Riverdale Archive - Season 6

All recaps written by Chuck Duncan

Episode 1 :: Welcome to Rivervale

Let's Talk About 'Welcome to Rivervale':

• Jughead, always the unseen narrator, now assumes the duties of on-screen host welcoming us to Rivervale, a slightly alternate universe version of Riverdale.
• Toni and Fangs' baby is suffering from a case of colic, so Dr. Curdle Jr. (not a mortician in this universe) prescribes a frog in the mouth to suck out the colic. Umm, no.
• Veronica and Reggie are Rivervale's new power couple with plans for the casino moving forward. There's just one little problem -- no office for equal partner Reggie.
• Jughead and Tabitha are moving in together but Jughead may have cursed them by killing a spider.
• Alice has the hots for Frank, but no matter how hard she tries -- and she tries hard -- he won't reciprocate because he has a secret.
• Archie and Betty are shacking up, but Archie keeps having strange dreams that involve a bomb under their bed (which was the Season 5 cliffhanger).
• Kevin has not gone to New York to give Broadway one more try.
• Cheryl and Nana Rose are leading their school for wayward girls into the past in the hopes of restoring the tapped out maple groves of Thorn Hill to their previous glory.
• Archie inadvertently starts a war with Cheryl when he launches a plan to reforest Rivervale, giving each resident in town their own maple sapling.
• Cheryl plans a Maple Festival for the citizens of Rivervale, but it all gets a bit Midsommar by the end of the day.
• Sabrina Spellman did not make an appearance.

Season 6 of Riverdale is here, and for now the show is being referred to as Rivervale as the new season launches with a special five-episode event ... which apparently will have nothing to do with the sixth season proper that won't begin until March 2022 (so forget all about that bomb under Archie's bed planted by Hiram Lodge ... for now). This event gives the writers of the show a chance to delve into more 'out there' concepts, perhaps borrowing a page or two from the Afterlife With Archie comics. Sadly, the first episode does not include the hotly anticipated arrival of Sabrina Spellman. But the premiere did offer lots of weirdness and a pretty shocking ending, and one has to wonder if when March rolls around this may all be some crazy dream of Archie or, more probable, Betty after that explosion we saw at the end of Season 5.

The episode starts right off in a weird place with narrator Jughead, always in voice-over, now appearing on screen to lead us through the episode, introducing us to a town that seems familiar but really isn't. Many of the storylines set up in the Season 5 finale are carried through -- except for the bomb -- and they become the catalyst for the shocking conclusion to the episode.

Everything that happens in this episode revolves around Cheryl and her school for wayward girls. First, Kevin stumbles upon a ritual deer sacrifice in the woods near Thorn Hill (technically Cheryl's property, as she informs Betty and Archie when they arrive to investigate) that brings back the memory of a fifty year old cold case of a human sacrifice on the same altar. Chery and the girls drive off the intruders, threatening to shoot them with arrows like St. Sebastian. Cheryl has bigger problems though as her maple trees are tapped out, and declaring Thorn Hill a sovereign nation, she can't request help from Rivervale -- Archie won't even give her new maple saplings because they are only for tax paying citizens. So Cheryl and her crew may or may not have sabotaged a newly planted maple grove -- she swears she'd never do such a think to her family's life blood -- and to show her sincerity, she throws a big maple festival for Rivervale ... and Archie and Betty are totally stumped as to why anyone from town would want to even acknowledge Cheryl at this point. But, Betty seems to believe Nana Rose Blossom may have had something to do with the cold case so she sees this festival as a way to snoop around while Cheryl is otherwise occupied.

Toni and Fangs are at their wits end with baby Anthony, suffering from a bad case of colic, crying non-stop and no remedy to be had except for Dr. Curdle Jr., who in this world is a family practice doctor and not a mortician, who wants to put a small toad in the baby's mouth to suck out the colic. Neither of them are down for that remedy, but Fangs later reveals that Serpent moms with colicy babies would place the baby on a tree stump in the forest overnight so the baby could cry out the colic. Even his own mother did it to him. Toni does not believe any Serpent mom would leave their baby in the woods overnight, but she's down for anything at this point and actually attempts to go through with it. Until Cheryl shows up and makes her an offer of a fragrance she makes that's calmed the baby, but she needs Toni and Fangs to bear witness. To what, we don't know.

Jughead and Tabitha are closing the deal on their new apartment, but the agent is a bit ominous when she warns Tabitha of the pitfalls of moving in with someone for the first time. But Betty and Archie help the couple move in -- Betty assures Tabitha that it isn't weird at all -- and everything is swell until Tabitha sees a spider in the kitchen. Screaming for Jughead, he comes in and kills it but all she wanted him to do was put it in a cup and take it outside. Now he's put a curse on their new home. Jughead assures her they will be fine, but Tabitha wakes up that night being eaten alive by some invisible vermin. There's nothing in the bed but the next morning she sees the same welts on Juggie's back and they don't know what to do next. Fulfilling an order of pancakes for the maple festival, Cheryl arrives at Pop's to pick them up and notices the welts on Tabitha's arm. Relating the story to her, Cheryl says she may have her own remedy to the vermin situation. She just needs Tabitha -- and Jughead -- to do something for her.

Veronica and Reggie are making plans for their new casino, but Reggie still thinks Ronnie is planning to head back to New York City and leave him high and dry. To prove she's all in on the casino and Rivervale, she shows him the blueprints for the facility ... and he notices there is no office space for him, her supposed equal partner. Reggie storms out, but to prove to him she is sincere, she brings Reggie to her bedroom where the bed is covered in cash, telling him it's his bonus. And she's always wanted to do it on a pile of money. But Reggie shocks her by turning down the offer (of cash and sex) and storms out, implying that who she really wants is Archie. Later at the maple festival, Cheryl asks what the Veronica and Reggie stan name will be but Ronnie tells her that may not happen. Cheryl just may have a way to convince Reggie that Veronica only has eyes for him. For a price, of course.

Alice, recovering from the shock of Polly's death, has been going out of her way to show Frank that she's interested in him, calling him over to unclog a drain and then feed him a conveniently prepared meal. But at their latest dinner, after finally telling Frank she's interested he turns her down, but doesn't say why. He later does reveal that when he was a mercenary, he had a wife and daughter and because of his work they are both dead. Alice has total sympathy for him and offers to 'friend zone' him at the Maple Festival ... where Cheryl just may have a way to get the two lovebirds together.

With Archie doing all he can to keep Rivervale running, his mom calls and wants to know when she's going to have a grandchild. Sadly, Betty and Archie learn from Dr. Curdle Jr. that Betty is 'barren', and she's one of several healthy young women who have come to him recently with the same issue. Sounds a bit suspicious. But after suggesting adoption, Archie is still determined to give it the old college try before the couple heads to the Maple Festival. What Archie doesn't know is that when Betty went to Thorn Hill to question Nana Rose about the sacrifice, she also revealed to her cousin Cheryl her infertility issue. Guess who may have a solution to that?

At the festival, Betty goes off to snoop around the house, and Archie finds himself forced into several competitions -- even before he knew he was going to be in one, Toni and Fangs wished him good luck -- the first of which was a pancake eating contest between him and Jughead. Juggie should have been the obvious winner, but Archie beat him by three pancakes, 119 to 116, advancing him to the next contest. Jughead oddly told Archie that he was like a brother to him and that he loved him. In the next round, Archie faced off against Reggie sawing a log. Reggie lost and stormed off, but Veronica assured him that he was supposed to lose to Archie and he'd see why soon. Things start to get a bit Midsommar-y as Cheryl's girls dance around a pole, but there's nothing to worry about, right? Right?!

The final contest was an axe throwing contest and Betty stepped up to challenge her beau. Cheryl announced that this was a winner take all competition for the crown of King or Queen of the Maple Festival. Archie thought that his winning the previous comps automatically made him the winner, but he played along. His axe was nearly a bullseye, but -- and we didn't see her throw -- Betty ended up being crowned. Archie's prize was a pie, which Cheryl made earlier explaining to her students that this was a long-time tradition. The pie was prepared and then given to someone in town to consume, eating all of the town's sins in the process. Back at home, Archie asks Betty what she found at Thorn Hill. She said there was some weirdness but the little dolls they had found at the ruined maple grove made by Cheryl and company were actually fertility dolls, and she wants to put hers under the mattress so they can make a baby ... after Archie has some pie because he'll need all of his strength for what she plans to do with him.

Later the phone rings and wakes up Archie. Kevin is on the other end frantically telling him that Cheryl has Betty and they're about to perform some crazy ritual on her. Archie flies out of the house and when he gets to Thorn Hill Cheryl welcomes him. She tells him they are about to perform a ritual for herself and everyone assembled. Archie sees everyone from Rivervale gathered around, all dressed in white. Betty comes out in an elaborate dress with a huge headdress, and Cheryl says they need to do a sacrifice to ensure the maple trees thrive again and Rivervale has a bountiful year. So they need a sacrifice -- the right kind of sacrifice, and it's not Betty. Betty reveals to Archie that she is certain after their lovemaking a few hours earlier that she has conceived a child, a son in fact, and in 25 years he'll be crowned Maple King just like his father. Archie is confused but Cheryl makes it clear that women cannot be sacrificed. They must bear the children. It's the men who are sacrificed to the goddess of the maple grove. She says the blood is the seed, and the most potent blood is ...

Archie stops her right there because he assumes she means a virgin. It's always a virgin's blood, right? And Archie is certainly not a virgin. No, but what he is is Rivervale's one true, pure heart. They need a king willing to die for their queen. Only someone like Archie is worthy. Archie finally sees that Jughead, Uncle Frank and others are there and he's told that he's spent his entire life trying to preserve and save this town. Now he will be doing exactly that, a martyr to his cause. And before he can say anything else, Veronica sneaks up behind him and knocks him out cold. So there, Reggie, is that proof enough? When Archie comes to, he's tied up, facing the assembled guests. Veronica tells Cheryl to hurry up and do it, and Cheryl beings reciting a verse about she who walks among the trees, accept this sacrifice and be appeased. And then she plunges a large knife into Archie's abdomen while the others watch with elation, believing that with this all of their dreams will come to fruition. And to prove that this sacrifice is the real deal, Cheryl cuts out Archie's heart, still slightly beating, holding it up for the crowd to see.

Our narrator recaps that Archie Andrews, born 25 years ago in Riverdale has died tonight in the shadow town of Rivervale. But don't go anywhere because, as the episode ends, things are just getting started. So, is this all a dream? Archie's? Betty's? It's interesting how some elements from Season 5 carried over here but little things like Pop's being completely rebuilt and Kevin still in town keep the lines blurred between what's real and what's not. There certainly is a casino coming, Toni and Fangs have a baby, Alice has the hots for Frank, and Cheryl did start her school for girls. But were Jughead and Tabitha ready to take that next step? And the bomb under Archie's bed. We did see that explosion and a satisfied Hiram Lodge in the season finale so we'll be left guessing for a while as to what exactly is going on. Stay tuned.

Episode 2 :: Ghost Stories

Let's Talk About 'Ghost Stories':

• Archie's mom has put his face on a milk carton, unaware of his sacrifice.
• A violent battle between the Serpents and the Ghoolies ends in a tragedy by the hand of Toni.
• Reggie is back to work at his dad's used car lot while his dad is hospitalized, and he buys a car from a man that was the same make and model of the first car his dad bought for him.
• Jughead has not started writing yet and is slacking off on his duties around the apartment, so Tabitha takes things into her own hands and discovers a hidden room.
• A mysterious woman in black appears at Thorn Hill and tries to drown Juniper in the bathtub.
• Tabitha learns that Jughead wasn't honest with her about the previous residents of their apartment, who died in a murder-suicide incident.
• Betty is investigating a Serpent mother accused of drowning her daughter, but Toni doesn't believe she did it. The woman claims the killer was La Llorona.
• Reggie's obsession with his car puts Veronica in an embarrassing situation in front of her students.
• Jughead is finally inspired to start writing but his behavior and possible return to drinking is pushing Tabitha to the brink.
• Veronica finds a picture of a woman in Reggie's car and discovers the shocking truth of her identity.
• Betty is visited by La Llorona which forces her to believe the legend is real, enlisting Cheryl to perform a seance to find out who sent the vengeful spirit.
• Toni must make a difficult choice to save Baby Anthony's life.
• Sabrina Spellman still did not make an appearance, but I suspect she will appear on the fifth 'Rivervale' episode which will also mark the series' 100th episode.

This week's episode of Rivervale told three stories of restless, and vengeful, spirits with one ending in heartbreak. But after the sacrifice of Archie Andrews, the Blossom maple groves are prosperous once again, while Mary Andrews is unaware of the activities in town and believes her son to just be missing. Interestingly, the opening cast credits did not include KJ Apa's name, and I suspect next week's cast list will be short one more cast member ... at least for the duration of this 'event series' (and unlike the 'Arrowverse' events, it's unlikely anything that happens in Rivervale will actually cross over to Riverdale). Two of this week's stories are easily identifiable while the third is a standard ghost/possession story out of The Conjuring.

Reggie & Veronica

This couple's tale is a play on Stephen King's Christine. Reggie and Veronica are, I assume, still making plans for the casino but here Reggie is back at the used car lot while his dad is hospitalized and Ronnie is still teaching at Rivervale High. Reggie has been distant while processing his father's condition, but his spirits are lifted when a man drives a car on to the lot that resembles the first car Reggie's dad bought for him. Reggie offers to buy the car on the spot for double its value and his obsession with it begins, putting distance between him and Veronica, seeing a vision of a woman in the passenger seat next to him. But she tries to understand and even goes along with him to make out in the car. In front of Pop's. And her students see them, embarrassing her to no end. Attempting to learn why Reggie is so obsessed with this car he's named 'Bella', she discovers a photograph of a woman hidden under the sun visor.

Storming to the high school where Reggie has been refurbishing the car, she bumps into Principal Weatherbee and drops the photo. He knows the woman. She was the driver's ed teacher who had been accused of impropriety with some of the male students. Veronica flies into a rage and smashes the hell out of Bella, accusing Reggie of romanticizing an abusive relationship he had with a teacher. Reggie, whose father has now died, assures Veronica that he never did anything with Isabella, she was just the one adult who was there to listen to him while he was being physically abused by his father. Veronica is a bit ashamed of her behavior and has the car repaired to its original condition. Reggie is grateful and she leaves him to enjoy the car again. He flips the visor down and there is the picture of Isabella. Looking in the rear view mirror, he sees Isabella again in the back seat smiling at him. So ... there was an inappropriate relationship?

Jughead & Tabitha

Tabitha is being beyond accommodating to Jughead and his writing process, but she also expects him to do some work around the house. Which he doesn't. It's part of his process to get his juices flowing again. When he fails to hang some pictures, she begins and ends up putting a hole in the wall, discovering a previously unknown room hidden behind it (shades of the hidden room story as seen on Tik Tok). They tear the wall down and find the room filled with rum bottles with ships inside. Tabitha talks to the Realtor and learns the previous tenants died in a murder-suicide incident, something she had revealed to Jughead but he didn't reveal to Tabitha. Furious about the deception, Jughead assures her he didn't mean to keep it from her but she loved the apartment when she first saw it and he didn't want to spoil it for her by telling her of the deaths. Tabitha asked her grandfather if he believed in ghosts and he related a story to her of how the diner was haunted, but the noise of a civil unrest that left the windows of the diner shattered seemed to have driven the ghost of the dead waitress away. The humans were too noisy for the spirit.

But Tabitha begins to experience her own strange dreams and behavior. Jughead has become obsessed with building ships in bottles instead of writing, and she suspects he's drinking the rum from the bottles he's using for his new hobby. One night she hears him typing away madly and the sound drives her to the brink. When he refuses to stop typing, she picks up a hammer and swings at him ... bolting upright in bed from a nightmare, Jughead sound asleep next to her. But the crafting does get his creative juices flowing again and he types all day on his new novel, basing it on the couple who lived and died in the apartment. But he won't let Tabitha read what he call his 'vomit draft', saying he never lets anyone read those until he refines them. But she learns from Betty that he always let her read the vomit drafts and that sends Tabitha over the edge. Returning to the apartment to find Jughead with a box full of rum bottles, accusing him of spending the money that she earns to drink it away and build his little ships, she has had it and throws his typewriter to the floor, smashing it to pieces. The open front door suddenly slams shut and Tabitha snaps out of her rage. Was she possessed by the spirit of the woman who murdered her partner in the apartment? Did their yelling and the noise of the smashing of the typewriter drive the angry spirit away? Who knows, but it will sure make a good story for Jughead's next book!

Toni & Betty

Many months ago, the Serpents and the Ghoolies were involved in yet another rumble and Toni was attempting to stop Darla Dickinson from shooting one of the Serpents by throwing a knife at her, to wound. Except Darla's youngest -- and last -- son jumped in the way and was stabbed in the heart. Months of therapy have not helped Toni resolve the death by her hand even if it was accidental, and even though the therapist suggests apologizing to Darla, Toni knows Darla will never accept it.

Cheryl has come to Betty to ask if Alice can take care of Dagwood and Juniper for a while because of something going on at Thorn Hill. She reveals that Juniper had nearly been drowned in the bathtub by an 'evil water nymph straight out of an M. Night Shyamalan movie stalking the hallways of Thorn Hill'. Betty doesn't seem to take Cheryl seriously but she later goes to Toni with a case of murder involving a Serpent mother accused of drowning her daughter. Toni knows no Serpent mother would ever kill her child and offers to be Betty's go-between to try and help the woman from being charged. The woman tells Toni it was La Llorona who killed her daughter, but Betty can't put 'vengeful spirit' on the report. The woman will be charged if Toni can't come up with a better answer. Betty doesn't seem to have put the two incidents together, and Toni tries to explain the curse of La Llorona to her, relating how the woman and her children had been drowned in the Sweetwater River by the locals, and now her spirit is being summoned to exact revenge for another wrong, even preying on the unborn. While Betty sleeps, La Llorona appears in her bedroom and touches Betty's stomach, a faint heartbeat can be heard (remember, Betty learned last week she was miraculously pregnant, a factor that led to Archie's fertility sacrifice). Betty awakens and the spirit is gone, but a wet hand print remains on her nightgown. Visiting Dr. Curdle Jr., he reveals that she no longer shows any signs of having been pregnant. That's enough to finally make her believe.

The spirit makes an appearance at Rivervale High, and Toni pulls the fire alarm to clear the school, but ends up with a welfare check from a social worker at her own home. While Toni's social worker friend is at the apartment, they hear Baby Anthony squeal loudly from his room, rushing in to find him on the floor in a puddle of water. After tracking the spirit's movements through Rivervale, Betty and Toni know they have to take action before another child dies. Betty and Toni know there is one person who can converse with the spirits, and that is Cheryl. They and Nana Rose perform a séance to summon the spirit and learn who summoned her. Speaking through Nana Rose, telling her story (real name Martha Mallon) and nearly drowning Nana in the process, it is finally revealed who summoned La Llorona - Darla Dickinson. Finding Darla in the cemetery at the graves of her fallen sons, Darla laughs at them when they ask her to call off the spirit. Toni tries to apologize but Darla tells them there is no stopping the spirit until her mission is fulfilled -- killing Baby Anthony.

Toni has already had Fangs take Anthony to the Whyte Wyrm to be surrounded by the Serpents to protect him, but fearing what Darla says is true they all make their way to the club only to find all of the Serpents drowned or nearly drowned (Fangs was one of the survivors ... maybe) and Baby Anthony gone. Heading to the Sweetwater River to try to stop La Llorona, she tells Toni that she has to finish what she was called to do. Toni tries to reason with the spirit, sorry for what happened to her and her children, and that she would do anything to take that pain away from her in order to save her own baby. Toni offers herself up to take on Martha's curse in exchange for Anthony's life. Martha hands Toni the baby and she gives him to Betty. Martha's spirit passes into Toni and she is now in La Llorona's black lace dress. She asks Betty to protect Anthony and let him know his mother loved him, then she walks into the river.

And so ends the second chapter of 'Rivervale'.

Episode 3 :: Mr. Cypher

Let's Talk About 'Mr. Cypher':

• Pop Tate suffers a heart attack after seeing a horrifying vision outside the window of the diner.
• Reggie is nervous about the opening of the casino, but Veronica assures him it will be the biggest thing in Rivervale since maple syrup.
• Betty gets a call from Glenn that they've caught the Trash Bag Killer, but he will only speak to her.
• A mysterious man named Lou Cypher -- seriously -- reveals to Tabitha that Pop's father sold his soul to make the diner successful, then Pop took on the deal to save his father's life. Now Tabs must decide if she wants to trade her soul, or the diner, to keep Pop alive.
• Alice is going to prove to be a thorn in the side of the casino, not subtly named Babylonia, so Veronica invites her to the opening to prove it isn't the den of sin Alice believes it to be.
• Mr. Cypher offers Kevin a deal of fame and fortune, and after a quick glimpse of what lies ahead -- including having Fangs, or Finn, back as his boyfriend -- he signs the contract without hesitation.
• Veronica learns that Reggie made a deal with Cypher to make the casino a success for the price of a soul.
• Betty questions TBK who does nothing but taunt her, so she calls Glenn to find out exactly why he wanted Betty to question him. Glenn shocks her with the news that TBK has not been apprehended. So who is she talking to?
• Jughead wants to interview Cypher, and the Devil makes him an offer -- all the gory details of his life which Jughead can publish to great acclaim but he can never write again, or the tell-all stays between them and Jughead's creative juices flow like Niagra Falls even though he may never get published again. Jughead goes for the fame but realizes the price was too steep.
• Veronica finds a way to make a trade with the Devil, Reggie's soul for the soul of slimeball Nick St. Clair but after the deal is made she learns Reggie actually sold her soul which is due for collection at midnight.
• Betty realizes TBK may be Satan under that mask as he taunts her with the voices of Hal and Polly burning in Hell. After she snaps and stabs the man several times, she's shocked to learn who is under the mask.
• Tabitha receives some Heavenly intervention in the coming battle of good and evil, learning that Pop's Chock'lit Shoppe is the true soul of Rivervale.
• To save her own skin, Veronica nearly tricks Alice into signing away her soul to Cypher but her conscience won't let her do it. But she's a smart businesswoman and has another deal for the Devil.

It's the third chapter of the Rivervale event and this one brings the Devil himself to town, almost as charming as Lucifer Morningstar but more prone to allowing his targets to dig their own graves, tempting them as the Devil does to get their heart's desire ... for a small price, of course. And in the end we nearly lose Pop, but at least three major souls are taken while others are just sitting in the Devil's waiting room.

Tabitha & Pop

Pop Tate sees a man standing outside of the diner and is shocked so badly when the man's face turns into something horrible for a second that it gives him a heart attack. At the hospital, the man returns and introduces himself to Tabitha as Mr. Cypher. Lou Cypher. I don't know if that's hilarious or sad. The Devil's name is Lou? Anywho, he reveals that the diner has been a success because her great-grandfather sold his soul to Mr. Cypher, and not wanting to see his father be dragged to Hell, Pop took on the burden and now Lou has come to collect. But, as the Devil does, he tempts Tabitha with a new offer -- her grandfather's soul in exchange for the diner. She'll think about it. When Pop wakes up he tells her she can't sell the diner to him because it is the true soul of Rivervale and Cypher wants to destroy that.

At the diner, Tabitha gets a little Divine Intervention when the angel Raphael shows up, explaining that his 'boss' is pleased with what they're doing at the diner (namely, helping the less fortunate of Rivervale with free food). He warns her that a battle is coming and gives her a vial of liquid. When Pop returns to work and Lou shows up to collect on the new deal, Tabitha says she'd like one last milkshake before they go. Lou agrees but notes the taste is a bit off. Well that's because the vial contained the tears of the Virgin Mary from the Crucifixion. Lou vomits up a little blood, and Tabs reveals that she and Pop are untouchable now because they also ingested the tears. Cypher stumbles out and they rub more of the liquid on the door frame, declaring Pop's consecrated. But will that be enough to stop what's coming or will Lou Cypher return?

Veronica and Reggie

Reggie's got butterflies about the opening of the casino but Veronica assures him it will be fine. They do have a small problem in the form of Alice, who has already labeled the casino a den of iniquity. Veronica has to fight fire with fire and invites Alice to the soft opening to prove to her she's got the place all wrong (but does Ronnie know that Reggie is telling the staff the complete opposite of how to run an above board establishment?). Mr. Cypher is also enjoying the opening, easily running a table and forcing Veronica to shut it down and ask him to leave. Lou has already promised Kevin fame and fortune, plus the return of his boyfriend Fangs ... or Finn ... and with a glimpse of his future Kevin eagerly signs the contract without so much as a glance at the fine print. But Lou reveals to Veronica that he is, in fact, an invited guest of Reggie's because her boy toy also made a pact with the Devil to make the casino a success. And at midnight Saturday, Lou will come to collect. Ronnie comes up with an idea to offer Cypher a better (worse) soul than Reggie's and the next thing you know she's entertaining the repugnant Nick St. Clair, apparently now a senator. Of course he is. While they share a drink in her office, Ronnie asks Nick to tell her all of his dirty secrets, the badder the better to turn her on. He rattles off a few DUIs and hit-and-runs, and that is enough to satisfy Lou and, poof, Nick is gone straight to Hell. Which is all well and good but Cypher tells Ronnie he'll still be back Saturday because ... Reggie traded his worthless soul for Veronica's. Reggie tricked her into signing the contract with Cypher's pen when she thought she was signing off on some invoices. Reggie, that should be sneaky enough to get you into Hell. So now Veronica must come up with a new plan, a new soul she can offer.

Well, there is town busybody Alice whom Veronica summons to her office for a chat. She wants to make a deal with Alice to donate a percentage of the casino's profits to Rivervale, giving Alice complete oversight into how it is distributed. But before the intrigued Alice can sign the contact -- which is actually Cypher's contract -- Veronica has an attack of conscience and withdraws the deal, saying that Alice doesn't deserve to burn in Hell. Alice is offended by Ronnie's behavior and promises she will continue her crusade against the casino. But Veronica still has to save her soul, so she gives Kevin the night off (he's not thrilled) and she takes to the stage one more time to perform 'Marry the Night'. Sidebar: who thought it was a good idea to include the sound effects of the dancers stomping around on the stage? In real life you'd never hear that over the music. It was very distracting. But midnight comes and Ronnie is still in the casino much to Reggie's relief. His rationale for selling Cypher her soul was that she'd figure out a way to beat the Devil. She did. She made a deal in which she would provide him with one lost soul from the casino every week for as long as she lived ... starting with Reggie. Buh bye.

Betty & Jughead

Betty's encounter with evil comes when she gets a call from Glenn that the FBI has captured the Trash Bag Killer. But he will only confess his sins to her. Not thrilled to have to face the man who had imprisoned and tortured her, Betty puts on her game face and tackles the challenge. TBK talks to Betty about evil in the world, and how she is not only evil inside but is covered with evil as well. This freaks her out a bit, driving her to try to scrub the evil off in the shower. She calls Glenn to find out what the point is to all of this, and Glenn is perplexed because the FBI has not apprehended TBK. So then who is she talking to?

It becomes clear that she's talking to the Devil, especially when he taunts her with the voices of her father Hal and sister Polly burning in Hell, calling for her help. Using Hal to draw her into his scheme was not the brightest move since she could not care less about her father, but Polly is a different matter and hearing the screams of her sister causes Betty to snap. She grabs a pair of scissors and starts stabbing TBK in the chest and when she's satisfied that he's dead she removes the mask, only to find ... Glenn. Cypher may not have gotten Betty's soul through a signed contract, but he did trick her into committing murder, a sin worthy of a spot in Hell, and to make matters worse she hid Glenn's body under her house, claiming she had no idea where he was when an FBI colleague called.

As for Jughead, after Tabitha told him what was going on with Pop's, Juggie decided this could be his big break -- an interview with the Devil. Jughead summons Cypher to the school to pitch him the interview, and Lou is intrigued. So much so that he agrees to give Jughead the juiciest tell-all of all-time. But, and there's always a but, Jughead has to choose from one of two offers: he gets the interview and can publish it, receiving all the acclaim and awards he's deserved but he will never be able to write again, or he can have the interview but it stays strictly between them, never to be published, but Jughead's creative juices will flow freely again ... even though he may never have another published work (which seems likely if you're dealing with the Devil). Jughead takes the former and is thrilled with the attention his interview has garnered (no one even seems to disbelieve Jughead interviewed Satan himself in this weird universe), but he is tortured when he realizes the consequences of the deal, sitting down to type with only gibberish appearing on the page.

Jughead summons Lou again and tells him he wants to change the terms of the deal -- how is he going to put a cork back on that already published interview? -- saying he's nothing if he's not a writer. Lou actually agrees, probably because in the end he got Jughead to sign his soul away and that was all he really wanted (judging from his little notebook he carried, crossing off names of his latest acquisitions).

So where does that leave us and the town of Rivervale for the next episode? Hard to say but one thing we know for sure now -- Sabrina Spellman will be making an appearance. Fans of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina have wondered how she would appear on the show since she sacrificed herself in the finale of her own show on Netflix and now we seem to know: Cheryl conjures her spirit up from Hell. So will this all tie together by the fifth episode? And why didn't they use the Devil from CAOS to really make it tie together?! Well, at least it will be good to see Sabrina one more time.

Episode 4 :: The Witching Hour(s)

Let's Talk About 'The Witching Hour(s)':

• The appearance of Bailey's Comet once every sixty-five years drives three intertwined stories of the Blossom family.
• Nana Rose Blossom is preparing to shuffle off this mortal coil, and Cheryl has a plan to help.
• Abigail Blossom, circa 1892, is operating a school for girls out of Thornhill, and the arrival of a potential new teacher, Thomasina Topaz, brings danger to the house.
• Abigail is also confronted with the death of her twin brother in the war, and the arrival of a man claiming to be his best friend.
• Poppy Blossom, circa 1957, enjoys sharing time with the women of Rivervale, often offering them special herbs to deal with their domestic problems. Things get out of hand when Bitsy's (Betty) husband finds out just exactly how Poppy has helped his wife.
• The husbands of town rally and accuse Poppy of being a Communist, and when she refuses to sign a confession she is thrown in jail, with Bitsy being the one to come to her rescue.
• In the present, Cheryl sits with Nana and reads her the stories of Abigail and Poppy while they await the arrival of a friend to help with Nana's transition.
• The friend arrives, Sabrina Spellman, and she and Cheryl perform a spell over Nana under the glare of Bailey's Comet that has a very surprising outcome.
• Does anyone writing for this show know how comets work?

The fourth of the five Rivervale stories dropped this week, and unlike the previous installments that featured all of the core characters in their own little vignettes, this week's puts Cheryl Blossom and two of her ancestors (all played by Madelaine Petsch) in the spotlight in their own eras. Besides the Blossoms, the stories' linking device is the arrival of Bailey's Comet, a celestial phenomenon that passes over Rivervale every sixty-five years. And boy, does it pass over, defying all the actual physics of a comet. The stories of the Blossom women come as Cheryl sits with Nana Blossom, who is beginning her transition to the afterlife. While they await a friend to help with the process, Cheryl reads to Nana the stories of Abigail and Poppy from the Blossom journal. The episode cuts back and forth between the stories so we'll break them down separately.

Abigail Blossom, 1865

Like Cheryl, Abigail has turned Thornhill into a school for girls. Abigail receives a visitor, a young woman looking for employment as a teacher by the name of Thomasina Topaz (suggesting Cheryl and Toni were always fated to be lovers). Upon learning that Thomasina (Vanessa Morgan) does not have a husband, Abigail is more than happy to give the young woman a teaching position, but it isn't long before their styles clash when Thomasina wants to school the girls on Bailey's Comet, subverting Abigail's curriculum. The woman eventually smooth things over but a knock at the door after their love is declared brings some shocking news -- Constable Keller (Casey Cott) is searching for a murderess and believes her to be at Thornhill.

Abigail lies and shoos the constable away with the warning of a pox upon Thornhill, and demands the truth from Thomasina. She confesses that when Abigail asked if she had a husband, she did not lie however her husband was abusive and she had no choice but to kill him. Abigail sympathizes and protects Thomasina but it isn't long before there is another knock at the door, this time a man named Finn Fogarty (Drew Ray Tanner), a soldier with claims of being Abigail's twin brother's best friend (and the way it's laid out it seems they were more than just friends). However, he has come with bad news -- James has died in battle, and a letter from James asks that Abigail marry his best friend. Thomasina, however, believes there is something shady about Finn but Abigail's sight is clouded by thoughts of her dear brother.

While Finn is chopping wood, Thomasina encourages Abigail to go through his belongings and they discover tools of witchcraft in his trunk, including photos of posed dead people that he's killed, but he comes back sooner than expected and catches them in his room. Finn threatens to kill Thomasina unless Abigail marries him within the hour and he demands she go to town to fetch the vicar. The ceremony is performed but Abigail has a plan to take care of Finn during his most vulnerable moment, while they are preparing to consummate the marriage. Abigail consummates it with an axe to his chest, but finds he's already murdered Thomasina and posed her body (also photographed her and developed and printed the picture!). Finn, somehow still alive after a few whacks to the chest, curses Abigail to live alone, without love, forever as the comet's blinding light shines through the windows . And then he dies.

Poppy Blossom, 1957

Poppy enjoys socializing with her lady friends of Rivervale -- Elaina (Mädchen Amick), Bitsy (Lili Reinhart), Velma (Camila Mendes), and Tammy (Erinn Westbrook). Abigail's 'salon' is meant to discuss topics of the day but they end up being bitch sessions about the women's husbands. After the women leave for the night, Tammy stays behind and tells Poppy that her husband refuses to let her work at Pop's, so Poppy offers her some of her own special herbs that she can put in her husband's drink to make him sick so Tammy has to run the diner and show him she can do it. And the ploy actually works.

Bitsy then reveals to Poppy that her marriage to Jack (Cole Sprouse) is on the rocks, and he wants her to have another baby. Poppy suggests divorce but that is off the table (he's Catholic!), so Poppy gives her some ginger root from her garden that will act as birth control, and he'll never have to know. Overcome with the love and support from Poppy, Bitsy surprises her -- with a kiss! Which she then has to completely play off before running out of Thornhill. Velma also comes to Poppy to complain about the spark missing from the bedroom and Poppy offers her a blend of herbs for her own special aphrodisiac, and a copy of the Kama Sutra.

But the gift and the kiss are quickly discovered by Jack, who threatens to kill Poppy if she doesn't stay out of his marriage, and the other men soon show up to run Poppy out of town. But Thornhill is her home and she puts on a show of having a meal at Pop's for all the town to see. But it all backfires as when she arrives home the men are ransacking Thornhill, with Kirk Keller informing her that she's been accused of being a Communist (but like Lucille Ball, the only thing red about Poppy is her hair ... and dress). Refusing to sign a confession, Poppy is put behind bars but she's surprised to receive a visit from Bitsy, who reveals she in indeed pregnant. But the tender reunion quickly turns ugly as Bitsy once again conforms to her husband's ideology and turns her back on Poppy again.

But when Bitsy is ready to deliver, it's Poppy who is summoned to act as a midwife, delivering the baby under the glare of Bailey's Comet ... and slipping Bitsy some special herbs to place in her husband's tea. A year later, Jack is dead, suspected of poisoning but it seems some natural ingredients don't leave a trace in the body. As for Poppy, her reward for helping deliver the baby was house arrest at Thornhill where, like Abigail, she would live out her days alone.

Cheryl, 2022

While Cheryl's students venture outdoors to watch for the arrival of Bailey's Comet -- seriously, do they really need a telescope considering how bright that thing is? -- Britta comes to Nana's room to find out what's going on. She knows it's something but she doesn't know what. Cheryl agrees to let her stay while she reads the stories and awaits her friend. And when she finally arrives, we see that it's Sabrina Spellman ... finally! It seems the women are longtime friends and their covens shared a softball league. They explain to Britta that Sabrina is there to help with a transference. But Britta must leave the room. Only witches can be present during the transference.

Asking Nana if she's ready, the trio begins reciting an incantation just as the comet blazes past Rivervale once again. This is a ceremony that can only be accomplished during a major celestial event like a comet, so Nana had some good timing. Of course, this transference wasn't just something to help Nana cross over to the afterlife -- it was a Freaky Friday style body swap! Cheryl was never Cheryl, she was Poppy who was Abigail, the result of Finn's curse that rendered her immortal and loveless. Sabrina explains to Britta that witches never really die, explaining she died and came back (a sly explanation of how she was able to return after the events of the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina series finale over on Netflix), and now they have transferred Abigail's spirit into Nana so she could die and be reunited with Thomasina (which she is!). And now Roseanne Blossom is young again, her spirit now contained within the body of Abigail/Poppy/Cheryl. And seeing how Britta is completely intrigued by all of this witchcraft business, Sabrina and Cheryl offer to chat with her more about it ... over milkshakes at Pop's.

And that brings us to next week's Rivervale finale which raises the question: was this whole alternate universe storyline just a series of stories written by Jughead ... or has he lost his mind, believing there actually is an alternate Riverdale universe?

Episode 5 :: The Jughead Paradox

Let's Talk About 'The Jughead Paradox':

• A dead body is discovered at the edge of Rivervale ... it's Jughead.
• Archie and Betty are jolted awake from a shared dream about a bomb going off.
• Fangs dreams about Toni drowning and coming back as a ghost. She asks if she was trying to hurt baby Anthony.
• Veronica and Reggie wake up from a shared dream about Reggie being dragged to Hell.
• Cheryl and Nana Rose experience a shared dream of the two swapping bodies.
• Jughead wakes up in Archie's garage after dreaming of an explosion in the house.
• Jughead reports to Rivervale High for his first day back at teaching. Was Archie talking to Miss Grundy? Why is Ben Button alive and well after he threw himself out of a window after a game of Griffons and Gargoyles with Dilton Doiley ... who is also still alive and teaching at the school?
• Archie and Betty are getting married!
• Jughead pays a visit to the morgue to see the body, and discovers something odd about his comic book collection: early issues are titled 'Riverdale' but the series suddenly switched to 'Rivervale'. Has he discovered an alternate universe?
• More familiar faces show up including Ethel Muggs, Hal Cooper, a very alive Jason and Clifford Blossom and ... 'Reggie Prime'!
• Jughead is shocked to learn Hiram Lodge has been dead since Veronica was 15 years old, so who is Rivervale's 'big bad'?
• After a series of murders and the reveal of the town's villain, Jughead is told no one ever dies in Rivervale. They always come back.
• Jughead has to find a way to separate the two universes before they bleed into each other and implode, killing billions in the process. But can he save one without destroying the other?

The five-episode 'Rivervale' event has come to an end and, for me, it was pretty satisfying the way the episode sort of made sense of the previous four episodes. It also served as a nifty way for the creatives to write themselves a way out of the Season 5 finale that almost certainly would have resulted in the deaths of Archie and Betty.

The whole story was set into motion back in the first episode when Archie was awakened by the sound of an explosion. We know a bomb went off at the end of Season 5, but this didn't seem to be what woke Archie. This episode started with the discovery of a dead body at the border of Rivervale clutching a comic book. We don't find out until later that it's Jughead when Dr. Curdle Jr. calls Betty with the news ... which she believes is a prank since she's in the same room with Jughead when the doc calls. All of the characters up to this point have experienced weird dreams (basically the plotlines of the previous four episodes) and Jughead is freaked out by his own dream of an explosion at Archie's house. He's even more concerned when he wakes up in his old bed in Archie's garage, apparently having sleptwalked there. Tabitha chalked it up to nerves about his first day back to teaching at the high school.

But at Rivervale High, Jughead encounters people who should not be there. Was Archie having a conversation with Miss Grundy? And why is Ben Button in the men's room when he died after throwing himself out of a window? Ben reminds Jughead that he must be thinking of his professor at Stonewall Prep, but Jughead says Ben did it first. Ben suggests Jughead is suffering from paranoid schizophrenia, but he's beginning to believe he's in some kind of paradox. Hoping to get more information, he goes to the library to check out a book on the subject but it was checked out and never returned by Dilton Doiley. Well, he's dead too ... but not according to the librarian who informs Jug that Dilton is right down the hall teaching science. And he is, along with the long out of sight Ethel Muggs as his assistant. Dilton seems to know a thing or two about paradoxes, but he tries to assure Jughead that there is a much simpler solution to whatever is causing him concern.

It only gets weirder when Jughead is reminded that Archie and Betty are getting married that weekend, and he's the best man, and Jughead sees his body at the morgue, death by strangulation. But the comic book dead Jughead was clutching spurs Juggie to look through his own collection ... which reveals something shocking: his comics began with the title 'Riverdale' but suddenly between two issues the title changed to 'Rivervale'. Did some cataclysmic event create this Rivervale universe? Jughead shares the comics with his friends who are all aghast at this situation, remembering some of the events depicted but having blank spaces as well.

Veronica gets a bit of a shock when she gets a visitor at the Pembrooke: Reggie Mantle. The OG Reggie that is! And Veronica isn't mad about it, seeing an opportunity to engage in a little menage-a-trois, but neither of the alpha-Reggies are into that, more concerned with staking out their territory and property, resulting in the two boneheads engaging in a duel that left both of them dead.

Jughead, unaware of the two Reggies, is desperately trying to figure out what's going on and begins to wonder who the villain of Rivervale is. He naturally assumes it's Hiram Lodge but ... Hiram died when Ronnie was 15. When Jughead goes to talk to Cheryl about her dead brother, she is deeply offended by the suggestion that Jason is dead, especially since he is on his way to play tennis with her. And he shows up (perhaps the very first time we've actually heard him speak), stunning Jughead in his tracks. It isn't long though before Cheryl gets a call -- Jason has been kidnapped and is about to be murdered by someone calling himself The Black Hood. Jughead is pretty certain he knows where Jason is being held and gets Sheriff Keller to search the Whyte Wyrm. They find him, alive, and the Black Hood comes out of the shadows, gun drawn. Keller fires and kills him and when Jughead removes the hood it's Clifford Blossom.

At a party at Pop's celebrating the impending nuptials of Betty and Archie, with a happily married Alice and Hal Cooper in attendance, it's not long before Cheryl turns up dead, strangled like Jughead. So who is Rivervale's 'big bad'? Jughead pays another visit to Dilton and realizes his friend is a bit off his rocker, hoping to be the first person to watch as two universes collide and implode. Before Jughead can try to stop him, Dilton is shot dead in his tracks by Ethel. She knows how to stop the universes from merging but it will come at the cost of Rivervale. What they need to do is re-create the event that created the 'pocket universe' of Rivervale in the first place, as closely as possible. And that would mean setting off a bomb under Archie's bed with Archie and Betty in it.

But the couple are about to tie the knot so it wouldn't be cool to ask them, so Jughead asks Veronica with the reasoning that in this sort of mirror universe, they are the next best thing to Archie and Betty. Not wanting to go to the wedding herself, Veronica agrees saying 'Let's make Vughead canon.' While at Archie's house preparing for the event, Archie bursts in, knowing that when Jughead didn't show up to the wedding that he was up to something. Jughead tells him Veronica is on her way, but Archie reveals ... he is the one who has been strangling the citizens of Rivervale so she won't be coming. At least not yet, because no one ever dies in Rivervale. They always come back. He killed Cheryl, he killed Jughead, he's been there since Rivervale was created and he knows everything. He can't let Jughead destroy this universe because Archie believes his father will be coming back. He'd never miss Archie's wedding to Betty (Archie's flawed logic here is that he's killed people already in Rivervale when the universe was created -- Fred Andrews did not exist in either universe at that point but Archie is not thinking straight). Instead he attacks his friend but before he can snuff out Juggie's lights, a shot rings out and blood splatters from Archie's head (miraculously, he didn't get a spot on his white shirt). Betty has killed him.

When Archie stood her up at the wedding, Betty's life flashed before her eyes and she knew she had to come to the house. Jughead tells her they have to detonate that bomb to destroy Rivervale and save Riverdale. For old time's sake, Bughead is once more as the two begin their make-out session waiting for the bomb to detonate. But ... Jughead bursts into the room with a solution of how to save both universes ... after Betty diffuses the bomb (she says she doesn't know how but he shows her the comic of Betty diffusing the bomb strapped to Polly -- and a cool way, among others, to use footage from the past five seasons to illustrate the points). She does and the two Jugheads and Betty sit down for a chat. Newly resurrected Jughead reveals that when he died, he went to the great Pop's Chock'lit Shoppe in the sky (because, as we learned from the 'Mr. Cypher' episode, Pop's is the soul of Rivervale). All of his friends were there in appropriate comic book versions of themselves, and the diner offered not only all you can eat meals, but comic books galore. It was there that Jughead discovered the 'missing link' comic between 'Riverdale' and 'Rivervale'. It was then he discovered the new universe would die if it was separated from the original unless there was a new power source to keep it alive. So he resurrected and came back with the proposition.

The new power source to keep Rivervale alive is ... imagination. It's limitless and all powerful, boundless and always replenishing, there's no fuel more potent and no generator more awesome. Betty isn't getting it, but her Jughead does -- the explosion was destruction and the opposite of that is creation. Jughead will act as Rivervale's battery, a story generator to keep the universe alive when the two separate. But there's a catch -- he has to be locked up, alone, forever. Resurrected Jughead assures Betty that her Jughead will quickly fade from her mind as if he never existed, he will be the storyteller and new Jughead will be the narrator. But they need Betty to now agree to make sure the bomb is detonated after Jughead is sealed in Dilton's bunker, with an endless supply of paper and food.

As Jughead begins writing, the bomb is restarted and Archie is reanimated, now trying to break down the door with his baseball bat as the bomb ticked down to zero. But ... Jughead wrote that the bomb never went off, it vanished, the banging on the door stopped, and when the two emerged from the bedroom and went downstairs, the whole gang was there getting ready to enjoy a spaghetti dinner. Jughead and Betty had completely forgotten everything that had just happened. It should also be noted that it appears in this universe now, Cheryl and Toni are together, as are Kevin and Fangs. Veronica and Reggie are a couple, Archie and Betty are a couple. Jughead is moving his things into the new apartment with Tabitha, including his comic book collection which the narrator Jughead suggests will one day save his and countless other lives (so ... are they now stuck in a time loop or is this leaving things open for future trips to Rivervale?).

It is also revealed that Ethel is in the bunker with Jughead, and she asks the question we all want to know -- what happens to everyone in Riverdale Prime? Jughead says they'll never know if someone did something to change the course of events in Riverdale. Meanwhile, back in Riverdale Archie and Betty are in the bedroom where we last left them. Betty's phone rings and a voice, from a very bad signal, warns her about the bomb under the bed, telling her to get out of the house. She isn't sure who it is but she tells Archie they have to leave now. In the garage, Jughead is writing when the bomb detonates, leaving his ears ringing ... and us hanging until March 2022.

All in all, this was a pretty well-executed stunt, and I wouldn't mind some future visits to Rivervale, especially if it's the only way to bring Sabrina Spellman into the story! What did you think of 'Rivervale'?

Episode 6 :: Unbelievable

Let's Talk About 'Unbelievable':

• A mysterious phone call is credited with saving the lives of Archie and Betty right before Hiram Lodge's bomb went off, virtually destroying the house. But how did they survive?
• Jughead is experiencing major hearing loss after his close proximity to the blast.
• Kevin tells Toni and Fangs he's giving New York another try, and they tell him they are dating ... but still queer and proud members of the LGBTQ+ community. Okay.
• News of the explosion makes its way to Thorn Hill and Cheryl worries that her curse may be the cause.
• Archie's dog Bingo wasn't as lucky, getting out of the explosion with four broken legs.
• After the firebombing of Pop's and the explosion at Archie's, Fangs wants to mobilize the Serpents to go after the Ghoolies, but Toni cautions him that with a new baby to care for they can't rush into things.
• Betty begins seeing glowing red auras around people, and Archie is rapidly gaining weight, becoming more dense and indestructible.
• Someone keeps blowing out the reversing spell candles Cheryl lit to remove the curese from Archie, Betty and Jughead.
• Reggie's dad suffers a heart attack, and Veronica puts a hit out on Hiram.
• Betty leads the FBI in a manhunt for Hiram, while Glen finds himself on the wrong end of a sexual harassment suit, Archie and a special admirer of Betty.
• Mary Andrews comes home, baffled by how anyone could have survived the explosion.
• The mysterious Percival Pickens arrives and offers to buy what remains of the Andrews home.

Well, we thought that once the special 'Rivervale' event ended, Riverdale would return to its angsty, but not supernatural, storytelling ... and boy were we wrong. And we're here for it! Could another visit from Sabrina Spellman or other denizens of Greendale be in the works? The way Netflix is losing shows back to their original owners, it's certainly a possibility. And Cheryl is going to need all the help she can get after this week's events. But the weird in this week's episode started right from the beginning as Archie, Betty and Jughead tried to explain how they survived the blast.

Archie & Betty

Alice and Uncle Frank are very confused by the stories of survival. Who was the man on the other end of the phone that called Betty? How did Archie and Betty survive under a table that was completely flattened? Neither of them really have answers, no can they really remember clearly exactly what happened. Are they dead? Is this another alternate universe? And how did Bingo survive with just four broken legs? TO make matters even more weird, after Betty is cleared to leave the hospital, she runs into an orderly in the hallway and she sees a glowing red aura surrounding him. Visiting Veronica, Betty is assured that her friend will help in any way possible to track down Hiram because with the explosion he's facing a count of attempting to murder a federal agent. And Betty learns that a nurse was murdered at the hospital after she left. Archie, meanwhile, discovers he's gained 30 pounds in a week.

While Betty heads up the FBI manhunt, her ex Glen gets a punch in the face for getting a little too handsy with her while disparaging Archie, which he blows off to the other agents as something that happened when he and Betty hooked up again. Did he really think that wouldn't get back to her? But before she socked him, she also saw the red aura around him, leading her to believe that when people are threats, she can see that energy. That lead her to ask an agent to look into the orderly, Trevor, to see if he had any priors and boy did he. One of the most egregious was getting fired for stealing medication. Meanwhile, Alice has arrived from Chicago to see what's left of the house and is shocked that anyone survived. Later while Archie was walking through a room, he caught his arm on an exposed nail, but only his shirt tore. He took the plank down and pushed the nails out with the bare palms of his hands with no damage at all, then he started punching through some door molding without any injury to his hands. Toni and Fangs show up to let him know that they tried to have some peace talks with the new head of the Ghoolies, and warned Archie to get out of town ASAP. Archie wanted to know where the Ghoolies were camped out, so he could 'avoid' the location.

But he paid them a visit and apparently beat the crap out of them. Returning to the gym and finding Betty waiting, he was covered in blood -- Ghoolie blood, he didn't suffer so much as a hangnail. But Betty needs his help with something to questions can wait. Betty goes to the hospital to confront Trevor about the murder of the nurse. He pulls a knife out from the towels where she can't see, but she does see the red glow again. As she accuses him of the murder, Archie appears behind him, warning him not to do anything or he'll break both of Trevor's arms. Later they both share the weird things that have happened to them, and Archie is worried that he'll hurt Betty with his newfound power. Betty isn't worried because if he appears threatening to her, she'll see the glow. She's sure they can get through this together. Back at his house, Archie and Alice are visited by a mysterious man named Percival Pickens, who offers to buy the structure. Archie asks his mother to sell the house to him, and she finally agrees. But who is Percival Pickens and what would he want with the remains of the Andrews home? And for that matter, how on earth did Bingo's legs heal in three days?

When Glen reports for duty at the field office, Betty informs him that all of the male agents have been relocated and so has he. With his box of personal belongings in hand, he waits at the elevator and when it opens he finds Archie inside. Betty had told him what had happened but she assured him she had it under control. Archie isn't the best at keeping his emotions in check. It's unclear if Archie did anything, but later Glen is leaving Pop's, and when he gets in his car he's surprised by someone in the backseat ... TBK himself, and he gives Glen some payback for what he did to Betty. RIP Glen. But now does this mean TBK has been under Betty's nose all along, because the only people who know what happened with Glen are Archie and the field agents.

Cheryl

Upon hearing about the explosion at Archie's house, and learning that he, Betty and Jughead were all there and had survived, she wonders if the curse she placed on them to pay for their ancestors' deeds really worked. She asks Nana Rose for the paper she'd used to recite the curse but Rose said she burned it. Britta is wondering now if they are believing in magic. Cheryl knows there are book of spells and incantation in the Thorn Hill library, and she finds one to help reverse the curse, using dolls and reversing spell candles to remove the curse. But someone keeps blowing out the candles and Cheryl is sure it's Nana Rose. Hoping to catch her in the act, she's shocked to learn it's Britta but when confronted, it's not Britta's voice that responds. Cheryl believes Britta is possessed by the spirit of Abigail Blossom, and asks Nana is they need to perform an exorcism. Rose says no, they need to perform a banishment. So they tie Britta to a chair and begin the ceremony. Abigail's voice cries out and after a wind sweeps through the room, Britta is her old self again. She leaves but it appears Cheryl is not herself. Rose admits that she was uttering a different incantation that transferred Abigail's spirit into Cheryl, where it was meant to be in the first place.

Toni & Fangs

Kevin visits Toni & Fangs to let them know he's going to try and give New York City one more try. They're happy for him and also reveal that they are dating, but still majorly bisexual. Kevin really doesn't know how to respond to that. Later at the Whyte Wyrm, Fangs wants Toni to call out the Serpents to take care of the Ghoolies for torching Pop's and nearly blowing up Archie. Toni reminds him that they have a child and they can't just rush into things. The Ghoolies have a new leader, so maybe a sit-down with her can end with a truce. The Ghoolies agree to a meeting and Toni tells Twila Twist that since Hiram is gone, they won't be getting any more payments to carry out his evil deeds. Oh, but they will, because as long as they keep following the orders they were given, they will receive payment through a third party, of course. Toni asks what exactly it is they are being paid to do, and Twila tells them two things: destroy Riverdale and kill Archie Andrews. Toni dismisses the Ghoolies, and she and Fangs warn Archie to leave town. But his visit to the Ghoolies has now ignited an all out war that Toni didn't want. And to keep the baby safe, they enlist Kevin to act as his guardian.

Veronica & Reggie

After learning about the bomb, and agreeing to help Betty track down Hiram, Veronica contacts Hermosa to get any information she can about Hiram's bank accounts and movement. Hermosa wants to make sure she isn't implicated in his crimes and sends her sister all of the privileged information one could want, enough to finally bring Hiram down. She shocks Reggie by telling him she is not going to give the info to the FBI, rather she will use it to put a hit on Hiram. Reggie doesn't want her to go down that road, but before he can do more he gets word that his father has suffered a major heart attack and is in the hospital. Seeing how heartbroken Reggie is over the possibility that he'll lose his dad just as they were reconnecting, Veronica calls the Russian assassin she'd hired to call off the hit. But before she can say anything, he informs her the job is completed and sends her a picture of Hiram's body ... which we don't see. Reggie's dad is going to make a full recovery, and Roni lies to Reggie and tells him she called off the hit after seeing him and his dad. Later, drowning her sorrows, Roni gets a call from Hermosa warning her that blood will get blood.

Jughead

Jughead is experiencing the effects of being a little too close to the explosion while he was in the garage. As a result, he's lost 98% of the hearing in his left ear and 87% in his right ear. On the plus side, the Wall Beat Journal wants to run his exposé of Hiram Lodge nationally since they have been trying to nail him as well.

But is Hiram really dead? And will the identity of the Trash Bag Killer finally be revealed?

Episode 7 :: Death at a Funeral

Let's Talk About 'Death at a Funeral':

• Jughead is struggling with his hearing loss to the point that he can no longer write.
• Britta notices something odd about Mistress Cheryl, and Nana Rose confirms she swapped Cheryl's soul with Abigail's and Cheryl's is no more.
• Veronica admits to Reggie that she put the hit on Hiram, and now they are hosting his memorial service at the casino.
• Kevin is staying in Riverdale to take care of Baby Anthony, and he wants to his father's new deputy.
• Betty gets a call that Glen has gone missing, and then receives a package with a horrifying clue.
• Veronica's abuelita arrives for the funeral, accompanied by a young man named Heraldo, her godson.
• At the town council meeting, Percival Pickens introduces himself and Abigail is shocked to see her beloved Thomasina.
• Hermione and her reality TV crew descend on Riverdale.
• Archie discovers his Kryptonite.
• TBK is unmasked.

This week's episode of Riverdale was very soap opera-y with so much going on and scenes that lasted for maybe a minute or so before moving on to the next and then circling back. It was positively head-spinning, so let's break it down by character.

Cheryl/Abigail

Britta notices Cheryl is acting more odd than usual and Nana Rose confirms she swapped Cheryl's spirit with that of Abigail and Cheryl is no more. Abigail now has to adjust to modern life -- including dressing like 'harlots' -- but to carry out the plan to regain control of Riverdale, she needs to see the lay of the land. Attending a city council meeting is the first step. There, Percival Pickens introduces himself to the town and says that he wants to make Riverdale one of the most prosperous communities in America. Abigail remembers the Blossom family having dealings with the Pickens family in the past and Nana reminds her that it did not go well. But Abigail is distracted when Toni enters the room, seeing her beloved Thomasina again. Whatever plans Nana has for Riverdale are pushed to the side as Abigail attempts to pursue Toni. Learning that she is a teacher and guidance counselor at Riverdale High, Abigail hopes to bring Toni to her school at Thorn Hill, but when she goes to the Whyte Wyrm and learns that Toni is in a relationship with Fangs, a descendant of 'warlock pirate' Finn Fogarty (the man who murdered Thomasina), Abigail decides she needs to put a stop to that. But when Nana admonishes her for losing sight of their mission, Abigail banishes her to a room furnished with nothing but hay.

Jughead

Juggie is not dealing with his hearing loss very well, frustrated that it has complicated his writing process because he can't listen to music or hear the clacking of the typewriter keys. Tabitha is trying to support him, but he really screws up one day by taking is frustrations out on a motorcycle ride ... that ends in a wipeout. Jughead is a little battered physically, but it's the emotional injuries he's suffered that are taking a toll. Archie and Betty don't know about Jughead's condition at this point, but Archie does find out when he goes to ask Jughead if he's experienced anything strange since the explosion. He doesn't reveal his own super strength or Betty's ability to see threatening auras, but Jughead says he has experience nothing but the hearing loss. Tabitha brings a therapist to see Jughead, Daniel, a man who has experienced something similar, and Jughead agrees to go to his office. There, Daniel leaves Jughead alone for five hours and tells him to just focus on writing. It doesn't work but Daniel says it will take time. He then shows Jughead a graphic novel that he drew and wrote, and that is the inspiration Jughead needed to get his creative juices flowing. Tabitha is thrilled that he's found a creative outlet, and while he's writing he hears Tabitha wonder if she left the oven on at Pop's. She says she didn't say a thing, and as he goes back to his writing he hears her say she did turn off the oven but did she lock the door? He asks her if she just asked if she locked the door at Pop's, she said no and Jughead now realizes he does have a special ability to read someone's thoughts.

Veronica

Veronica has to come clean to Reggie about putting the hit on Hiram, and he's not all that thrilled about her choice. To complicate things, she also informs him that they are hosting the memorial service at the casino. Awkward. But Reggie agrees to stand by his girlfriend. Hermione arrives with her reality TV crew in tow and tries to turn her daughter's grief into sound bites for her show. Veronica finally shoos everyone out of the room and admits to her mother that she put the hit on Hiram, and Hermione isn't surprised or sad or disappointed. She admits that she was always jealous of the father/daughter relationship, feeling that they both loved each other more than they loved her, but Veronica assures her that isn't the case. And now that they've shares such a raw, emotional moment together Hermione wants to re-stage it for the cameras. At the memorial, Reggie is introduced to Veronica's abuelita Lordes and her godson Heraldo. Abuelita says she always knew her son's life would end like this -- Veronica confirms he was shot in the back of the head four times -- and that she wants Veronica to deliver the eulogy. Awkward. Before the service, Veronica gets a surprise visit from hitman Anatol and realizes he's there to kill her. Before he can take his shot, another shot rings out and Anatol is killed. It was Heraldo, who makes it his business to know everything going on in the family and making sure it doesn't touch abuelita. But who put a hit on Veronica? She assumes it was her sister. Veronica asks how Heraldo can do what he does then sit down to dinner with abuelita like nothing happened and he says he doesn't see the world as black and white, but shades of gray. That seems to resonate with her as she delivers the eulogy. She publicly apologizes for all the terrible things Hiram did to Riverdale and her friends, but she also admits that he did many good things, like paying for Fred Andrews' funeral, and that no matter what she loved him deeply. Afterwards Reggie, who was the only member of their friends to attend, tells her he never really knew what she had with her father so it wasn't his place to judge her for what she did. He loves her and that's enough. And then Heraldo pops in to ruin the moment, but he has something for Veronica -- a tape made by Hiram right before he died. She listens to the tape and hears her father's voice, recounting their tumultuous relationship but also the deep, deep love he had for her. He doesn't suggest that he knows she put the hit on him, but his words tear at her heart and her actions will hang over her for quite some time (or until the next episode when all is forgotten). In the end, he left her his rum business because he really enjoyed their sparring during their 'rum war'.

Archie & Betty

Archie, Betty, Uncle Frank and a crew are making repairs to the house. Archie is still super strong, showing Betty just how much by having her squeeze his hand in a vice. Betty receives a call from one of her agents that Glen's car was found at Pop's but there is no sign of Glen, so she goes to the office to start a search. While there she gets a package and inside is ... Glen's foot. She knows now that he's being held and tortured by the Trash Bag Killer. Back at the house, one of Archie's crew has found a piece of palladium and Archie offers to split it with him. The man, Dennis, declines but Archie says if he finds another piece he can keep it. Archie puts the metal in his pocket and then goes upstairs. The floorboards, however, are still weak from the explosion and he drops to the first floor, hurt and bleeding. Has he suddenly lost his power?

Back at the field office, Betty is napping but is awakened by a surprise visitor -- TBK who used Glen's ID to get in. He says Glen is still alive and bring her half of an arm. He says he came to Riverdale after he heard she was nearly killed in the explosion. But he warns that she and Archie are getting close so don't make him go after Archie next. Interestingly, Betty does not see an aura around TBK which she takes to mean he isn't a threat to her. So does that mean it's someone she knows? (The voice actually sounds a bit like Hiram, or maybe her father.) Also, why is Betty handcuffed to the cot? TBK just leaves her there, but she somehow makes it back to Archie's and tell him what happened. Archie also tells her about his injury and he realizes he had the palladium in his pocket. That seems to be his Kryptonite. He gives it to Betty for safe keeping (but they don't stop to think that maybe it could also be hers).

Some time later, Dennis shows Archie another piece of palladium he's found and when Archie takes it and asks where he found it, Dennis answers with a wrench to Archie's head, dragging him away. Betty gets a phone call saying TBK has been spotted at the end of Sketch Alley but when she gets there all she finds is a homeless man in a mask, saying he's not who she's looking for but he was to deliver a message to the blonde girl who showed up -- check the trash cans. She knocks them over and finds the rest of Glen (apparently including his head). Meanwhile, TBK (who we are now to assume is rando Dennis) has Archie restrained upstairs, the piece of palladium next to him. TBK reveals he'd been listening to Archie and Betty and knew the metal would weaken him so now he will start taking Archie apart. But Alice lets herself in, yelling at Archie about his dog (which she'd been sitting) has chewed up a pair of her favorite kitten heels so he's not welcome in her house anymore. Archie has to yell down at her to just leave Bingo there and he'll take care of it because TBK threatens to take care of her if she doesn't leave (but then he tells Archie she'll be next on his list anyway). As TBK is about to start cutting on Archie, Bingo enters the room and Archie gives him the attack to kill. The dog rushes at TBK, pushing him through a boarded up window, saving Archie's life but getting away in the process. Later, Betty and Archie talk about the day, and Archie said he hired Dennis who saw an ad for workers in Jughead's newspaper, probably hoping to keep tabs on Betty that way. But how long had he been spying on them? Long enough to know about Glen's behavior and their powers, but with TBK still on the loose Betty decides she has to leave Riverdale to keep everyone else safe because he will follow her. She feels being a moving target is better than standing still so she'll lead TBK out of Riverdale and circle back. In a poor choice of words, Archie tells Betty to come back in one piece.

But do we all really think Dennis is TBK?

Episode 8 :: The Town

Let's Talk About 'The Town':

• A scathing, anonymously written article about the state of Riverdale raises questions and lands Jughead in hot water.
• Jughead finally admits his superpower to Archie.
• Britta seeks help from Nana Rose in freeing Cheryl's soul.
• At a Town Hall meeting, Percival Pickens admits it was he who wrote the article, and he has some questionable suggestions for how to improve the town.
• Betty gets a call that Glen has gone missing, and then receives a package with a horrifying clue.
• With Alice influencing the city council members with her disdain for Babylonium, Veronica decides the only way to change their minds is by operating completely above board.
• Archie tries to combat Percival's idea about the town's homeless by building the denizens of Sketch Alley their own tiny homes.
• Veronica and Jughead begin to realize there is something off about Percival.
• Betty returns, but her headaches are getting worse.

The town of Riverdale was the main focal point of this week's episode as it becomes clear to our main players (minus Betty who is unseen, still tracking TBK for the majority of the episode) that something nefarious has taken the town in its grip. The drama kicks off with a scathing article about the condition of Riverdale, from the illegal casino to the homeless population in Sketch Alley. Published anonymously in Jughead's paper, the article riles most of the residents and Archie, in particular, wants to know who wrote it. Approaching Jughead for the answer, he refuses because he knows Archie will take matters into his own hands ... literally. But he gets his answer at a town hall meeting when he calls out the 'coward' who was too scared to put their name on such a trashy article. Percival Pickens takes ownership of the article, and makes suggestions on how to improve the town, starting with bussing the homeless out of Sketch Alley to parts unknown. Archie says that's not how Riverdale operates, so he's tasked with coming up with a plan to deal with the homeless. Babylonium is another issue, and Veronica and Reggis need to convince the city council -- namely Alice -- that the casino can be family friendly and become a major tourist destination, bringing money into Riverdale.

Meanwhile, Britta is sure that Cheryl's soul is still around even though Nana Rose believes she's gone, but Britta reveals she saw Cheryl in a mirror. Rose tells her the only way to save Cheryl, and having been imprisoned Rose it rethinking her plan to replace Cheryl with Abigail, is to enter her subconscious while Abigail is in a deep sleep and then she must go into a deep sleep close to Abigail. Britta drugs Abigail's nightly tea, doses herself, and finds Cheryl, Jason and Penelope, first enjoying breakfast together and then at the twins' birthday party. But Cheryl is not allowed to celebrate because she wanted her friend Heather to be there and Penelope refused, making this party all about Jason. Unable to reach Cheryl on her first couple of tries, Britta writes a note explaining that she's stuck in a dream world and her terrifying mother isn't real. Britta almost gets caught by Penelope again when she rages into the twins' bedroom in full Mommie Dearest drag, demanding the kids scrub the floor clean enough to eat from under the threat of being beat with a hanger (Nathalie Boltt was insanely over-the-top and it was glorious). Britta had to try one more time, finding Cheryl with her hair chopped off. She was able to give her the note before Penelope threw her out of the house, and Cheryl finally realized that she was in fact trapped in a dream. She reverted to her old self and banished Penelope, then visited Britta in her dream to tell her they need to get rid of Abigail's soul now ... but she doesn't quite know how. Nana thinks that since Britta once housed Abigail's soul, she may be the one to drag her out of Cheryl.

After the town hall, Jughead admitted to Archie that even though he printed Percival's article, he's not in agreement with the plan to get the homeless out of town. And he also admits to Archie that since the explosion he's lost his hearing but can read minds. Jughead has been able to carry on conversations with people by hearing what they are going to say before they say it, but Archie thought one thing and said another and that kind of gave Jughead's game away. But they still need to come up with a plan to convince the city council that cleansing Riverdale of its homeless population is not the answer. Veronica and Reggie also have a big hill to climb with convincing the town that the casino is not a bad element. Since Alice keeps dragging the Lodge name into her negative thoughts, Roni decides they have to do the opposite of what her father would have done, so no scams, no shady customers, no under the table payoffs ... but it's going to be expensive to get the actual permits to operate the casino. And after a visit from Percival to discuss the casino, it seems that there is nothing Veronica can do to convince Alice that they are operating above board, even suggesting a plan to make the casino a more family-friendly destination.

Archie also presents a plan to build tiny homes for the residents of Sketch Alley, with free labor provided by his company. But the materials are going to cost around $25,000 per home and Alice is not on board with that, immediately going to the 'we'll have to raise taxes to pay for that' trope. Jughead can hear the thoughts of the crowd, and as you can imagine when someone says 'raise taxes' no one is happy about that. But Tabitha and Toni ask Archie to come up with a business plan for them to consider. His plan, as he meets with the women as respected business owners in town, is to ask them to sponsor one home each which will be painted in the style of Pop's and the Whyte Wyrm (and it just so happens that Benjamin Moore is donating paint -- that's some subtle product placement for you). They agree and Toni sends Archie $25,000 via Chime (more subtle product placement) to get started. They get two model homes built in Pop's parking lot and they are immediately vandalized, but nonetheless Tabitha is still on board to fund the project.

While Veronica hopes to change Alice's mind, Reggie goes over the numbers and tells her that they are so over-leveraged that they can't afford to pay for all the things they need to pay for and may never turn a profit if they do things above board. And then they are asked to come to the private poker room where they find a customer ... hanging from the ceiling. If word of this gets out, they are truly sunk so Roni calls in Heraldo (Abuelita's godson and 'wise guy' apparently) to handle the situation discreetly. Reggie assumes the man had been on a losing streak and took his life, but reviewing the video it seems the man was up $20,000 so why would he kill himself? Veronica notices someone at the table with him whispering in the man's ear. It's Percival Pickens. Elsewehre in town, Archie and his crew have taken it upon themselves to begin building the homes in Sketch Alley with Jughead clearing the idea with his old friend Doc, the man who took him in at one point. He's very touched by the generosity and offers to help, but he later approaches Kevin in a sort of daze, whacking him in the head with a hammer. Jughead goes to the jail to ask Doc what happened but Doc doesn't remember anything between picking up the hammer and standing over Kevin. But Jughead can read his mind that there was a voice, with an accent, that told him to do it. He knows it can only be Percival, who has gone to the hospital to visit Kevin and his father and to have a little chat.

Jughead asks Percival to sit down for a follow-up interview to his article, and while questioning him Jughead tries to root around inside Percival's mind to see what he can find. While Percival is answering Jughead's questions, he stops and looks Juggie dead in the eyes and mentally tells him to stop rooting around in his brain. Jughead is shocked silly, but he has to tell Archie that Percival also has some kind of power or persuasion. At Pop's, the gang is repainting the tiny houses and Archie says they'll just be vandalized again and Jughead says they'll just repaint them again and again, no matter how many times the houses are defaced. Percival shows up and tells them that won't be necessary anymore because he took it upon himself to ship the homeless out of Riverdale, after having a brief chat with them and giving them $100 each and a bus ticket. They don't believe him but when they get to Sketch Alley, it's completely empty.

At the town hall meeting, Percival reveals his actions and Alice seems very pleased by this. Then Sheriff Keller addresses the council and reveals that after talking with Percival, he's going to join him and Kevin as a new deputy, which fills Archie and Jughead with a sense of dread. Veronica tries to talk to Alice about the casino again but it seems to be a dead issue to her, so Roni decides that in order to gain the upper hand they will have to operate according to the original plan. After all, she is her father's daughter. Betty returns home to Archie but asks him to turn off the TV and all the lights. She's wearing sunglasses at night. She lost TBK in Maine but her headaches have gotten worse, which she attributes to her power of seeing auras, which she still can. Archie tells her that the town is in deep trouble because of Percival, and the last thing we see is Percival staring at a wall with photos of the key town residents, maps and newspaper articles, jotting down a note about Jughead's mind reading ability, and focusing his attention on the photo of Archie.

Episode 9 :: The Serpent Queen's Gambit

Let's Talk About 'The Serpent Queen's Gambit':

• Percival Pickens has taken it upon himself to conduct a census in Riverdale to see what people are most concerned about.
• Abigail plans a ritual to bring Thomasina's spirit back into Toni's body, and poison Archie, Betty and Jughead.
• Reggie's dad spends a little too much time in Babylonium.
• Kevin is concerned about Baby Anthony's safety being raised in a 'gang' atmosphere.
• Archie, Betty and Jughead are stumped by Percival's 'superpower' since they were the ones affected by the explosion.
• The Ghoolies conduct a drive-by shooting at Pop's, inflaming tensions in Riverdale.
• The City Council holds an emergency meeting to decide if Toni should remain as a member.
• Baby Anthony is kidnapped.
• Archie, Betty and Jughead attempt to save Cheryl.

With all that's going on in this week's Riverdale, it seems as if the veil between the town and Rivervale is growing thinner by the moment. I'm almost inclined to think that Percival Pickens is actually Mr. Cypher in disguise (Chris O'Shea does bear some resemblance to Oliver Rice), which would be an easy way to explain his powers. In that episode, Cypher granted the citizens of Rivervale their heart's desire and collected their souls in the process. Percival is sort of doing the same thing, seeming to already know what the people of Riverdale want and then giving them the power to make it happen without really having to lift a finger himself. And Toni also has a deja vu moment related directly to the 'Ghost Stories' episode of the 'Rivervale' event. But there is still the lingering question about Archie, Betty and Jughead's powers ... and how they survived the explosion (and of the three, Cypher did not claim Archie's soul because he was already 'dead'). Are they now in their own 'Multiverse of Madness' thanks to the explosion?

But the suggestion that Percival is the Devil, as was Lou Cypher, is pretty strong, especially if you're familiar with the idea that the Devil 'whispers in your ear'. We've seen Percival do just that a few times (the casino patron and Alice come to mind) and he spoke to Jughead from his mind. He preys on fear and the most basest of desires, prompting the people of Riverdale to turn on the less fortunate ... and perhaps even convincing the homeless that they'd be better off someplace else. Interestingly, of the members of the city council, he's got Alice and Frank in the palm of his hand (he brought Polly and Chuck back for her) but not Tabitha, who emerged from the encounter with Cypher unscathed because of her guardian angel. He also did not have Toni because she had sacrificed herself to save Baby Anthony before Cypher arrived in Rivervale. So this is certainly playing out as if it all were connected to Rivervale.

Another major connection comes from Toni. After Percival suggests to the citizens of Riverdale that they are caught in the middle of an ongoing gang war between the Serpents and the Ghoolies, he successfully leads the charge -- through Alice, of course -- to have Toni removed from the City Council. Archie, Betty and Jughead are shocked that Toni was voted out by a unanimous vote, except for Tabitha, by the city council they actually founded. Outside of Abigail's attempt to try to resurrect her beloved Thomasina in Toni's body, Toni is getting attacked from all sides regardless of all the positive things she's done for Riverdale. She's even trying to forge a cease fire with Twyla Twyst. Kevin is now concerned about the safety of Baby Anthony -- probably because of his chat with Percival when he was in the hospital -- and out of the blue one evening he and the Riverdale police department breaks down her apartment door while she and Fangs are having dinner (and part of Abigail's plans is for her and Thomasina to murder him as well), claiming there are illegal weapons stashed there based on an anonymous tip. Toni is beside herself that Kevin, of all people, would think such a thing but ... one of the officers drags a bag of weapons out of another room and they arrest Fangs. He later admits to Toni that he had the weapons because he and the Serpents were going to go to war with the Ghoolies.

After the raid, Toni gets a visit from her friend in CPS inquiring about the safety of Baby Anthony. Toni immediately has a memory flash of this same exact conversation from the 'Ghost Stories' episode (and it was even shot from the same camera angles). As in that episode, Baby Anthony is missing but this time the town rallies to help find him ... at least outwardly as Jughead reads the minds of those assembled at Pop's to see if he can find a clue to the baby's whereabouts but most of them are just questioning Toni's fitness to be a mother and disgusted by her gang relations. Toni gets a call from Twyla who admits she has Anthony, but the baby is being held by Percival who is obviously controlling Twyla to arrange a rumble between the gangs. If Toni wins, the Ghoolies leave Riverdale but if they win, Riverdale is their turf. Toni agrees but only when she knows Baby Anthony is safe, and when she gets confirmation she and the Serpents meet up at the designated location. But Tabitha overhears Kevin and another officer talking about the 'turkey shoot' that's about to transpire and she calls Tabitha to warn her that the Serpents have been set up. The police arrive and Toni orders the Serpents to lay down their weapons so as not to engage in a fire-fight, and she live streams the ambush making sure Percival knows that she knows this was a set-up arranged by him. Tabitha bails her out of jail, and Kevin brings the baby to her but reveals that he's filing for custody of his son, which destroys Toni emotionally. She also gets word that all of the Ghoolies, except Twyla, are dead from a gunfight and she assumes it was the police.

Meanwhile Archie, Betty and Veronica try to speak with Cheryl to see if Percival has gotten to her but she says shs's not spoken to him (she was taking a buttermilk bath at the time). Unaware they are speaking to Abigail, the three are confused by Cheryl continuing to bring up the history of their ancestors burning Abigail at the stake. After they leave Thorn Hill, Abigail tells Britta that she is going to poison them with some homemade scones. For her plan with Toni, she needs a drop of blood for her ritual so she brings Toni a bouquet of roses, with thorns, and manages to get a drop when Toni pricks herself. She then pays a conciliatory visit to Archie, Betty and Veronica at the high school, offering them each a scone as a peace offering for her previous behavior. Archie and Jughead think she's just being weird but Betty can suddenly see Cheryl's glowing red aura, sensing a threat and refusing the scone. She then realizes that she has been to Archie and Jughead as well, but Archie has eaten his scone already. Luckily he's invincible but Jughead is not so they have to induce vomiting to flush the scone from his system. Puzzled as to Cheryl's behavior, Jughead visits Thorn Hill again to probe Cheryl's mind, but Britta answers the door and tells him she's not available and she can't say any more. Jughead gets into her head and tells her to tell him what is going on and she mentally communicates Abigail's plans and that there is only one way to stop her and bring Cheryl back.

The three cook up a plan that has Betty visiting Cheryl, telling her that Archie is dead, burned alive by a Ghoolie. In actuality this was Abigail who tossed a Molotov cocktail at him unaware of his superpower -- Archie revealed this fact to his friends -- and she admits the tearful Betty into Thorn Hill. It's not a moment before Betty has chloroformed her cousin and when she awakens she is tied to a stake once again with the descendants of her original killers prepared to set her alight once again. Abigail cries out 'how many times' are they going to burn her at the stake and Betty replies, 'As many times as it takes.' With Britta and Nana Rose in attendance (with that creepy Jason Blossom doll), the pyre is set on fire and they begin reciting an incantation as Abigail shrieks as she did the first time she was burned at the stake. Suddenly a gust blows out the fire and a startled Nana drops the doll, saying she felt it twitch. Cheryl is back in her body and Abigail is trapped in the doll, taken back to Thorn Hill, and locked in a protective display case (complete now with long red hair) just like the infamous Annabelle doll. Hopefully the actions of Betty, Archie and Jughead to save Cheryl will cease her vendetta against them.

And poor Reggie is finding himself in a bind. His dad is slowly recovering from his medical episode but he's not feeling on the top of the world as he likes so Veronica sets him up at once of the gaming tables in the casino to have some fun and take his mind off of things. But Veronica is notified that Marty Mantle is on a terrible losing streak, down about $7000 and asking for the casino to front him another $5000. Roni says they don't really do that and suggests he step away for a little while, but Reggie gets wind that she's banned Marty from the casino. Roni says she has not banned him, so Marty comes back but loses even bigger this time -- the car dealership. When Marty reveals this to his son, he asks if Veronica can talk to her underworld friends to get it back. Reggie has to swallow some pride and ask for the favor, and she says she'll try but he has to admit his father has a problem. Reggie snaps at her that he was just having some fun and why is she being so hard on him when she put her father's portrait on the wall after all the terrible things he did to Riverdale and their friends? He tells her he'll handle it himself, and he goes to the Italian restaurant to talk to the wiseguys and see if they'll sell the dealership back to him. Well, the value has already tripled because of the operations they'll be running through the business so Reggie cuts a deal: they'll need someone experienced with the ins and outs of running a car dealership to keep their operations running smoothly and without drawing attention from the authorities. They accept his offer to keep Marty employed and Reggie tells Roni that he bought the dealership back. She says okay but she seems concerned as to what Reggie actually did. It's revealed in a flashback that Marty has a terminal illness and he's unlikely to receive a life saving transplant in time to save his life, so it's clear that Reggie is now doing what he can to make his dad's final days as happy as he possibly can.

About those dead Ghoolies, Betty gets a call from Dr. Curdle Jr. with a curious post mortem on the dead bodies -- it appears they turned their guns on themselves. There can only be one explanation for that: Percival Pickens.

Episode 10 :: Folk Heroes

Let's Talk About 'Folk Heroes':

• Percival convinces Veronica to let him lease out one of the suites at Babylonium as his new home.
• Britta's parents agree to accept her for who she is and she bids farewell to Charyl and Thorn Hill.
• Percival has plans to restore Pickens Park, reinstall a controversial statue of his ancestor, and change the face of Riverdale.
• Jughead comes to the conclusion that Archie needs to be the hero Riverdale can look up to in order to get the town out of Percival's grip.
• Cheryl is bedevilled yet again, but this time it isn't Abigail's doing.
• Percival's manipulations are pitting friend against friend, but he's surprised that Archie seems immune to his suggestions.
• Percival challenges Archie to a boxing match, which Archie is sure Percival will lose.

With the introduction of Percival Pickens, Riverdale has undoubtedly produced its most nefarious villain yet. While the Black Hood was a fun slasher movie throwback kind of story and the Gargoyle King was just stupid, Percival Pickens has become a truly unsettling character, one who seems won't be easily vanquished ... although perhaps this week's Cheryl subplot will somehow play into his ultimate demise (especially if he turns out to be the Devil incarnate as I hypothesized last week).

Percival has his claws firmly in the grip of Riverdale, outside of Archie, Jughead, Betty, Tabitha, Toni, Fangs and Cheryl. Veronica knows that there is something up with him after the suicide in the casino but not even she is completely susceptible to his power of suggestion (and why Archie and company haven't coordinated with her remains a puzzle). But after blatantly turning the town against Babylonium, Percival weedles his way into his own living quarters at the casino, offering Veronica a boatload of cash in advance for the residence. Oh, and he also talked her into giving him the spotlight over Kevin in the showroom (if Kevin is aware he's no longer the headliner at Babylonium, we don't know as he was MIA this week).

He's also managed to turn Veronica against her friends and partner in subtle ways. First, he's been pushing the city council to replace the Pop's billboard on the way into town with one for Babylonium -- and even managed to get Alice and Frank on board now with promoting the casino they tried to destroy last week! Now Alice sees the casino as a money-making venture for Riverdale ... and no one called her out on it! Instead they just voted to not only award the billboard to Veronica, but also remove 'Home of Pop's Chock'lit Shoppe' from the 'Welcome to Riverdale' sign, replacing it with the new motto 'You can't stop progress!' To make matters worse, Percival has persuaded Veronica to start serving diner food in the casino along with alcohol-infused milkshakes ... not to mention the free cocktails that also cut into Toni's business at the Whyte Wyrm. To really make this all the more repulsive, Percival has presented plans to restore Pickens Park to its former glory ... complete with the statue of his ancestor General Pickens, which Tabitha points out was removed because of what it represented to some people in Riverdale. So if you're not paying attention ... Percival has specifically targeted two businesses run by women of color and wants to reinstall a statue that we can guess has racist connotations associated with it. And when Tabitha and Toni fight back by introducing alcohol onto the Pop's menu (not something Pop himself is pleased with and calls out Tabitha for doing it), and Toni bringing back live performances to the Wyrm (much to Fangs' chagrin), he suggests that perhaps Veronica should just firebomb the diner ... bait which she fortunately does not take. She's not that far gone after all, and he's defeated a bit when Veronica cuts a deal with Tabs to set up a Pop's food stand in the casino and gives some slot machines to Toni, splitting profits among them. Of course this only solidifies Percival's resolve to destroy the diner, which he sees as a blight on the town.

He also managed to turn Veronica against Reggie by alerting her to his extra-curricular activities. She thinks he's at the car dealership helping his father but Percy suggests she see for herself what he's actually doing, and she finds that he's moved a couple of slot machines to the dealership to run his own side hustle, siphoning profits from the casino. She's not happy and she tells him he can keep the machines but he will be banned from the casino ... and her bed. We have to assume Percival was behind Reggie's actions as a means to weasel his way into Reggie's 50% ownership of Babylonium. But will he be able to get Veronica to fall completely under his sway?

Seeing how deeply he's gotten into the psyche of the town, Jughead realizes that the town needs a hero to rally around, to draw them away from Percival, and that hero is Archie because ... well, he is sort of a superhero now. They cook up a plan to have Archie perform a series of amazing feats to get him entered into the Guinness Book of World Records, as well as stage a boxing match against their old pal KO Kelly, which concerns Archie because KO has a reputation for knocking out all of his opponents and Archie can't be KO'd. Jughead assures him that won't be a problem because KO will score a technical win, all Archie has to do is be standing at the end of the match to attain a Rocky-like triumph to draw the town's attention back to someone they all know and love. The plan works at first as Archie does things like lie on a bed of nails while cinderblocks are smashed on him, and taking blows to his stomach with a giant mallet. The town is thrilled by his feats and it's clear Percival is perturbed that the attention is drawn away from him. Jughead deduces that as long as they can focus on something that grounds them to Riverdale and who they are, they can beat Percival but getting the whole town to do this will be a challenge.

Percival still believes he can get into Archie's head and sneaks up on him at the gym (which Archie has also reclaimed from the city council, forcing them to move their meetings to the basement of Alice's house). As his voice echos in Archie's head, Percy talks him into taking a box cutter and slicing open his arm so he can see the blood running across the gym floor. Archie does as he's told but ... the blade breaks off as it touches his skin, distracting Percival enough that he loses his grip on Archie's mind, giving him a chance to focus on the picture of his dad on the wall. Archie's strength of body and mind is a shock Percival was not expecting, so he needs to find another way to take him down, and that seems to be the boxing match. Percival walks up on KO outside of Pop's, and shortly thereafter Archie gets the news that KO willfully walked into oncoming traffic, putting him in the hospital. And conveniently, Percival offers to take KO's place in the ring. Archie takes the bait, knowing he will pummel Percival, and says that if he wins Percival resigns from the council. He agrees but says if he wins, Archie will personally reinstate his great-grandfather's statue in Pickens Park (which may be the spot that Jughead had planned to erect the already commissioned statue of town hero Archie in a very Rocky-like pose of victory).

With the town assembled at the gym and Archie and Jughead confident that this will help turn the tide against Percival, the bout begins but it becomes an unexpected bloodbath ... with Archie's blood. Percival gets in several shots, knocking Archie to the mat but he keeps getting up. Archie is dazed and Jughead is baffled. The fight continues but Percival gets in a few more head shots, the final one almost taking Archie's head completely off, securing the win and the adoration of Riverdale. But how did he win? After the fight Archie said he felt pain, he felt every punch, he bled and the only way that could happen is if Percival knew about and had some palladium. But the only three who knew about his vulnerability are Archie, Betty and Jughead. Turns out as we see in a flashback, Percival talked his way into Betty's house with Alice guiding him to Betty's room while she slept. Awakening her before she could put up any defenses, he began to question her about Archie's abilities, so she unknowingly spilled the beans and he found the stash of palladium that she'd hidden, placing it in his boxing gloves to render Archie completely vulnerable. But he also suggested that she would not remember his visit when she woke up so it will take some time to figure that out (perhaps she'll let Jughead poke around in her head and he'll see what happened).

That brings us to Cheryl. After Britta's parents learned of Cheryl's attempt to adopt Britta they offered to allow their daughter to come home, accepting her for who she is. She bids farewell to Cheryl and Thorn Hill, but for her efforts in rescuing Cheryl from Abigail's clutches, Britta always has a home with her. But Britta may have gotten out of Thorn Hill just in the nick of time as Cheryl begins experiencing a new bedevilment. Sitting in the parlor, keeping watch over the Abigail doll and reading a book, Cheryl begins to experience an excruciating heat that sets her book on fire. With an elevated temperature, Nana Rose sends her to bed, but she can't sit with her as she has to keep watch over the doll (which has not exhibted any signs of movement or elevated heat). Instead she hires a night nurse to care for Cheryl but when she awakens the next morning, there is nothing left of him but a pile of ash and his feet.

Cheryl calls on cousin Betty to investigate and she takes the remains to Dr. Curdle Jr. who then determines the young man was the victim of Spontaneous Human Combustion. Conveniently, the FBI just happens to have a department that specializes in these types of phenomena -- sadly not referring to it as the X-Files -- and Agent Drake meets with Betty to explain that what she's described does not sound like SHC but is more like pyrokinesis, the ability to create and control fire with the mind. She offers to give Betty a demonstration -- which we don't get to see -- and Betty takes her knowledge to Cheryl, explaining that she must find a way to focus her mind and expel the heat building up in her body, the temperature of which is rising to over 300 degrees. Trying to get Cheryl to focus on the logs in the fireplace before she burns them all and Thorn Hill to a crisp, Betty reminds Cheryl that she's basically born from fire and she can do this. But it's not working, so Betty spots a framed photo of Penelope which she tosses into the fireplace and tells Cheryl to focus on that and all the terrible things her mother did to her. That did the trick as the photo and the logs burst into flames, Cheryl now returning to normal and apparently quite pleased with this new power. As she settles in for the night, she is able to light some candles while she settles in to read Stephen King's Firestarter. So the question now is will Cheryl's new powers be the ultimate undoing of Percival Pickens?

Episode 11 :: Angels in America

Let's Talk About 'Angels in America':

• Burning question -- why hasn't the gang involved Veronica in any of this Percival Pickens business, and why has she not developed any powers?
• Tabitha and Cheryl, both unaffected by the explosion, have developed their own powers ... but how?
• Percival reveals his latest plan to take Pop's out of the Riverdale equation -- a new railroad stop.
• Pop's Chock'lit Shoppe truly is the heart and soul of Riverdale, a gathering place during major historical events.
• Tabitha can't get any of the gang to back her in the fight against Percival ... except Cheryl, who hasn't yet had any direct dealings with him and is eager to use her new powers.
• Tabitha's superpowers are revealed during an assault by one of Percival's mind-controlled henchmen.
• Jughead slips up and is forced to come clean to Tabitha.
• The gang, minus Veronica, realizes they have powers for a reason -- to stop Percival.
• Percival reveals himself to Tabitha and ... well, I was right!

This episode of Riverdale was pretty epic, giving Erinn Westbrook a real showcase for her talents, casting two actors who made you believe they were younger versions of Alvin Sanders' Pop Tate, and finally revealing what I believed all along about Percival Pickens. The only thing I find maddening at this point is the separation of Veronica from the core group. She seems to have been able to fend off Percival's power of suggestion but so far she's shown no signs of having any special powers, and we know from Cheryl and now Tabitha that it wasn't just the explosion that gave Archie, Betty and Jughead their powers. Now it seems there is a higher power at work in Riverdale. Has the rift between Riverdale and Rivervale been left open, allowing supernatural forces to enter this world?

Whatever is going on, it's clear now that Riverdale is important to Percival but it doesn't even seem that it's the town he wants; he needs to destroy Pop's Chock'lit Shoppe. His first plan is to convince the town that Riverdale needs a new train line running through town, with the most logical stop being right where Pop's sits. Of course he's got Alice and Frank on board, and Alice has even put him on her local TV show to convince the rest of Riverdale that Pop's is way past its expiration date. Tabitha tries to enlist the help of her friends but they all pretty much leave her high and dry. Archie can't go up against Percival because he knowns Archie's weakness, Betty just advises her to stay away from him, Veronica tells her the satellite location in the casino is doing well so maybe she should just relocate Pop's to a new location. The only one who shows any interest in joining the fight is Cheryl (who keeps Thorn Hill so cold now -- to contain her own internal furnace -- that Tabitha can see her own breath), as soon as she learns how to manage her new abilities.

Jughead, having tried once before to save the drive-in, knows that having Pop's declared a historical landmark will keep the town from touching the place. But while talking with her about the plan, he turns his back and hears her say something which he answers directly. Except she didn't say it out loud which forced Jughead to reveal the truth about him, Archie and Betty. But Tabitha has bigger issues at the moment and the historical designation seems to be the best bet. Pop helps by giving him and Tabitha a box of old photos and other memorabilia, like The Green Book in which Pop's was listed as a safe haven for 'Negro travelers', and they are certain they can get the state to grant the diner historical place status. But Percival isn't going down without a fight and he sends one of his henchmen (surprisingly not a mind-controlled Kevin, who had just been with Percival talking about the trouble with Tabitha) to kill Tabitha. He walks in and pulls the trigger and ...

1944

When she opens her eyes it's December 24, 1944 and a younger Pop (actually her great-grandfather) calls her Teresa (which is also embroidered on her uniform). The weird thing is that Tabitha is fully aware they she is Tabitha and is not sure what is going on. In her confusion, she spots Jughead sitting in one of the booths, but when she goes to talk to him he reveals he's not Jughead but her guardian angel. She, in fact, was shot and is in the hospital on life support with Jughead at her bedside. She flashes back and remembers meeting him before -- further blurring the lines between Riverdale and Rivervale -- when he revealed himself to her as Raphael, warning her that a battle was coming and Pop's was going to be Ground Zero. Raphael has taken a form of someone she knows because to see his true form would drive her insane. He tells her that she is a time traveler, but he can't tell her why she has arrived in 1944. Only the big man upstairs knows all of the details, but she must be here for a reason. Earlier, Pop had proudly shown her the diner's new listing in The Green Book, but now they have to get to an important meeting with the mayor.

The sheriff, who looks like Percival, is introducing a new plan to the mayor to make Riverdale a 'Sundown Town', meaning a town in which 'colored people' are banned after 6:00 PM ... to keep the crime rate down. Teresa rightly points out that this is a purely racist plot, and that white people commit crimes just as much as Black people do. The mayor needs to think it over. Back at the diner, a young couple who happen to look like Fangs and Toni, are frantically banging on the door (apparently Pop's isn't open 24 hours) to be let in. They and their baby daughter were traveling through Centerville and their car ran out of gas as it started to get dark. Centerville is a Sundown Town and they were being chased by the police. Teresa and Pop offered them a safe haven for the night but the sheriff and his deputy showed up to arrest the couple. They were refused entry unless they had a warrant, so the sheriff had the deputy contact the authorities in Centerville to get one, saying they would stay put until it came. The couple wanted to sneak out the back, but the baby has asthma and they left everything in the car. They can't chance making a run for it. Tabitha sees Raphael and asks him for help. He says he's not supposed to interfere but she presents him with a loophole -- it's Christmas Eve, the one time he could and should be able to help. She asks if what he said about seeing him would make her insane was true and he says it is, so she asks him to reveal himself to the sheriff and his deputy. He decides that this is something he can do, so he walks outside and a blinding light reduces the two lawmen to blithering idiots.

Teresa reaches out to Archie ... or Artie ... at the fire department to help bring the couple and their baby face-to-face with the mayor to show him who the Sundown Law would be hurting. Hearing of their plight, and understanding how such a thing would negatively impact Riverdale, the mayor refuses to enact the law. Feeling she managed to accomplish her mission, Tabitha isn't sure what's next but suddenly a deranged sheriff, apparently escaped from a mental hospital, enters the diner yelling that she won't beat him so stop trying. He pulls the trigger and ...

1968

'Tina' hops to 1968, April 3 to be exact, the day before Martin Luther King is assassinated. For some reason, she believes she needs to get to Memphis to save his life but the new version of Raphael (who now has taken the form of Toni) tells her that some points in history are fixed because they had such a profound impact on the world. MLK's death is one of them and there was nothing she could have done. Tabitha should know by now that Pop's and Riverdale are her focus -- and even after the 1944 Raphael gave her a book on time travel that gave her the idea she needed some kind of talisman to focus on to get her back to her own time -- she still hasn't really comprehended the importance of both. But now in this era she is once again confronted with a different version of Percival, now an FBI agent in cahoots with the mayor to once again shut down Pop's by 6:00 PM or those that have gathered there to mourn, grieve and pray (and let me tell you, this whole segment, as ridiculous as it was, really brought a few tears to my eyes) will be arrested, citing riots in neighboring towns. Tabitha knows that he is just trying to provoke a violent reaction and she tells everyone in the diner to not play into his hands. She somehow gets a direct line to J. Edgar Hoover (!) and tells him she knows all about his secret files on various figures including the president, and if he doesn't call off the FBI she will call the White House and reveal all. A call comes in to the FBI field office calling off the 'turkey shoot' at Pop's (not the first time we've heard this term) ... and Hoover also fires Agent Percival. Tabitha watches as a car drives by the diner, the former agent glaring at her as she repeats to herself for him to keep driving. He does but in the back she discovers a bomb hidden away in a cupboard. Taking it outside and dropping it in a trash can -- right next to the diner -- it goes off and ...

1999

Tabitha arrives in November 1999, now Tess, helping her grandfather remove some racist graffiti spray-painted on the side of the diner (apparently 88 is a white supremacist symbol). Sheriff Keller has nabbed the teenager (one of them, anyway) responsible and Tabitha asks to have a word with him. He tells her he has no memory of committing the act of vandalism, and she asks him if the baseball card she found next to the crime scene was his. He tells her it is and he got it from the curiosity shop on the outskirts of town. He got it from the owner in exchange for ... he can't remember what but it's obvious to Tabitha that the owner of said shop is another iteration of Percival. Raphael appears again, now in the form of Betty, and she gives Tabitha a pick to get into the shop after Percival leaves. Inside she begins taking Polaroids of some of the artifacts including a Confederate army uniform, the spear of Longinus (you know, the one used to pierce Christ's side during the crucifixion) and the Holy Grail. THE Holy Grail. Perhaps this is Tabitha's talisman.

She goes back to the shop but is confronted by Percival, now dressed in the uniform and brandishing a sword. Tabitha grabs the Sword of Longinus and helpfully informs him that she was on the fencing team in college! She asks him who is really is and he tells her his name is Legion, 'but blow out the candle and I am the dark.' And with that we get a flash of his true face -- the same face we saw peering in the window of Pop's in the 'Mr. Cypher' episode! So my suspicions about Percival were right. He is the Devil (or a demon in service to the Devil) and he has been trying to decades to destroy Pop's because of it's significance not only to Riverdale but to the world, the place where many have gathered during major historical events. The two begin to duel, and Tabitha lunges at him with her sword but he vanishes as she stabs him, nailing the uniform to the wall. But she retrieves the Holy Grail and meets up again at the diner with Raphael. Tabitha finally realizes it's not the Grail that is her talisman, it's ... Pop's! Raphael seems to have known this all the time and suddenly the Grail is filled with a milkshake. Tabitha begins to drink and ...

The Present

Tabitha is back in the diner right where all of this time travel started. In walks the man with a gun, but luckily she is holding the can of tomato soup she was about to prepare for Jughead before she was shot. She nails the guy right in the head with the can, knocking him out. They tie him up and put him on ice, literally sticking him in the freezer, until the police arrive. Tabitha then reveals to Jughead that she has a power now -- she's a time traveler. She was getting so good at it that she managed to jump a second before the bomb went off in 1968. They get Archie, Betty and Cheryl to the diner where they all realize they have been given these powers for a reason. Tabitha reveals that during her time hopping she even went to the future, an unknown time, and it was not a promising place. Pop's was still standing but ... Riverdale was gone. Pretty much everything was gone after some apocalyptic event. Is this a future that can be changed? Tabitha has no idea, but they all know now that their fight with Percival has become more than just a fight to save Pop's Chock'lit Shoppe.

Episode 12 :: In the Fog

Let's Talk About 'In the Fog':

• Archie, Betty, Jughead and Tabitha decide they need to rally their friends and family members not yet under Percival's spell to take a stand against him.
• A thick fog is approaching Riverdale, an event not seen since 1922.
• Betty is alerted that another young woman has managed to escape TBK.
• Toni, Fangs and Kevin are about to be embroiled in an ugly custody battle.
• Penelope returns to Thorn Hill, claiming to have turned over a new leaf and bearing a gift for Cheryl.
• Jughead asks Tabitha if she can time travel back to stop the bomb from exploding but she claims there are too many variables to make the attempt. But is she telling the truth?
• Betty's 'friend' is two weeks late, and she reveals to Archie how she got away from TBK.
• Veronica thinks she may have acted too hastily in breaking up with Reggie and wants to give it another go.
• Kevin is surprised when Moose returns to Riverdale, the high school's new PE teacher.
• The city council pulls a fast one under cover of the fog in an attempt to thwart a coup.

A thick fog rolls into Riverdale this week, bringing with it some surprises and inescapable truths that may change some lives forever. For Cheryl, the fog brings Penelope back to Thorn Hill, now a nun with an open heart looking for forgiveness from her daughter so she can move on to a life in the convent. Except Cheryl isn't buying any of this change of heart from her. Penelope claims she has a gift for Cheryl and all she asks for is a hot bath and a hearty meal. Cheryl finally agrees but when she catches her mother ogling the cursed doll containing Abigail's spirit, she is sure there is more going on so she whacks Penelope in the head and ties her to a chair. When Penelope awakens, she realizes she is burning up from the inside, and Cheryl reveals her power of pyrokinesis, threaten to burn Penelope to a crisp. But again she tells Cheryl she has a gift that she needs to see -- dozens and dozens of letters from Cheryl's long lost (and banished) high school sweetheart Heather. Penelope had intercepted them over the years, keeping them from Cheryl, and admitting that she did so because she saw something in Cheryl that she was ashamed to admit she also felt in herself. Thankfully Cheryl did not toast Penelope but her world has been rocked by the revelation that Heather is out there somewhere, and that she never forgot Cheryl.

Veronica has a change of heart about her breakup with Reggie, and while the two are stuck at the casino because of the fog, they begin to rekindle their romance with a game of poker ... strip poker, that is. They get a bit frisky in Roni's office but the portrait of Hiram glaring at him makes Reggie a bit uncomfortable so they take their private party to an unoccupied suite. Things seem to be going well, but if they are to resume their romance, Veronica needs to remove the portrait of Hiram from the office. It's time to stop living in his shadow. Veronica is very angry that he would ask her to do such a thing, and they both realize they are in a toxic relationship and both of them are too much like their parents, Roni like Hiram and Reggie like his mother, who put her own career ahead of her family. It seems there is no way for them to move forward, especially after Roni said if she'd had her way she'd be in New York now working on Wall Street, and that she dumped Archie because he did not want to leave Riverdale. But when Reggie asked who she'd rather be in New York with, she couldn't simply say his name and that was the clincher for him. But in the end, Veronica did decide that it was time to put Hiram Lodge to rest ... at least his portrait.

Kevin and Toni had a few words about their impending custody battle over baby Anthony with Kevin not wanting the boy growing up in a gang atmosphere, while Toni threw Kevin's reckless cruising in the forest as probably not the best role model. But they agreed to all sit down and talk over dinner that night. Fangs, however, is not on board at all about cutting the Serpents out of the raising of their child but Toni is hoping they can keep them out of the conversation. Back at the high school, Kevin got a surprise visit from Moose who revealed he's the school's new PE teacher. And he wants to make up for the bad way he left things with Kevin, especially after his father dressed up like the Gargoyle King to scare them after catching the boys having sex, which Kevin said scarred him for life. But a kiss from Moose convinced him that maybe they could make this work so he bailed on dinner, blaming the fog, which set Fangs off to the point he wanted to find Kevin and knock his block off. Toni's calmer head prevailed and said that either they would all talk or they would fight it out in court. Spending time with Moose brought up some bad dreams, but Moose was there to comfort Kevin, and the whole reunion actually made Kevin change his mind about a legal battle, willing to settle for joint custody. Unfortunately, he got Fangs on the phone and he wasn't about to share his child and told Kevin he'd see him in court. Maybe when Toni gets wind of this she'll be able to smooth things over.

Archie, Betty, Jughead and Tabitha felt they needed a plan to defeat Percival before he took over and brought on the apocalypse which only left Pop's standing. Their plan is to launch a coup with the support of anyone they can get who isn't under his spell and take over the city council. What they don't know is that Alice overheard them and ran right to Percival, with a plan. Luckily, she had that fog rolling in to keep people off the streets, which made it difficult for the gang to unite and carry out the coup. But that gave them more time to deal with their own personal issues while they waited for the fog to lift.

When Betty tried to leave her house to go to Archie's, she saw a figure just standing at the end of her sidewalk. TBK? Not sure because she slipped out the back instead. Archie wanted to go out take on the stalker but Betty told him it wasn't necessary. Besides, it could be someone with palladium and he could get hurt. But since TBK was brought up, Archie finally asked Betty how she got away. She'd been held captive in the pit for two weeks, but one day something changed and TBK allowed her to come out, saying he felt they were kindred spirits and he would let her go if she could prove to him that she was ... by dismembering a dead body. She did and he let her go. So she had no grand escape, she was just allowed to walk free and that is obviously weighing on her. Also weighing on her is the fact that her period is two weeks late and she's never late. But is she pregnant? A test was taken at the end of the episode but only Betty and Archie saw the results. Now I have to backtrack for a minute, back to TBK. Seeing TBK in a T-shirt in Betty's flashback -- he's pretty ripped -- and then having that person standing in front of her house ... and Moose suddenly back in town ... could Moose be TBK? He certainly knows Betty, knows her family history, knows she is the daughter of the Black Hood, so I'm calling it now that Moose is TBK. Even the voice is kind of similar. We'll see.

At Pop's, everyone cleared out when news of the fog was delivered by Alice on the local news, so Jughead and Tabitha were alone. At one point, Tabitha thought to herself what would she do when he's gone and Jughead accidentally intercepted the thought, answering her out loud, thinking she was referring to Pop with whom she'd just been on the phone. But Tabitha was a little upset with him because they had a deal that he wouldn't read her mind. Jughead asked that since she could time travel, maybe she could go back to just before the bomb went off and get it out of Archie's house. She says she's tried but it's one of those fixed points in history and no matter how many variables she tried it always goes off. So maybe she can get him out of the garage so he doesn't lose his hearing, but she said it would be too risky, too many variables and ripple effects. She doesn't seem to believe what she's saying and Jughead may not either.

After the fog rolls in and knocks the power out all over town, Jughead decides to syphon the gas out of their car so they can fire up the generator while Tabitha fires up an old HAM radio to see if there is anyone in the area who needs help. She hears some odd voices but can't quite tune them in, and then panics because Jughead has been gone for far too long. Picking up a rifle and ready to head outside, Juggie walks back in, gas in hand, just having gotten turned around in the fog. They get the generator running and the lights are back on a Pop's, and Tabitha gets back on the radio to let anyone know if they need a place to stop and rest or eat, to just look for the light of Pop's. As dawn comes and the fog lifts, the news breaks that overnight Riverdale appointed a new mayor -- Percival Pickens. The city council met in secret, without Tabitha, and voted to dissolve while making Percival mayor. So much for a coup with no city council to disband. Wondering how they were now going to stop Percival, Tabitha admitted to Jughead she lied about stopping the bomb. She did, and Jughead didn't lose his hearing but he also didn't develop his power to read minds. In every scenario, 1,384 of them, Percival won. Jughead accepts that stopping the bomb is not an option as Tabitha tells him that all of their powers play a part in stopping Percival, especially his since his mind reading power is the closest to Percival's mind control, but she has something else to lay on him -- she wasn't worried about losing Pop, it was Jughead she was thinking about because he dies in every scenario but they do manage to beat Percival twice out of 1,384 scenarios (even though she already said he won in every scenario?). Jughead tells her not to worry, it's not the first time he was destined to die, and they will figure out a way to stop Percival.

Episode 13 :: Ex-Libris

Let's Talk About 'Ex-Libris':

• Whew! Betty is not preggers.
• Veronica finally tosses Reggie out of the casino and her bed; he says that's fine because he doesn't want to end up like Chad and Hiram.
• Percival is closing the Riverdale library to transform it into a hotel for the new train stop, but before he does that he intends to collect some long overdue books from the gang.
• Percival collects collateral in place of the books until the exact editions are returned.
• Cheryl warns the group that there is sorcery afoot with Percival's specific replacement requests.
• Archie's RROTC class keeps finding old yearbooks and making fun of Archie's musical past, but they touch a nerve when commenting on Miss Grundy.
• Kevin shows concern that Percival is going to harm his friends, which does not make Percival happy.
• The group begins to experience some haunting moments.
• Betty starts to believe TBK is a family man like her father, but I'm sticking with my Moose theory.
• Someone close to Veronica ends up as collateral damage as she finally gets a killer super power.
• Tabitha is in Albany submitting the paperwork to get Pop's registered as a historic landmark. So does that mean now that Riverdale is officially located in New York state?

Congrats to the Riverdale writers and actor Chris O'Shea for truly making Percival Pickens one of the most despicable villains the show has seen in its six seasons thus far. His torture of Archie and his friends continues this week and things have really moved into the supernatural, and at this point I would not be surprised if Sabrina Spellman or others from Chilling Adventures of Sabrina crossed over from Greendale to help send Percival back from whence he came. I hope his punishment is painful.

Knowing he has to do away with Archie, Betty, Jughead, Veronica, Reggie, Cheryl and Tabitha in order to carry out his plans, Percival's latest scheme is that he's closing the town library in order to convert it into a hotel for travelers making a stop at the new station that will sit on Pop's current site. This is an interesting development since it was announced that Caroline Day will be recurring this season as Cheryl's high school sweetheart Heather, now a librarian (in Greendale ... hmmm). So is the library going to play a major part in Percival's downfall? Anyway, even though he's shutting down the library, Percival pays a visit to each member of the group requesting that they return a long overdue book, just for the principle. He even brings along deputy Kevin Keller and a few more armed officers -- a bit extreme for an overdue book. So if they don't have the book, there could be a hefty late fee, jail time, or worse. But ... Percival is willing to take a personal item for collateral until the books are returned. And they can't just be a version of the title overdue, it must be the exact edition and, of course, many of those books are out of print or first editions which will be difficult to come by.

The books gathered are The Metamorphosis (Jughead), Songwriting from the Heart (Archie), Kiss of the Spider Woman (Veronica), Flowers in the Attic (Cheryl), Small Engine Repair (Betty), Dyslexia Workbook for Children (Reggie). In exchange for the missing books, Percival took Jughead's inscribed copy of his grandfather's first mystery novel, Archie's guitar, the painting of Hiram, the trunk with Jason Blossom's remains (and Percival seems aware of Cheryl's pyrokinesis, telling her that if his temperature raised in the slightest his men had one order: aim for her head), and the last of Betty's diaries that she didn't burn (helpfully handed over by Alice because Betty was at the FBI office, and none too pleased with her mother's actions). Reggie just happened to still have his book and Percival was pleased to have it, telling Reggie that he really sees something in the young man that perhaps he can work with. All but Reggie have a pow-wow and Cheryl reveals there is sorcery at play here. Percival needed those personal items to perform some type of spell and whatever it was it wasn't going to be pleasant. They need to do what they can to get the books to Percival so they can reclaim their belongings. Cheryl assures them Percival will return the items because even in sorcery there is a code of conduct and he made them a deal that he has to uphold. Veronica is the only one not concerned because she was all too happy to let Percival have the portrait of her father. What's the worst that could happen?

Kevin, who isn't 100% on board with Percival -- maybe 93% -- is concerned that Percival is going to harm his friends, and that concern is met with a stern rebuke and a reminder that Kevin also has a very overdue book, Lord of the Flies, that he may want to return if he knows what's good for him. Luckily he remembered he lent it to Moose, and when he returned the book to Kevin they discussed their love of the main character but Kevin said he always identified as Piggy because he was always the over-weight outcast in his childhood years. Moose assured him that he is no Piggy now, but inside Kevin still feels that way. Kevin did return the book to Percival saying thinking about the story made him sick to his stomach, reminding him of the person he never again wants to be. Percival actually shows some kindness toward Kevin, telling him to let go of that part of him that feels unattractive and undeserving of love. He tells Kevin he is a gorgeous man and deserves everything his heart desires. Kevin says that's easier said than done but Percival says if Kevin aligns himself with him, he'll never need to feel like a ... Piggy ever again. Kevin is a bit shocked that Percival knew that's how he felt and asked how he knew that. Percival said he is those dark secrets everyone carries around in their hearts and only he can forgive Kevin. And then he plants a passionate kiss on Kevin's lips.

The rest of the group isn't getting off (no pun intended) that easily as Percival's curse begins to take effect. Jughead, whose grandfather experienced severe eczema, suddenly finds his hands bleeding and peeling. Cheryl is haunted by the laughter of a little girl, finding a shape hiding under her bedsheets but no one is there when she pulls it away, just a bunch of rose petals. Cheryl's rather enjoying her haunting. Betty begins experiencing severe nausea, but not because of morning sickness. The smell of bleach is setting her off, at one point seeing her father mopping the floor of the FBI office before she realizes it's the janitor. But that triggers her memories of Hal cleaning the back of their station wagon with bleach, feeling terrible now because she never realized that he was actually cleaning up after one of his murders. That also sends her down the path that TBK isn't the typical loner, but instead a man with a family like her father. The question is, is this the right presumption or just a manifestation of the curse? My money is still on Moose.

Poor Archie is being tortured with reminders of Miss Grundy, from the heart-shaped sunglasses Betty suddenly starts sporting to an actual apparition of a ghoulish Grundy playing the cello (courtesy of Percival projecting the whole scene from his curiosity shop). And even though Reggie returned his book, he finds his dyslexia has returned so he pays a visit to Percival begging for his book. Percival says he can have it if he does one little job for him -- deliver a Glamourgé egg to Veronica. Roni has already been spooked by a Black Widow spider on her own portrait, which vanished when she smacked it, and when she opens the egg delivered by Reggie, via Smithers, she finds it is filled with spiders ... but it's not. Did she just imagine them? Fulfilling Reggie's prophecy when she kicked him out, Veronica did invite Heraldo over so she didn't have to spend the night alone, but the next morning the poor guy was dead, bitten by a Black Widow. A call from Dr. Curdle Jr. comes with a surprising autopsy report -- Heraldo did die from the venom of a Black Widow, but the amount of venom in his system could not have come from a single spider and there were no visible puncture wounds on his body. The point of entry for the venom was ... his lips, which can mean only one thing and that is Veronica has a killer super power now. Interestingly, when she kicked Reggie out of her life, he told her that she has a pattern: she was with Archie, then Reggie, then Archie, then Chad, then Archie, and back to Reggie. With Veronica now literally having the kiss of a spider woman, how will this eventually play into Archie and Betty's relationship? Archie is literally the only man in town she can now kiss without killing him (if his invulnerability extends to poison) so will she now run back to him?

Jughead remembers he gave his book to his homeless friend, and learns from a man still living in Sketch Alley that when Percival came to them, he told them all to gather their belongings and start walking west toward the ocean. The man was able to get in touch with Juggie's friend in Venice Beach, California (they truly did walk west to the ocean but apparently not into the ocean which I assumed would happen), and was told that he sold the book to a used bookstore in Pennsylvania, where Jughead scoots off to so that the group can get their lives back (so with Tabitha in Albany and Jughead in Pennsylvania, it seems that the show has now firmly placed Riverdale in New York State, which does share a border with Montreal, and not Vermont). After hearing about Heraldo's death from Veronica, Reggie confronts Percival and asks him how the egg had spiders in it when he knew it was empty. Is he a wizard? Percival admits he has a few tricks up his sleeve, telling Reggie he's a 'magic man'. Reggie asks if that's something he can teach him and Percival says he's sure they can work something out.

With their books returned, Cheryl instructs the group that they must now burn the items to make sure there's no lingering juju on them from Percival's spell. Archie has to make a big sacrifice to burn the guitar his father gave him, but Jughead is unwilling to burn his grandfather's book. What would Ray Bradbury say? Veronica did not return her book and left Hiram's portrait with Percival, telling him no one, not her father and not him, has power over her. Percival seems satisfied with her answer. At Thorn Hill, Cheryl lights up the items (not the truck because she'd already burned Jason) as they watch, and at Percival's shop he writes down two more names on his list of 'Allies'. Joining A. Cooper, T. Keller, and F. Andrews are K. Keller and R. Mantle, two more soldiers claimed by the dark side.

But narrator Jughead is certain that while they did score a win this time, they aren't nearly done in their fight with Percival.

Episode 14 :: Venomous

Let's Talk About 'Venomous':

• Archie learns that Reggie is now working with Percival.
• Cheryl is struggling with the decision to contact Heather or not, and her Magic 8 Ball is of no help (nor is Nana Rose).
• Archie is surprised to learn Jughead is a huge comics fan, but he has a flash of memory from Rivervale in which he helped Jughead move his comics collection.
• Dr. Curdle Jr. is surprised by the amount of poison in Veronica's body, fearing she will die without immediate treatment.
• Betty asks Jughead to do a deep dive into her subconscious to find out what her mind is suppressing.
• Archie asks Cheryl for help in building up an immunity to palladium.
• Reggie attempts a hostile takeover of the Babylonium.
• Tabitha is still in Albany.
• No Toni, Fangs, Kevin or Moose this week.

It's nice to see the core group all interacting again, and actually including Cheryl. I guess everyone is over all that curse business now that they have a much bigger problem on their hands. They are, however, still trying to grapple with the question of how they obtained their special powers. Archie still thinks it was the explosion, but that doesn't explain Cheryl's pyrokinesis or Veronica's poisonous kiss or Tabitha's time travel ability. And why wasn't Kevin or Toni or Fangs affected?

With everyone navigating the hows and whys of their powers, the biggest hurdle to overcome is Archie's susceptibility to palladium, which unfortunately Percival is all too aware of, having the piece he possessed forged into a new ring. Archie cannot afford to tackle with Percival until he can figure out how to become immune to palladium. But paying a visit to Jughead sparks an idea when he sees his friend's massive comic book collection. Now, the two have been friends forever but Archie never knew about Jughead's passion for comics -- but he did suddenly have a flash of memory in which he helped Jughead move that stash of comics to his new apartment, which seemed to momentarily confuse him. This, of course, was a memory from Rivervale which suggests the lines between the two universes are even further blurred. But thanks to Jughead's knowledge of comics lore, he learned that Superman was able to become immune to Kryptonite by constatnly exposing himself to the mineral. So Archie should be able to do the same with a piece of palladium which he borrows from Cheryl.

Unfortunately, the effect of constant exposure to the piece of metal around his neck is not making him immune, it's only weakening him further to the point that he beats his knuckles into a bloody mess punching the bag at the gym, something that didn't even happen when he wasn't invulnerable. Visiting Cheryl again, she suggests ingesting small quantities of palladium as Rasputin the mad monk did with poison to make himself virtually unkillable. Cheryl prepares Archie a batch of palladium soup, but the ingestion of the mineral only weakens him further, dropping his weight to 135 pounds. Cheryl concludes that the palladium is absorbing the rest of the essential minerals Archie needs and to keep from dying he's going to need more iron in his diet. But that may not work. However, there is another solution based on alchemy. Instead of turning iron into gold, she suggests a spell in which she turns palladium into iron, basically forging the metallic elements in Archie's body using magic and heat that would render him completely invulnerable, even to palladium. It's a last gasp for him, but he asks Cheryl to let him and Betty have one more night together just in case it doesn't work. The next day, Cheryl and Archie perform the ritual and while it seems like Cheryl's intense heat on Archie's body is about to consume him while he recites an incantation, it all comes together and Archie is reborn anew, now totally invulnerable and ready to take on Percival.

Cheryl also tries to help Veronica with her new venomous power. After a visit with Dr. Curdle Jr., the immediate medical opinion was that she needed dialysis to cleanse her body of the poison coursing through her. At this point, even her sweat or tears could kill someone, and the doctor is shocked Veronica is still alive. At the casino, she begins her treatments, but also has to deal with Reggie and the Board who are attempting a hostile takeover of the casino because there have been no profits under her sole leadership. Someone also snapped some photos of her while on dialysis in her office, so the Board is concerned that she's too ill to run the place and now have a buyer lined up so that they can get a return on their investment. V insists that everything is fine and she will prove it, but after the meeting she confronts Reggie in Percival's suite -- telling Percival he's free to move out any time he wants -- yelling at her ex about his actions. Suddenly Reggie develops a nosebleed and Veronica realizes that even her breath is now potentially deadly, so she runs out and consults Cheryl, who happens to have a greenhouse full of poisonous plants. Sort of taking the same route as Archie, V takes a collection of plants to nibble on to see if she is in fact immune to the venom in her body, and she begins studying poisonous spiders. In the end, she realizes that she has literally become a Spider Woman.

Her only regret, as she relates to Betty and Archie, is that before she accidentally killed Heraldo, her last meaningful kiss was with Reggie and now that they are completely at odds she's distressed that he was her last living bit of meaningful contact. Surprisingly, Betty makes an offer -- since Archie is now totally invulnerable to everything including poison, V can kiss him. What are friends for, right, especially when they have superpowers? They do and this fulfills a bit of my own supposition on those two but will it go any further than just a kiss? But with a new lease on life, Veronica assures the Board that she is fit as a fiddle and has the projections to prove the Babylonium will be a huge success, topping off her presentation with a performance of 'Toxic' to the assembled crowd. (She's learned also that she can control the release of her venom so she was even able to interact with a group of dancers during the number.)

That may depend on Betty and Jughead now that she has asked him to do a deep dive into her subconscious mind. She's sure her mother has been lying to her about her father, and she feels Alice is hiding a big secret. Jughead agrees and delves into Betty's mind, going through the layers like issues of his comic book collection. A lot of the ones closer to the surface involve him and Betty (and kudos to the director for some nifty transitions from the real to the subconscious world, including inserting Jughead -- I believe -- into footage from past episodes (you can see a noticeable difference in Cole Sprouse, so I don't know if they went the de-aging route or just used old footage). But the first attempts didn't uncover anything about Hal or Alice so Betty asks Jug to go much deeper.

He does and the first thing Betty discovers is that Alice took a test and also has the serial killer gene. There is a conversation between Alice and Hal in which he tells Alice this is a good thing because that means one of their kids may also have it ... and he hopes it's Betty. But is this a false memory? How would Betty have known about this whole conversation if she wasn't even in the room? She even confronts her mother about it, but Alice denies the accusation questioning where Betty even came up with this idea. Betty is still certain Alice is hiding something and needs Jughead to go even deeper. He does and Betty has a vision of her parents doing something in the house where the dining room table is. So she enlists Jughead to help her tear up the floor (with a nice little spider web visual), and when Alice returns home Betty confronts her with ... a dead body buried under the floorboards. Alice is forced to admit that Hal killed the deputy when he came snooping around and forced Alice to help him bury the body or else he'd blame the murder on her. Alice knew Hal was up to something with Betty and she didn't intervene, thinking, hoping that when the time came she would be able to tap into Betty's good side and draw her out of whatever darkness her father was taking her too. Betty is not impressed with Alice's parenting skills and tells her that whatever she thought she was doing didn't work.

While Cheryl was helping Archie and Veronica with their issues, she was also struggling with whether to contact Heather or not. She stalked her high school sweetheart on social media and learned that Heather is a librarian in Greendale. But every time she consulted her mystic oracle -- aka the Magic 8 Ball -- if she should call Heather, the answers were always inconclusive. Maybe she was meant to email her but there was no response forthcoming, and Nana Rose suggested that in her experience if someone cared they would respond immediately to an email. Okay, how much experience does Nana have with emails?? Cheryl shot back that in Rose's time, people communicated with carrier pigeons. But Cheryl did finally pick up her lip-shaped landline phone and called the Greendale library ... and Heather answered. Panicked Cheryl hung up without saying anything. But later that night there was a knock at Cheryl's door, and on the other side was ... Heather, saying Cheryl called and she came. So does Heather have her own special powers? We know there are some strange goings-on in Greendale (plus the preview for the next episode featured Heather possibly telling Cheryl that she is a witch).

Episode 15 :: Things That Go Bump in the Night

Let's Talk About 'Things That Go Bump in the Night':

• Cheryl and Heather reconnect, and Cheryl makes an offer to keep Heather in Riverdale a bit longer.
• Unable to get historic status for Pop's, Tabitha hatches a new plan to keep Percival from destroying the diner.
• Betty confides in a newly transferred agent, Drake, about her serial killer family and special powers.
• Betty asks Archie if she can move in to escape the drama of her family.
• Toni and Fangs are still fighting for custody of Baby Anthony, but Fangs has some self-doubt.
• Veronica asks Jughead for a favor, and offers him a job.

The gang's all here this week as the battle to save the heart of Riverdale continues, while new alliances are formed along the way. The majority of the episode is the protection of Pop's but Veronica, Betty and Cheryl also have some important business.

Veronica is still in a battle for the Babylonium and enlists Jughead's help to boost profits, Using his mind-reading power, she proposes he start doing a mentalist act and she'll split the profits with him 60-40 ... in her favor, of course. Juggie thinks about it for a minute and agrees -- 50-50, and he only reads the minds of the willing. It's a deal, and Forsythe the Fantastic is born. Jughead amazes and astounds audiences, and his success brings with it a little bit of trouble in the form of Reggie Mantle. Reggie sees a way to make a quick buck and tells Veronica he wants a 20% cut or else he'll tell everyone her dirty little secret about the hit she put on her father. Concerned that Reggie could do some real damage with that information, V enlists the help of Jughead again -- to erase that part of Reggie's memory. He isn't sure he can (or should) do it, but a little research shows that it is possible so Veronica lures Reggie to her office to hand him his hush money ... in small bills so he has to stand there and count it, giving Jughead time to sort through the comic books of Reggie's mind. Finding the moment where he learned of Veronica's misdeed, he tears that page out and Reggie has a bit of a snap. He finishes counting the money but V snatches it back from him. He threatens to tell her secret and she asks what secret. Suddenly he can't remember what that thing is and she tells him to get out of her office. Later with Percival, who quips that Reggie looks more befuddled than usual, Reggie mentions that he feels like Veronica and Jughead did something to him and he feels that he's forgotten something. Percival seems to have an idea what happened but doesn't say anything.

Betty is growing concerned about her mother's influence over her as well as what she may be doing to Dagwood and Juniper (who certainly favor the Blossom side of the family with their red hair). She's also perplexed about her aura-reading power and confides in a newly transferred agent, Agent Drake. Betty is trying to figure out how and why her power works ... or doesn't work. Why can she see it around some people but not others? It seems that she can't see the aura of anyone with the MAOA gene. Drake suggests it may be because of the trauma she endured for 18 years at home and suggests she move in with someone, a boyfriend ... or girlfriend? Betty asks Archie if she can move in until she sorts things out and he welcomes her with open arms. But when going home to pack a few things, she sees Dagwood and Juniper playing with a cat Alice got them and Betty immediately recalls her experience with a cat. Dagwood mentions they're going to have fun playing with its tail and then she sees a red aura around him, so she takes the cat 'to make sure it has all of its shots'. Instead she takes it to a shelter, tells Drake what happened and then takes the kids to have them tested for the gene. Oddly enough, Juniper has the gene but Dagwood does not, but she feels it best to take the kids out of the house (did she put them in a shelter too?), which set off Alice to the point where Betty could see her aura, complicating things further because Alice does have the gene. So the gene isn't blocking her ability (neither the killer from the hospital nor Cheryl have the gene and she saw their auras). So what is? And what interest does Drake really have in Betty?

Meanwhile, Cheryl is reconnecting with Heather over books and the supernatural, and Cheryl reveals that she's been thinking of turning Thorn Hill into a library since Riverdale's is under attack from Percival, and she asks Heather for her guidance. Heather is more than happy to return to help out, and as the two grow closer the topic of the supernatural comes up with Cheryl sharing her interests, and Heather offering to do a tarot card reading for her. The first card is The Queen, naturally, and the second is The Lovers signifying Cheryl's yearning for connection, intimacy and love (don't we all, she responds), and the third card is The Tower, a dark card promising disaster, carnage and war. 'Welcome to Riverdale,' quips Cheryl.

Toni and Fangs are still locked in a battle with Kevin over custody of Baby Anthony, and after a visit with Toni's social worker friend, Fangs realizes that he isn't contributing to their family as much as she should, or at least not as much as a judge may see, so taking care of Anthony while Toni does the bulk of the work between school and the Whyte Wyrm probably isn't going to cut it with a judge. Luckily a job offer -- or two -- comes his way.

As they bond, Tabitha is trying to find a way to keep Pop's safe after failing to secure the diner historical status. Since she knows the diner is the heart of Riverdale and the scene of the final battle, she need to keep it protected from Percival's bulldozers and her plan is to dismantle the building and put it into storage until she can find a piece of protected land upon which to rebuild. She enlists the aid of Archie's construction business and he's more than happy to help, assembling a crew to begin work immediately with a clock ticking loudly. The get most of the interior removed and locked in a truck for safety for the night, but when they return to work the next day everything is back in place. Archie and Tabitha assume Percival is responsible so while Archie and his crew get back to work, Tabitha pays a visit to her nemesis who swears he has no idea what she's talking about. Of course she doesn't believe him, and she breaks a vase on the way out of his shop.

With the diner interior dismantled again, Tabitha is shocked to see the place restored once more that night but this time there are people inside. When she enters the place is empty, so she pays a visit to Cheryl to relate her ghostly encounter, hoping Cheryl can offer some assistance. With Heather beside her, they attempt what Heather says is a Wiccan ritual to speak to the dead, and with Cheryl's help they are able to conjure up four ghosts. (Tabitha revealed that several people have died at the diner.) The ghost of a waitress steps forward to speak for the dead and reveals that they are witness for the final battle. The diner must be maintained as is or the battle will not happen and all will be lost. But there is a solution -- Pop's can be dismantled but it has to be reassembled as quickly as possible or else the witnesses will no longer exist. So Tabitha asks Archie if they can rebuild the diner inside of his gym, which is an agreeable solution to the ghosts. Archie agrees but there is an issue with his crew. Percival made an appearance during one of the attempts to dismantle the diner and offered a much better deal to anyone who would join his crew.

Fangs had joined Archie's crew to help earn some money and prove he is a provider for his family, but he's the first to step up when Percival asks for workers to join him. Archie is a bit upset, and Toni is even more upset when she finds out but Fangs assures her that everything will be okay. Archie told him the way to resist Percival's control is to keep an emotional tether to something and for Fangs that is the baby. Toni later surprises Fangs with a dinner to celebrate his new job and to propose to him. Fangs is a bit surprised as this came out of nowhere, but he doesn't know Toni met with her friend again and the suggestion of marriage to show them as a strong family unit would go a long way into helping convince a judge that they are fit to be parents compared to the single Kevin.

And speaking of emotional tethers, Archie needs to reconnect with his Uncle Frank who is heading up Percival's construction crew. Having a drink at the Wyrm, he tries to get Frank to reconnect to his family with a childhood photo of himself with Fred. Frank at first says Fred was an idealist, but later he shows up at the diner to help Archie move it to the gym, saying he did have a change of heart after looking at that picture and thinking about his family all night. Archie is happy that Frank has turned a corner, but as they lock the last bit of the diner interior in the moving truck, Betty shows up to help and sees an aura around Frank. She warns Archie that he's up to no good and Archie confronts his uncle who reveals he was going to destroy the contents of the truck. He assures Archie that Percival will ultimately win this battle and threatens Archie with a piece of palladium. Taking a swing at his nephew's jaw, Frank nearly breaks his knuckles, shocked to find out that Archie is now totally impervious to the metal. Archie tells him to scurry away and let Percival know he's ready to do battle. In the end they get the diner moved and the ghosts approve.

Cheryl has a talk with Heather as she prepares to return to Greendale, commenting on her powers at the diner, speaking to the dead or necromancy. Heather admits that after her mother died, she was taken in by a group of women in Greendale, a powerful coven (the Spellmans, perhaps?), and that she is in fact a witch. And after seeing what Cheryl can do -- including her power of pyrokinesis -- she believes Cheryl is a witch as well ... not to put any labels on her. Cheryl says that if Heather is what she says she is, and Cheryl is too, then would she teach Cheryl all she knows. Heather says she would love to.

Betty has another talk with Drake and reveals that she's starting to see auras around people she hasn't seen them around before, including Frank and Alice. But there's a new aura she's never seen before, and she isn't sure who this person is a threat to. The aura Betty saw was her own.

Episode 16 :: Blue Collar

Let's Talk About 'Blue Collar':

• Percival has altered the terms of his constructions workers' contracts, which does not make them happy.
• Archie and Tabitha ask a surly Cheryl (she really is snappy for some reason) to see what kind of dirt she can find in her family history between the Blossoms and the Pickenses.
• Agent Drake is showing a lot of interest in Veronica's poisonous powers.
• Charles comes home ... to die.
• Moose questions Kevin's drive to gain full custody of Baby Anthony, but there seems to be more to the baby than anyone realizes.
• Reggie helps Percival break into Jughead's mind and the results are catastrophic.
• Archie may have a foothold with Percival's construction workers in attempting to get them to unionize.
• While Heather and Cheryl grow closer, Veronica needs a favor for a new business isea.
• Kevin's actions force Toni and Fangs to switch gears in their custody battle.
• My thoughts about us not being quite out of Rivervale territory seems confirmed by the episode's end title card.

This week's Riverdale was a pretty dark episode, from storyline to lighting it just felt very oppressive and dangerous, especially as Percival's plans begin to take shape as construction on his railroad begins. The question is exactly what kind of railroad is it? Cheryl is sure he's building a Ghost Train, which would grant him dominion over the souls of the dead ... and the living, which Cheryl notes isn't something you can just go around telling people. But to stop the railroad from being built, Archie needs to convince the workers that Percival is simply exploiting them -- he's cut their pay, is making them pay for their own tools, and they get no overtime or benefits. But he knows he has them over a barrel because none of them have worked for some time, and at least they don't have to pay union dues. But that is actually where Cheryl comes in.

The Blossom family has a questionable history with the Pickens family, so Archie is hopeful she will be able to find something in her family history to prove to the workers how bad Percival actually is. Cheryl doesn't seem thrilled to be participating in this venture any longer -- really, what crawled up inside of her and died? -- but she reluctantly agrees to help. At least it allows her to spend more time with Heather, who is more than happy to pore through the Blossom family history. And Heather finds something that may be helpful, a letter that mentions the Malleus Maleficarum, one of the more powerful arcane texts in existence. According to the document, a Pickens ancestor stole the Maleficarum from a Blossom ancestor ... probably not the dirt Archie needs, but Heather states that if Percival has the text they need to get it back. Which gives her a chance to teach Cheryl an 'unseeable' spell, but this one doesn't require a magic cloak like Harry Potter uses. All Cheryl has to do is concentrate on the spell and hold her breath, and that will bend visible light around her, rendering her unseeable to anyone else ... like Percival when they go to visit him at his Curiosity Shop to retrieve the Maleficarum. And surprisingly it works. Cheryl nearly got caught when she knocked a book in Percival's office onto the floor, but he never saw her and she was able to grab the text and get out of there safely with Heather acting as a distraction. What they plan to do with the book will have to wait, as Cheryl still needs to find Archie's dirt -- she does -- and then admits to Heather that she's only started her library to keep her around longer. She tells Heather if she wants to leave, she'll understand ... but Heather is more than happy to stay with Cheryl. Which finally brightens Cheryl's dark mood!

Meanwhile, Betty and Veronica are having a chat with Agent Drake about Veronica's new power, trying to determine if Hiram's death was the trauma that brought it on (or maybe it was guilt?) but the conversation is interrupted as Betty gets an urgent call from Alice. Racing home she learns Charles has been released from prison ... because he's dying and they have no room for him in the infirmary. Alice has set him up in Betty's bedroom and Betty has a chat but sees that he is in no condition to be a threat to her. During their chat, Charles wonders if all the terrible things he's done have just come back to poison his system, and now he's paying the price. He tells Betty he's ready to face whatever fate lies ahead for him after he dies but does he have to die? (He also hasn't seen or heard from Chick since the prison breakout, as they were sent to different prisons after they were recaptured.) But Charles' fate weighs heavily on Betty because this could be her fate as well. So maybe there is a way to help them both thanks to Veronica.

After talking to Drake more, Veronica has come up with a plan to enter the absinthe market ... except pure absinthe is highly toxic and illegal. The toxicity comes from the main ingredient, wormwood, but perhaps there is a way that Veronica can distill the toxins out since, as Drake surmised, her body is acting as a dialysis machine, filtering out the poison her body produces so it doesn't kill her. Drake is also interested in getting in on the ground floor of this venture and it seems to work as we later see Veronica and Betty enjoying some green liquid. But before she can proceed with the absinthe, Betty asks her for a huge favor after barely stopping Alice from smothering Charles to death (Alice said that was their plan so he didn't have to suffer but Betty isn't down with any more murders in the building). Since Charles is dying from some toxins, perhaps Veronica will be able to act as a filter, cleaning his blood. He agrees and it works. We don't know how, but he is healed and V just felt a little fluey. Charles admits that he really was terrified of death but has Betty improved her own karma?

Moose is surprised by Kevin's opulent living quarters, and Kevin tells him that Percival is helping him out (he omitted the part about the makeout session) and that he needed to move out of his dad's place to establish himself as a responsible parent. But Moose asks Kevin why he's so intent on destroying his friendship with Toni and Fangs, and how is he even sure Baby Anthony is his? At the work site, Kevin and Fangs get into it as Kevin tries to assert his fatherhood, and Toni is not happy that they almost came to blows. Fangs accuses her of taking Kevin's side, but she says she's on the baby's side and he should be to. Later, Toni comes home and Britta is there babysitting but she can't find Anthony's pacifier. She tells Toni that Kevin stopped by, as he told her he usually does on Saturdays, and that's when the pacifier went missing. Marching herself to Kevin's and interrupting his dinner with Moose -- whom she warns to stay seated and he does -- she punches Kevin in the face a couple of times, demanding the pacifier back, knowing that he took it to have a DNA test done (the original plan before the custody fight was to not know who the father was so they could all co-parent). With more than his pride wounded, Kevin (and Moose, who seems to have fallen in with Percival ... or he's just trying to be a supporting partner for Kevin ... are they officially together now?) goes to Percival and tells him he failed in his mission to secure the pacifier. So Percival was behind this all along ... so did he put the suggestion in Kevin's mind to go forward with the custody battle? Seems like, because Percival tells him it's okay that he didn't get the item and, by the way, Kevin isn't Anthony's father. Because he knows things. And what he also knows is that Baby Anthony is going to be the true savior of Riverdale ... but not if he can help it. And after both of their encounters with Kevin, Toni has decided that they are not rebranding the Serpents as political activists, and she wants Fangs to initiate Baby Anthony into the group properly, choosing his Serpents name. Happy with her new path, Fangs finally accepts her proposal of marriage.

Percival has his hands full this week, First Reggie -- who still can't put his finger on what he's forgotten -- asks Percival for that magic lesson he promised. Percival pulls out a ventriloquist dummy -- that looks like Reggie! -- and gives him a quick lesson on throwing his voice. The plan is to distract Jughead long enough, at one of his performances, for Percival to get in and cause some real havoc for Jones. Percival has taken a peek in Reggie's mind to discover that Jughead did, in fact, tear a page out of one of the comic books so now he needs to know what it was. As Reggie throws his voice to heckle Forsythe, Percival makes his way in but encounters a locked door. Jughead was fully prepared for an attack, so Percival needs to appear as a more familiar entity. Reggie acquires some of Jughead's personal belongings, including his Serpents jacket and the familiar beanie that was buried in a time capsule, and he again uses his ventriloquism skills to distract Jughead long enough for Percival, in Jughead drag, to enter his mind. Finding the door now unlocked to him, Percival jams the door open which causes a flood of thoughts from eveyrone in the room to consume his mind. Unable to shut the door and quiet the voices, Jughead leaves the Babylonium and heads for Pop's, but there are too many people there as well. He can still hear voices at home so he leaves Tabitha a note and flees to the one place he knows -- or hopes -- will be quiet: the bunker. But even there he finds no peace and isn't sure what to do next.

Percival also has Archie and Tabitha to deal with. Knowing Percival is exploiting his workers, even making them pay for their own coffee, they decide to take a food truck to the site and hand out free coffee. And there's a special at Pop's -- 25 cent hamburgers just like they were in 1947 when the first union was formed in Riverdale. That gives Archie a chance to talk to Fangs and Carlos, to really try to sway them into forming a union even though they all know Percival will fight it. Cheryl gives Archie what she believes will help him sway the workers -- a letter from one of her ancestors warning about one of Percival's ancestor, the one who tried to prevent a union of the mine workers from forming, who saw the workers as nothing but animals. With the workers gathered at Pop's, Tabitha reads them the full text of the letter which completely changes their view of Percival and they unanimously vote to unionize. They appoint Archie as their representative and he is more than happy to deliver the news to Percival and Frank (and Kevin and Moose) that the workers won't be showing up to build his railroad any time soon, at least not by workers in Riverdale. Percival says we'll see how long they remain on strike in the face of what's coming. He warns Archie -- whom he tried to sway to join his workers earlier -- that he hasn't seen any real fighting yet ... but he will.

And as the episode ends with the familiar Riverdale logo, the D flashes back and forth with a V several times which seems to confirm my suspicions that we either haven't really left Rivervale, or the two universes are in fact seeping into one another. But we'll be left to ponder all of this for two weeks as the show takes a break and then returns on June 12 with ... the musical episode! This time the cast will be performing songs from the musical version of American Psycho (yes, like Carrie, such a thing exists). What do you think of the season so far? I know some feel it's completely jumped the shark, but I am enjoying the heck out of it. It's probably the strongest season since the first in my opinion. I hope they continue this craziness with the seventh and final season next year ... they have nothing to lose at that point! What do you think? Comment below!

Episode 17 :: American Psychos

Let's Talk About 'American Psychos':

• Tickets are selling like hotcakes to Slaughter Con, but will this be enough to draw TBK into the daylight?
• Uncle Frank suggests to Percival that it's time for him to use his mind control on the entire construction crew to get them back to work on the railroad which needs to be completed within the month before Bailey's Comet arrives.
• Archie has managed to get full benefits for the striking workers, and Tabitha is offering free meals to them and their families at Pop's.
• Toni wants to deliver the news to Cheryl that she and Fangs are getting married. It does not go over well.
• This quasi-musical episode has Kevin kicking off Slaughter Con with a number from the musical version of American Psycho.
• Percival does make his move on the workers but hitting that many people at once comes with consequences.
• Betty is clued in that she has 'fans' and perhaps there is more to Drake than meets the eye.
• Archie is a little weirded out by Slaughter Con, and Betty worries that her own darkness will ruin their relationship.
• Cheryl and Kevin join forces to drive a wedge between Toni and Fangs.
• Archie, Tabitha and Toni join forces to break Percival's spell.

Riverdale returns after a week off and before another week off -- why on Earth break up the flow like this and why put the 'musical' episode on against the Tony Awards on your sister network? Well, it wasn't a traditional musical episode as the songs were from the very short-lived Broadway serial killer musical American Psycho, which Veronica helpfully reminds us is based on the novel by Bret Easton Ellis with music and lyrics by Duncan Sheik. But what she left out was that the book of the show was written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa ... creator of Riverdale. I suppose that may have been a little too meta, even for this show. It was funny how Charles immediately asked if the show was Sweeney Todd, but that music would have probably been much too expensive, and they had an in with American Psycho. Plus it's fun how the show likes to highlight little seen musicals (like they year they did Carrie). It also wasn't the usual all-singing musical episode, with three of the five songs staged as performances at the convention (two by Kevin, one by Betty). One song that did feel like a musical number involved the female members of the cast, and another didn't even seem to come from the same show. So it was an interesting way to do a musical episode without it being a musical.

The focus of the episode was Slaughter Con which was designed solely to draw TBK out of the woodwork so Betty could finally arrest him ... because serial killers are narcissists, so a convention about him would have to be something he would attend. Of course there is also the issue of other people dressing as their favorite serial killers (yes, there was also a Black Hood and a few TBKs) which could only make Betty's job harder. Also complicating matters for Betty is Agent Drake, who delivered a lecture on hybristophilia -- a sexual interest in and attraction to those who commit crimes -- a condition Drake seems to have as she admits her feelings for Betty because, you know, she's got that darkness inside of her and she couldn't possibly find the same common ground with Archie in their relationship. That sets Betty's wheels to spinning to the point that she even considers breaking things off with Archie, especially after she has a dream about Drake. But with her focus needed to be snaring TBK, and Archie having to deal with Percival and the construction crew, the one person Betty can talk to is Veronica ... and she urges Betty to find a moment to talk with Archie so they can find common ground ... unless she really does have an attraction to Drake. Betty also has stalkerish fans who keep showing up in costume, brandishing Black Hood's weapons ... that they want her to autograph. And she has to prepare for the convention's main event -- an interview and Q & A session with 'The Girl in the Well', a sit down with Alice detailing publicly how and why TBK finally released her.

In the midst of all this, Toni decided to visit Cheryl and give her the news thats she and Fangs are getting married. Cheryl was visibly shaken, but she played it off and introduced her to Heather. But after Toni left and Heather asked if she was bothered by the news, Cheryl completely snapped at her. Then she ran off to see Kevin, who had also just gotten the news from his lawyer, so she asked if he wanted to join her in breaking up the lovebirds. The two performed a ritual spell to drive a wedge between Toni and Fangs, but unfortunately they didn't specify what exactly the wedge would be. Turns out they ended up giving Baby Anthony colic, which angered Kevin and terrified Cheryl. The last thing they wanted to do was hurt the baby, but Heather was able to intervene and cure the child, and then she warned Cheryl never to perform a spell while under emotional duress because it always backfires. But the incident did finally allow Cheryl to release her feelings for Toni and admit how she felt about Heather ... who obviously feels the same way which is a relief to Cheryl. Now perhaps they can combine their powers to help in the fight to save Riverdale from Percival.

Speaking of, he's none-too-pleased that the construction crew is still on strike. Frank asks if he can just use his mind control on them -- which begs the question of what hold Percival has on Frank if he knows about the mind control; that's not something someone who's being controlled would know was happening -- and he does just that, marching himself to Pop's where the workers are enjoying their free meals courtesy of Tabitha, and after Archie got them full benefits while they are on strike, ordering them back to work. Percival needs the railroad completed within the month ahead of the arrival of Bailey's Comet, which won't return for another 65 years. (So how much track does he actually need laid, and where exactly is the railroad coming from and going to?) The first person he approaches is Fangs, who was supposed to be using Baby Anthony as is tether to combat the mind control but either he must have forgotten or Percival was more powerful because he immediately left the diner and went to work. Then Percival did a mass mind control and got everyone back to work ... but at a cost as he developed a nose bleed from the exertion. So Percival does have a weakness that may be exploited. And exploit they do as Archie, Tabitha and Toni arrive at the conclusion that music is an emotional tether everyone has, so they go to the job site with a few others and sing 'Bread and Roses' which snaps all of the workers out from Percival's spell. But it doesn't work on Frank, so that is another indication that there's something more going on with him than mind-control.

Back at the convention, Betty freaks out a bit when it appears Kevin is being attacked by TBK during one of his numbers, 'Killing Spree' -- it's Dr. Curdle Jr and it was part of the performance (umm, thanks for the heads up, Kev) -- which forces him to drop out of the final performance, which now Betty also takes on. But during the Q & A session after her interview with Alice, they get a phone call (not sure how they are taking callers -- is this being livestreamed?) from ... TBK. It's a bit unsettling as he tells her they are destined to be together and she'll never find that same connection with her all-American boyfriend (this sounds familiar but there's no way TBK is Agent Drake ... right? ... and did anyone check her credentials when she just popped up at Betty's FBI field office?). But for as long as Betty had him on the phone, Drake signaled that they were not able to get a trace.

The girls all prepare for Toni's bachelorette party in one of the suites at Babylonium, performing 'You Are What You Wear', and then Betty tries to have a talk with Archie, but there's still too much going on. Betty then heads back to the convention to perform the last number, 'A Girl Before', but it does not draw out TBK. Drake asks Betty who she was thinking about while she was singing the song, Archie or TBK, and we see during a flashback to the number that she was thinking of Archie ... but she doesn't tell Drake either way. When Betty gets back home to Archie's, he's not there but she texts him that she's ready to talk. She then looks across to her house and sees TBK in her bedroom. Grabbing her father's gun that she confiscated from the fan, she runs over and finds Charles and Alice bound, gagged and nearly suffocated at the dining room table. TBK is no longer in the bedroom, but Alice tells her that he said he'd be waiting for her in the garage and begs her not to go. But she does and confronts him where he again tries to manipulate her into joining him -- put on her own TBK mask or kill him with her father's gun. She finally opts for the latter and shoots him after he refuses to take off his own mask. And then she leaves him laying in a pool of blood while she goes to free her mother and brother. Nope, she didn't unmask him so we still don't know who it is, and for all we know she left him laying in the garage because the next thing we see is Betty having that talk with Archie. She says TBK is dead -- is he? -- but she's still worried that all that darkness inside of her is going to tear them apart and she doesn't want to hurt Archie. He, however, reminds her of the time they both saved a baby bird, Betty building it a next of shredded newspaper in a show box, and how she has always put her concern for him and other ahead of any dark impulses she might have, trying to protect them. All of that is enough to prove she isn't as bad as she thinks she is and that seems to finally take a weight from her shoulders so they can move forward as a couple.

But with Archie and Tabitha proving to be formidable adversaries for Percival, and the workers establishing tethers that will make it harder to get them back with mind control. Frank asks if he wants to do some old school union busting, but Percival tells him that if the people of Riverdale want to continue their defiance of him, their punishment will be truly Biblical.

Ruh-roh.

Episode 18 :: Biblical

Let's Talk About 'Biblical':

• Plagues are being visited upon Riverdale, the signs of the coming Apocalypse.
• Toni asks Veronica to plan her wedding to Fangs, which gives the former 'She-Wolf of Wall Street' an identity crisis.
• Jughead's writing -- about some very familiar subjects -- seems to be lessening the voices in his head, but after he writes them they disappear.
• The Sweetwater River runs red, and Toni's pre-wedding feast rots in minutes.
• Kevin tells Toni and Fangs he's dropping his lawsuit against them for Baby Anthony after he finally saw the light about Percival's control over him.
• Percival warns Archie there is more to come unless his workers end their strike, and Cheryl offers a simple solution to the problem -- she'll incinerate him, but no one is on board with murder.
• Veronica seems to go a little overboard with her song 'Ladies Who Lunch' at the pre-wedding dinner, making everyone very uncomfortable and wondering if she had lost her mind.
• Percival delivers another plague to the construction crew and offers to ease it up if Archie works on the railroad alone ... and they deliver Baby Anthony to him.
• The group thinks they have the upper hand, but Toni and Fangs' wedding comes with a surprise ending.

This episode of Riverdale certainly amped up the crazy but the Jughead storyline is beginning to make me wonder if this entire season now isn't some sort of fever dream in Jughead's mind, caused by the explosion at Archie's house. That would certainly be a bold move, and not unprecedented -- Dallas had an entire season that turned out to be a dream between the seasons when Patrick Duffy left the show and returned, and classic hospital drama St. Elsewhere surprised -- and angered -- viewers when the final episode revealed the entire series, all six seasons, was a fantasy in the mind of an autistic child. So with Jughead now locked in the bunker to keep all the voices of Riverdale out of his head, he's discovered something that helps -- the voices he is hearing are basically giving him ideas for stories, and as he writes them all down the voices begin to dissipate. But it seems that the stories are coming to life as we see La Llorona (but it isn't Toni, who we saw take on that mantle in the 'Rivervale' episode) enter the bunker while he sleeps and takes the story. And every time he does sleep, another story vanishes but somehow someone left a plate of food from Pop's for him, which he thought he shouldn't eat but he did anyway. He also received a message in a bottle, which brought up a quick flash of a younger Jughead with a ship in a bottle, and the message inside said 'Keep writing.' But the burger made him very sick, and when he woke there was someone else in the bunker -- another Jughead. So now we have to wonder which Jughead is the Riverdale Jughead and which is the Rivervale Juggie. He'd also had a nightmare while ill from the burger that Cheryl entered the bunker to 'help' him by plunging a dagger into his stomach, and when he woke up there was a knife stuck into his desk. But before he could question anything or make sense of seeing himself ... well, we'll get to that in a minute.

In Riverdale, Biblical plagues have been visited upon the town -- frogs, flies, lice -- and Archie and company are sure that Percival is behind it all, proving that his powers go beyond simple mind control. Cheryl has the answer to the Percival problem -- she'll incinerate him with her pyrokinesis. No one wants to stoop to murder, but Archie knows that everything that's happening is because his crew is still on strike, further delaying construction of the railroad for Percival's Ghost Train. In the midst of these plagues, Toni and Fangs are still planning to get married, and she asks Veronica to help plan the wedding because she's the only person in town who can get it done, and done right. Veronica is flattered but it also gives the former 'She-Wolf of Wall Street' a major identity crisis -- Toni has Fangs, Betty has Archie, Tabitha has Jughead ... Veronica, for once in her life, has no one which makes her question her place in Riverdale. But while she puts aside her own feelings to focus on helping Toni, Percival brings more plagues to town, causing the Sweetwater River to run red and causing the pre-wedding banquet at the Babylonium to rot within minutes.

What Percival doesn't know is that Kevin overheard him through the wall reciting his incantation to bring on a plague and it seems to have shaken him back to reality (that and the little bombshell Percy dropped on Kevin about Fangs being Baby Anthony's father). He pays a visit to Toni and Fangs and tells them he's dropping the custody battle against them because Toni is Anthony's mother and Fangs is his father. He tells them he has finally recognized that Percival was filling his head with these ideas and now he's coming back to reality. The couple are so relieved that they even invite Kevin to the wedding, and of course he can bring Moose (side note -- there has been no talk of TBK since Betty 'killed' him, but we never saw his identity revealed so I'm still going to be suspicious about Moose). And now that Kevin seems to be out from under Percival's control, he could be very useful in the fight against him.

With the plagues escalating, Archie decides that it's time to end the strike but the crew wants to stand fast and Archie is impressed with their fortitude, even with the hardships the strike is causing. But their resilience may fade quickly as their defiance leads to another plague -- boils upon their skin. Everyone on the crew is affected except Archie, so he has to do what's right and make Percival an offer to relieve the men of their curse. Percival agrees on one condition -- they will heal, slowly, if Archie agrees to work on the railroad by himself and get the construction done within a set time frame. Archie agrees and goers to work.

But Percival isn't done with Riverdale's plagues. Kevin had revealed that Percy kept a diary of sorts that he was always writing in, and knew that it might be the key in stopping his plan. Visiting the curiosity shop, Percival almost caught Kevin up to no good but he came up with a quick story about how he didn't feel like he fit in anymore and was having a lot of self doubt. Percival fell for it and showed Kevin his latest shipment of antiquities -- crossbows, swords and a stock in which to imprison the Harlot of Babylon. Relating this information to the group, Betty remembered that during some conversation with TBK he called her the Harlot of Babylon, so was the stocks meant for her? She pays a visit to Percival and asks if he plans on imprisoning her, and he knows now that Kevin has betrayed him. But he reveals it's not just her that he wants -- he wants Baby Anthony as well. While Archie works on the railroad and the group devises a new plan, Percival brings about another of the End Times plagues -- darkness in the form of a surprise and unending eclipse of the sun.

Delivering this news to the group, they all know that giving him the baby is out of the question but Heather informs them that the stocks render powerless whoever is held in them so they have to figure out a way to ensnare Percival but all of them showing up at the shop together would certainly tip him off. Cheryl, however, has a solution. Earlier she and Heather did try to incinerate him, but he was strong enough to fight back with a counter-spell, getting himself to an antique wheelchair and turning the heat up on Nana Rose, engulfing her in flames. So when Betty shows up again at the shop with the baby, Percival is surprised she was brave enough to come alone. But when he saw the baby was just a doll, Betty said she wasn't alone and the rest of the group materialized around him, using Cheryl's spell of invisibility. The get him into the stocks, and Veronica locks him in her strongest vault at the casino, and with him powerless -- the daylight returns -- they can get on with the wedding.

But Percival isn't as powerless as they assumed because he's able to conjure up a plague of locusts in the vault which he uses to eat the wood of the stocks, using his powers to unlock the door once he is free. And he has one more plague up his sleeve. While everyone is partying at the Whyte Wyrm, Percival makes his way to Thorn Hill and surprises the badly burned Rose, calling her the oldest of Riverdale's first born, invoking a curse upon all the first born, and snuffing out her life.

At the reception, Veronica asks Tabitha if she saw the future of how her life was going to end up. Was Archie going to be with Betty or with her? Tabitha doesn't want to tell her but finally agrees but it has to stay between them. Before she can reveal the future, Archie suddenly grabs his chest and begins gasping for air before collapsing to the floor, then Toni and Fangs collapse. Everyone watches in horror as more of the guests collapse, and when only a handful are left they realize all of Riverdale's first born -- except for Baby Anthony -- are dead (and hey, where's Reggie and does he have older siblings?). Betty, Veronica and Cheryl were the youngest children so they are alive. Apparently Kevin has an older sibling we don't know about, as does Moose. Tabitha as well and she realizes Jughead is also a first born ... which bring us back to the bunker and his doppelgänger. Before Jughead can ask himself anything, he also grabs his chest and collapses while his other self watches with confusion. As the survivors try to put the pieces together, Heather says there may be a way to reverse all of this but they will need the help of a necromancer much stronger than she, and her name is ... Sabrina!

So now we have to wait for another two weeks before Sabrina Spellman makes her second appearance on the show which also strengthens my belief that we never left Rivervale because this is all part of a dream caused by the explosion. But we have four episodes to go before the truth is revealed ... unless they carry it on to the seventh and final season in 2023.

Episode 19 :: The Witches of Riverdale

Let's Talk About 'The Witches of Riverdale':

• The survivors of Percival's last plague stage a funeral to throw him off the scent.
• Questions linger as to why Baby Anthony and Kevin survived the death of the first born, while everyone realizes only a certain number of key first born children of Riverdale died.
• Alice reports on the news that a gang war between the Serpents and the Goolies was the reason for the deaths.
• Percival knows Kevin betrayed him and asks Reggie to kill him ... in exchange for a new heart for his father.
• Heather explains that the dead are in an afterlife known as the 'Sweet Hereafter' and they only have three days to bring them back before their bodies and souls are corrupted.
• Kevin tries to make a break for it.
• Witch and necromancer supreme Sabrina Spellman arrives to bring back the dead before it's too late, but she may have ulterior motives.
• Betty, Veronica and Tabitha are inducted into the Black Arts.
• Sabrina reveals Cheryl's pyrokinesis is just the beginning of her powers
• Tabitha comes across an old 'friend' and learns some startling new facts.
• Sabrina drops one little tidbit of information on the new coven -- the dead may not want to come back. It's their choice.

Most of the key characters of Riverdale are dead at the start of this episode, and that just won't do while there's still a war on the horizon with Percival ... and a seventh season still to come. Of course this gives the show a second opportunity to bring Sabrina Spellman back ... or introducer Sabrina into the Riverdale timeline since last we saw her it was 'Rivervale'. Having experienced death and rebirth herself (on her own Netflix series) has made her a powerful, and certified, necromancer who can revive the first borns of Riverdale. A nagging question about Kevin Keller is also answered as I mused in the last post if he had older sibling. Turns out ... he does not so why did he not fall to Percival's final plague? And for that matter, why didn't Baby Anthony? Kevin can only speculate as to why he survived (which seems to turn out to be fact), and it is revealed that everyone was wrong about why the baby lived, assuming Percival kept him alive for his own purposes. And Reggie finds himself between a rock and a hard place (and I think we have to assume he is also a first born who did not die) when Percival comes calling with a favor, and an offer he can't refuse.

But with these threads dangling over the story, there is still the matter of bringing Archie, Jughead, Fangs, Toni, Dagwood and Nana Rose back from the dead. As Heather explains it, the deceased are now in a place called the 'Sweet Hereafter', sort of their own personal version of Heaven, 'living' the life they always desired. Archie is happily in his childhood home, now married to Betty with two kids of their own -- Little Fred and Little Polly. Jughead spends all of his time at Pop's, eating endless hamburgers and being worshipped by the fans of his comic books. And he can hear. Fangs and Toni have successfully arranged a truce with Twyla Twyst and the Goolie, and Baby Anthony is all grown up and has eyes for a Goolie. But, as Heather explains, they only have three days to bring them all back to the real world or their bodies and souls will become corrupt. And they only have twelve hours left so that powerful necromancer she's engaged to help facilitate the operation needs to hop on her broomstick and get to Riverdale ASAP.

But Kevin is now certain that Percival allowed him to live for one reason -- torture for his betrayal -- and he needs to get out of town now. Moose has already left, waiting for him in New York, so he says his goodbyes to Betty and packs his things. But before he can even get out of his front door, Kevin's father ans some of Percival's goons are there to stop him. With Kevin apprehended, Percival calls in a favor from Reggie, who had just acquired the legendary Daggers of Megiddo from Rome (nice reference to The Omen) -- kill Kevin, which is not something Reggie is prepared to do. He's been spending time with his dad after Percival had Reggie made the new CEO of the Babylonium, but Mr. Mantle's heart is giving out. Percival ups the stakes and tells Reggie killing Kevin will put his father at the top of the list for a brand new heart. But can Reggie go through with it?

Sabrina finally arrives and goes over all the rules with Cheryl, Betty, Veronica and Tabitha. She can perform the ritual to bring everyone back but she needs six witches and they have just three, so Betty, Veronica and Tabitha must go through their own rituals to become witches themselves. Easy peasy, apparently, because before you know it they are opening a portal to the 'Sweet Hereafter', but Sabrina also dropped one little bomb on the coven -- the dead may not want to return. At the morgue, Sabrina tries to decide which body and soul to bring back first. She took Jughead because (a) he was cute and (b) had a cool name. As she passes through the portal, she emerges in a sort of 1950s fantasy world where Jughead has taken on the look of his comic book self complete with his signature crown in place. Sabrina also looks like her classic cartoon character. Jughead thinks she's a fan of his comics but she explains the situation to him and he politely turns her down. Why would he want to leave a place of happiness, or endless hamburgers and no pain or sorrow. Besides, he already knows he's going to die, again, so what's the point? 'Thanks but no thanks, and tell Tabitha I miss her and hope to see her soon ... not too soon.'

Sabrina returns ... with Jughead. But it's not Jughead, it's her boyfriend Nick Scratch in Jughead's body. On her show, he gave his life to save hers, to balance things so she decided since Jughead wasn't going to be using his body then Nick might as well so she can have a little more time with him. Oh, and he's also a powerful necromancer so they will need his help. The next issue to tackle is that none of the others know who Sabrina is, so she can't just approach them all and tell them to come back. She also can't rip them out of the Sweet Hereafter, it has to be their own decision, so the only ones who can do the best convincing to return are their loved ones. Sabrina has already sensed a special power in Betty, but when they reveal that Betty was once compared to the Harlot of Babylon, Sabrina said that the harlot certainly cannot enter Heaven so someone else will have to bring Archie back. And, of course, the only person that falls on is Veronica who keeps getting the short end of the stick, still unsure of what future Tabitha saw for her and Archie. And one more thing: Veronica, Cheryl and Tabitha have to die. Temporarily. It's the only way they can cross over.

With the help of Charon, who ushers them into the afterlife, Veronica goes to Archie's house and tries to explain the situation to him. Unfortunately, he has the same reaction as Jughead. Who would want to willingly leave Heaven to fight a losing battle? Sweet Hereafter Betty comes home and invites who she thinks is Sweet Hereafter Veronica to stay for dinner, but feeling a bit defeated she turns down the offer. Tabitha goes to Pop's but sees that Jughead is enjoying the adoration of his fans so much that she can't barge in on him. But she does happen to sit next to the angel Raphael at the lunch counter ... or rather he sits next to her, welcoming her to Heaven. But he has a few other things to tell her, including that he is her guardian angel. Cheryl makes her first stop at Toni's apartment. Before her arrival Grown-Up Anthony has some news for them -- he's in love ... with Timmy Twyst. And they're going to get married. His parents are so happy but Cheryl interrupts their joy with the news that none of this is real and they need to come back to the land of the living to take care of their real baby. The couple has a hard time believing her, and Fangs says she always hated that Toni chose him, and she's trying to break them up just like she tried to break up her brother Jason and Betty's sister Polly. Wait what? Jason and Polly are ... married? (Erm, aren't they ... cousins?) Cheryl leaves them and heads to Thorn Hill where she finds the couple, their child and Nana Rose living in an idyll. Oh, and Polly is expecting. Triplets! (And Nana Rose's eye isn't jacked up either.) They tell Cheryl she is more than welcome to stay with them, but can she?

Meanwhile, Reggie is having at attack of conscience with the ventriloquist doll Percival gave him acting as his own personal Jiminy Cricket, berating him for even considering killing Kevin even if it was to save his father, and Reggie knew he was right. So he grabbed his dad and Kevin from the casino and told them they had to make a break for it ... but of course Uncle Frank and his goons were at the door, and they took the three into custody. Percival earlier had tried to pry into Kevin's mind to find out what the others were doing, but he was able to find his anchor and resist, telling Percival to just kill him because he would never give him the information he wanted. Kevin may get his wish. And while all this is going on, Sabrina and Jughead Nick are out on a date with Sabrina also suggesting to him that they just run away. Nick says that will be impossible because Death will come for them (those creepy little birds are already there to snatch Nick's soul) and in the end she knows she has to say goodbye to him.

Veronica returns empty-handed, as does Tabitha and Cheryl. There is only one option left and that is on Ceryl's shoulders. Sabrina also saw a power in her, but not just her pyrokinesis, which was just the top of the iceberg. Cheryl has the power of the Phoenix, rebirth from the ashes. Since they couldn't convince anyone to leave the Sweet Hereafter, they were going to have to forcibly remove them. Cheryl was kind of pleased with herself and happily agreed to perform the ritual. All they needed was for Cheryl to ignite the bodies with her power and recite the Phoenix spell and that should do the trick. One thing -- the dead may not be exactly who they were, some being very angry that they were removed from their own Heaven, but Cheryl begins the ritual. In the Sweet Hereafter, Archie is dressed in his uniform, telling Betty he has to leave to fight the war in Riverdale but as they say their goodbyes, he starts getting very hot. Toni is looking through their wedding photo album and realizes that the photos stop at the wedding. There are no honeymoon photos like she remembered. Fangs asks her is she has the heat cranked up. Jughead also notices it is getting very hot in Pop's. In the mines where they arranged the bodies, Cheryl has created a blue flame from which flies a fiery bird and out of the flames walks Archie, Jughead, Toni, Fangs, Nana Rose and Dagwood.

When Sabrina leaves, she said she enjoyed seeing Cheryl in action but she hopes she doesn't get into trouble for what she did. Cheryl acts like she has no idea what Sabrina is talking about but Sabrina warns her to be careful. 'Death does not like to be cheated.' Tabitha and Jughead are having a tense reunion. Jughead does not look the least bit happy to be back among the living but while Tabitha is talking to him he realizes he can actually hear her voice. AND he can read her thoughts. Did being dead and revived reboot him? Perhaps but Jughead remembers something else from before his death ... there was another Jughead in the bunker. Cheryl tells Heather her experience in the Sweet Hereafter was painful seeing her own family happy without her, but maybe they deserved a second chance also. Heather says they've been gone so long but Cheryl said she had to try anyway ... and in walks Jason, Polly and their son with Nana Rose. Heather looks concerned. Archie told Betty about their life and their two kids -- Betty thought it was funny they couldn't come up with more original names than Polly and Fred -- and Archie said being married to her with their family was like his little part of Heaven. With Veronica the odd man out when it comes to family reunions, Tabitha decided to check up on her. Tabitha admits that, yes, a lot of the futures she saw did show Archie and Betty as endgame but ... about half of them shows Archie and Veronica as endgame, so her romantic future is still up for grabs. While Kevin is sure they're going to die, Reggie actually has a plan to get them out of their predicament: he stole on of the Daggers, hoping it will make a nice weapon to jam in someone's neck. (Quick history note: the Daggers of Megiddo are from The Omen and are designed to kill the Antichrist, but it will take all six as only one will kill his physical life force so killing Percival's body will not kill his spiritual existence.) Tabitha also pays a visit to Toni and Fangs and reveals a few secrets. She did learn that Raphael is her guardian angel and he told her that Baby Anthony can't die, he's immortal, so that's why Percival's plague didn't take him. He also revealed to Tabitha that she is Riverdale's guardian angel. Boom!

And, surprise, there is a new episode next week titled ... 'Return to Rivervale'.

Episode 20 :: Return to Rivervale

Let's Talk About 'Return to Rivervale':

• With Percival unaware that the dead are alive again, the group meets to figure out what they know and how they can stop him.
• Cheryl delivers some shocking new to Betty about a loved one.
• Jughead theorizes that he's not just a mind reader, but he can travel to alternate dimensions and there are two portals in the bunker.
• Percival agrees to a sit down interview with Alice on live TV to reveal the truth about himself ... in exchange for the TV station carrying the execution of Kevin, Reggie and Mr. Mantle live.
• Veronica learns she's been ousted from her position at the Babylonium.
• Rivervale and Riverdale are, in fact, bleeding into each other because there was not a clean break between the two when the bomb went off in Archie's bedroom.
• Kevin, Reggie and Mr. Mantle try to trick Frank and Tom into thinking Reggie's pop has had a heart attack.
• Percival's guillotines may have been used, but not on the intended victims.
• Did Polly actually wash away Betty's MAOA gene, giving her a new golden aura?

Wow, this was a complex episode as the Percival Pickens storyline is explained completely, along with why Riverdale has become such a hot bed of the supernatural. And I'm more than a little pleased with myself for guessing that Rivredale and Rivervale were more connected than anyone wanted us to think. But I have to hand it to the creatives for giving us a 'Five Episode Premiere Event' months before the season started proper just to make us think it was a one-time visit to the land of the supernatural. But this episode finally gave us Percival's full story, and it was a doozy. It also gave Jughead a chance to play Doctor Strange and travel through the 'Archieverse' to also reveal exactly what has been happening in Riverdale. Betty also got the shock of her life, while Kevin, Reggie and Mr. Mantle came thisclose to losing their heads. But have the citizens of Riverdale suffered a shocking loss, or three, in the end?

While Archie and company tries to put all of their knowledge about Percival together (hmm, where was Toni and Fangs this week?), the one thing they came up with is that there is no record of a Percival in the Pickens family history. So with his magical powers, does that mean he is in fact Riverdale's incarnation of Mr. Cypher from Rivervale? Percival aims to clear all that up in a sit-down interview with Alice, in exchange for her station carrying the executions of Kevin, Reggie and Mr. M live. Alice is a bit shocked at first but when he mentions the ratings, Alice smiles and agrees to the terms (a little more mind control didn't hurt). During the interview, while Percival tells Alice the most fantastical things that anyone else would question, she just goes on with the interview as if everything he says is perfectly normal ... like the fact that he is immortal. Nope, he's not the Devil or Mr. Cypher, but that is from whom he gained his powers. Percival and the ancestors of the core Riverdale families arrived on this land in the 1500s ... but not this land. They were in the alternate universe in the town that became Rivervale. And while everyone else was busy trying to create a functioning, inclusive society, Percival was busy tampering with the Dark Arts, and that got him sentenced to die in the stocks (the same one that he was almost imprisoned in again in the Babylonium safe). But Mr. Cypher arrived and Percival made a deal with the Devil, his soul in exchange for his powers and immortality (a trick he used to keep Cypher from taking his soul). For 500 years, Percival traveled the world gathering more knowledge and power, and on the night he was returning to Rivervale to get revenge upon the ancestors of those who did him wrong (sort of like how Cheryl tried to do once upon a time), he heard an explosion and the sign that had just read 'Welcome to Rivervale' now said 'Welcome to Riverdale'. He figured out that he was somehow transported into a different, yet similar, dimension, somewhere he wasn't previously known, and that gave him the perfect opportunity to still exact his revenge, even if it wasn't the exact same group of descendants, and become the most powerful person in Riverdale. All he wants is power. And now that that cat is out of the bag, exactly how will the residents of Riverdale react? Will they fall in line behind their overlord, or will Archie and company be able to lead the charge to defeat him? That may ultimately be up to Jughead, using some knowledge he gathered while in the Rivervale universe.

He and Tabitha used a portal to make the trip, walking into the alternate bunker where they shocked that version of Jughead, the same one Jughead Prime saw in his bunker. Alt-Jughead revealed to them that the bomb did cause a rift between their worlds, and the stories he was 'stealing' from Jughead Prime were actually his stories. The voices Jughead had been hearing were coming from Rivervale, and that's what he'd been writing about so Alt-Jughead felt he had to sneak over and take them back because they belonged to him. But Alt-Jughead has not been above ground in years, mainly because there is yet another Jughead up above and he wants Juggie and Tabitha Prime that they cannot be seen interacting with their other selves. But they decide to take a chance anyway. But first a visit to Thorn Hill to go through the Blossom family records. Britta greets them but informs them that the records were transferred to a university two years earlier. Jughead aaks if they can talk to Nana Rose, but Britta has to inform them that Rose is inhabiting Cheryl's body, which was Abigail's body, and all of her ailments have manifested in the younger woman. Jughead tries to get into her mind, but all he can find are dusty, deteriorating comic books so she will be no help. They will have to face Jughead, but neither of them can get into Pop's without freaking everyone out so Tabitha uses her power to put Alt-Tabitha into a time loop where she just keeps taking the trash out. That gives her a chance to talk to the third Jughead, getting him to go back to 'their' apartment ... where he meets himself, and is very excited because he's thought about the concept of multiple universes for quite some time. They also discovered that his comic books feature a team of teen superheroes who bear a suspicious resemblance to their friends in Riverdale, to the point that the comic characters all have the same powers. Jughead III's upcoming comic, however, concerns them because the heroes are all dead at the feet of the Devil, and Tabitha knows from her conversations with Raphael that the character is Mr. Cypher who, like Percival, is staying at this world's version of the Babylonium.

Cypher is engaged in a chess match billed as the 'Battle Between Good & Evil' and he is in a game with Raphael, who loses and that concerns the two even more. Evil can't win. But they talk to Cypher, who has been wondering where Percival has been all these centuries, and gives them some shocking news -- Percival wasn't interested in Pop's, they just fell into his trap by moving the building. It's the land he wanted because Pop's was built over a hellmouth (are Buffy and company about to show up now?) in the same way churches were, to keep the evil from escaping into the land. They did Percival's work for him by moving the building and allowing the hellmouth to open. That all goes back to something Betty learned from Cheryl, who told her that Jason said he was glad to be home so he didn't have to go to war. In the Sweet Hereafter, General Pickens had been running around trying to gather an army, so there is definitely a war coming. Cypher also drops one little bit of perhaps helpful information on them -- Percival thought he was being clever by asking for immortality to get out of having his soul taken when he died. Cypher said that always comes back to bite people in the ass, so perhaps Percival does have a vulnerability they can exploit.

When they get back to the bunk, Alt-Ethel is there as well, shocked to see Jughead and Tabitha, very upset that they are there. She asks Jughead how he could be alive if he was near the explosion, and he reveals that Betty had received a phone call warning them to get out of the house. Ethel knew Alt-Jughead made that call and that is what set all of this into motion. For some reason, Rivervale was already bleeding over into Riverdale and the explosion was meant to create a clean break so the two worlds would exist separately. By Alt-Jughead saving them, it only made things worse with both universes bleeding into each other. In Alt-Jughead's defense, he was just trying to save Betty's and Archie's lives, but Ethel knew he was just concerned about his ex-girlfriend and now it's going to fall to her to clean up everyone's mess. This all made the Primes very uncomfortable so they slipped back into their own universe.

But they just came back to more bad news. After being shooed out of the casino, Veronica was still able to log into the security cameras and saw Kevin, Reggie and Mr. M locked in the safe. She also saw their attempt to fake Mr. Mantle's heart attack, and she told Jughead and Tabitha about the impending execution. Not even Kevin could talk his father out of saving them, so all seemed lost. But maybe portals are good for something other than dimension hopping, and before they could fathom what was happening, Jughead pops out of a wall in the safe and ushers the men to safety, thinking they were able to thwart Percival this time. But not long after Percival discovered his prisoners were missing, the group got a text with a photo of Alice, Frank and Tom blindfolded and kneeling before the guillotines. Kevin said it had to be a trick, but the image was followed by a news report that the three had indeed been executed. The question now is have they? Hopefully this is a case of we haven't seen the bodies so we can't believe they are dead (sort of like we haven't seen the reveal of TBK). If they are, necromancy can probably only go so far if your head's been lopped off. On the positive side, Archie did manage to blow up the railroad tracks, which will make it more difficult for Percival's Ghost Train to arrive in tandem with Bailey's Comet. With just two episodes left this season, it's shaping up to be a wild finale.

Episode 21 :: The Stand

Let's Talk About 'The Stand':

• Jughead details in what may be his last article how Percival has basically sealed Riverdale off from the rest of the world, meaning no one is coming to help save the town.
• Tabitha, Cheryl and Heather use the Holy Grail to capture the evil bubbling up from the hellmouth they opened by moving Pop's (but the Whyte Wyrm is still there so how did moving just the diner but leaving the basement open a hellmouth?).
• Archie has Reggie and Cheryl torch Percival's now empty shop (save for Hiram's portrait, which Reggie takes) so he has no place to hide.
• Betty, Kevin and Archie are dealing with the executions of Alice, Tom and Frank, although Archie's take is that Frank was a soldier in a war and he knew what his fate may be. Toni and Fangs get Moose back to Riverdale to console Kevin.
• Archie and Percival plan to meet to lay out ground rules for their battle, and Veronica is enlisted to negotiate the terms which may include giving him half of Riverdale.
• Tabitha reveals that one of the two successful scenarios she saw involved Archie and Veronica meeting with Percival.
• Percival is controlling more of the town, enlisting them as the new Goolies under Twyla's leadership.
• Percival allows Archie and Veronica to reclaim their dead, and Cheryl will use her powers to resurrect them but ... he still has their heads.
• Percival casts a spell to ensure the deaths of Archie, Betty, Veronica, and Cheryl, which causes Tabitha's divine senses to tingle.
• Toni and Fangs come up with a plan to defeat Percival using Baby Anthony.
• It finally dawns on Tabitha that all of her scenarios regarding the battle with Percival were in Riverdale, but perhaps Rivervale is where they will actually have success.

Here we are at the penultimate episode of the sixth season of Riverdale and I have to wonder if this season wasn't written as a possible final season. Yes, the show is coming back for a seventh and final season, but based on the preview for the season finale, I'm already scratching my head as to how things will continue ... and how exactly this season will end.

But for this week, the situation grows more dire for those in Riverdale not under Percival's control. There is no question now that he did in fact execute Alice, Tom and Frank for the sins of their family members. Betty isn't getting much comfort from Polly who tries to assure her their mother is 'in a better place', while Archie just sees Uncle Frank as a casualty of a war, stating that Frank knew what he was getting in to by joining Percival. At least Toni and Fangs took some pity on Kevin and got Moose back from New York to console him. Which wasn't easy considering Percival has sealed the town's borders, effectively cutting Riverdale off from the rest of the world. There will be no reinforcements coming to save them. But knowing now that the evil bubbling up from the hellmouth under Pop's is what is feeding Percival's power, Tabitha, Cheryl and Heather use the Holy Grail as a vessel to capture the black ooze. This does lead to one slight plot hole: if they moved the physical building but left the foundation/basement intact, then how did they open the hellmouth? I guess I'm just thinking a bit too hard about that.

Archie is leading the charge now to defeat Percival. His first plan of action is to take all of Percy's cursed objects from his shop, but when Reggie gets there all that's left is the portrait of Hiram Lodge. Archie orders the place torched so Percival can't use it as a safe house and Cheryl happily obliges. But Reggie took the portrait with him. Why, we don't know. Is he going to keep it, or give it back to Veronica? Or does this perhaps signal that Hiram himself might reappear? With the shop now a pile of ashes, Archie and Percival are going to meet at the Babylonium to lay some ground rules for their battle, and he enlists Veronica to be the negotiator. They present some option to the group before the meeting, assuring Toni and Fangs that anything involving Baby Anthony is off the table. Veronica asks if everyone is okay offering Percival half the town, along the same lines that once separated Serpents territory from Goolies territory. Not the best option but perhaps the only one that they can live with at this point. But Tabitha approaches Archie and Roni before they leave, revealing that in one of the two scenarios in which they defeat Percival, the two of them did meet with him ... and Veronica shot him point blank. He may be immortal but he isn't invulnerable.

At the casino, they discover the place is filled with Goolies led by Twyla Twist, but how? Didn't all of the Goolies die? A closer look revealed that these Goolies are their friends and neighbors (including a leather-clad Principal Weatherbee) under Percival's control. As the two confront Percival in his office, Veronica does indeed pull a gun on him, but when she pulls the trigger flowers pop out of the barrel. With that not working, Percival tells them there will be no negotiations, he wants Riverdale all to himself, and he also has a weapon in hand that can penetrate Archie's skin. But as a show of 'good faith', Percival allows Archie and Veronica to leave the casino with their dead so they can properly mourn them. Twyla is perplexed as to why he would do this, and is even more concerned when he lets slip that her new band of Goolies are nothing more than cannon fodder ... and that includes her as well. But when Archie and Veronica return to the relocated Pop's so Cheryl can use her powers to resurrect their loved one ... they discover that Percival has retained the heads he chopped off. There's nothing Cheryl can do unless the bodies are complete.

But Percival has more tricks up his sleeve, literally, as he uses a spell over several dolls representing people Archie and company know. At Archie's house, he is laying out a new plan to Reggie on how to draw Percival to the forest for their final battle. As Percival's spell takes hold, Reggie goes into some kind of trance and tries to kill Archie, stabbing him several times with one of Percival's Daggers of Meggido. Despite the stabbing, Archie is able to choke Reggie into unconsciousness but Tabitha has sensed that the heart of Riverdale is in danger. Betty, at home alone, finds her house invaded by an intruder -- a Frankensteinian version of Glen, gray-skinned and stitched together. She lures him into the garage where she battles him ... with a chainsaw, leaving the twitching pieces scattered on the floor. Veronica gets a surprise visit from her rifle-wielding abuelita seeking revenge for the murder of Hiram. Veronica is able to subdue her by using her venomous power to paralyze the woman until she can figure out what to do about the attacker. At Thorn Hill, Jason asks Cheryl to come play but when she tells him she's busy at the moment, he draws an arrow from his quiver and takes a shot, hitting Heather in the shoulder. Cheryl flees to draw him away before he kills Heather, and after a deadly game of Marco Polo Cheryl realizes that bringing Jason back probably wasn't the best idea, so she uses her powers to incinerate him (how will this affect Polly?). Tabitha and Jughead race to Archie's house to save him, and find his dog licking the stab wounds. Within moments, Archie is whole again. The dog once healed himself so his saliva must also have healing properties, and by this point Reggie and Abuelita Lordes are back to their old selves.

Toni shows up at Archie's with a plan to defeat Percival once and for all, and this one involves Baby Anthony. They all know that the baby is also an immortal, and that is the one thing that terrifies Percival because they could be engaged in battle for millennia, long after the rest of them are gone but how can a baby be used to defeat Percival? What if Anthony is grown? Fangs and Toni are willing to miss his childhood if this plan saves the town, and Tabitha suggest that she created a time loop with herself in Rivervale so perhaps she can create a time bubble around the baby, allowing him to age while the rest of them stay the same. It works and the now grown Anthony is ready to fight, so the plan is to lead the Serpents into the Babylonium to subdue the Goolies while Anthony makes his way to Percival in a surprise attack since Percival won't know who the grown man is. While Twyla takes a couple of throwing stars to the face -- ouch -- Anthony makes his way to Percival led by Kevin, who gets shot walking through the door. When Percival realizes who Anthony is, he transports himself to outside the casino, using a spell to seal everyone else inside.

All is not lost however. As Jughead and Tabitha discuss Jughead's fate where he dies in every scenario, Tabitha suddenly realizes that all of her scenarios were set in Riverdale. Jughead can open a portal to Rivervale where everything operates differently, so that may be how they can defeat Percival without Jughead dying. Cheryl also has some news for Archie that may help -- Bailey's Comet, which Percival has been counting on to help him accomplish his goals, is arriving over Riverdale a day later than he had planned, so that gives them a slight advantage as his powers won't be at their peak just yet. As everyone reconvenes at Pop's, Tabitha and Jughead reveal the plan about taking the fight to Rivervale. First they need to rebuild Pop's on its original location, and with another time bubble Tabitha is able to speed up the operation into a matter of hours instead of days.

At the appointed hour, Percival arrives at the newly rebuilt Pop's to confront Archie while the others watch from inside. Percival has his magical mace and Archie has a baseball bat and as the two battle Percival gets the upper hand, smugly satisfied that Archie's friends we watch... wait, where are they? Everyone is now in the parking lot surrounding Percival but he's turning their powers against them. Betty is blinded, Veronica is poisoned, Cheryl is an ice sculpture ... and Jughead is sitting inside waiting. Percival enters Pop's and Jughead suggests a game of mind control, with the loser getting lobotomized. Percival assures Jughead he'll never be able to break into his mind, but they forge ahead. And he was right because that door is firmly locked, while Percival easily gains entry to Jughead's, quickly tearing pages out of his memory. But he is surprised when Jughead shows up in his own mind and reveals that Percival isn't where he thinks he is because when he entered Pop's diner, he actually passed through a portal and is now in Rivervale with a different Jughead and a different set of Jughead's friends ... who all have one of the seven daggars, and while he was distracted by Jughead they all took turns stabbing Percival (all seven had to be used to actually kill him). As Percival slowly bled out, Tabitha took him to the forest to meet with Mr. Cypher. Percival tried to argue that since he was immortal he couldn't have sold his soul, but Mr. Cypher's contract begged to differ, and off the two went to Hell. But before he left, Percival mumbled something that sounded like an incantation.

Back in Riverdale, things are slowly returning to normal. Percival is gone, and Cheryl was able to resurrect Alice, Tom and Frank, reuniting them with their families. But all was not well as Cheryl and Heather asked Archie to gather everyone together for some shocking news -- Bailey's Comet is not going to pass over Riverdale ... it's going to crash into Riverdale causing an extinction level event, thanks to Percival's final words before his soul was snatched away. So now the question is how will Riverdale survive for one more season?

Episode 22 :: Night of the Comet

Let's Talk About 'Night of the Comet':

• Archie and friends discover that not only did Percival's spell change the course of Bailey's Comet, it also put an invisible barrier around the town, and made the comet's trajectory look perfectly normal to the outside world.
• With the comet sure to hit Riverdale, it seems that only Archie and Anthony may be the lone survivors.
• With Percival's arcane knowledge far beyond anything Cheryl and Heather know, Cheryl suggests she may know someone who can help ... and no, it's not Sabrina Spellman.
• Alexandra Cabot, not seen since Season 5's 'The Return of the Pussycats', has another business offer for Tabitha ... unaware that she is trapped in a town about to be obliterated by a comet.
• Archie's mother Mary has the worst timing.
• Toni and Fangs make it official -- Anthony is the new Serpents king ... because he's immortal and the only one who can rebuild after the comet hits.
• Archie and the men of Riverdale try to find a way past Percival's barriers by going underneath the town and through the mines.
• Cheryl presents a solution to Riverdale's comet problem but it may come with a severe cost.
• While everyone makes their final arrangements and gathers with their loved ones, Veronica is struck with another solution to save Riverdale.
• As the comet approaches, our key players break out into a truly emotional version of Billie Eilish's 'The End of the World'.
• Cheryl goes all Wanda Maximov on Bailey's Comet but the end result is not what anyone expected.

Here we are at the Riverdale Season 6 finale and what a ride this has been. I have been somewhat critical of the show since its second season mainly due to the unnecessary length of the seasons. Season 1, which premiered mid-season, was a tight 13-episode romp that told a succinct story from start to finish. With the show's renewal, it was granted the traditional 22-episode format for a network drama, and it became clear that this was a show that thrived with 13-episodes. Those extra nine were often nothing more than padding that dragged the season down. Remember how they 'revealed' the identity of The Black Hood and assured us that storyline was done, and then gave us several episodes of nothing before the real Black Hood popped up again? Or the interminable Gargoyle King storyline? At time it could be taxing to sit through an episode of a show that I genuinely like, but I'm glad I stuck with it to Season 6.

Production on Riverdale, like most TV shows and movies, got bogged down because of the global pandemic with Season 4 ending early and Season 5 concluding that season before jumping into its own storyline. The cast and crew barely had a break between seasons, and that held true with Season 5 as well which ended up shooting late into the Summer to conclude and then pick up again a few weeks later to get Season 6 started. But this schedule gave the Powers That Be the opportunity to give us the entertaining and very different 'Rivervale' five-episode event, which was teased as just that -- a five-episode event that would have no bearing on the rest of the season. But as Season 6 progressed, our heroes got superpowers and Percival Pickens arrived, it became clear that somehow we were still in 'Rivervale' territory ... or rather Rivervale was bleeding into Riverdale. This also gave the producers the opportunity to give fans what they really wanted -- an appearance by Sabrina Spellman. And we got her twice! But as the elements of the supernatural grew through the season, we all had to wonder exactly how it was going to end. And I think it's safe to say that none of us saw that ending coming.

The episode, titled 'Night of the Comet' (another one of the show's clever uses of a classic movie title, and this time it actually bore some connection to the episode), was basically everyone trying to deal with the impending impact of Bailey's Comet, trying to find a way to get around Percival's last spell before Mr. Cypher dragged him to Hell. Not only did he redirect the comet's path, but he made it look to the outside world that it was simply passing over Riverdale as it had every 65 years, and he placed an invisible barrier around the town, like a roach motel -- people could enter but no one could get out, which was bad news for Alexandra Cabot and Mary Andrews. The spell also prevented Jughead from opening a portal to another universe; he could only move about in Riverdale. It also made Veronica regret moving back to Riverdale. But Percival's powers were beyond anything Cheryl or Heather had at their disposal so things seemed rather bleak, however Cheryl may have an ace up her sleeve with someone familiar to her who's been around as long as Percival -- Abigail Blossom, whose souls is still imprisoned in the 'Annabelle' doll.

While she and Heather conjure up Abigail, everyone else is left to deal with wrapping up their personal loose ends. Alice apologizes for being such a terrible mother, but Betty assures her that she was not as she and Polly do their best to console her (no sign of Charles though). Tabitha gets a surprise visit from Alexandra Cabot, who we last saw in Season 5 when she had the idea to franchise Pop's nationwide. Now she has another opportunity to take over 'Tommy Comets', a diner chain that recently went belly-up (I love how Riverdale can find clever spins on actual names of places and things). Tabitha doesn't quite know how to break the news to her friend that she's about to be vaporized by a comet. Reggie brings the portrait of Hiram to Veronica, and she friend zones him in the end, but invites him to spend their last moments together at the casino (which she generously hands over to him ... even though he has less than 18 hours left on the planet). Betty cryptically turns down an offer from Drake to head up a new serial killer hunter unit, and Archie decides that even though they have just a few hours left, he wants to marry Betty ... which she declines but tells him to ask her again if they survive.

Meanwhile, Abigail offers to help Cheryl on one condition -- she wants to spend one last night with her beloved Thomasina, which is sure to make things awkward for Toni and Heather. She also presents a solution on how to break through Percival's barriers - what looks like a mile of knotted rope. All they have to do is untie it before the comet hits. Sure, thanks, Abby. With their only real chance of survival resting on Toni's shoulders (and she and Fangs have just designated the immortal Anthony as the new Serpents King, the only one who will survive to rebuild the group), she agrees to become a vessel for Thomasina if it will help save the town. Heather helped with the soul transfer, keeping Cheryl's and Toni's in a jar while Abigail and Thomasina were 'reborn' in their bodies. And boy, you could hear a Million Moms' heads exploding as 'Abigail' and 'Thomasina' engaged in some steamy 'carnal relations' that were almost too hot for The CW. The next morning, both young women claimed they didn't remember anything but it's clear they did. It was also clear to Heather that she was a third wheel, and that Cheryl and Toni are predestined soul mates, so if they get out of their comet predicament, she will return to Greendale. But the night was repaid with the information that Cheryl can melt the comet -- which is after all just a ball of space ice -- with her Phoenix powers. Well why didn't she think of that in the first place?! Hold the phone because there is one little catch -- melting the comet before it makes impact will take all of Cheryl's powers. Oh, and it seems that it is those powers that are keeping the recently resurrected alive, so one or more or all of them -- Alice, Tom Keller, Uncle Frank, Polly, Dagwood, Nana Rose, Fangs, Archie, Jughead -- could die again. That, of course, is not the best solution to the problem but it's the only solution.

The impending end of the world did come with a few positives, namely Betty seeing the light at the end of her 'Dark Betty' tunnel. She was the one who finally told Mary the truth and sent her to bring Archie back from the barrier (he tried to break it down with Percival's mace, and Alice told him it was okay to be afraid). (Mary had also revealed that she had come back to Riverdale to tell Archie she and her wife were divorcing, but on good terms.) When he came back to Betty, he apologized for proposing to her in the middle of all this madness, but she stopped him and proposed to him. He said yes! For Tabitha and Jughead, knowing that he was going to die no matter what reminded her of the story of Jack and Rose in Titanic -- which Jughead had never seen! So they spend four of their last hours on earth watching the movie, and Jughead gets it. Tabitha asks him for one last thing -- one minute together. In that time, sitting in a booth at Pop's, she shows him their life together with their small, then grown children, and the two of them as senior citizens still happy and in love after all those years. Hand me a tissue, please.

Earlier, Veronica had said a final goodbye to her father (the portrait) saying she hoped they didn't cross paths in the afterlife. When she kissed it, her poison rotted the painting. And as the comet grew closer, looking at the deteriorated portrait and thinking about her power, she was struck with an idea and texted everyone to come to her apartment. As they gathered she laid it all out to them, the reason they were all given their powers. As she is basically a human dialysis machine, she should be able to absorb all of their powers and then transfer them to Cheryl. With the extra boost, it's likely none of the resurrected would die. Of course the only way to do that is through blood, so they have to cut their palms and hold hands so Veronica can absorb their powers. Two problems -- Archie can't cut his skin and Cheryl refuses to cut her alabaster skin. For Archie, Veronica has one of Percival's Daggers of Meggido. For Cheryl, the transfer can be done with a kiss, Which could still kill Cheryl but her powers should be enough to combat the venom. It's a last ditch effort but blood is drawn, hands are joined, and a kiss is delivered. Cheryl does not die. Roni then pulls a gun on her and ... Cheryl can see a threatening red aura around her. One power absorbed, and Roni pulls the trigger. The bullet did not penetrate Cheryl's skin, and she could suddenly hear everyone's thoughts. If the transfer of powers did indeed work, as it appears, then Cheryl should be able to stop Bailey's Comet.

Everyone gathers with their loved ones to wait for the comet and say their final goodbyes just in case. Toni, Fangs and Anthony are the only ones who have any sense to hunker down in the bunker. I really thought everyone would gather there but, no, they just sat at home and watched the fire grow in the sky. One lovely thing that came out of everyone doing their own thing was a cast rendition of Billie Eilish's 'The End of the World', which left me a blubbering mess. Yeah, I know there's one more season but in that moment they all believed they were about to die and that song just ripped my heart out, making me think of holding on to my loved ones as the end approached. Pass me another tissue, please. As they sang, Cheryl stood in front of Pop's (Heather, Britta and Nana Rose were busily untying that knotted rope back at Thorn Hill) and began an incantation to manifest all of the power within her. As her hands began to glow, Cheryl levitated as she kept chanting to melt the comet.

As the screen went to a blinding white light -- and a commercial break -- we're back in Archie's bedroom ... but something is different. His hair, for one thing, is poofier. He pulls a Riverdale High sweater out of a drawer and puts it and his letterman jacket on, glancing out his bedroom window to see Betty and Alice. Betty is crying and Alice is consoling her. He picks up his backpack and heads downstairs where Mary is reading the paper and crying. She too is different, her hair style and clothing from another period. She delivers the news that 'he' died. Archie has no idea and she finally tells him that James Dean died in a car accident (there was a poster of Dean on the wall in Betty's bedroom). She shows him the paper and it's 1955. Our trusty narrator Jughead tells us that some effect of Cheryl destroying the comet caused some sort of temporal shift, taking Riverdale back to a time before Jason Blossom was murdered, before the Black Hood existed, a time when he and his friends were teenagers in a simpler time. As we see Jughead sitting at his typewriter with the classic Jughead crown (not the beanie), he reveals that he is the only one of them who remembers life B.C., Before the Comet. And that is how you do a cliffhanger!

As I said at the beginning, I was critical of Riverdale for its needless padding to achieve a 22-episode season, but Season 6 was certainly an exception to that observation. There was absolutely no padding this season, probably helped by having the five-episode 'Rivervale' premiere event. Ever since Chilling Adventures of Sabrina premiered on Netflix (moving from The CW at the last minute), fans have longed for some kind of crossover while the producers decreed there would be no supernatural storylines on Riverdale. 'Rivervale' gave them that opportunity for some fan service and then they just ran with it, and in the process creating one of the series' best villains in Percival Pickens. With this season of witchcraft and super powers, there really was nowhere to go but with another hard reboot and taking everyone back to the show's roots with Archie and friends as teenagers was a bold choice. But taking them back to the 1950s is an even bolder choice that opens up so many questions of what the seventh season will look like. Will characters we've not seen much recently return? Of course there's no way to bring Luke Perry back so will Molly Ringwald stick around? How will they address Fred's absence? Will Penelope, Clifford and Jason Blossom all return? What about Hiram and Hermione? Hal Cooper? The OG Reggie? FP, Gladys and Sweet Pea Jones? Big Ethel and Dilton Doiley? Will Tabitha disappear? Will Josie and the Pussycats return? Miss Grundy? So many possibilities have been opened up with this reverse time jump, so it is with great anticipation that we await Season 7. The only downside is we now have to wait until possibly March of 2023. Ugh! But cheers to a great Season 6 that truly reinvigorated my interest in the show. What did you think? Share your thoughts in the comments section!