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Let’s Talk About ‘Ex-Libris’:
- Whew! Betty is not preggers.
- Veronica finally tosses Reggie out of the casino and her bed; he says that’s fine because he doesn’t want to end up like Chad and Hiram.
- Percival is closing the Riverdale library to transform it into a hotel for the new train stop, but before he does that he intends to collect some long overdue books from the gang.
- Percival collects collateral in place of the books until the exact editions are returned.
- Cheryl warns the group that there is sorcery afoot with Percival’s specific replacement requests.
- Archie’s RROTC class keeps finding old yearbooks and making fun of Archie’s musical past, but they touch a nerve when commenting on Miss Grundy.
- Kevin shows concern that Percival is going to harm his friends, which does not make Percival happy.
- The group begins to experience some haunting moments.
- Betty starts to believe TBK is a family man like her father, but I’m sticking with my Moose theory.
- Someone close to Veronica ends up as collateral damage as she finally gets a killer super power.
- Tabitha is in Albany submitting the paperwork to get Pop’s registered as a historic landmark. So does that mean now that Riverdale is officially located in New York state?
Congrats to the Riverdale writers and actor Chris O’Shea for truly making Percival Pickens one of the most despicable villains the show has seen in its six seasons thus far. His torture of Archie and his friends continues this week and things have really moved into the supernatural, and at this point I would not be surprised if Sabrina Spellman or others from Chilling Adventures of Sabrina crossed over from Greendale to help send Percival back from whence he came. I hope his punishment is painful.
Knowing he has to do away with Archie, Betty, Jughead, Veronica, Reggie, Cheryl and Tabitha in order to carry out his plans, Percival’s latest scheme is that he’s closing the town library in order to convert it into a hotel for travelers making a stop at the new station that will sit on Pop’s current site. This is an interesting development since it was announced that Caroline Day will be recurring this season as Cheryl’s high school sweetheart Heather, now a librarian (in Greendale … hmmm). So is the library going to play a major part in Percival’s downfall? Anyway, even though he’s shutting down the library, Percival pays a visit to each member of the group requesting that they return a long overdue book, just for the principle. He even brings along deputy Kevin Keller and a few more armed officers — a bit extreme for an overdue book. So if they don’t have the book, there could be a hefty late fee, jail time, or worse. But … Percival is willing to take a personal item for collateral until the books are returned. And they can’t just be a version of the title overdue, it must be the exact edition and, of course, many of those books are out of print or first editions which will be difficult to come by.
The books gathered are The Metamorphosis (Jughead), Songwriting from the Heart (Archie), Kiss of the Spider Woman (Veronica), Flowers in the Attic (Cheryl), Small Engine Repair (Betty), Dyslexia Workbook for Children (Reggie). In exchange for the missing books, Percival took Jughead’s inscribed copy of his grandfather’s first mystery novel, Archie’s guitar, the painting of Hiram, the trunk with Jason Blossom’s remains (and Percival seems aware of Cheryl’s pyrokinesis, telling her that if his temperature raised in the slightest his men had one order: aim for her head), and the last of Betty’s diaries that she didn’t burn (helpfully handed over by Alice because Betty was at the FBI office, and none too pleased with her mother’s actions). Reggie just happened to still have his book and Percival was pleased to have it, telling Reggie that he really sees something in the young man that perhaps he can work with. All but Reggie have a pow-wow and Cheryl reveals there is sorcery at play here. Percival needed those personal items to perform some type of spell and whatever it was it wasn’t going to be pleasant. They need to do what they can to get the books to Percival so they can reclaim their belongings. Cheryl assures them Percival will return the items because even in sorcery there is a code of conduct and he made them a deal that he has to uphold. Veronica is the only one not concerned because she was all too happy to let Percival have the portrait of her father. What’s the worst that could happen?
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Kevin, who isn’t 100% on board with Percival — maybe 93% — is concerned that Percival is going to harm his friends, and that concern is met with a stern rebuke and a reminder that Kevin also has a very overdue book, Lord of the Flies, that he may want to return if he knows what’s good for him. Luckily he remembered he lent it to Moose, and when he returned the book to Kevin they discussed their love of the main character but Kevin said he always identified as Piggy because he was always the over-weight outcast in his childhood years. Moose assured him that he is no Piggy now, but inside Kevin still feels that way. Kevin did return the book to Percival saying thinking about the story made him sick to his stomach, reminding him of the person he never again wants to be. Percival actually shows some kindness toward Kevin, telling him to let go of that part of him that feels unattractive and undeserving of love. He tells Kevin he is a gorgeous man and deserves everything his heart desires. Kevin says that’s easier said than done but Percival says if Kevin aligns himself with him, he’ll never need to feel like a … Piggy ever again. Kevin is a bit shocked that Percival knew that’s how he felt and asked how he knew that. Percival said he is those dark secrets everyone carries around in their hearts and only he can forgive Kevin. And then he plants a passionate kiss on Kevin’s lips.
The rest of the group isn’t getting off (no pun intended) that easily as Percival’s curse begins to take effect. Jughead, whose grandfather experienced severe eczema, suddenly finds his hands bleeding and peeling. Cheryl is haunted by the laughter of a little girl, finding a shape hiding under her bedsheets but no one is there when she pulls it away, just a bunch of rose petals. Cheryl’s rather enjoying her haunting. Betty begins experiencing severe nausea, but not because of morning sickness. The smell of bleach is setting her off, at one point seeing her father mopping the floor of the FBI office before she realizes it’s the janitor. But that triggers her memories of Hal cleaning the back of their station wagon with bleach, feeling terrible now because she never realized that he was actually cleaning up after one of his murders. That also sends her down the path that TBK isn’t the typical loner, but instead a man with a family like her father. The question is, is this the right presumption or just a manifestation of the curse? My money is still on Moose.
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Poor Archie is being tortured with reminders of Miss Grundy, from the heart-shaped sunglasses Betty suddenly starts sporting to an actual apparition of a ghoulish Grundy playing the cello (courtesy of Percival projecting the whole scene from his curiosity shop). And even though Reggie returned his book, he finds his dyslexia has returned so he pays a visit to Percival begging for his book. Percival says he can have it if he does one little job for him — deliver a Glamourgé egg to Veronica. Roni has already been spooked by a Black Widow spider on her own portrait, which vanished when she smacked it, and when she opens the egg delivered by Reggie, via Smithers, she finds it is filled with spiders … but it’s not. Did she just imagine them? Fulfilling Reggie’s prophecy when she kicked him out, Veronica did invite Heraldo over so she didn’t have to spend the night alone, but the next morning the poor guy was dead, bitten by a Black Widow. A call from Dr. Curdle Jr. comes with a surprising autopsy report — Heraldo did die from the venom of a Black Widow, but the amount of venom in his system could not have come from a single spider and there were no visible puncture wounds on his body. The point of entry for the venom was … his lips, which can mean only one thing and that is Veronica has a killer super power now. Interestingly, when she kicked Reggie out of her life, he told her that she has a pattern: she was with Archie, then Reggie, then Archie, then Chad, then Archie, and back to Reggie. With Veronica now literally having the kiss of a spider woman, how will this eventually play into Archie and Betty’s relationship? Archie is literally the only man in town she can now kiss without killing him (if his invulnerability extends to poison) so will she now run back to him?
Jughead remembers he gave his book to his homeless friend, and learns from a man still living in Sketch Alley that when Percival came to them, he told them all to gather their belongings and start walking west toward the ocean. The man was able to get in touch with Juggie’s friend in Venice Beach, California (they truly did walk west to the ocean but apparently not into the ocean which I assumed would happen), and was told that he sold the book to a used bookstore in Pennsylvania, where Jughead scoots off to so that the group can get their lives back (so with Tabitha in Albany and Jughead in Pennsylvania, it seems that the show has now firmly placed Riverdale in New York State, which does share a border with Montreal, and not Vermont). After hearing about Heraldo’s death from Veronica, Reggie confronts Percival and asks him how the egg had spiders in it when he knew it was empty. Is he a wizard? Percival admits he has a few tricks up his sleeve, telling Reggie he’s a ‘magic man’. Reggie asks if that’s something he can teach him and Percival says he’s sure they can work something out.
With their books returned, Cheryl instructs the group that they must now burn the items to make sure there’s no lingering juju on them from Percival’s spell. Archie has to make a big sacrifice to burn the guitar his father gave him, but Jughead is unwilling to burn his grandfather’s book. What would Ray Bradbury say? Veronica did not return her book and left Hiram’s portrait with Percival, telling him no one, not her father and not him, has power over her. Percival seems satisfied with her answer. At Thorn Hill, Cheryl lights up the items (not the truck because she’d already burned Jason) as they watch, and at Percival’s shop he writes down two more names on his list of ‘Allies’. Joining A. Cooper, T. Keller, and F. Andrews are K. Keller and R. Mantle, two more soldiers claimed by the dark side.
But narrator Jughead is certain that while they did score a win this time, they aren’t nearly done in their fight with Percival.
Riverdale airs Sundays at 8:00 PM.
What did you think of this episode? Let us know in the comments section below.
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