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It’s really a shame that the season is being cut short by three episodes because the season-long tease with the mysterious VHS tapes has finally come to the front burner and now there is only one episode left. Hopefully once production is permitted to resume, the final three episodes will be produced as planned and aired as Season 5 episodes. In addition to the tapes, there was quite a lot going on for the Fab Four and friends.
Kevin, Fangs & Reggie
Reggie got wind of a ‘scam’ Kevin and Fangs were running, assuming Fangs was dealing again considering all the cash the two suddenly had. They agreed to bring him in to their tickling video arrangement and after a single session Reggie was ready to ramp up their own business to cut out the middle man and make pure profit, enlisting the Bulldogs and the Vixens (Toni insisted that the Vixens were the ones in control … as it should be). Of course it didn’t take long for Terry to get wind of the betrayal, and threatened to have Kevin’s fingers broken if they didn’t cut him in for 40% of the profits. Reggie is not down with that and tells Kev he’ll handle it but before they know it, they’re all called into Principal Honey’s office to be reprimanded for the operation. Not because they’re doing anything illegal but because they’ve violated trademarks and copyrights by having Bulldogs jerseys and Vixen uniforms in the videos. Oops. Reggie is pretty sure Terry ratted them out … but did he? Kevin didn’t seem all that convincing when agreeing with Reggie.
Veronica & Cheryl
Business is booming for the maple rum business with the girls cornering the post-graduate market. Hiram, on the other hand, is doing business with a former rival supplying casinos with his rum. What the girls don’t count on is being confronted by local moonshiners who have their own maple moonshine business and Maple Claw is cutting into their market. Ronnie believes Hiram is behind the threat, but when the former bordello is trashed, frightening Penelope and Cheryl in the process, Cheryl wants out and Veronica wants revenge. But she insists that she be the one to fight her fight. Hiram, however, takes it upon himself to send the Malloy family a warning, but showing some mercy by not killing one of the sons only got him pummeled hard. But seeing that Hiram truly is a changed man by showing that mercy, Veronica is willing to do business with him again … except she has no idea Hiram went back out and took care of Papa Malloy with two shots. And not shots of maple rum.
Archie & Betty
The star-crossed lovers still haven’t gotten over their impromptu kiss while rehearsing for the talent show, and Betty has taken to reading her old childhood diaries to remember how she’s loved Archie since fifth grade. Through her readings and flashbacks, she recalls how a young Archie proposed to a young Betty and she told him once they were 18 and graduating, he could ask her again. They’re at that point now, but Betty truly does love Jughead and Archie … says he loves Veronica. But he still goes and writes a song for Betty. Cheryl gets a hold of one of Betty’s diaries and sees what she’s written about Archie (and how much she hated Cheryl back then) but she actually gives Betty some good advice: Betty is in love with the idea of Archie, but she and Jughead are the couple destined to be together after all they’ve been through in this crazy town of Riverdale. And Betty has to make Archie understand that as he begins crooning to her. But her rejection may have the unintended consequence of sending Archie to the Naval Academy. Something tells me Veronica is not going to be cool with that.
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Jughead
Juggie shows the tape he’d received with the supposed murder of the person in the Jughead mask to the Cooper family (not sure where FP is hiding this week), but Betty is definitely not interested in getting involved in this new mystery. But Charles is more than happy to have Jughead’s help and as they scroll through hours of footage of people dropping off tapes at the police station, Jughead sees a very concerning person of interest: Ethel Muggs. Confronting her at school, she swears she had nothing to do with the tape but Charles is not convinced. Searching Ethel’s house, he finds another tape labeled ‘Ponytail Playmates’ — the sex tape of Jughed and Betty shot by Bret at Stonewall. But how did Ethel come into possession of this tape?
The local video store, Blue Velvet video, has a back room called the Scarlet Suite which contains all sorts of fetish videos and more, perhaps even real snuff films. Raiding the store, Jughead finds the tape of Jason Blossom’s murder and the Scarlet Suite is shut down … though not the entire store for some reason. Later the store’s owner is chatting with someone, relating what happened with the tapes in the Scarlet Suite. The person he’s talking to is Principal Honey, which raises all kinds of questions. The first of which is has he been the one making the tapes? Jughead still thinks Ethel could be responsible since she’s president of the school’s AV Club and has access to all of the video equipment … but so does Honey and, come to think of it, the tapes started showing up at about the same time he did. And to cap things off, Cheryl called Jughead to tell him she got a new tape, and Betty is now interested in joining Jughead in this mystery. Viewing the tape, it was similar to the one Jughead got, but this time it was a re-enactment of Jason Blossom’s murder with someone in a Jason mask being shot in the head. Are these real snuff films or something meant to scare the residents of Riverdale? And if that’s the case, what is the motive and who is responsible?
We may or may not find out with next week’s ‘season finale’ but the preview certainly indicates that Archie and the gang believe they’ve captured the culprit. And after that it will be a long wait for this story to be resolved.
What did you think of this episode? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
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