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Before we get started, we have to know what’s up with this week’s episode title, ‘The Wicked and the Divine’, the first of the series that isn’t a movie title. That aside, Riverdale is snagging some interesting people to direct this season. Last week it was Greg Araki, earlier this season there was Allison Anders, and this week it was Rachel Talalay, who produced the first four A Nightmare on Elm Street movies, directed Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare and Tank Girl, and produced John Waters’ Hairspray and Cry-Baby. She’s also directed several episodes of Doctor Who. Not a bad resume. Her vision and a tight script by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa made this one of the more gripping episodes of the season.
And there was a lot going on. Archie being drawn deeper into Hiram Lodge’s business, Veronica’s confirmation, Dark Betty’s reappearance and the Serpents under siege. And maybe, just maybe, at least one relationship has been repaired. We can only hope.
At the Cooper household, Hal is still not thrilled about Chic taking up residence with them. Perhaps his feelings on the matter are correct because before we know it Betty’s got her black wig on again and she’s webcamming with strangers. And do we have to remind everyone that Betty is a high school student, i.e. still a minor? She almost gets caught in the act by Alice, but she managed to put herself together enough to not appear suspicious. Later, Betty comes home and finds a young man coming down the stairs followed by Chic clad only in a bathrobe, drinking a glass of milk, thrilled that he just aced a job interview for the Bijou. Okay, that didn’t look like a manager and who interviews at home in a bathrobe? Chic warned Betty to never give their address to anyone on the webcams, so who was the guy who showed up at the end of the episode asking for Chic … and then ending up flat on the floor in a pool of blood? Yeah, we’re thinking Chic isn’t exactly the person Alice and Betty hoped he’d be.
But at least Betty has something promising in her future. After the Serpents received en eviction notices from their trailer park, Jughead knew he had to find the missing head of the statue of General Pickens. What he didn’t count on was the return of Penny Peabody and her assurance that she can help delay the evictions one on condition … Jughead is kicked out of the Serpents and she gets to remove his tattoo the same way he removed hers. Ouch.
But Juggie knew that his life depended on finding the head of the statue. But his inflammatory article about the Pickens bloodbath has riled many feathers, so Principal Weatherbee had no choice but to suspend both Jughead and Betty from the Blue & Gold. Which freed up their time to look for the head, so a win-win situation. Posting ‘Missing’ flyers around town, they get a call from a junk yard owner who has the head. He even saw the person who dropped it off at the junk yard. Another win-win situation as Juggie and Betty march into the Serpents’ lair where a vote is about to be taken on Jughead’s fate. With head in hand, they reveal it was his nemesis Tallboy who took the head and dumped it, and he wasn’t working alone — Penny was his accomplice, all to get revenge on Jughead. So Juggie is back in the good graces of the Serpents, hopefully his relationship with his dad has been replaced (after FP told his son that he was responsible for all the bad things happening to the Serpents), and the whole ordeal seems that it may have brought Bughead back to life!
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Meanwhile, Archie seems to have gotten himself drawn into the life of a goodfella. While preparing for Ronnie’s confirmation, Hiram got wind of Archie’s little visit to Nick St. Clair and how he ‘roughed up’ a boy with casts on both leg. And Hiram was impressed, enough that he decided to allow Archie to basically wait on him and his mob family, including Papa Poutine from Quebec who curiously did not have a French Canadian accent. Working at her dad’s poker night raised a lot of concern with Ronnie, and even more with Arcbie once his (alleged) FBI contact asked him to wear a wire.
Okay, I’m still not convinced this guy is really an FBI agent, just like I don’t think the Black Hood is dead.
After Papa Poutine bugged out on Pop Tate for his decidedly un-Canadian version of poutine (no cheese curds!), he stepped outside to cool down and had a chat with another of the mob bosses. They were unaware that Archie was unstopping a toilet as they spoke outside the window, allowing him to overhear the conversation concerning their plan to take out Hiram as the kingpin, at Veronica’s confirmation!
But plans for the confirmation are coming together. The McCoy’s have apologized to the Lodges and Josie has agreed to sing at the confirmation. But Veronica was planning to sing so she offered up a duet of ‘Bitter Sweet Symphony’ from the soundtrack of Cruel Intentions. Was that a little message to Josie? And why didn’t they use ‘Cruel Intentions’ as the episode title? The confirmation went off without a hitch, with the Lodges’ closest friends and family in attendance, and at the party Ronnie asked her father to not bring Archie into the family business. He agreed and was about to tell Archie his decision but Archie brought him the news of Papa Poutine’s plan.
Next thing we know, Papa Poutine is found dead in his hotel, bullet to the back of the head, and Archie is denying to his FBI contact that he has any knowledge of why that may have happened. Archie has definitely gone into the deep end of this pool and it won’t be long before he’s completely over his head.
What did you think of this episode? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
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