Welcome back all you Riverdale fans! My TV says the episode is called “The Master” but everywhere else is calling it “The Raid” so SOMEONE fucked up somewhere. . .which, honestly, is the theme of this episode so I gotta say, well done.
As always, spoilers ahead.
1. Invisible Monsters
Who would have thought we’d finally find out the reason for everyone’s sudden turn to the farm? I honestly thought they’d drag this out to the finale but here we are, with an answer that opens up a whole bunch more questions. First off, I just want to say that I was right and I’m gonna pat myself on the back, even though I was also very wrong. What I appreciate about the way they showed Cheryl’s acceptance of The Farm was that it was 1) gradual and 2) understandable, as in, they clearly delineated WHY Cheryl became a farmie vs the sudden and mysterious transformation of Mrs. Cooper & Kevin.
At first it was because Edgar actually listened to Cheryl’s problems, refusing to dismiss them, and allowing her to be vulnerable for the first time in a long time. Then she was shown Jason, the source of her longing and pain, and that reunion was so joyous that she could only see Edgar as a positive voice.
It’s pretty obvious that the room was filled with fizzle rocks or fizzle rock mist and that they’re all being brainwashed and drugged — they speak and talk like Ethel and the others from the Sisters of Quiet Mercy — but at least we know how they’re using the drugs and how it was AS apparent before. It still doesn’t excuse the sudden change for Alice, that was handled pretty poorly, nor does it explain why the babies were being lowered into the fire in episode one. Was that a fizzle rock drug runoff hallucination? Or part of the trial by fire? Is that what fuels the obsession with G&G?
All questions we probably won’t get answers to next week. But maybe, if Betty plays her cards right, we will.
Oh, and also, fuck you Mrs. Cooper. You don’t get to say shit after everything you put Betty through this season.
2. Adjustment Day
It’s a miracle! We finally get reasons for why Veronica and Hermione have both stuck by Hiram and they make for some effective drama. Camila Mendes gets to break out some genuinely sad scenes and I think I finally get why she sticks by Hiram. He’s the locus of power in the eyes of the show and, as such, if Veronica is to keep her family together, which she desperately wants and needs to do because that is what she has been taught is most important, she must appeal to him. He could make it all come crashing down and, much as she hates her father for what he has done, she loves her family and would do anything to protect it.
It, not him. That’s what I’ve been missing, and what they show has failed to express prior to this episode.
I love the way she throws that sentiment back in his face. It was him that taught her that family is most important, something she correctly identifies as a tool to manipulate her, although that was more subtext, but she still believes in the sentiment and that he should too. But Hiram is a giant barrel of monkey shit and nice suits so he doesn’t care.
I think this episode was the best we’ve gotten from the Lodges and still, STILL Hermione is reduced to a character who simply reacts to what Hiram is doing. I hate that and, while I know it won’t happen, I’ll still hold out hope that she becomes the parental focus again.
3. Make Something Up
Gladys Jones may be my new favorite character. She’s Penny Peabody but better, by a long long shot. I’ve harped enough on her arrival but now that she’s here, I hope we get to see more of her outside of the context of threatening Jughead or Veronica. I’d like to see her being, you know, a gang leader/mob boss and I want to know how much Jellybean is in on things. Because, come on, we all know that’s gonna be the “big twist” that breaks Jughead.
Continued belowIt was pretty clearly established that JB knows what’s going on so why is Gladys lying to Jug? What game is she playing by doing that? Or is it that JB doesn’t know about the drugs, just the gang part. I dunno but that’ll be an interesting development.
4. Fight Club 2
Elio’s appearance made me think he was going to play a larger role in the episode. Thank goodness that was not the case because fuck that guy. He’s the worst.
I am glad that Mad Dog and Baby Teeth (poor Baby Teeth) both showed up again. The show hasn’t forgotten about the others Archie was trapped with in prison and it paired nicely with Jughead’s plot line about hunting down the cook. Plus, Archie getting to play Nanbu to Mad Dog’s Joe & the rest of Team Nowhere was a real treat. He’s feeling more and more like himself, only hardened and shaped by the events of the last three seasons.
I wonder, though, if the whole thing with Elio is going to come back at some point or if it was just there to give an out for Mad Dog and his family.
5. Tell-All
Jughead is really in a pickle and watching him squirm and buck against his father all while trying to also find a way to tell him about Gladys makes for some delicious tension. How long do you think he’ll be able to hold out before telling FP? I give it two more episodes before either FP finds out not through Jug or directly from him. We’re nearing the end of the season (kinda) and this is one of those Chekhov’s Gun moments. How will FP take it? Will he do the really stupid TV thing where he refuses to listen to anything?
Probably but what else would you expect?
That about does it for now! Let me know what you all thought of the episode in the comments (I know it’s a barren wasteland down there but I try y’all, I try.) Then, join me again in three weeks as The CW takes some time to get us up to speed on it’s other (mid)season spring premieres, putting most of its shows on the back burner, probably so they can all close out around the same time in May. Until then, stay strange y’all.
Best Line of the Night:
Kevin: “And can anyone guess what’s behind this door?”
Betty: “Ritualistic drowning?”
