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It’s nice to see Riverdale do a Halloween episode and in doing so be able to call on the show’s past to make this year even more spooky, getting everyone in on the act.
The weirdest of the storylines — and the weirdest storyline thus far in the season, and perhaps for the entire series to date — involved Cheryl and the corpse of her dead brother. Toni has been noticably disturbed by it all but not enough to cut and run. But Cheryl’s doting on dead Jason needs to come to an end and Toni demands they put him back in the ground where he belongs. Cheryl agrees but not so subtly warns Toni that he won’t be happy. We the audience are savvy enough to see that Cheryl has something up her sleeve and when a doll begins appearing in strange places, Cheryl is certain Jason is trying to communicate with them about not liking being buried. And to prove it, Cheryl suggests a séance in which Jason communicates with them. Toni is sure Cheryl is guiding the planchette but Nana Blossom says it’s not Jason, it’s the third baby Julian. Penelope was expecting triplets but Cheryl absorbed the second boy in the womb! Yikes! And after Toni finally gets rid of the doll — and Cheryl admitted she was the one planting it everywhere — it suddenly returns on its own. Will Thistle House continue to be haunted by baby Julian … or is Nana Blossom having a few laughs at Cheryl’s expense for firing her cute home care nurse?
Jughead is finding life at Stonewall Prep more of a challenge than expected, and poor Moose is having it even harder now that the news has been revealed that his father was the Gargoyle King, earning Moose the nickname Gargoyle Boy and giving him the idea that maybe a military career would be better for him. Jughead assures him they will face the school bullies together but after a class in which he and his fellow students discuss their favorite horror authors (Juggie picked Lovecraft), he found himself suddenly very sleepy and when he awoke he was … buried alive! In a pretty good take on the Ryan Reynolds movie Buried, Jughead really had no way out, no phone, only a lighter. And then when someone started shoveling dirt on the lid, that really freaked him out. But turns out he was just in a pine coffin in the library, ‘rescued’ by the professor of the class, and having survived his ‘rite of passage’ the group now accepts him as one of their own. But there is still the case of the Stonewall Four, students who have disappeared without a trace over the years. And when Juggie got back to his room, there was not a trace of Moose. Almost as if he’d never been there. Did he leave on his own, or was Jughead’s ‘premature burial’ a ruse so he wouldn’t be able to stop someone from helping Moose leave?
Veronica found herself ready to close up shop at Pop’s when a traveler in need of some home-cooked food and a cup of coffee stopped in. The man claimed to have been traveling for 18 hours and needed a break so he could get home to his family. Ronnie took pity on the man and prepared him a meal but as she was about to serve him some pumpkin pie, a news bulletin came across the TV about an escapee from a mental hospital, a serial killer posing as a traveler in need of some home-cooked food. Whoops. Ronnie managed to get down to the speakeasy before the killer did and turned off all the lights. He made his way down, lit a lighter and Ronnie tossed a big bowl of booze on him, setting him alight before running out. Apparently she did not burn down Pop’s or the speakeasy but the man was captured.
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Archie’s story was the least Halloweenie, except for his form-fitting superhero spandex he donned for the Halloween party at the gym, an event he and Mad Dog organized to keep kids off the streets and away from Dodger … who showed up uninvited and seemed to recognize Archie’s eyes and voice from the beat down he recently suffered. But Dodger is looking for one of his delivery boys who should be out on the street and not at a party … and he’s prepared to shoot anyone who gets in his way. Archie and Mad Dog get him out of the building but they refuse to leave the parking lot so Archie calls Sheriff Jones and when the police arrive there are gunshots. Outside, the boy Archie was trying to protect had snuck out and got shot in the leg, but he’s okay. Unfortunately, he’s not sure he’s any safer especially since he has nowhere to go once he’s released. And Archie can’t be at the gym/youth center 24/7. And poor Reggie and Kevin. Reggie talked Kevin into TPing Principal Honey’s office and they got caught. Honey was a little more lenient with Kevin, suggesting he could go to an arts college if he hadn’t done that to the office but Kevin caved and threw Reggie under the bus. Honey made Reggie stay all night to clean the office and then walked Reggie to his car … which had been TPed and the windows were smashed. What a terrible coincidence, but Reggie knew Honey did it … and this could escalate into a real war.
Betty and Jellybean were home alone tending to trick or treaters — a few of whom were rudely dressed as The Black Hood and The Gargoyle King — and while Jellybean (dressed as Rosie the Riveter … but had no idea who Betty’s Laurie Strode was!) pranked Betty by setting herself up as having a slashed throat and lying in a pool of blood, there was some real menace in the form of He Knows You’re Alone-style phone calls, with the caller pretending to be the Black Hood and asking Betty if she’s checked the children lately and warning her that the call was coming from inside the house. Charles showed up with pizza and offered to trace the calls and determined they were coming from the facility where Polly was being deprogrammed. Betty called her sister and gave her a tongue-lashing, saying Polly was dead to her, but were the calls really from Polly? And there was an even bigger mystery set into motion as everyone in town (or at least the main cast of characters) were receiving VHS tapes of nothing but hours of footage taken outside their houses. And oddly enough, everyone actually had a VCR and a low definition television on which to view the video. Apparently high definition has not made its way to Riverdale just yet. So who is behind the surveillance footage? And why is Charles bugging Betty’s phone, listening in to her conversation with Jughead about his own ordeal? And … is he really Betty’s half-brother?
What did you think of this episode? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
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