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Wow, it’s been four months since the last episode of Riverdale aired, but the story picks up pretty much right where we left off with the town under siege by Hiram’s ‘escaped’ prisoners. And we also learn that the governor is in cahoots with Lodge, in exchange for a cut of the ‘palladium’ that was under the prison. While Archie and company are trying to keep the town safe, while also trying to repair all the damage to the school, Veronica is still in New York, Betty is still staking out truck stops, and Jughead is still missing.
But most of that changes quickly. When Ronnie hears from Smithers about the prison escape, she hightails it back to Riverdale to lend support. Unfortunately, Archie friend zones her because she hasn’t gotten Chad to sign the divorce papers yet, telling him it’s complicated and the less he knows, the better. But Arch is being cool about it, no pressure, but he’s not comfortable moving forward until she’s a free woman. In the meantime, she goes back to her jewelry store in town, where she is about to sell a huge uncut opal to a buyer, when a couple of surprise guests show up: Dodger and Darla, last seen in Season 4’s ‘Tangerine’. They smash and grab what they can, including the opal … and Ronnie goes running to Archie for help. But now he’s not too keen on doing anything for her since she isn’t moving ahead with her divorce quickly enough — that was a quick change of attitude — but he can’t turn her down. So while looking to round up the convicts, he also has to look for a big rock.
Reggie also pays her a visit, and reveals that he’s working for Hiram now to pay off his father’s debt. But for old-time’s sake, he’s also going to help Ronnie track down that opal. Things start to look a little fishy when the governor and Hiram go on TV to announce a reward for the capture of the escapees … why would Hiram help stage the escape then offer a reward? Turns out the escape was not part of the deal he and the governor had, but Archie wants them to know that he intends on collecting that reward money to help rehabilitate the high school. For a second, Hiram seemed impressed by Archie’s moxie while being perturbed by the governor’s demand for his half of the ‘palladium’.
Things get a bit more serious when Ted, the con who nearly beat Archie to a pulp in the school rest room, calls Veronica to tell her that he has her father, the governor and Sheriff Keller. Then he shoots the governor and says she has a couple of hours before he bleeds out so she needs to get the ‘palladium’ to him ASAP. He mentions that Dodger and Darla are with him, and when Ronnie learns they also have the opal, she springs into action … by calling Archie. No one knew what had happened to Tom Keller after he’d been at the hospital trying to get information from one of the escapees, but he was attacked by Darla and taken hostage. So with Kevin, Fangs and Uncle Frank in tow, they head to Hiram’s office to pry the safe out of the wall for delivery to Ted. Ronnie shows up alone, but the boys make a surprise entrance through a skylight, taking down the three miscreants and saving Ronnie’s opal. The governor is in bad condition, but alive, and at the hospital Hiram tells him he’s never getting a cut of the mineral and he should just go back to his cushy mansion and never speak of it again … or else. And even after all of this, Archie is still friend-zoning Ronnie. But she’s okay with that, promising to speed up the divorce process.
Tabitha Tate faced a robbery at the diner, but her biggest concern was Jughead so she decided to call Betty, who is still trying to find the person responsible for the killings of young women along the Lonesome Highway. She reluctantly agrees to meet with Tabitha, but tells her that Jughead really isn’t her problem anymore, and he’s not Tabitha’s problem either. But … she agrees to help look for him. At the bunker, trying to find clues to his whereabouts, they look through his manuscript but since he was tripping on Maple Mushrooms at the time, it’s mostly gibberish. Tabitha thinks that perhaps Juggie went back to New York so they call his ex Jessica, who tells them he’s not there but she’s coming to town to help because she’s had experience with his ‘walkabouts’ when he’s tripping.
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Jessica takes the girls on basically a wild goose chase that brings them back to the bunker after hitting the rat hole where he lives and the high school. Jessica reveals she’s just looking for the manuscript, which puzzles Betty. They go to Pop’s for some fries and gravy — Jessica’s treat even though Tabitha owns the place — and while they discuss their relationships with Jughead, Betty plays for them the voice mail that was basically the end of their relationship, a horrible diatribe calling Betty some terrible names, completely assassinating her character (we will see in a flashback episode what led to that phone call). Tabitha and Jessica are shocked, but Betty and Tabitha suddenly start to feel … odd. Jessica admits she dosed their food with Maple Mushrooms just to loosen them up enough so they’d give her the manuscript. Jessica is actually more worried about what he might have written about her than Jughead’s safety, so Betty turns it over to her even though she says it’s mostly gibberish. Jessica helps them get comfortable in the bunker and tells them to just let the trip happen and they’ll be fine (she’s not sure why Jughead had the reaction he did because it was from the same batch she gave the girls). So they begin to trip and things get weird.
Up at Thorn Hill, Penelope Blossom is back after he escape from the prison and she’s a different person, having found religion behind bars. She tells Cheryl she started a program in prison and now she’s going to carry that over to her own church right in their house. Cheryl isn’t buying this new Penelope, and has questions after witnessing one of her services where she talks about a ‘He’ that has died for them … while collecting an offering from those in attendance. Penelope really has the old tent revival thing down, but all Cheryl sees is a snake oil salesman bilking people in need out of their money. When Penelope reveals that the ‘He’ she’s preaching about is Jason, something snaps in Cheryl. She’s still got his decaying body in a trunk, and after paying him a visit — and seeing a vision of him next to Penelope — she jumps on the bandwagon. Are the Blossoms about to become cult leaders?
This whole scene was paired with Betty’s and Tabitha’s trip, set to the song ‘Walking in Space’ from the musical Hair, performed by Lili Reinhart, Erinn Westbrook, Madelaine Petsch and Nathalie Boltt. With Betty and Tabitha enjoying their trip, and Penelope and Cheryl finding their religion, it was all a very trippy, magical moment in the episode. In the end though, it was Jughead who caused us more concern. After being beaten in an alley by a bunch of douchebags, he was taken in by Doc whom Juggie realized was the same guy he saw get beaten in the alley but did nothing to help. Doc took care of Jughead, nursed him back to health, and after Juggie sobered up he admitted who he was and what had happened in the past. Doc already knew but he didn’t hold anything against Jughead. With a clearer head, Jughead knew there was something he had to deal with in New York but didn’t know what, so he left Tabitha know where he was going … and then hitched a ride with a trucker on the Lonesome Highway.
That can’t be good.
Riverdale airs Wednesdays at 8:00 PM.
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