Welcome to the seventh episode of this season. This episode was divided into character chapters in order to focus on one story at a time, which I loved.
Archie and Jughead
We start off with Archie and Jughead who are both on the road and have been walking for days as they are worried about Hiram catching up (well, if you weren’t walking, maybe he wouldn’t).
They stop at a payphone so Jughead can update Betty, but she doesn’t pick up. Archie suggests that Jughead go back to Riverdale, but Jughead reminds Archie that Betty took down a serial killer and Archie can’t go five minutes without being kidnapped or beat up, and honestly, that’s a solid point. Them they come across a farm and Archie suggests that they bunk there for the night which turns out to be a dumb idea. Within seconds of walking onto the property, a young girl pulls a rifle on them. They introduce themselves as Cal and Biff from Centerville (Archie is Biff and Jughead is Cal). They meet Laurie Lake and Gracie who is the girl with the gun. Archie (Biff) claims that they were robbed on a train so Laurie agrees to give them some dinner.
Over dinner, Laurie is interested in Biff so she suggests that the boys sleep in the barn and repay her tomorrow with some farm work. Despite Jughead’s objections Archie agrees and the next morning Archie is moving bales of hay without a shirt. Jughead is surprised and decides to go into town to investigate and take pictures. He’s very suspicious over the lack of people at the farm and then that there are no people in the town. The town of Athens turns out to be covered in G&G symbols, and there are no men anywhere. A homeless woman said that fizzle rocks were introduced to the town and changed it forever. She said that all the men are working to build a prison where they’ll also make fizzle rocks. Then he comes across some girls playing G&G who say that their father’s and brothers work for the ‘Man in Black’ who turns out to be Hiram Lodge. So, fizzle rocks are directly related to G&G and Hiram Lodge. Hmm.
Realizing that Laurie and Gracie’s father works for Hiram, Jughead rushes back to the farm but he is too late. Laurie gave Archie a shave (weird) and then made out with him (you just broke up with Veronica!), Archie told him his real name and why he was there which was the dumbest idea, but it’s Archie. Laurie knocks him out, ties him up and then calls Hiram. Laurie is hoping that Hiram will exchange her father and brother for Archie and Hiram agrees.
Jughead gets back in time to free Archie, but Archie wants to stay and fight rather than run which is so dumb. He thinks he can kill Hiram with hedge clippers despite the fat that Laurie and Gracie clearly have rifles and Hiram is Veronica’s father. Jughead plays the Veronica card and the two of them take off.
Once they escape, Jughead says that they are going to go visit his mother because that’s the only other option they have.
Veronica Lodge
Back in Riverdale, Veronica packs up her things and says goodbye to her mother. She decides to sleep at the speakeasy. Of course, she doesn’t go to Betty’s and find out that she’s gone but whatever. She’s upset about Archie and her father and doesn’t know where to go.
Veronica spends her days working at Pop’s and her nights at the speakeasy (when does she go to school?), but she finds out that the speakeasy is barely making enough money to stay in business. She gets an idea and asks Elio to help her throw a casino night to bring in some money. That decision prompts a visit from Hiram who says he’ll always have her back and she kicks him out of Pop’s.
However, Hiram does come through. He gives her some intel that Elio is planning to take all her money at the blackjack table, so Veronica hires one of Hiram’s best dealers to handle the situation.Then, on casino night, when she sees that Elio keeps winning, she challenges him to one hand: Winner gets the deed to Pop’s and the speakeasy. Elio agrees, and Veronica wins. She tells Reggie that she got help from her father. Then, when Pop tells her that she shouldn’t be resorting to crime to get what she wants, she tells him that maybe her dad isn’t so bad after all. Pop updates her on the latest news: Sheriff Minetta (who was missing), was found dead in the marsh. At least, they think it was him because he’s been decapitated and his hands were sawed off. And obviously, all signs point to Hiram Lodge. How’s he looking now, V?
Betty Cooper
Then, we catch up with Betty who is at the Sisters of Quiet Mercy, after her mother sent her there. She’s getting the lay of the land so she can escape and use her intel later. When they interview her and show her some pictures, she does her best to appear sane. Then, she gets her daily dosage of ‘candy’ which turns out to be fizzle rocks which are basically drugs.
Betty takes it but doesn’t eat it. She dumps it in the trash in her room, and Ethel comes in telling her that she’s Betty’s roommate. She lets Betty know that she’s the queen bee here and she’s been having long conversations with the Gargoyle King. She says a lot of the girls get to visit him but they are all scared of him. She informs her that Jughead is losing interest in Betty and Betty ignores that. Ethel then finds her candy in the trash and wants her to take it but Betty makes her swear not to tell the Sisters, to which Ethel, seemingly agrees.
The next day, Betty witnesses Claudius Blossom making a delivery to the Sisters as well as Hiram delivering a briefcase to Sister Woodhouse. Hiram is supplying the fizzle rocks as well as anything else the Sisters ‘need’. Now we know how corrupt the Sisters of Quiet Mercy really is.
Betty is searching for her medical record and finds the Gargoyle King’s chambers. She needs to get in there when she sees a screaming girl get dragged out. She confronts Ethel about the Jughead kiss, and Ethel gets all up in her face saying that they’re going to be a ‘ship’ (ew) and Betty points out that will never happen. Betty fakes a seizure and gets taken to the infirmary where she locates her file. She discovers that Hiram Lodge has ordered them to increase Betty’s dosage of fizzle rocks after her first week. He seems to be using the girls as lab rats.
She rips out the page and runs for the door that Veronica used to get Cheryl out, only to find that it’s been bricked up. I mean, why would they let that stay open, after everything that has happened. Of course, Ethel and Sister Woodhouse find her and two male nurses force the fizzle rocks down Betty’s throat. It ends with Betty being drugged, seeing the Gargoyle King and reciting, “My king, my saviour, guide me through the night, bless me with your darkness, gift me with your flight.”
Final Thoughts:
I really hope this Gargoyle King business ends soon cause it’s torturing Betty. Also, I loved Veronica being all independent, but doesn’t she care about Betty who is missing? I just hope that people break Betty out of there during the mid-season finale.
