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Now that we’re past the moving tribute episode to Luke Perry, it’s time for Riverdale to properly begin the new season (and whatever issues were brought up in the previous episode about the Blossom family do not apply here). And it seems, judging by the title and most of the setting for the episode, this season is going to stay focused on the high school lives of our main teen characters. That’s not to say there won’t be other mysteries to solve — The Farm storyline from last season is still a prominent feature — but with it being the gang’s senior year, the show seeks to get back to basics instead, hopefully, of long, drawn out mysteries that waste 19 of the season’s 22 episodes.
Fred Andrews’ spirit still hangs over the episode with the opening scene featuring Jughead narrating how he, Betty and Veronica spend as much time with Archie as they can, having dinner every night at Pop’s, and feeling Archie getting back to normal every day. But I think as we see early on when Archie suggests that Mad Dog enroll at Riverdale High for his senior year as well because Archie is doing it to get his diploma like his father expected he would that Fred’s memory will always inform Archie’s actions. Perhaps now he can move away from being some thug for Hiram Lodge who whoever else comes to down and needs some muscle and just focus on himself, Veronica and his music. Archie also finds himself not only defending Mad Dog at school after Reggie feels the newbie is moving on his football captain turf — and this sudden paranoia and insecurity seems to come out of nowhere because would the coach really hand the job of team captain to some guy he just met? — but he also tries to step up and defend Reggie from his own abusive father, who comes to every practice and berates his son. Reggie finally realizes that Archie is trying to help, and he steps up to show his father he’s not taking it anymore by smashing the windshield of his dad’s Corvette. When Archie later asked how his dad reacted, Reggie was a bit cagey, saying things were said that needed to be said and that his father wouldn’t be coming to the practices anymore. The fact that we didn’t see the talk, and Reggie’s behavior while delivering the news to Archie seemed suspect. I half expected to see a shot of Reggie’s dead father, but we didn’t see anything … and that just seems that there is more to this story yet to come.
Veronica finds herself hounded by the press now after someone — [cough]Hiram[cough] — sold a story to the tabloids that his daughter was the real criminal mastermind. Everything he was accused of doing was actually her actions and he was just covering for her. Up to this point, the biggest question she faced was who was she supporting as things moved forward: her father the mob boss or her mother who attempted to have Hiram killed? After non-stop harassment, she finally told the vultures outside her apartment door (what happened to the building’s security?) that she would reveal all at La Bonne Nuit after a special performance … where she sang ‘All That Jazz’ from Chicago with Cheryl, Toni and two nameless girls as he backup dancers. In the end she revealed she was supporting … herself, and she admitted to the crimes, saying they were committed under duress from her father. As for Hermione, she seems to be left to hang out to dry.
Jughead’s story entry to a writing contest from the end of last season did not win but one of the judges, Mr. Chipping (Sam Witwer), paid a visit to Riverdale High to tell Jughead he felt the story should have won and then offered him a scholarship to prestigious Stonewall Prep. Jughead really just wanted to spend his senior year with Betty and his friends but FP insisted Jughead at least take the tour. With Betty by his side, they were greeted by a student who made it seem that Jughead was about to join a cult rather than attend a school. It seemed that Betty even felt that after her experience with The Farm, but she insisted Jughead continue with the tour and sit in on a class. Even though it all seems a bit sketchy, Jughead really enjoyed the artistic freedom at Stonewall, and despite Veronica’s warnings of how snooty and privileged everyone there is, he wanted to go and Betty gave him her blessing, saying they would find a way to make their relationship work with Juggie only being able to come home on weekends.
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But Betty has bigger fish to fry now that her half-brother Charles is in town on behalf of the FBI, investigating The Farm and trying to find out where they, and Alice, fled to. With Kevin being the only one left behind, he tries to apologize to Betty and tells her he realizes that getting mixed up with The Farm was a bad idea. Betty isn’t too quick to forgive, however, and then learns that Kevin is still in contact with Fangs. She and Charles set Kevin up with some vague information that an informant is ready to reveal The Farm’s location, and Betty catches Kevin meeting up with Fangs in the woods. But poor Kevin can’t even get a hug from Fangs unless he is able to give them the name of the informant. Feeling sorry for Kevin, Betty takes it upon herself to reveal to Kevin the plan to give Fangs a fake informant name, Penelope Blossom, and that Alice is also working for the FBI. Charles is sure Kevin is going to blow the whole operation now with that information but Betty says she trusts him. And he comes back with the location of the group. But … is this real intel or a set-up?
Cheryl is excited to be back at school to carry out her duties as class president and her first act is to stage a homecoming dance. Which new principal Mr. Honey (Kerr Smith) quickly shoots down for the simple reason that several students were murdered at the last dance. Cheryl insists this is exactly why they need to hold a dance, to move past that incident. Mr. Honey still says no. So Cheryl decides to hold the party where Honey has no jurisdiction — her house. With the party in full swing, a drunk Reggie nearly discovers the corpse of Jason in Cheryl’s secret alcove (Toni almost found them together earlier) but she catches him just in time. But the po-po show up and FP tells everyone to disperse … and that Jughead better not be drinking whatever is in the red Solo cup he’s holding (Juggie nonchalantly dumps it out). But Cheryl wants to know who could have called in a noise violation since whatever neighbors she has are deaf or dead. Turns out it was someone named … Honey. At school the next day, Cheryl pops by the principal’s office to find Mr. Honey outside the office because someone placed a giant, honey-filled beehive on his desk, complete with hundreds of bees. Welcome to Riverdale, Mr. Honey.
The episode ended with what is sure to be this season’s big mystery, something that was hinted at in the third season finale’s Spring Break final scene where we saw Archie, Betty and Veronica in their underwear and covered in blood, saying they would burn their clothes, go back to school and never speak of this night. In this episode, we again flash forward to Spring Break with FP, the police, Betty, Veronica, Archie and most of the town walking through the forest at night calling Jughead’s name. It will be interesting to see if every episode drops another of these little clues at the end. Over all, it was a decent start to the season proper and not a single mention of Gryphons & Gargoyles.
What did you think of this episode? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
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