Riverdale :: Unbelievable

Screengrab

Let’s Talk About ‘Unbelievable’: 

• A mysterious phone call is credited with saving the lives of Archie and Betty right before Hiram Lodge’s bomb went off, virtually destroying the house. But how did they survive?
• Jughead is experiencing major hearing loss after his close proximity to the blast.
• Kevin tells Toni and Fangs he’s giving New York another try, and they tell him they are dating … but still queer and proud members of the LGBTQ+ community. Okay.
• News of the explosion makes its way to Thorn Hill and Cheryl worries that her curse may be the cause.
• Archie’s dog Bingo wasn’t as lucky, getting out of the explosion with four broken legs.
• After the firebombing of Pop’s and the explosion at Archie’s, Fangs wants to mobilize the Serpents to go after the Ghoolies, but Toni cautions him that with a new baby to care for they can’t rush into things.
• Betty begins seeing glowing red auras around people, and Archie is rapidly gaining weight, becoming more dense and indestructible.
• Someone keeps blowing out the reversing spell candles Cheryl lit to remove the curese from Archie, Betty and Jughead.
• Reggie’s dad suffers a heart attack, and Veronica puts a hit out on Hiram.
• Betty leads the FBI in a manhunt for Hiram, while Glen finds himself on the wrong end of a sexual harassment suit, Archie and a special admirer of Betty.
• Mary Andrews comes home, baffled by how anyone could have survived the explosion.
• The mysterious Percival Pickens arrives and offers to buy what remains of the Andrews home.

Well, we thought that once the special ‘Rivervale’ event ended, Riverdale would return to its angsty, but not supernatural, storytelling … and boy were we wrong. And we’re here for it! Could another visit from Sabrina Spellman or other denizens of Greendale be in the works? The way Netflix is losing shows back to their original owners, it’s certainly a possibility. And Cheryl is going to need all the help she can get after this week’s events. But the weird in this week’s episode started right from the beginning as Archie, Betty and Jughead tried to explain how they survived the blast.

Archie & Betty

Alice and Uncle Frank are very confused by the stories of survival. Who was the man on the other end of the phone that called Betty? How did Archie and Betty survive under a table that was completely flattened? Neither of them really have answers, no can they really remember clearly exactly what happened. Are they dead? Is this another alternate universe? And how did Bingo survive with just four broken legs? TO make matters even more weird, after Betty is cleared to leave the hospital, she runs into an orderly in the hallway and she sees a glowing red aura surrounding him. Visiting Veronica, Betty is assured that her friend will help in any way possible to track down Hiram because with the explosion he’s facing a count of attempting to murder a federal agent. And Betty learns that a nurse was murdered at the hospital after she left. Archie, meanwhile, discovers he’s gained 30 pounds in a week.

While Betty heads up the FBI manhunt, her ex Glen gets a punch in the face for getting a little too handsy with her while disparaging Archie, which he blows off to the other agents as something that happened when he and Betty hooked up again. Did he really think that wouldn’t get back to her? But before she socked him, she also saw the red aura around him, leading her to believe that when people are threats, she can see that energy. That lead her to ask an agent to look into the orderly, Trevor, to see if he had any priors and boy did he. One of the most egregious was getting fired for stealing medication. Meanwhile, Alice has arrived from Chicago to see what’s left of the house and is shocked that anyone survived. Later while Archie was walking through a room, he caught his arm on an exposed nail, but only his shirt tore. He took the plank down and pushed the nails out with the bare palms of his hands with no damage at all, then he started punching through some door molding without any injury to his hands. Toni and Fangs show up to let him know that they tried to have some peace talks with the new head of the Ghoolies, and warned Archie to get out of town ASAP. Archie wanted to know where the Ghoolies were camped out, so he could ‘avoid’ the location.

But he paid them a visit and apparently beat the crap out of them. Returning to the gym and finding Betty waiting, he was covered in blood — Ghoolie blood, he didn’t suffer so much as a hangnail. But Betty needs his help with something to questions can wait. Betty goes to the hospital to confront Trevor about the murder of the nurse. He pulls a knife out from the towels where she can’t see, but she does see the red glow again. As she accuses him of the murder, Archie appears behind him, warning him not to do anything or he’ll break both of Trevor’s arms. Later they both share the weird things that have happened to them, and Archie is worried that he’ll hurt Betty with his newfound power. Betty isn’t worried because if he appears threatening to her, she’ll see the glow. She’s sure they can get through this together. Back at his house, Archie and Alice are visited by a mysterious man named Percival Pickens, who offers to buy the structure. Archie asks his mother to sell the house to him, and she finally agrees. But who is Percival Pickens and what would he want with the remains of the Andrews home? And for that matter, how on earth did Bingo’s legs heal in three days?

When Glen reports for duty at the field office, Betty informs him that all of the male agents have been relocated and so has he. With his box of personal belongings in hand, he waits at the elevator and when it opens he finds Archie inside. Betty had told him what had happened but she assured him she had it under control. Archie isn’t the best at keeping his emotions in check. It’s unclear if Archie did anything, but later Glen is leaving Pop’s, and when he gets in his car he’s surprised by someone in the backseat … TBK himself, and he gives Glen some payback for what he did to Betty. RIP Glen. But now does this mean TBK has been under Betty’s nose all along, because the only people who know what happened with Glen are Archie and the field agents.

Cheryl

Screengrab

Upon hearing about the explosion at Archie’s house, and learning that he, Betty and Jughead were all there and had survived, she wonders if the curse she placed on them to pay for their ancestors’ deeds really worked. She asks Nana Rose for the paper she’d used to recite the curse but Rose said she burned it. Britta is wondering now if they are believing in magic. Cheryl knows there are book of spells and incantation in the Thorn Hill library, and she finds one to help reverse the curse, using dolls and reversing spell candles to remove the curse. But someone keeps blowing out the candles and Cheryl is sure it’s Nana Rose. Hoping to catch her in the act, she’s shocked to learn it’s Britta but when confronted, it’s not Britta’s voice that responds. Cheryl believes Britta is possessed by the spirit of Abigail Blossom, and asks Nana is they need to perform an exorcism. Rose says no, they need to perform a banishment. So they tie Britta to a chair and begin the ceremony. Abigail’s voice cries out and after a wind sweeps through the room, Britta is her old self again. She leaves but it appears Cheryl is not herself. Rose admits that she was uttering a different incantation that transferred Abigail’s spirit into Cheryl, where it was meant to be in the first place.

Toni & Fangs

Kevin visits Toni & Fangs to let them know he’s going to try and give New York City one more try. They’re happy for him and also reveal that they are dating, but still majorly bisexual. Kevin really doesn’t know how to respond to that. Later at the Whyte Wyrm, Fangs wants Toni to call out the Serpents to take care of the Ghoolies for torching Pop’s and nearly blowing up Archie. Toni reminds him that they have a child and they can’t just rush into things. The Ghoolies have a new leader, so maybe a sit-down with her can end with a truce. The Ghoolies agree to a meeting and Toni tells Twila Twist that since Hiram is gone, they won’t be getting any more payments to carry out his evil deeds. Oh, but they will, because as long as they keep following the orders they were given, they will receive payment through a third party, of course. Toni asks what exactly it is they are being paid to do, and Twila tells them two things: destroy Riverdale and kill Archie Andrews. Toni dismisses the Ghoolies, and she and Fangs warn Archie to leave town. But his visit to the Ghoolies has now ignited an all out war that Toni didn’t want. And to keep the baby safe, they enlist Kevin to act as his guardian.

Veronica & Reggie

After learning about the bomb, and agreeing to help Betty track down Hiram, Veronica contacts Hermosa to get any information she can about Hiram’s bank accounts and movement. Hermosa wants to make sure she isn’t implicated in his crimes and sends her sister all of the privileged information one could want, enough to finally bring Hiram down. She shocks Reggie by telling him she is not going to give the info to the FBI, rather she will use it to put a hit on Hiram. Reggie doesn’t want her to go down that road, but before he can do more he gets word that his father has suffered a major heart attack and is in the hospital. Seeing how heartbroken Reggie is over the possibility that he’ll lose his dad just as they were reconnecting, Veronica calls the Russian assassin she’d hired to call off the hit. But before she can say anything, he informs her the job is completed and sends her a picture of Hiram’s body … which we don’t see. Reggie’s dad is going to make a full recovery, and Roni lies to Reggie and tells him she called off the hit after seeing him and his dad. Later, drowning her sorrows, Roni gets a call from Hermosa warning her that blood will get blood.

Jughead

Jughead is experiencing the effects of being a little too close to the explosion while he was in the garage. As a result, he’s lost 98% of the hearing in his left ear and 87% in his right ear. On the plus side, the Wall Beat Journal wants to run his exposé of Hiram Lodge nationally since they have been trying to nail him as well.

But is Hiram really dead? And will the identity of the Trash Bag Killer finally be revealed?

Riverdale airs Sundays at 8:00 PM.

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