We’re six episodes into the fourth season of Riverdale, and usually the season arc has become clear by now. That hasn’t been the case this season. Last week’s messy, stalling episode made me realize this season doesn’t have any good mystery pushing it forward. It tries to make up for that with the flash-forward to Jughead’s disappearance/death, but those scenes feel so disconnected to what’s going on, I don’t care about them yet. What consistent stories there are just aren’t as interesting as serial killers or RPG-based murder cults.
Take Archie’s community center. It started as an argument between Archie and his mom. Now, it’s a turf war between Archie and Dodger, the local gang leader who recruits poor kids out of the arcade he runs. Now, maybe the previous three seasons have spoiled or desensitized me, but the story doesn’t feel as silly or outrageous as it should be. Maybe it’s because it revolves around Archie, the least interesting character in his own comic. Really though, Dodger isn’t compelling as a villain. This episode opens by explaining who he is and how he recruits kids. Because the show realized it hadn’t introduced this character or conflict yet, despite acting as though we should care about them for three episodes now.
Does it make a good case for that now? Well no, but at least we know who the guy is at the end of this. The way it’s handled is just weird. The opening of the episode shows some of the good Archie does. He offers kids a second chance rather than juvie. He helps them find jobs and gives them a safe place to hang out. Dodger’s response is to vandalize the community center once and then provide free pizza at his arcade. Archie and Veronica then offer free food from Pop’s. Somehow, I don’t think bribing kids is a great long term strategy. It does draw Dodger out though, who immediately sees that Archie’s the guy whose been stopping crimes while wearing a black mask. You know, because he has eyes.
Dodger retaliates by shooting up Archie’s house, which the cops can’t do anything about… for whatever reason. Archie tries to get Hiram Lodge’s help, and he refuses because Archie blew off his offer of a blank check earlier. For another week, this story trucks along and doesn’t really go anywhere. Sure, Archie’s battle with Dodger has escalated, but the nature of their conflict is the same. It’s just so much more boring of a story than I’m used to Riverdale delivering.
Mishel Prada as Hermosa Lodge. (Photo Credit: The CW)
Veronica’s family drama isn’t much better. Though she and Hermione are both firm at first about not letting Hiram back into their lives, that doesn’t last long. He seduces Hermione and moves back in. Mark Consuelos’ bare chest is that powerful, I guess. The rest of Veronica’s scenes this episode involve her newfound half-sister trying to force the new family dynamic into place. Hermione and Hiram are renewing their marriage vows and Hermosa tries to get Veronica to come. Veronica refuses when she sees Hermosa asserting more power over their home. Just riveting stuff. Remember when this family was into mob stuff? What happened to that?
I’ll give the episode credit, the other stories at least went somewhere interesting. Even if Betty’s took a while to get there. Her investigation into Charles meanders around and only ends up hinting at a larger story to come later. But that’s way more than Archie’s and Veronica’s stories did. Betty asks her brother Chip about Charles and he tells a story from when they lived together. He and Charles were high on Jingle Jangle (which is either more or less dangerous than fizzle rocks, I honestly can’t keep track), and Charles stabbed a guy with a pair of scissors. Betty confronts him about it, and he denies it under a polygraph test. His story says Chip is responsible for the murder.
Mädchen Amick as Alice Cooper and Wyatt Nash as Charles Smith. (Photo Credit: The CW)
It only starts getting interesting at the end. Charles shows up at Betty’s house claiming that Chip called the cops about that guy Alice murdered a couple seasons ago. He gives details about a body and evidence, that’s all still in that cave where FP helped hide it. Fortunately, with both the sheriff and the lead FBI agent on Betty and Alice’s side, they can go out and cover it up better. Corruption is OK sometimes, kids. Only it turns out that Betty was right to be suspicious of Charles. The next time we see him, he’s the one talking to Chip. It seems he and Chip are lovers. This was all a ploy to find out where the body is hidden. What they plan to do with that information, I don’t know. I’m at least curious though, which is a better place than the show left me in last week.
The problem with these stories is that they haven’t lived up to what I’ve come to expect from Riverdale. This show has always been a soap opera, but these storylines feel like they belong on daytime TV. There’s nothing particularly wild or bombastic yet, and at this point it’s time for the season to start escalating. Fortunately, Cheryl’s story still feels like old Riverdale with its evil adult family members and supernatural dolls. Her story feels so isolated from everyone else, though. The doll that may or may not be possessed by the ghost of her dead triplet keeps causing trouble. It’s appearing in places where it’s not meant to be. It’s endangering the two young twins.
Madelaine Petsch as Cheryl Blossom and Vanessa Morgan as Toni Topaz. (Photo Credit: The CW)
Things get worse when Cheryl’s aunt and uncle arrive. They want her to sell the house, as the Blossom business isn’t doing so well. When she refuses, they threaten to have her declared incapable so they can seize it. Later, Cheryl finds her uncle in the chapel. He discovers Jason’s corpse down there and says he’s going to turn her into the authorities. He tries to restrain her and Toni hits him with a fireplace poker. Is he dead? Unclear. We do know that he hasn’t been seen since. I really hope this goes somewhere next week. It’s the only story that has me completely 100 percent hooked here. Yes, Toni desperately needs more to do here. It’s ridiculous that she just takes all this in stride, and she seems to have lost her personality almost entirely. But this is the storyline that feels the most like classic Riverdale fun. This season, I’ll take what I can get.
Jughead’s does eventually get there, though like Betty’s story, it takes the entire episode. Facing writer’s block, Jughead starts analyzing the early Baxter Brothers books. He notices that the writing in the first book is too different from the writing in the next four. They couldn’t possibly be written by the same person. He guesses that his grandfather actually wrote the first book, and confirms it by finding an earlier story that uses the same characters and plot. Francis DuPont plagiarized Jughead’s grandfather. Jughead confronts DuPont, who yells and threatens him, making it super obvious Jughead’s right.
Cole Sprouse as Jughead and Lili Reinhart as Betty. (Photo Credit: The CW)
At this point, it’s just a plagiarism scandal, nothing special. This wouldn’t be out of place in any other teen drama. It starts to get more Riverdale-y when Jughead brings it to his teacher, Mr. Chipping. Chipping immediately sees the plagiarism and promises to do something about it. On their next lesson, though, he can’t even get through one sentence about Heart of Darkness. He starts to say something about a man losing his moral compass before apologizing to Jughead for not being able to help. Then he throws himself out the window. Yeah, you see THIS is the kind of thing I come to Riverdale for. It took the entire episode, but I’m in now. Especially when it’s revealed the DuPont will be taking over teaching the seminar. It’s unclear whether this will somehow lead to Jughead’s apparent spring break murder, but who cares. A lit teacher jumped through glass while analyzing Joseph Conrad. Riverdale is back.
Riverdale airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on The CW.
Previously on Riverdale:
- Riverdale Season 4 Episode 5 Recap
- Riverdale Season 4 Episode 4 Recap
- Riverdale Season 4 Episode 3 Recap
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