Riverdale, the show that always keeps its viewers coming back for more. Currently season 3 has been leaving fans confused and in a better word, shook. These last 2 episodes that have just aired on The CW have been especially confusing and rushed. I have been a fan of Riverdale since the very beginning and even I was left wondering “What the hell just happened” after each of these episodes. CAUTION: if you have not seen either episode 9 or 10 of season 3 of Riverdale, there will be spoilers ahead.
Season 3 Episode 9, “No Exit” – Originally premiering on Jan. 16, 2019, “No Exit” was an episode that in my opinion wasn’t needed. It starts off in Riverdale one month after the quarantine began and guess what? It’s already been lifted. To me, I already kind of zoned out 5 minutes in because it seemed like the quarantine was going to be a big deal to the story line when in reality it wasn’t even explained as to why it happened. Archie is still living his life by himself in the Canadian forests with Vegas. While on the trails, he gets attacked by a grizzly bear and ends up radioing for help. Back in Riverdale, Cheryl and Toni have been pulling off small heists, Betty has all the kids from SOQM living in her house, the Serpents have started selling fizzle rocks without Jughead knowing and Veronica and Reggie finally hooked up. But honestly these issues are nothing compared to what Archie is going through. While bleeding out on his bed, Archie begins to have fever dreams. His first being dead Cassidy, and the other payed off witnesses from his trail playing G&G. They tell him that in order to get back to Riverdale, he needs to play and win the game. His first quest card tells him to “Defeat the dreaded Spectre of Death.” He flashes back to when the Black Hood shot Fred and this time shoots him first. Back in the cabin, Archie’s next premonition is Wardon Norton. He tells Archie to kill the man in black and he does so by flashing back to the night that he threatened Hiram in his study. Instead of throwing the knife down on the table, Archie stabs Hiram in the stomach. His final hallucination is of Betty, Jughead and Veronica. While it is unknown what Archie’s final quest card said, it is assumed that it had something to do with him killing himself. At least this is what I thought. Archie is then shown in his old bedroom standing over himself with a baseball bat. He then proceeded to hit his body with the bat numerous times. Back in the real world, help has come to Archie’s rescue only to find him bleeding out on his bed, unresponsive. The episode ends with a close up of Archie’s supposed lifeless body.
Honestly, I thought this would have been a really interesting ending and a good hook to get people to want to come back for the next episode. It was a good idea, but it wasn’t executed as well as it should have been. The show literally revolves around the original Archie comic books. There was absolutely no way that they would have killed off their main character especially in such a pointless way. They also didn’t try that hard to hype up that Archie could have potentially been dead. He is mentioned in future episodes and has a role in the musical episode. Overall, I’d give this episode a 5/10. The ideas and content were decent and interesting, but how it all played out on screen was just very messy and confusing. This was also basically my live reaction to the whole “Archie is dead” thing.
Season 3 Episode 10, “The Stranger” – Coming out on Jan 23, 2019, this is the most recent episode of Riverdale. Following the cliffhanger from the previous episode, fans, like myself, were confused but not surprised to learn that Archie not only SURVIVED his near-death experience but is also BACK IN RIVERDALE?! I am not kidding when I say that he literally just strolled back into Riverdale with no issues. His first meeting with Veronica ends in them presumably having sex at La Bonne Nuit. Veronica then shares the good news of Archie’s homecoming with Betty and Jughead and the four of them are finally all back together again at Pop’s. The four talk about what’s been going on and how SAT’s are right around the corner. Back at school, Reggie tries to talk to Veronica about them and she immediately shuts him down because “Archie’s back.” He understands and backs off but is obviously upset. After learning about SAT’s, Archie is horrified because he knows he’s most likely going to fail his. This is also around the time where Principal Weatherbee advises Archie that it would be best for him to repeat his junior year. Obviously, this is what he should do considering it is assumedly March-April and he literally hasn’t been in school all year but of course, when has Archie ever made a good choice. Betty has also come to learn that Alice has wiped out all her savings including her college funds from her bank account. In order to do this however, both parents had to sign off and Betty knows Hal’s fake signature when she sees it. In order to get her money back, Betty has to go see her father and have him sign an affidavit. Once there, Hal tells her (very out of the blue too if I may add) that he was the original Gargoyle King and that he was the one that ultimately killed Principal Featherhead back at Ascension Night with the Midnight Club. Betty doesn’t understand how he could know this until the security guard tells her that Alice Cooper has been visiting Hal too every Monday. After finding this out, Betty obviously confronts her mother about this, and she denies it. Betty then finds out from the prison that the person going to see her dad is Penelope Blossom. She was the one who told Hal about the Midnight Club and Ascension Night. Hal is obviously trying to trick Betty into thinking he was the Gargoyle King and that he might have something to do with it now because he wants to spend more time with her and honestly, it’s kind of working even though she said it wouldn’t. After getting tipped off by fangs that he would be meeting the Gargoyle King, Jughead and FP ambush the gang only to find out that the creepy tall weird Gargoyle King creature is none other than Tallboy. Yep that’s right, the one who we all thought was dead last season. Back in Archie’s messed up life, him and Veronica finally end things right after they have a little one on one time in Archie’s bed. The next morning during the SAT, Archie can’t seem to concentrate so what’s his best option? Obviously to walk out! Between the time that Archie walked out, and the rest of the gang finished their SATs, Hiram was shot in the chest by an unseen shooter. Veronica obviously has a suspicion that it was Archie who did it and when he denies this claim, the two of them are officially no more. Reggie shows up to comfort Veronica and it is assumed that the two of them are going to be together. The episode comes to an end when Jughead finds Sweet Pea and Fangs in the bunker standing over Tallboy’s dead body. Instead of figuring out a way to handle the situation, Jughead decides that the best thing to do is to have a party a celebrate. The party is just beginning when a cop car shows up. A man gets out of the car and starts walking towards the crowd when it is revealed that FP Jones is the new sheriff of Riverdale.
Even though this episode had a lot of content in it, I did like it more than the one before it. However, there were still some things that I wanted addressed more or that I thought were very anticlimactic. The first being how Archie got back home so easily and why he came back. The whole point of Archie leaving Riverdale was because Hiram was there and taking over and so the fact that he could just stroll back in with no issues or explanation ESPECIALLY after what happened at the end of “No Exit” is kind of disappointing. The whole “Tallboy is the Gargoyle King” thing was also very anticlimactic and the fact that in the same episode that it was revealed, he also died was upsetting.
I love Riverdale and honestly, I doubt I’ll ever stop watching. But I do wish the writers would clear up a lot of the storyline and plot points. Things that happened in Season 1 still have not been answered and a lot of the issues now are being forgotten or made unimportant. A lot of the really cool plot points that the beginning of season 3 mentioned still haven’t happened yet. Riverdale will always have my attention and I will always love what is going on but for right now, things just need to be cleared up.