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It looks like fate brought Archie Andrews back to Riverdale just in time. Not only did he happen to return just before Pop Tate’s retirement, but he got home just before Hiram Lodge was to carry out his plan to totally destroy the town. But was he ultimately too late?
Archie was able to use the ruse of Pop’s retirement party to finally get his friends to return, but now he’s trying to enlist their help to save the town with Toni’s assistance. But coming home has just opened up a lot of old wounds for the group. Even pairing off to catch up, Betty & Jughead had an awkward reunion that at least led to an apology about a miscommunication between them (something about a message Juggie left Betty that made it sound like she didn’t need to return his call). Archie & Veronica had a less awkward exchange though and they seem to be in a good place with each other.
Veronica’s father and husband are a different issue altogether. Chad has cut off Ronnie’s credit cards while she’s in Riverdale, forcing her to sell some personal items in order to buy a car and perhaps slip away from her obviously loveless marriage. Unfortunately Reggie owns the used car lot and he works for Hiram, so when she asked to buy a car with cash he told her to ask her father for help. And she tried, but he hasn’t forgotten about that time seven years earlier when she left him battered and bleeding, so now she truly has to fend for herself.
Jughead is under pressure to write at least a few pages of a new novel or else he’s got to return the advance. And he’s got a $9,000+ debt hanging over his head. Hoping to get a temp job while he’s in town, Jughead has to avoid the debt collectors by hiding behind the counter at Pop’s. Granddaughter Tabitha Tate finally relents and offers Jughead a job waiting tables to keep his legs from being broken. But while he’s in town, everyone thinks the world reknowned author is staying at The Five Seasons, but he’s really holed up in the bunker.
Betty’s return home finds mom Alice taking care of Polly’s twins while Polly is at work, waitressing at some dive bar. Next door at Archie’s house, the Goolies have taken over, turning it into a drug den. Spying from Betty’s room, Archie sees them passing around packages of Jingle Jangle (yeah, that’s still a thing), so he asks Sheriff Keller for some help getting them out of the house. Tom Keller is the only law enforcement in town, so Archie has a plan to ask Reggie to help knowing he’s also working with the Goolies. When the two go to inspect the house there isn’t a sign of drugs anywhere but it gave Arch a good lay of the land so he and Tom can have a raid with the help of the Serpents and Betty, under the authority of the FBI. They crack some skulls, find the drug lab in the bathroom and the Goolies are taken into federal custody. But there was one big problem — during his initial walk-through, Archie saw Polly with the gang. Betty tries to confront Polly, but she tells Betty that she just can’t come back home for a day and start judging her life, storming out of the house.
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With the Goolies gone and Archie back in his house (hitting the shower with Betty after some cleaning up) — and with Jughead, admitting he can’t afford The Five Seasons — Archie turns his attention toward Riverdale High and Hiram Lodge. Funding for the school is basically gone and may not be able to reopen in a week. There are only 100 students and a severe shortage of teachers. Kevin is covering five classes. And with Hiram attempting to unincorporate the town, any federal funding they get would evaporate, leaving the town just a shadow of its former self so Hiram can make money from Sodale. Toni asks Cheryl if she will help fund the school so they can hire new teachers, and she initially refuses but Toni plays the ‘if you really loved me’ card and Cheryl relents. But until they get the teachers, they need help in the interim so Archie comes up with the idea that he and the gang can fill in until the new hires are in place. But with Jughead under a writing deadline, Veronica planning to head West for a job interview, and Betty just a few weeks away from completing her FBI training at Quantico, it seems a pipe dream at this point.
At a town hall meeting, Toni speaks as the school’s representative announcing that they have the funding to keep the school running thanks to a generous donor, and that Riverdale High will become a tuition-free private school with interim teachers Archie Andrews, Veronica Gekko, Elizabeth Cooper and Forsythe Jones III. Hiram is impressed with their fortitude, but there is still the matter of unincorporating Riverdale and … the vote goes his way. In the blink of an eye, Riverdale basically ceases to exist, at least in the eyes of the government.
Betty, still feeling bad about her confrontation with Polly, tries to call her sister to apologize but her call goes to voice mail. The last thing we see is Polly running down the highway, running for her life as the big rig with the skeleton on the grill bears down on her. Is this the last we’ll see of Polly Cooper? Or was that Polly? If it was her coat changed color from a powder blue to brown and she lost her top. Was this a fake out and it was another girl who looks like Polly wearing the same style of jacket? Hard to tell from next week’s preview that doesn’t show anyone in the Cooper family distressed.
What did you think of this episode? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
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