Jughead's Dad Is Up to Something on Riverdale and It's Probably Totally Bad
Each week, Teen Vogue will be taking you on a journey to Riverdale, a quaint little town hiding some very big secrets.
We pick up this week's Riverdale episode right where we left off, with Betty babysitting Archie, gazing at the papers on the bunker wall, and wondering how they’ll all get out of the mess they’re in. Cue Jughead running in to make things messier! He did not, in fact, confront the Gargoyle King, but he did follow him to a clearing where a circle of people in masks surrounded a fire and appeared (to Jug) to worship the GK. Why this doesn’t remind Betty of the Farm and the night of the babies floating over the fire, I cannot say. But it reminds me of that! Anyway, Archie wakes up, overhears Jug refer to the circle of masked people as a “gang,” and mentions Joaquin. Jughead thinks that Warden Norton could be the Gargoyle King…because no one in this bunker knows that the warden is dead yet.
The next morning, Betty arrives home to an upset Alice, who delivers the news that the warden killed himself…and was found with blue lips. Betty asks her mother if she knew the warden, and Alice tells her daughter that she’s told her everything she knows about G&G, before stomping off in a huff. OK, Mom.
Back in the bunker, Archie has apparently healed enough to hook up with Veronica. As they cuddle, he tells her that he wants to find the Shadow Lake boys. She (smartly) reminds him that there’s a huge manhunt going on out there — for him. They differ about how to proceed here: V wants to go back into the case files at Archie’s house, and A just wants to clear his name himself so he can stop dragging all his loved ones into the muck. What’s a #Varchie to do? Obviously they’re both going to go about it their own ways.
At school, Sheriff Minetta is low-key interrogating all the students at once (which feels…if not illegal, at least shady?), and as he presses Josie particularly hard about how ruined her future will be if he discovers she helped Archie Andrews escape, she has a seizure! Note: Evelyn Evernever IS in the room. Later, when Betty and Jug sleuth in the B&G office, Betty finds a photo of Warden Norton in an old yearbook — he was the RROTC instructor at RHS…the year their parents formed the Midnight Club. Betty Cooper is sick of all the parental lies floating around! Girl, welcome to the world of teen television. Well, she has a plan to get to the bottom of this, and Juggy heads off to fill Sweet Pea and Fangs in on the warden and deploy them to find Joaquin.
Meanwhile, Kevin is on Archie watch, and Archie’s Joaquin-inflicted wound is most definitely infected. Kevin knows what to do: call Betty, of course! Who is busy at the speakeasy, where she’s invited all the Midnight Club parents to a gathering using fake GK invitations (but she does take Kevin’s call and send him to a trustworthy, uh, doctor). Crafty, B! None of the parents are too pleased to be there — or that Alice told her daughter about their high school doings — but once Betty plays the “your kids are basically all playing this dangerous game” card, they agree to stay for at least a few minutes. It’s worth noting that Betty calls out Mr. Mantle for punching Reggie, but the whole thing is being treated a little casually, IMHO. I’m not saying Riverdale has to go all after-school-special here, but it does feel like the issue of a parent hitting his child could be dealt with a little more seriously.
Anyway, Betty starts asking questions, and in the interest of expediency, here are the new things we learn: Warden Norton once confiscated a rogue G&G manual in RROTC (according to Tom Keller); F.P. also saw the GK on ascension night; Hiram’s dealings with Norton are “none of [Betty’s] business” (which got an LOL from me) and he had no idea the warden was playing the game; and Penelope Blossom claims that Daryl Doiley poisoned the cups because he was in love with her and wanted them to ascend together. She refused him, and years later he came to her, full of guilt, wanting comfort, and she rebuffed him again. The next day, he was found dead in his garage. Betty seems skeptical of this story but all the parents are ready to go, following F.P.’s lead as he storms out upon hearing that Juggy is still playing G&G. (Once he gets home, right after Juggy gets a call from Fangs that he and Sweet Pea are about to find Joaquin at the Last Resort AKA where Fake Chic lived, he handcuffs his son to the refrigerator in an attempt to kick his addiction to G&G. Don’t worry, Betty quickly finds Jug and frees him with a bobby pin!)
Archiekins and Kevin are with Dr. Curdle, Jr., who has fixed Arch right up. But, predictably, Archie does not plan on going back to the bunker — and asks Kev for help at Shadow Lake. Kevin: “Veronica is going to kill me.” YUP.
Speaking of, V is watching interrogation clips in her bedroom, as one does, and quickly discovers that there are about 10 minutes of missing footage from the video of Minetta interviewing one of the Shadow Lake boys. Hiram appears just as she discovers this, and after Veronica tells her dad that Archie will never be behind bars again, he leaves without a word. Did he see what she saw? Well, he makes a call to someone in his office and tells them to “take care” of the “variables” at Shadow Lake so…maybe? BTW, he’s replaced his portrait of Veronica with one of himself. Subtle.
Veronica then heads to the bunker and discovers that Archie isn’t there, so she calls Kevin, who immediately hands the phone over to Archie. I mean, why incur the wrath of Veronica Lodge if her boyfriend is standing right there? She tells Archiekins what she’s discovered, and that she thinks she can find the missing footage, and eventually agrees that he and Kevin can go to Shadow Lake — as long as they come back in one piece. So it’s off to Shadow Woods they go, where they also see Sheriff Minetta traipsing through the woods.
V goes about her mission by breaking into her mom’s computer at work, promptly finding a file marked with the G&G rune that’s on Archie’s hip. Obviously it contains the footage, so she emails it to Monica Posh herself. She gets discovered by an office staff member who was told (by V’s parents) to call the sheriff’s office if she ever broke in again, and Veronica is led out in cuffs.
Over in Fox Forest, Fangs, Sweet Pea, and Jughead intimidate Joaquin enough that he spills the dirt: he calls the warden a pawn, mentions the game play card someone was sending to him that told him what to do, and tells Jug that the symbol on Archie means “sacrifice,” which means Archie has to die. He tells Jug that the man Norton used to meet with for orders was “the man in the black suit” and that Jughead knows him.
So Jughead, naturally, goes right to Hiram, giving him a speech from G&G that Hiram looks befuddled to hear. Mark Consuelos has great comedic timing that, when he gets to use it on this show, is *chef’s kiss* perfection. Anyway, Hiram denies being the Gargoyle King — which he says isn’t a real thing — or the murderer Jughead and Betty are looking for. Instead, he points Jug toward some other “homicidal parents,” including Clifford Blossom, Hal Cooper, Tom Keller, or even F.P. Jones. (Guess Hiram doesn’t know about Alice and the Shady Guy.) Hiram’s phone rings and he dismisses Jughead. The call? That Veronica is in a holding cell because, you know, she broke into the mayor’s office. Hiram pays her a visit and the two trade barbs, after which Veronica calls Fred, tells him where Archie is (and that she thinks Minetta is there, too, based on something her dad said), and asks him to call Sierra McCoy for her.
Betty, meanwhile, is with Dr. Curdle, Jr., who has pulled Daryl Doiley’s autopsy report for her. Apparently, there was no trace of CO2 in Doiley’s lungs, which indicates that he did not die by suicide as reported, but rather from the trace of oleander (a deadly poison plant) in his body. B wants to take the file to prove that he was killed, not a suicide, but Dr. C won’t let her because it’s from his father’s “personal collection.” Uh, what? Come again? That makes no sense but it DOES get Betty to meet with Tom Keller, who was the sheriff at the time of Daryl’s death. She questions him and says he’s complicit in a cover up. Who was he protecting? “All of us — your mother included.” He says it could’ve been any member of the MC, but only one of them grows oleander in their greenhouse — he saw it when he was investigating Jason’s murder. Tom then gets a call from Fred — DADS ASSEMBLE! IT’S THE BAT SIGNAL! So he rushes off, leaving Betty in Pop’s.
Archie and Kevin have made it to the mines (which are decorated with GK graffiti), but only after Minetta did, apparently, because all of the Shadow Lake boys have been shot. Two are dead, one is still alive, and Archie convinces Kevin to help get the guy to a hospital because he canNOT have more blood on his conscience.
Meanwhile, Jughead, Sweet Pea, and Fangs return to Serpent HQ to find a dead Joaquin propped up in an armchair, with the “sacrifice” symbol carved into his forehead. What?! How did they just let him go after all he revealed? And now he’s dead?! Oh no. Anyway, Jug rushes off to find Archie…
…which Fred and Tom are also trying to do, especially after finding the dead Shadow Lake boys in the mines. Tom calls in the deaths and hears that a boy was just brought into the Shadow Lake hospital with a gunshot wound, so it’s off to the hospital the dads go! Unfortunately, the Shadow Lake guy didn’t make it, and Archie is distraught over all the trouble he’s caused and how Hiram won’t stop until he’s dead, while Kev tries to comfort him. By the time Tom and Fred arrive at the hospital, Archie is gone. But he left a note for Fred. Insert sad face here.
Back in Riverdale, everyone is hanging out with parents that aren’t their own. Sierra bails V out of jail, and after asking about Josie (she’s resting), V tells her about the footage and they share a smile. Betty and “Aunty Blossom” have a chat at the speakeasy, during which Betty mentions the oleander in Daryl Doiley’s system and Penelope tells Betty that she’d never use oleander to poison someone, precisely because it leaves traces. (So what you're telling me is, you've thought about this before?) She then points a finger at Alice, who wrote the article reporting DD’s death as a suicide. So Betty confronts her mom next, and as they’re yelling at each other, the lights go out in their house. Then, the GK rises behind them, someone tries to get in the front door, and Alice and Betty run upstairs to Betty’s room…where they find it trashed with dirt, what appears to be a human skull, and Daryl Doiley’s headstone (real or a replica? You decide.) with his name crossed out and “Betty” and “Alice” written there in red spray paint. They then hear a noise — someone is climbing up the ladder! But it’s just F.P., who says he was looking for Jug (it was him at the front door), hugs Alice to comfort her, and makes what could be weird eye contact with Betty. Hmm…
Over at the Pembrooke, Veronica gloats to her parents that Archie will soon be free, Minetta is going down, and she is not upset at the thought of her parents going down with him. Also, Hiram didn’t tell Hermione that he left Veronica in jail earlier in the day. Oh, Lodges.
Back at the Coopers, things have calmed down, but Alice tells Betty that their house isn’t safe and that she’s going to stay at the Farm with Polly and the twins. Betty is like, LOL I’m not going. And Alice is like, no you’re not. “Edgar said you would resist and that we should send you elsewhere.” Two orderlies enter the house and start pulling Betty out…to Sisters of Quiet Mercy. Alice says the sisters will protect Betty like they protected her and Polly. Betty cries and screams. Jughead calls B’s phone and Alice ignores it. OH NO!
At the speakeasy, where Veronica has set up a “welcome home Archie” party in record time, she’s mad at Kevin for letting Archie go, especially since he doesn’t know that he’s officially been exonerated. She then gets a call from Archie, and it’s a sad conversation, even after she shares her good news. Archie forlornly thanks her and then breaks the news that he’s not coming home. He says he can’t escape Hiram’s wrath as long as he and Veronica are together, and that makes everyone around him — including her — a target. He cries, she cries, it’s very sad. She doesn’t want to say goodbye or hear him say it back, and drops the phone as Kevin wraps her in a hug. We see that Archie is at a train station with…Jughead!!! Who has brought supplies. So, off go Archie Andrews and Jughead Jones. Where will the winding road (railroad track) take them? I can’t wait to see.
The episode closes with Betty getting introduced to Sisters of Quiet Mercy, where the head sister tells her she’ll be safe. Unfortunately, Betty takes a seat in art class and notices that ALL of the other girls are drawing some version of the Gargoyle King. DOUBLE OH NO!
Related: This Is What Happens When You Challenge the Stars of Riverdale to TRUTH OR DARE
