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Is it just me or is this season of Riverdale just draaaaaaaaaging along? I mean, we had a great season premiere which ended with floating babies and since then … well, that whole thing seems to have been forgotten, or merely brushed off as Betty’s hallucination during her seizure. And what’s with these seizures? Is that odd girl from The Farm somehow behind them? Who knows? It doesn’t seem that the writers really care to answer any of these questions, instead piling on mystery after mystery with The Midnight Club, the Gargoyle King and the Gryphons & Gargoyles game. Not to mention Archie’s wrongful incarcertation and then succesful release from prison (and totally unnecessary prison break) and he still runs away from home because of Hiram Lodge. And for some reason Jughead goes with him, apparently without saying a word to Betty.
Which brings us to the latest episode, ‘The Man in Black’ (spoiler alert — it’s not Johhny Cash, it’s Hiram Lodge), an episode broken into three concurrent chapters featuring our main characters. The first chapter, helpfully titled ‘Archie & Jughead’, finds the pair walking aimlessly, with no real plan of what they’re doing or where they’re going. But a lonely farm on the outskirts of an odd little town populated by females (all the men are apparently at work) gives the pair a place to rest for the night. While Archie quickly makes himself at home with Laurie Lake (guest Riley Keough), comfortable enough to tell her his story of being on the run from Hiram Lodge, Jughead wanders into the town, snapping photos of the G&G symbols painted all over the place, and a mural featuring the Gargoyle King. Juggie senses something is very off when he learns all the men are working for The Man in Black, building a prison which will also double as a drug manufacturing facility (and the replacement for Jingle Jangle is now a drug-laced version of Pop Rocks). Hightailing it back to the farm, Juggie sees The Man himself getting out of his limo and going into the house with Laurie.
Heading to the barn to alert Archie, he finds his buddy tied up (Laurie whacked him good with a frying pan which probably would have killed him in real life) but eager to pick up the nearest sharp object and kill Lodge right then and there. Sadly, Jughead can see that Archie means business but manages to talk him off the ledge of committing murder because … what would Ronnie say if her boyfriend killed her father? Archie gets his shirt back on and the two make their escape before Hiram and Laurie enter the barn, with Juggie suggesting it’s time to go see his mother and sister. He did finally try to call Betty, but she’s not answering and he doesn’t seem concerned.
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Chapter 2, ‘Veronica’, finds the raven-haired beauty moving out of her parents’ apartment, taking up resident in her speakeasy for the time being. But the new place, as well as Pop’s, are barely breaking even so she enlists the aid of a local mob kid to set up and co-run a one-night only casino night to infuse some cash into the business because the house always wins. Except not when you’re playing with the mob. Luckily Hiram had called Ronnie in to give her some advice about how to deal with what he knew would be a problem, and she beat the guy at his own game (Blackjack) — with the help of a dealer specifically recommended by Hiram — proving that the house does always win. But at what price? Is she going to get off that easily? And why was she not still fretting about Archie running off?
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Chapter 3, ‘Betty’, finds her at the same school for girls that both Polly and Cheryl were ‘sentenced’ to, doing all she can to not lose her mind while attempting to play along so she can easily make an escape. Unfortunately and inexplicably, Ethel is assigned to be Betty’s roommate (more like snitch for Sister Woodhouse) — what’s Ethel doing here anyway? — and discovers that Betty is not enjoying the candy the sisters dole out to everyone as a ‘treat’ (yes, it’s the drugged Pop Rocks). But Ethel agrees not to tell, and then she reveals that she’s spoken to the Gargoyle King, who just happens to have his own special room at the school. Well, Betty must find a way in to meet with GK. She also discovers that it’s Hiram Lodge — and Claudius Blossom — who is supplying the drugs to the school, and when she’s caught trying to break into the GK’s lair, she’s forced to ingest the candied drugs. But does she catch a glimpse of the Gargoyle King .. and is it Hiram Lodge?
I seriously don’t know what’s going on with Riverdale this season. I loved the first season, but that was a short, 13-episode season that had to tell its story very economically, and it worked. Season 2 was terrific with the Black Hood, but even the mid-season fake out reveal and the subsequent episodes that tried to divert our attention away from the fact that we all knew the Black Hood was not dead felt like filler to stretch things out to 22 episodes. This season with the game and the Gargoyle King already feels like nothing but filler since episode two. I hope this is not going to be a season long story — but it’s unlikely to wrap up in the next, last episode of the year — because it’s tedious. It’s the Black Hood again, but now it’s the Gargoyle King and people are dropping dead from poison. And what about The Farm? Are we ever going to see The Farm, its leader and all the wackiness going on there, because it sounds a lot more interesting than what we’re getting now!
And now we know that Hiram Lodge is even worse than we thought he was, and that’s not a good look for the character. Why are they making Hiram so … evil? The way things are going now, there is one of two possibilities as to his fate by the end of the season: he’s dead or he’s back in jail, perhaps the one he’s having built. I think it’s a bad idea to make Hiram such a bad guy, but perhaps they can resolve this whole matter quickly and bring a little more fun back into the series. I know the Powers That Be don’t want to acknowledge Sabrina, but perhaps a little crossover between the two series is just what Riverdale needs right about now. It would certainly help explain those floating babies.
Riverdale airs Wednesday at 8:00 PM.
What did you think of the episode? Has the show lost its way? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
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