Welcome back all you Riverdale fans to the penultimate episode of the season! Hot damn was this a tense one. If Fangs being shot last week was the act one finale, then this week is the build up to the act two finale. Threads converged, twists were taken, and secrets were revealed. I can’t even begin to cover all that happened so I won’t even try. Oh and the “Afterlife with Archie” panel that graces the script title page is of Pops’s shop burning. I love these script pages. Also, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Francesco Francavilla, where’s issue 11?!
All right, let’s jump into this madness and, as always, some spoilers are ahead.
1. Fangs Fake Out
They had me fooled. They truly did. I can’t even be angry. Fangs is shot and presumably dead but because it was the cliffhanger moment, I should have known he’d have made it through. Has there been a single character that’s been shot at the end of an episode in this show that’s died? Fred Andrews? Nope. Moose and Midge? Nope. The Black Hood? Technically yes but you get my point.
When I saw them drag Fangs to the hospital all I wrote was, of course he isn’t actually dead. So, color me surprised when they reveal that Fangs died at the hospital. I was floored. I was actually caught off guard and I was angry. Not at the show but instead angry that he was dead. That sweet Fangs was taken from us again, this time for good.
Dammit Riverdale, you got me. You set a pattern, started it up and then changed it just to dial up the tension and fuck with expectations. You got me invested in this one incidental character and, through that one action, got me 100% on board with the serpent storyline. Well done, well done.
I also think it was good that Mrs. Klump shot Fangs instead of Reggie. It softens the blow to know he was killed not out of the toxic rage of Reggie but the true grief of a mother who lost her child. Doesn’t make it any better or more right but it does make things more complicated. And complicated is true to life.
2. You Merely Adopted the Dark. I Was Born In It, Molded By It.
Oh Hal, when will the writers stop forcing you to say the phrase “I have a darkness inside me.” It still sounds stupid, even this many weeks later. Beyond that, Hal is scary in all the ways he should be. There is a tendency for secret villains to, once exposed, be big, loud and to have a totally different demeanor. Credit to Hal’s actor and the writers for keeping him consistent without sacrificing the terror that he can inspire.
I still don’t know why they kept us in suspense these last couple week’s as to whether or not Hal was truly the Black Hood but it was effective. I was doubting the entire episode, right along with Betty, and I suspect that was the point. I especially love how there is a reason, rooted in the show itself, as to why he did what he did. It’s fucked but it isn’t something that was pulled from the ether. It’s believable that Hal would do this and considering all the horrible drama with the Blossoms and what he knew last season, the home movie reveal is just as believable.
There is also the added dimension of fear that his motivations, “sinners,” and the connection to the Sisters of Quiet Mercy preys on. His coldness, brutality and hypocrisy is chilling because of who he was in the show before. He was not the perfect husband who could do no wrong, as many tales of serial killers in TV or real life would profess. No, he was mean, vindictive, and secretive. He wasn’t Mrs. Blossom or Hiram levels of bad but he wasn’t a model parent or husband. This is just a dark extension of who he already was.
3. Comeuppance Central
If I were a betting man, I’d say this week’s theme is comeuppance. Each and every storyline featured something coming back to bite someone, be they a protagonist or an antagonist. This doesn’t me we are meant to agree or love these decisions, just that their actions are having consequences. I’m just going to list them all because . . . well because I feel like. Let’s go!
Continued belowFor Jughead, it was the return of Penny and him getting his shit tossed by the Ghoulies. For the serpents, it was, well, the return of the Ghoulies. For Reggie, it was being hunted for supposedly shooting Fangs. For Hiram, the return of Son Poutine. For Hermione, it was Veronica’s indictment of her mother’s blind support of Hiram. For Mrs. Cooper, it’s being strangled after berating Hal. For Hal, it’s being berated for being a hypocrite and getting bashed over the head by both Betty and Mrs. Cooper. For Archie, well, he dodges this but he does have to relive the worst night of his life and watch his father get shot by the black hood AGAIN. Jeez, they can’t give him a break can they. Thankfully Frank survives, protected by . . . something the doctor put on him, probably a cast.
So much comeuppance, so little time. My favorite two have to be Hal getting hit over the head with a fireplace shovel and Veronica’s verbal rending of her mother. She is voice of the audience in those moments and thank god for that.
The other theme is women defeating large, powerful men who threaten them within their homes. It’s a wonderful flip of the trope as well as a turning of the Black Hood’s actions from earlier in the season. Cheryl going full Arsenal on the Black Hood, Hermione putting Son Poutine down without hesitation and the aforementioned Betty & Mrs. Cooper beatdown of Hal are all moments of earned triumph.
4. Father Foils
While I’m not sure where this is going, I just noticed that of our four main character — Archie, Betty, Jughead, and Veronica — two of their fathers are good dads and the other two are pretty terrible. I mean, sure, FP didn’t start off as good but as he’s developed, he’s grown and become a person to, if not admire, then at least appreciate. Fred (huh, both F names) has always been fantastic, even if he too has had his fair share of problem and mistakes.
Then you have Hiram and Hal (both H names too), the scumbags of the father crew. Both pretending to be good in front of their children while secretly, or in Hiram’s case, not so secretly, being the scourges of the town. It’s also interesting how they’re split across gender lines. Are the writers trying to say something about father/son vs father/daughter dynamics and the ways in which traditional gender expectations effect these dynamics? Probably not, knowing the way the show is conducted.
I’m certain none of these things were done consciously or even with any intent but these are still something to look at. What it means is anyone’s guess and were I to make more patterns, I’m sure I could come up with something. For now, though, I’ll just leave it at that.
5. Who Lives? Who Dies? Who Tells Your Story?
Going into the final episode, I’ve got a whole lot of questions and a whole bunch of theories. First and foremost, who the heck is this second Black Hood? I think it was Ken in his reviews who speculated that Hiram may have hired the Black Hood and now I’m thinking that theory isn’t too far off. Well, he didn’t hire Hal but whoever this fake is, is under Hiram. It brings up the question then if the first attack on Fred was by this fake or by Hal. The only attacks by the Hiram Hood were on Fred and the eyes seemed to match for Archie, so maybe it was this fake hood who did those three attacks. I don’t think the first one was Hiram, since that would mean Hal was copying him though. Something to chew on.
Another question I have is will we find out if Penny is actually connected to anything supernatural (I really hope she is) or if she’s just here to fuck things up for Jughead. Jughead has to be OK, too, because on a meta-level, all this is his recounting within his true-crime novel from the future. Which, honestly, explains the tone of the show.
One bit of nice camerawork was ending the episode on FP and Betty looking at each other, both getting more and more broken as Jughead’s condition sets in.
Continued belowAnd that about does it! Next week, come back here for the finale of the Black Hood saga and of my recaps for the year. I’ll save my thanks for that column. For now, though, it’s time to mourn Fangs’s death and to get ready for the last rumble of the season. See you all in seven.
Line of the night:
“Get back, you hobgoblin” – Cheryl Blossom
