & Skull is officially disbanded.
As for Betty, she has another thing to take care of: At Donna’s dorm, Donna is packing and preparing to transfer schools and relaunch the Baxter Brothers books as Tracy True. And that’s where Hermosa’s information comes into play. It seems Donna’s grandmother was one of the original classmates that DuPont killed to cover up the truth. Furthermore, DuPont stole the character of Tracy True from Donna’s grandmother. So not only does that give Donna a motive, but it links everything back to her. Betty then threatens to send out the medical file linking Donna to her grandmother if Donna does anything Betty doesn’t like.
Back at Riverdale High, Cheryl tells Betty that ‘no one ever really dies in Riverdale’ despite the fact that people definitely have. Then, she calls Betty out on her feelings toward Archie. Betty says it was all pretend but Cheryl responds and says, “It looked real to me.”
When Jughead goes back to Riverdale High, the core four meet at Pop’s. They only have a few months left of senior year, and they’re determined to graduate on time. And it ends with Kevin telling them about his variety show (or rather the annual musical episode).
Final Thoughts?
So, thankfully this episode actually did kind of make sense and showed that the writers actually had a plan for this season’s mystery, however, the season is far from over so I am a little worried about what will happen in future episodes…
