"Riverdale" Recap Season 2 Episode 15: Archie Proves His Loyalty
Each week, Teen Vogue will be taking you on a journey to Riverdale, a quaint little town hiding some very big secrets.
This week’s episode of Riverdale is all about uncovering some very big secrets — be it Hiram Lodge's, Chic Cooper's, or Clifford Blossom’s (who, we learn early on, left a secret will that is to be read publicly ASAP). Jughead sets the tone right off the bat, ranting to his dad about how he has no proof of Hiram’s criminal behavior and no real sense of what his big plan could be, despite the fact that he’s fashioned a nifty clue board à la his and Betty’s season one Jason murder board. Meanwhile, over at the Pembrooke, the Andrewses and Lodges dine together, telling fun stories about the glory days of high school, until the parents excuse themselves to chat in the study…about Fred running for mayor. Archie’s not super thrilled about the idea, but apparently Fred has dreamed of being mayor of Riverdale since he was a kid (who knew?) so he’s seriously considering it (though he says he knows that if he does it, he’ll do it for him, not Hiram and his financial backing/puppet strings).
Over at school, and yes, they are at school at night, Betty and Kevin continue their “let’s catfish Chic to find out more about him” plan, which involves Kevin webcamming with Chic while Betty feeds him questions off-screen. There are a million ways this plan could go south, but Kevin is defenseless against Betty’s cute pouty face. Kevin is such a good friend. And even though I think Betty doesn’t appreciate him enough, she’s in need of a good friend because her family life is a mess. The next morning, her father tells her mother that he wants a divorce, in front of Betty, and it seems like he’s kind of divorcing his daughter, too, because she took Chic’s side over his. Betty is ready to dump Chic overboard, but Hal just wants to be “set free.”
The Lodge family breakfast isn’t going so well, either, because Hermione and Hiram continue to muddle their daughter’s relationship with her boyfriend by asking her to persuade him to persuade Fred to run for mayor. Veronica isn’t keen on it, but agrees anyway. Little does she know that her beloved is about to spill a major Lodge secret to Jughead, with the hope that he’ll write about it and convince Fred to second guess getting into a campaign with the Lodges. (That secret? Hiram owns Pop’s.) Jug takes the baton and shares the info with the Cooper women, who are enraged by the news, too, but are soon distracted by Polly coming home, twins in tow! Betty and Alice are thrilled, Chic seems less so. Anyway, Polly is here for the Blossom will reading, but Alice and Betty have no idea what she’s talking about.
Alert! Cheryl and Toni are still hanging out! Unfortunately, this means that Toni has to contend with Cheryl’s nightmare of a mother, who is in a seriously bad mood about this secret will and Cheryl’s new friend. But at least Cheryl will have Toni’s moral support at the will reading. Which is as dramatic as ever. First, Nana Rose gets Thistle House and Penelope gets the burned down Thorn Hill. Second, half of Clifford’s fortune will be split between anyone who can medically prove they have a drop of Blossom blood (hello, Cooper family!). Third, Alice storms in with her lawyer, Sierra McCoy, to accuse Hal of divorcing her to cheat her out of this Blossom blood money payday. AND FOURTH, when the estate attorney finally says the second half of Clifford’s money will go to his true heirs, Cheryl and Jason (so, just Cheryl) and Cheryl takes the opportunity to make a speech about how there should be no more blood, madness, or horror — Clifford Blossom himself walks in with a “hear, hear!” UMM WHAT?! Just kidding, it’s actually Clifford’s twin, Claudius, as Cheryl learns once she wakes up from her fainting spell. Turns out Claudius ran away at age 14 after Clifford held him at gunpoint and told him about the Blossom curse: one twin is destined to die violently, often at the hand of the other. Sure, sure, totally normal and chill family curse. I think Cheryl needs to run away.
Over at Archie’s, Fred gets even more invested in his dream of fixing Riverdale up as mayor, even digging up some old plans he’d put together as part of a project or something (“Riverdale 2020: small town with a big future!”) and Veronica, not one to take Archie’s earlier “no” to collecting signatures at face value, bursts in with some logo design ideas for Fred. Archie makes it clear that he knows Veronica is trying to steer both he and his dad into this decision — she claims it’s just because she thinks Fred will be a good mayor — and V agrees to back off. But...will she? Will her parents let her?
Jughead is also backing off, at least a little, because when he asks Pop about Hiram’s ownership of the diner, Pop begs him not to tell anyone — because it would destroy his mother, to whom he made a promise that he’d always keep the diner in the family. Jug has a soft spot in his heart for Pop, so he decides to keep this to himself, even though that leaves him back where he started (and leaves Archie frustrated). So while Veronica is putting her foot down re: swaying Archie and how it’s affecting their relationship (which her mother first tries to counteract and then accepts), Archie turns to Josie to try and get her mom to tell Fred what’s up with the mayorship (without implicating herself in the Lodge’s many crimes). Sierra steps up and tells Fred how mundane and terrible being mayor is, and though Archie and Josie seem pleased with their handiwork, I don’t think it’s really sinking in for Fred…
Over at the Coopers's, Polly is in a rush to get the blood tests done she can get her money, but Chic adamantly refuses to get his blood tested. Alice defends his choice, but Betty is suspicious, so she asks Kevin to whip out the laptop again to do more digging. He and Chic chat about getting tested and it seems like Chic is about to spill some past trauma re: needles and getting blood taken, but then OF COURSE he notices that Kevin keeps looking off camera (at Betty, who’s feeding him questions) because Kevin is not subtle about it at all. Instead of lying more, Kevin just slams the laptop shut and tells Betty he’s out because this is making him feel like a bad person. But Betty just knows Chic is shady (and getting increasingly angry at Polly and the twins’ presence at home), so she ends up stealing a piece of his floss and submitting it for testing anyway.
Pop Tate pays Hiram a visit and tells him that Jug’s been asking questions, so during a family meeting Veronica lies (to cover for Archie) and says she’s the one who told Jughead about Pop’s when they were up at Shadow Lake and he was asking tons of questions about the South Side. Hiram is angry at her, but Hermione jumps in to defend V, saying it was quick thinking to distract Jughead. Of course, it’s not true, so Veronica heads over to confront Archie, and the two fight about what her father has planned and how Archie finally wants to know (and wants Fred to know, too) what it is. Veronica seems to be confused, in one breath telling Archie he doesn’t even want to know what would happen to him if Hiram found out he snitched, and in the next claiming that Fred has nothing to fear if he’s installed as her parents’ puppet mayor. V, can you hear yourself? Are you in denial? What’s up, girl? Fred picks that moment to tell the kids that he’s decided to run for mayor of his own accord.
Jughead, meanwhile, is about to take F.P. up on his offer to go on record about how Hiram hired the Serpents to trash the drive-in to drive the value down when he gets an anonymous tip call. He meets his source at the bus terminal: it’s Smithers, the former Pembrooke butler! Smithers tells Jug that Hiram definitely has some connection with Shankshaw Prison, and also asks after Veronica. F.P. and Jughead go to Shankshaw to meet with War Baby, a friend of F.P.’s on the inside. And Archie meets with Hiram to taunt him with the journal full of apprenticeship notes he took during the fake Agent Adams era. Hiram says that in 18 months Lodge Industries will be 100% legit and Riverdale will be crime-free — but he can’t tell Archie how yet; Archie needs to trust him. Archie says he’ll be holding onto his journal just in case.
Over at Thistle House, the Blossom family plus Toni enjoys an awkward family dinner wherein Claudius talks about his travels while Toni and Cheryl choke/laugh on their food and Penelope begrudgingly agrees that Claudius can stay over the garage. And in Cooper-family-bonding world, Polly and Betty chat about Chic’s creepiness, and after a close call involving Chic, the babies, and a walk by the river (at night), Polly decides to leave...again. She’s driving west (not going back to her cult-farm), and though Alice is upset, Chic is clearly pleased by the news. He celebrates by cutting Polly out of the family photo he already cut Hal out of. Uh-oh. Is Betty next?
Before she can worry about that, B has to meet with Jughead to read the article he’s written about Hiram (thanks to War Baby’s intel). Unfortunately Principal Weatherbee doesn’t think that a takedown of a student’s parent is appropriate school newspaper material, and refuses to print it. The Lodges, tipped off by their friend the Shankshaw warden, realize that Juggy is probably going to expose them soon, so they invite Fred and Archie over to let them in on the plan first. And what is The Plan? To turn SSHS into a private, for-profit prison (SoDale will be housing for the people who work at the prison). Fred is not down for this, to say the least, and he storms out — but Archie wants to stay.
So Fred’s out, and Hermione’s in. That’s right; as Veronica announces at a press conference the next day, Hermione is running for mayor. As she gives her stump speech, we see: Fred getting a package of campaign buttons that Veronica had ordered for him earlier (sad face); Claudius and Penelope discussing their desire for revenge on the Lodges, but needing to get Nana Rose and Cheryl in order first — as Cheryl listens in from the hallway; Betty confronting Chic with the blood test results that show he’s not who he says he is (so who is he?); and Archie swearing fealty to Hiram Lodge…for what I think is the 50th time this season. This oath involves bloodletting and the burning of Archie’s journal though, so I guess this time it’s real. Or whatever.
So Arch is totally on board with this private prison plan, which will surely drive an even bigger wedge between him, Betty, and Jug, and also him and his dad. I have SO many questions, Riverdale. Will you give me some answers next week?
Related: This Is What Happens When You Challenge the Stars of Riverdale to TRUTH OR DARE
