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There was a lot going on in this week’s Riverdale before a three week break, but I’m still having trouble wrapping my head around the episode title ‘The Noose Tightens’. It’s not a movie title! Riverdale Powers That Be … what’s up with that? (Although, HBO’s Big Love had the same title for a fifth season episode.) I suppose the title begs the question for whom is the noose tightening?
The Coopers? Things took a very bad turn when Chic’s druggie friend’s car, the one Jughead and Betty conveniently dumped in the local swamp a la Norman Bates, was dragged back out of the swamp. At least they had the forethought not to leave the dead body in the trunk. That news sent panic through both the Cooper and Jones households, leading to a meeting at Pop’s with FP telling them all to act cool. He also wondered why Chic wasn’t there but Betty assured him he had nothing to do with dumping the car.
And then Chic decided it would be a good idea to call the dead guy’s girlfriend Darla. Why, Chic, why would that be a good idea? Alice was already trying to deal with Betty moving in with Jughead because of her son’s extreme creep factor and this decision is not helping matters. Especially when Darla demands $10,000 or else she’d spill the beans to Riverdale’s ‘handsome sheriff’ … and then invites Chic’s former landlord with the box cutter to join her at Alice’s home. But forced into a corner, Alice agrees to get the money when the bank opens, and Betty is sent as the courier. When she returns she surprises everyone with a few guests — Jughead and the Serpents who make it clear Darla and her friend are not welcome. They should have just forced them out without the money, but Alice gave it to Darla anyway.
This whole event had a big impact on Alice and the Serpents. Jughead has been Betty’s running mate in the school election but the Serpents, led by Sweet Pea (of course), refused to give him their votes because of Alice’s long time crusade of defamation in the Register against the Serpents, even though Betty has proven herself an ally to the group. Now, however, with the Serpents intervening and driving Darla away, Alice has turned over a new leaf — she’ll never say another bad word about the Serpents, they have her full support, Bughead gets their votes, and Alice gets to cozy up to … FP! So whatever nooses were hanging around their necks seem to have been cut down.
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The person in real danger, however, is Hiram Lodge. Some of his associates are not too thrilled with Hermione’s run for mayor of Riverdale. But to keep the peace, they make Hiram an offer he can’t refuse — 25% of his prison complex. Hiram isn’t happy about being put against the ropes like this, and he’s learning that his support among his ‘family’ has waned (he can’t even get the guys from Montreal to help him). So now Hermione has to conduct her campaign in private from home and Ronnie can’t go anywhere except to school and back.
But Archie is proving himself to be a good little soldier, at first talking way out of turn to the men visiting Hiram, and then rallying his former Red Circle gang back into action to scare the guys away (in exchange for Archie giving up the football team’s votes for Team Varchie to Team Rosie, aka Josie and Reggie). Confronting a group of hooded men (and probably not knowing they were just a bunch of high school students) and seeing the car being blown up was enough to scare the men away … for now. But something tells me Hiram has more opposition in store, particularly when it’s discovered one of his own associates, Arthur (the guy who Hermione had posing as an FBI agent to test Archie), has double crossed him.
And not only that, but Fred Andrews has formally announced his candidacy for mayor, pitting himself not only against the Lodges but his own son as well. And to add insult to injury, he’s enlisted Jughead to help write his campaign kickoff speech. The whole matter is also driving a wedge between Archie and his mother (and how will Archie explain the fancy new convertible Hiram has given him?). In the end, though, Hiram has the most to lose and that figurative noose is certainly getting tighter.
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Let’s not forget about Cheryl, though. Last we saw, she had been committed to the Sisters of Quiet Mercy. Toni doesn’t buy Penelope’s story about a Swiss boarding school — because Cheryl hasn’t been on Instagram for three days — so she concocts another story when confronted by Toni, Veronica and Josie. Penelope says she’s been sent away for her aberrant behavior and shows Josie the sketch Cheryl did of the pair … and then concluded that it was Cheryl who had sent her the bloody heart, making her think it was the Black Hood. So Josie is out of this rescue mission but Toni and Ronnie get confirmation that Cheryl is with the Sisters when Nana manages to crawl to the phone after Penelope leaves her unattended. Unfortunately for Nana, Claudius cuts the line before she can say more.
But Toni and Ronnie get confirmation from Kevin that the Sisters of Quiet Mercy was known for its gay conversion therapy and they set out to save Cheryl before it’s too late. Poor Cheryl — who somehow managed to find some makeup after the last time we saw her — has been forced to lug heavy sacks of potatoes from one end of the basement to the other, and her only respite is on ‘movie night’ when they are shown … well, we’re not sure because what Cheryl sees is a film of Kevin and Moose from that time they hooked up down by the river (how did she even know about that to imagine it?). But during the latest movie night, Ronnie and Toni broke in to the facility and Toni found Cheryl, leading to a passionate kiss right in front of everyone watching the movie. And no one reacted, like they were all catatonic. And there was no faculty member in the room? After a tense chase, though the hallways and catacombs, they got out and locked the door behind them. But where will Cheryl go? She certainly can’t go back to Thistle House.
But she’s gotten herself back together enough to go to school the next day, with the knowledge that Kevin will be directing the school’s production of Carrie the musical. And she’s cast herself in the lead role because she plans to burn this place down. Although she seems intent on getting revenge on the school instead of her family. Whatever happens, it may not end well for Penelope and Claudius.
What did you think of this episode? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
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