Welcome back all you Riverdale fans! I’m still reeling from the big reveal last week. Fire and brimstone, biblical apocalypse. What an escalation of stakes. So how did Riverdale follow it up? With a quieter episode focused on characters trapped in small spaces, forced to do nothing but talk and interact. You know, a bottle episode. Only this is Riverdale so there are, like, 5 bottles and at least one of them is on fire.
As always, spoilers ahead.
1. And Now…The Fog
I honestly thought the conceit of this terrifying, once in a 100 years fog was going to be used as a good excuse to really play up the horror elements of Riverdale. Sure there was a creepy figure outside Betty’s house, the spoopy lot that Jughead got lost in, and Alice Smith being the worst on TV and hyping it up. Beyond that, though, it was just a bunch of different tiny plots that didn’t intersect.
I’m a little disappointed. I wanted them to make the fog something a little more supernatural, beyond the implication that Percival may have helped it along to further his schemes. Like, when Moose and Penelope arrived, I thought they’d turn out to be pieces of the mist. Maybe they still are! But they don’t really play up that angle, be it with a sinister bent or a more contemplative one. Ah well. It’s not like we didn’t get plenty of spooky happenings to balance it all out.
2. I Haven’t the Foggiest Idea About this “Coup” Thing
One of the fascinating things about this season is how much I’m actually finding the commentary salient. I genuinely don’t think any of it is on purpose because of the more, well, questionable aspects of the surface plots but there remains a solid core that is propelling the narrative in interesting ways. For example: the crew wants to plot a coup to overthrow Percival and, in doing so, install themselves as the leaders, though that is said semi-reluctantly and in the workshopping phase.
Now to say this is a bad plan would be to say the sky is blue or Alice Smith is the worst. Not because drastic action isn’t necessary but because the crew would be terrible leaders, are basically a cabal already, and aren’t quite self-aware enough to realize it and take appropriate action. Also, they have no plan yet and always go in half-cocked and it always, always blows up in their faces.
However, what I love about how the episode handles this is that by the end, Percival has staged his own coup and installed himself as mayor. He essentially did what the crew wanted to do but faster, earlier, and with as many dirty tricks as he could get away with, which was basically all of them. No qualms. No worrying about things like ethics or hypocrisy. All he needed was a silver tongue, the knowledge that his opponents had scrupules and enough of an uphill battle that they’d be delayed until it was too late.
Until he could be in a nearly unchallengeable position to truly do lasting damage.
3. Foggy Went a Courtin’
Much of the episode, however, wasn’t dedicated to Percival and his nefarious dealings. No no no. Don’t forget. This show is called Sexy Archie for a reason. We need to live up to our quota of implied sex, passionate kissing, and people getting shirtless to the most out of the blue modern “it’s sexy time” music. I would say it was nearly everyone who got all hot and bothered but really it was only Arch & Betty, Reggie & Veronica, and Kevin & mystery guest Moose. Well I guess Cheryl too but hers was a much more literal heat.
I dunno why these scenes make me laugh so much. They’re often short and instantly forgotten but there’s just something about their suddenness, the music stingers, and their brevity that gets me. Though I gotta say, the Moose & Kevin kiss was more tender than funny.
4. Fog of Life
Speaking of Kevin, this is the first time in a long while we’ve really gotten a chance to get inside his head. It stinks that it’s taken this long and we’re probably going to go back to him being full-on Percival stooge but for a brief, shining moment, Kevin was our full focus. Of course, this being Riverdale, he couldn’t just have a nice conversation. He also had to deal with traumatic memories hiding in the red & blue neon fog inside the school. This was one of those moments I thought they’d do more with. I’m kinda glad they didn’t but I also wish they did so I would have something more to talk about.
Continued belowThis isn’t saying there’s nothing to talk about though. The whole custody battle situation gets some big developments this week, with the fog radicalizing Fangs into being fully adversarial to Kevin, while Kevin started to change and soften again. But much of it is simple and expected and isn’t likely to really blow up until later.
The same is kinda true of Reggie & Veronica’s plot but I was shocked by how much that one sucked me in. I think it helped that we spent the longest unbroken stretch of time with them. It was almost entirely a vignette on its own and that ruled. They had a mature conversation, it was given room to breathe, and it didn’t resolve in a way that felt forced or like a backslide to the status quo. Am I sad the two are broken up for good? Yeah. But they both grew through their conversation. We don’t get that often from Riverdale. I’m glad we got it here.
5. For Fog’s Sake, Kick Her Out
I was split on what to put in this final thought. I could’ve talked about Betty’s TBK story but, if I’m being honest, as nice as it is to know, it’s pretty old hat when it comes to Riverdale antics. Still gruesome and well-placed but old hat nonetheless. Instead, I wanted to yell about Penelope coming back and the way the show tries to force forgiveness for her.
You can’t just have her show up as a nun for the Nepalese branch of the Sisters of Quiet Mercy, the cult that has tormented the town for nearly a century, and expect the audience to accept that the character has changed. The show did get its mileage from playing up Cheryl’s distrust but there was always a sense that the show thought Cheryl was being too harsh and like…I dunno. The whole thing just rubbed me the wrong way.
It’s one thing to show a redemption arc for a character or having Cheryl forgive her mom on her own terms to release some of her bitterness but Riverdale side-stepped all that to give a way too clean ending to a character that was better off as a totally unrepentant force of chaotic evil.
Oh, and the last-minute implication that she hated Cheryl’s sexuality because she too loved women? Get the fuck out of here with that. Just have her have been a shitty mom from a family of shitty people who realized how shitty she was.
Bah. Hopefully we find out she was a fog mirage and thus a manifestation of Cheryl’s mind to help resolve her latent issues with her mom. But I’m not holding my breath.
That about does it for now! What did you all think of the episode? Did I miss any ridiculous moments? Other than finding out Tabitha time traveled over 1384 times to try and stop the ACME bomb. Whoops. That seemed important. Let me know in the comments and I’ll see you in a week for Percival’s next attack on the town and, maybe the reveal of Betty & Archie’s baby status. Until then, don’t go into the fog unless you wanna get slightly damp Riverdale.
Best Line of the Night:
Alice: “Close your windows and your vents. Keep your loved ones close. Hold your children and pets in your arms. Because the fog is coming.”
