Chapter 13: The Sweet Hereafter
A Rverdale Recap
I can’t believe we’re already at the end of the season. It felt like it was so fast. I know it was only 13 episodes, but the way the breaks stretched it out made these last three episodes feel rushed. But it’s a wonderful finale and I look forward to the second season. Oh, and if you haven’t heard the news, Riverdale’s second season will be a full episode order and it’ll be back in Fall. (Cole Sprouse’s statement on the second season renewal) This episode is packed and this recap is long:
Jughead and Alice do the opening narration for this one and it’s so good. The big, overarching synopsis: The true Blossom business was transporting heroin; Clifford Blossom killed Mustang and staged it to look like an overdose; Clifford also orchestrated events to implicate Hiram as the person behind the murder; F.P. was hired to do the cleanup of the body.
Now the mayor is freaking out all the corruption in Riverdale and she wants it crushed. Super ironic considering this is the same mayor who accepted a bribe. But the sheriff has to do something, so he offers a deal to F.P.: If F.P. tells him which Serpents are dealing the heroin, then they can negotiate a lower sentence. All of this is being done with Jughead also present, which seems unprofessional. Then again, it is Sheriff Keller. F.P. says that the Serpents don’t deal hard drugs; the most they’ve ever done is weed. And even if they did, he’s not giving any names.
Archie finds Fred looking wistfully outside of the kitchen window. When Archie comes in, Fred says he was thinking of how the town isn’t has nice and innocent as he once thought. Archie feels bad about his friends still being stuck in the mess. Fred tells him that they’re all still in it. Fred’s being weirdly ominous; he’s kind of like this for the entire episode. He doesn’t really seem like himself.
Meanwhile, Hermione is setting up everything for Hiram’s arrival. They’re expecting him at the end of the month and she wants everything perfect. Veronica, on the other hand, does not seem nearly as happy about Hiram returning.
On the walk to school, Betty tells Archie how she hates the way her family is all back together and pretending like everything is perfect. She says not sharing their problems is how they ended up in such a bad state in the first place. So much set up.
At school, Veronica tells Archie that they need to come clean to Betty about their sort-of relationship. Archie agrees that Betty should know, but as quickly as Veronica wants to share. Veronica says she’ll just tell Betty herself. Their conversation gets cut short when Archie and Betty are called to the principal’s office.
Mayor McCoy is in Principal Weatherbee’s office, excitedly telling Betty and Archie about the Riverdale Jubilee coming up. How many events does this place have in the span of a single month? How was anyone complaining about it being a “boring” or “sleepy” town? Mayor McCoy wants Archie to perform with Josie and the Pussycats and she wants Betty to give a speech. Archie asks about including Jughead since he was a major part of solving the mystery. However, Mayor McCoy says that with Jughead’s father in prison it would be “confusing” to have him speak. Both Betty and Archie find that completely unfair, so Betty tells the mayor no.
They tell the others about the meeting at lunch and Jughead says she didn’t have to do that on his behalf. Archie changes the subject and asks how things went with F.P. that morning. Jughead tells them that Sheriff Keller wants F.P. to name names and that F.P. wasn’t budging. Betty says that she’s going to write a story about everything; she wants to know why everyone is so afraid of the truth. Veronica uses that opportunity and says, “Speaking of truth…” and she actually stands up at the table for this. It’d be funnier if she wasn’t so nervous. Actually no, it’s still pretty funny that she stood up. As she’s standing Archie is shooting her looks like, “No, stop,” but she keeps going and Archie fills in and says that they’ve kissed a few times. Betty smiles and tells them that it’s okay, she’s with Jughead now, and she’s happy that they’re happy.
Meanwhile at Thornhill, in the barn, Penelope and Cheryl are in their funeral attire. Penelope is going on about how Clifford would have had a grand funeral before all of this and instead he was buried like a pauper. Then she gets annoyed by Cheryl’s crying. She gets annoyed by her daughter being upset about the father that she loved being the killer of her twin brother. Then she goes on to say maybe they’ve been cursed ever since one grandfather killed the other. Then she says she wonders who will be next, her or Cheryl. Then she goes on to say that maybe Cliff had the right idea to “end it all, instead of being stuck in limbo.” People like Penelope should absolutely never be parents.
When Archie and Betty are alone, Archie asks her if she’s actually okay with him dating Veronica. She promises him that she is okay with it. Archie says that’s good, but then he says something a little interesting: he likes Veronica, but “a part of [him] always thought…” and Betty seems to pick up on where Archie is going with it and she shuts him down before he can finish. She says that they’re both so lucky to have found someone and that they’re all friends. Seems like Archie may be the one with the problem.
Meanwhile at Andrews’ Construction, things between an Andrews and a Lodge aren’t going as well. Fred is very upset to find a new crew working there. Hermione fired the Serpents and hired a new crew. Fred is pissed about the lack of loyalty and says the Serpents were a good crew and Hermione says they need to keep up a good appearance. Fred reminds her that they’re a team and that she doesn’t get to make decisions alone like that. Hermione uses that opening to tell him that she and Hiram wants to buy out his company. Fred tells her to make him an offer in writing.
Archie is showing Josie his newly written song and she compliments how far his writing has come. Archie asks if they can sing it, but Josie says that it’s too personal to perform at the jubilee.
Betty is also getting complimented on her writing, by Alice and Hal. They like the article she wrote (which she must have written in record time because I swear this is the same day that she announced that she was writing it) however, Alice won’t publish the article. The reason is the same as Archie’s – it’s too personal. Alice says it’ll just look like she wrote it as a favor to Jughead; beyond that, it’s very favorable to the Serpents and her parents worry that it would make her a target. Ever since the sheriff and mayor decided to “crack down on corruption”, the town has been taking out their anger on the Southside Serpents.
Veronica walks into the locker room and finds Cheryl. She apologizes for being late, but Cheryl isn’t fazed by it at all. She tells her that she announced to the rest of the River Vixens that she wants to make Veronica the new director, and they all accepted. I’m sure they did, since Cheryl is such a diva. Cheryl gives Veronica her HBIC shirt and Veronica is very surprised and confused by the gesture.
When Veronica and Betty are hanging out in Betty’s room, Veronica says that she thinks Cheryl’s behavior is indicative of some very weird happenings at Thornhill; weirder than the usual. Betty brushes it off and says that everything is weird in town. Betty tells Veronica that she published her article on the school newspaper website. Then Veronica asks her if she’s actually okay with her and Archie; Betty has probably grown tired of the topic, but she promises her that she is fine with it. Polly sees them hanging out and says that she misses stuff like hanging out and school. Betty tells her to come to school and says what her mom doesn’t know won’t hurt her.
But Betty how would Alice not know about that? She’s gonna know if her kid returns to school. And seriously what has Polly been doing with education this whole time?
Archie and Jughead come home happy and are quickly deflated by meeting Jughead’s case worker. That had to be coming soon, but wow was it fast. Archie asks if Jughead can just stay there, but Fred said his offer was denied because of his financial situation and a prior DUI. There’s gotta be more to that last part, but it won’t be this season because this episode is packed. The case worker tells Jughead that there’s a family on the Southside that will foster him, but he will have to transfer schools; unless something radically changes in F.P.’s case, he’ll be in the new home by the end of the week. And spoiler alert – given the nature of the show, things continue to be realistic and there is no drastic change.
Archie can’t accept Jughead leaving for a new family and school, so he visits F.P. and tells him all about it. Archie says F.P. needs to take the plea deal to get his sentence down from 20 years. F.P. says that Jughead knows what’s up and he can’t betray the Serpents. He tells Archie that the Serpents will help when the time comes. He tells Archie to keep doing what he’s doing – look out for Jughead because he has some darkness in him and he’ll try to push everyone away.
Since everyone else is busy, it’s just Jughead and Veronica for lunch. She tells Jughead that they actually have something in common and Jug asks if it’s the fathers in jail thing; Veronica says it was actually the “dating best friends” thing, but they’re able to have a laugh at their family situation. Only those two could laugh at something like that. I really like this dynamic. We didn’t get a lot of these two interacting; I hope there’s more of it in season two. Cheryl comes to their table and apologizes to Jughead for hitting him the other day and gives him her treasured spider brooch. Cheryl’s making peace with people and giving away prized possessions – big red flag there. Veronica thankfully picks up on it and asks Cheryl what’s going on. Unfortunately, they get cut off by Kevin running in and telling them they need to hurry to Betty’s locker.
There’s a huge crowd in front of Betty’s locker, and Betty and Polly are staring at the locker. Written on the locker is “Go to hell serpent slut.” It’s written in pig’s blood and there’s a Betty doll hanging from a noose because everything in Riverdale is excessive. It also doesn’t make sense because Betty’s from fancy Riverdale. Stupid vandal.
When they’re out of school, Jughead says that the message on Betty’s locker is his fault and that everything is telling him that he doesn’t belong there. Betty tells him that it’s his home and he belongs there just as much as everyone else.
Hermione is still setting up the apartment to be perfect for Hiram. When Veronica comes home, Hermione asks her if she can get Archie to talk Fred into selling them the company. Veronica sarcastically says that she’ll sexually manipulate Archie and Hermione seriously responds with, “As long as you’re in control…” Veronica is horrified about her mom actually saying that and Hermione says that it’ll be best because Fred and Hiram won’t get along. That one’s your fault Hermione. She invited that conflict.
Alice is upset about Polly going to school and she got Polly to tell her everything that happened there. Betty is mad that Polly told, but there was no way Alice wasn’t going to find out. She’s nosey and more importantly, the school would presumably call about that incident. Betty tells her mom that she’s tired of all the secrets and lies and accuses Alice of being afraid of the truth. She wants to know what Alice and Hal were arguing about at Homecoming; the story that Alice stopped F.P. from finishing at awkward Homecoming dinner. Alice says that it’s none of Betty’s business. And you know what? It’s not. She’s allowed to have her private matters and past. No one owes anyone everything, not even a parent and a child.
But the next morning, Alice tells Betty what the argument was about. After being crowned Homecoming King and Queen, Alice told Hal that she was pregnant. They disagreed on how to proceed. Alice went to the Sisters’ of Quiet Mercy (the same place they sent Polly) and five months later Alice had a son. They arranged for a quiet adoption; she says it’s her greatest regret.
As the Cooper mother and daughter grow closer, the Blossom ones fall even further apart. Cheryl asks her mom if she can stay home and that things are hard for her. Penelope denies her and says that she doesn’t care how Cheryl feels.
And now for a sequence of events that are a bit rushed and are kind of frustrating:
Betty goes to school and tells Archie and Veronica about what her mom says, adding that her brother is in his early 20s. No way that doesn’t come back later. But it’s frustrating because her mom didn’t even want to think about it herself and here’s Betty telling two more people this deep secret. That’s not okay. Then Betty gets a call from Jughead, who is at Southside High; he says that’s where he belongs and that no one wants him. Wow Jughead, be more dramatic. Betty tells Archie and Veronica and Archie says F.P. warned him that Jughead would pull away; he says they need to go get him.
So the three of them go rushing out of the school (and that running scene is absolutely hilarious). But it’s the middle of the day. They go to Southside High and figure that Jughead is at lunch. When they walk in they see Jughead’s table surrounded by people from the school, laughing with Jughead about something. They’re surprised to see him getting along with people and he’s surprised to see them there.
The core group goes outside and Betty and Jughead talk alone. He says that he didn’t tell Betty earlier because he knew she would try to stop him. Pointless though, as he would have to go regardless. He promises that things won’t change between them, which is typically what one says before thing drastically change. They hug and Archie stares at them; he’s not even being subtle about it. Veronica says that Betty and Jughead are soulmates and are really lucky to have found each other. Okay, Veronica, calm down; they’ve only been dating for like a month. Though maybe she said that to redirect Archie’s thought process a little. But it isn’t working and it seems like Archie is about to break off their budding romance. However, Veronica cuts him off because she gets a text from Cheryl that says, “Thanks for trying. I’m going to be with Jason now.” They know what that one means and call out to Betty and Jughead.
The group rushes to Sweetwater River; it’s already frozen over. Man Riverdale must be really far north because it’s like October for them. They can see Cheryl in the distance, making a hole in the ice. They start moving out there, calling to her, but the ice is too thin to hold all of them. Cheryl goes under and they all start running to her. On the ice that’s too thin to support all of them.
The current has taken Cheryl under so they all spread out to look for her. Archie finds her and starts repeatedly punching the ice. He’s bloodying up his hands while everyone else cries for help, despite no one being around. And you know what makes it worse – they could have easily gotten help. All those cell phones and no one called the police when they realized their classmate was going to commit suicide?
Archie finally breaks through the ice and pulls Cheryl out. Then he gives her followed by carrying her away with his broken hand. Good thing that thin ice was thick enough for all of them.
Archie has done some really ridiculous things and he has had so many “bad friend” moments, but this negates all of that. This is the portrayal that they’ve been trying to get with Archie; the “always do the right thing” and “help as much as you can” type. There have been hints and he showed it in the past two episodes, but this was the real moment.
Veronica took Cheryl back to her place and has her warming by the fire and gives her some hot chocolate. Hermione comes in, angrily asking why Cheryl is there. Veronica is surprised by her mom’s demeanor and says that Cheryl had an accident; Cheryl tries to help by saying that she’s just going to warm up and go home. And then Veronica leaves for the jubilee. 1) Hermione Lodge is out of control and had an immediate 180 as soon as she knew Hiram was returning. Clearly this this where Veronica got her prior mean girl thing from. 2) This is hands down the worst part of the entire episode.
Cheryl should be in the hospital. And they clearly went to a doctor because Archie’s hand is in a cast in the next scene. Cheryl needed a doctor after being dragged into a river in freezing temperature and needing CPR. Also, again, it wasn’t accidental; Cheryl needs to be on a psychiatric hold. She needs help. And Cheryl cannot go back to her house. Her mom pushed her to suicide. Maybe the group doesn’t know that piece, but Veronica knows that Penelope straight up hates Cheryl. Indisputable fact. No one on this show has a worse home life than Cheryl and they’re sending her back there after what just happened? No!
How am I supposed to watch scenes like Betty worrying to her mom about her relationship and Josie letting Archie perform his song because of him helping Cheryl after something like that?
Let’s address these last pieces of the episode because it’s all set up for the next season now. Before they perform, Veronica brings up the way Archie was looking at Betty and Jughead longingly, as if he liked Betty. Archie immediately answers, “I do! As a friend.” Archie further says that he was looking at them and thinking that’s what he wants with her. A lie so convincing I think Archie believes it.
Meanwhile, Jughead goes to see F.P. Sheriff Keller was hoping that Jughead could convince his dad to give up names. Jughead tells him that he’ll be okay; the foster family is nice and he’ll survive the school. F.P. tells Jughead that he needs to answer for the things he’s done and says Jug needs to be there for his mom and Jellybean. Jughead says that he’ll do his best and F.P. pats his head and says he doesn’t have a doubt in his mind. Such a freaking sweet moment; I just want F.P. to get out on a technicality so that he can keep improving his life and be with Jughead.
At the jubilee, Archie performs and steals a glance at both Betty and Veronica. Only thing that would have made it better is if he also threw in one for Valerie. Just make eyes with every girl there. After the performance, Betty goes up for her speech. This is shaping up for a very short jubilee. The musical entertainment only performed one song.
Jughead comes in just as Betty is starting her speech. Betty gets everyone’s attention in a humorous and relatable way. Makes it hilarious when she then says that F.P. and Jughead are also part of the town and were demonized the Joneses without any real reason; and that Riverdale is also Cliff Blossom, who went and killed his kid. She says they need to do a better job as a town or else terrible things will keep happening. It takes a minute, but gets a standing ovation. The mayor must be kicking herself though.
Afterwards, Fred says he won’t be selling. Hermione tries to say that selling would be in Fred’s best interest and Fred says it sounds more like it would be in her best interest.
The group goes out for milkshakes at Pop’s while Cheryl sets fire to Thornhill as purification and cleansing.
I’ve minimized the impact – Cheryl fucking burns down her house. And watched it burn with a smile.
Thornhill is burning and Betty and Jughead are professing their love to each other and making out and quickly losing clothes. Archie and Veronica are in a similar state (minus the love profession). Something about a jubilee. Oh and it’s all set to “Believer” by Imagine Dragons. Been a while since there was a Berlanti show sex scene set to Imagine Dragons. At least I also didn’t laugh as much this time compared to the moment in Arrow. (If you don’t know what I’m talking about just look up Arrow – Radioactive.)
Betty and Jughead don’t get very far because there’s a knock on the door. Some Serpents came to the Jones’ trailer. They heard that F.P. didn’t talk; they say no matter what happens to F.P., they’ll have Jughead’s back. I love that F.P. was right before when he said the Serpents would come through. Jughead is offered a Serpent jacket and he happily takes it and puts it on. And damn does he look good; he looks right.
Archie wakes up at Veronica’s and says he needs to meet his dad at Pop’s. He kisses her goodbye and gets to Pop’s. When he walks in, Fred calls him Casanova; Archie laughs and goes to wash his hands, smiling to himself. But the joy is short-lived when he hears some strange noises outside. He walks out of the bathroom and sees a man with a gun threatening Pops.
Archie makes eye contact with Fred and Fred gives a slight shake of his head. But Fred can’t keep looking at this guy being violent with Pop’s and he gets up. The gunman refocuses on Fred and shoots him. (I just realized what Fred’s comment at the beginning of the episode about the town not being innocent was a huge flag on him.) Then the guy runs out, leaving all the money that he was “robbing”. And in case you had any doubts about it, Jughead’s closing narration says that incident was “the last piece of innocence that Riverdale had – marked by violence that was anything but random.”