Riverdale :: Climax

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Riverdale is back after a very extended hiatus thanks to the global pandemic which brought production on the fourth season to a halt before they could complete the last three episodes. So even though this is the fifth season premiere, it’s really Episode 20 from Season 4 which seems to have either been in production at the time of the shut down, or was completed and held by The CW because Episode 19 ended with such a great cliffhanger. It’s hard to say but knowing both Skeet Ulrich and Marisol Nichols have left the show (Ulrich, it seems completely, Nichols may still recur on occasion) but are still ‘regular’ cast members according to the opening credits tells us that at least a portion of the episode was completed before the shutdown. So if you can remember all the way back to May of 2020, the cliffhanger was that whoever is making the mysterious ‘snuff’ videos — now suddenly given the name The Auteur by Jughead — left the Archie gang a video in which masked characters of themselves were murdering Mr. Honey.

But, surprise, Honey is (allegedly) still alive — we never see him but Charles confirms they’ve spoken — and Mr. Weatherbee is back as principal of Riverdale High, although he still seems a bit on edge when chatting with Betty about his time with The Farm. So at least everyone knows Mr. Honey is still among the living, so what’s the story with the videos? That is an ongoing mystery. As is often the case, this week’s episode is basically divided into three main segments featuring two core characters.

Archie & Veronica

Everything seems peachy with the pair, that is until Veronica discovers the song Archie had written for Betty. She doesn’t know that but it unnerves Archie, who refuses to sing it for her. Plus he’s got other things on his mind like prepping for an interview with a commandant from the Naval Academy. That doesn’t go as planned either as Archie and Veronica learn that since Archie first turned down the offer, they had their eye on another boxer, who just happens to be KO Kelly, the boyfriend of Ronnie’s bestie in New York City, Katy Keene (a crossover reference that was obviously filmed before that show was cancelled … although it would be nice to see Katy visit and, perhaps, have Josie return to town). Ronnie also has some other great news — her padre seems to be overcoming whatever his illness is, confirmed by his doctor (he seems to be beating it by actually beating up Riverdale’s lowlifes).

To celebrate KO’s visit, Ronnie sets up a special evening at the Speakeasy where she … sings Archie’s song, having retrieved it from the trash can. To make matters worse, even though the commandant said KO and Archie were in the same weight class, KO easily outweighs Arch by 50 pounds, so the bout Veronica suggested to allow the commandant to choose from the winner is obviously not going to be a fair fight. Archie attempts some psychological warfare ahead of the fight, but in the end he gets his ass whooped, but not as badly as anyone expected. Still, it’s a loss and Archie tells the commandant that he can basically take his offer to register again and shove it wear the sun don’t shine. Knowing Archie is hurting, she mentions the loss to daddykins, who then offers Archie a position as assistant mayor in charge of community outreach. It’s an amazing opportunity but that song is still nagging at Archie, and he and Ronnie still have a prom to think about.

Jughead & Betty

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A new clue about the Mr. Honey video leads Jughead to the Blue Velvet video store, or rather it leads Betty and Kevin there because Jughead was already there once with the FBI raid so he can’t show his face. Jughead and Betty pay a visit to their old ‘friend’ Bret, now in jail, and ask for intel on the video store. Refusing to play along, Jughead tells Bret a certain inmate there is his good friend War Baby and he hates preppies more than anyone. Bret turns white as a sheet, now more than willing to spill whatever beans they want. It seems the store has special invitation only ‘red band’ screenings of special films and ‘The Auteur’ is the star attraction. Juggie and Betty talk Cheryl and Reggie into shooting a ‘snuff film’ to try to gain entry into the next screening event (which is also a rave). The video store owner, David, immediately recognizes the tape as a fake but Betty brought a backup — an old home video of her father as a child, basically the origin story of The Black Hood. David is sold and invites Betty to the rave.

Once inside, she sneaks Jughead in through a side entrance and they attempt to find The Auteur. Instead they run into Jellybean, of all people, and lose track of who they believe to be their suspect. At Pop’s, Jellybean tells her brother that she was only there because she went with a friend whose brother got an invite from some email list, and Jughead made her promise to never go to another one of those red band parties ever again. But with their trail coming to a potential dead end with the disappearance of David, they still have the prom to think about.

Cheryl & Toni

With the prom back on (after Mr. Honey abruptly cancelled it last season), Cheryl will do anything and everything to be the prom queen, going so far as to ‘rig’ the election (and this was filmed months before that even became a dog whistle in real life), forbidding Kevin to register his name so Fangs could fulfill his dream of being prom king. You don’t rob a girl of the dream she’s had since childhood, so before Kevin lost a hand he walked away, like any good friend would.

And to celebrate their impending graduation, Cheryl suggests throwing a dinner but not for their friends, for their family … Toni’s in particular. Cheryl’s never met Toni’s family and even though she’s out to her grandparents, she tells Cheryl it’s probably best that she act like the two of them are just friends. Chery is not okay with that. When Toni decides to sit down with her nana and explain the situation, she finds out Cheryl has already paid a visit. And it’s not the whole lesbian thing that’s got nana upset, it’s the whole Blossom thing. Yes, the sins of the Blossoms have touched many in Riverdale, including the native population and nana forbids Toni from having Cheryl as her girlfriend. But Toni does not disappoint Cheryl, showing up just in time for Nana Blossom to take a photo before the two head off to the prom.

The Prom

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As expected, Cheryl and Toni are crowned Co-Prom Queens, and Cheryl invites Archie, Veronica, Jughead and Betty to dance with them as their court. What Cheryl doesn’t know is that right before the invite, Archie confessed to Veronica that he wrote that song for Betty, so their dance is all kinds of awkward. And it gets even more awkward when the music abruptly changes to ‘Psycho Killer’ and a video is projected on the screen. The students thing this is an opportunity to have their own rave in the auditorium, but the group watches in horror as their masked doppelgängers commit another ‘murder’ — this time it’s David from the video store. Jughead and Betty pull the plug and turn the lights back on, effectively ending the prom. The find the location of where the ‘murder’ was taking place, but there’s no one there. It’s not clear if either of them noticed the video camera which still appeared to be running, with a sign dangling from the front that said, ‘Smile, God is watching’.

With the night brought to a premature end, Toni tells Cheryl she can’t go home with her. She promised her nana that she’s be home by midnight, and if she went with Cheryl, nana would never speak to her again. Cheryl said she understood the importance of family and sent Toni off, thanking her for at least showing up for the prom. But she broke down with her own Nana, certain that the Blossom curse was going to leave Cheryl alone for the rest of her life.

Hearts are breaking at the lodge household as well as Veronica tells her mother that something happened between Archie and Betty. Archie assured her it was just a kiss, but Ronnie didn’t know her father was within earshot and neither he nor Hermione have gotten the whole story. It’s probably safe to assume that the assistant mayor job is off the table. Before Archie confessed, Ronnie told him she was going to defer a year at college to work by his side, but now they’ve come to the agreement that once they get through graduation, they will go there own separate ways with no big fanfare … and they’ve both promised not to blow up Betty & Jughead’s relationship but once they split, Betty is certainly going to know why and that may cause issues for her and Juggie.

Returning home from the prom, Archie finds a new VHS tape on his doorstep. Playing the tape, he’s confronted with a recreation of the time he was held at gunpoint by The Black Hood at Pop’s. So, who was there when that happened? Because it was so specific, the video had to be made by someone with knowledge of what went down that night (sadly, I don’t remember who, if anyone, was in Pop’s when that happened but if you do, please feel free to comment below!). And that is where we end the fifth season premiere … or 20th episode of Season 4, if you prefer. It will be interesting to see if the next two episode feel like season enders and if the fourth episode of the season brings us a new mystery as the true Season 5 premiere.

What did you think of this episode? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.