Well, I guess we’re done with the flash-forwards, aren’t we. After an entire season of ominous end tags pointing to Jughead’s death, Riverdale finally ran headlong into its future timeline. There were fan theories early on that it would all prove to be an act somehow. Or that it would turn out to be the Baxter Brothers story Jughead’s been writing. Both of those theories still have a chance of being true, but things aren’t looking great right now.
It all starts with Jughead being kicked out of the Quill and Skull. The stated reason is that Betty broke into the society’s basement, but it feels like there’s something more going on. After Jughead threw his duel with Brett last week, putting himself above being a “Stonewall Man,” it looks like he ruffled some feathers. He’s also losing his Baxter Brothers contract for failing to produce an acceptable work by March 15. That’s still a few days away though, so Jughead promises to write a new story by then to keep the contract. So… that Black Hood story he wrote didn’t end up happening? Where did that go? Guess it was all to give Bughead some relationship turmoil for an episode. I know Riverdale loves to spin up conflict from the barest of threads, but I’d like it to lead somewhere, rather than be forgotten just as quickly.
Camila Mendes as Veronica and KJ Apa as Archie — Photo: Colin Bentley/The CW
In any case, Betty helps him come up with an idea for a new story: Base the new mystery on all the weird stuff that’s happened to him at Stonewall Prep. So let me get this straight. The three stories he’s written this season are about Jason Blossom, the Black Hood, and now his school. Isn’t he supposed to be writing fiction? If we’re supposed to get behind Jughead as this brilliant author, shouldn’t we see him having just one original idea? Just one. In any case, his story appears to be going well enough until someone accuses him of plagiarism. The story that got him into Yale is allegedly the work of another student. Jughead insists that he wrote that story on his old laptop before he ever came to Stonewall Prep, but when he searches his room for it, he finds it’s been stolen.
Just about everything that can go wrong for Jughead this episode does. It becomes very clear that the core group of elite students is conspiring against him. They always seem to be one step ahead of him too. Betty tries investigating Donna again to find out the real reason she ended up with Mr. Chipping’s tie bar. The two have one conversation, but Betty never learns if her theories are true largely because of Jughead’s massive unforced error. He brags to Brett that he’s going to spill everything he knows about Stonewall and Quill and Skull at his plagiarism hearing. Brett then says he does in fact have a sextape of Betty and Jughead, and threatens to release it if he does. Man, if Jughead had kept his mouth shut, he might have at least caught Brett off guard at the hearing.
Sarah Dejardins as Donna, Doralyn Mui as Joan, Alex Barima as Jonathan and Sean Depner as Bret — Photo: Colin Bentley/The CW
Instead, Jughead caves. DuPont offers to allow Jughead to withdraw without a trial in exchange for not finding him to be a plagiarist. Jughead takes the deal and walks away. Brett invites Jughead and Betty to the school’s big Ides of March party in the woods as one last hurrah. He also encourages him to invite Archie and Veronica. Jughead accepts, promising Betty he has a plan. What that plan is, we have no idea. By the time the episode ends, we don’t know what it involved, if it failed or if it’s still going. Whatever it was, it doesn’t look too successful, but who knows with this show?
We see Jughead put on a creepy rabbit mask and stare at Brett during the party. Brett takes him into the woods so they can “finish things.” That’s the last we see of him. Meanwhile, Betty follows Donna into the woods, and Donna reveals she’s been snooping around Betty’s life too. Donna says she spoke to Evelyn Evernever and learned a second trigger word for Betty. One that makes her go into a fugue state and hurt people she loves. We then cut to Archie and Veronica, who’ve just returned from an open air tryst in the woods. They ask Jughead’s classmates where he is and they point to the woods. As Archie and Veronica walk off, the Stonewall students watch them go and smile. Archie and Veronica find Jughead on the ground with no pulse. Betty is standing over him confused. It doesn’t look good.
It’s exciting to finally get to this point in the story and see everything that led to Jughead’s apparent death. I say apparent because what makes this episode fun is there’s still doubt. Even when we’re shown a body on screen, there are too many loose threads the episode purposefully brought up. What was Jughead’s plan? What did Betty hope to gain by interrogating Donna? And where does the Baxter Brothers story fit into all of this? Now that the season isn’t building to this moment anymore, we get to see where it goes from here. Jughead is apparently dead, now what? Riverdale has lots of exciting questions to answer next week.
Camila Mendes as Veronica and KJ Apa as Archie — Photo: Dean Buscher/The CW
The other two stories were good enough in their own right, and thankfully didn’t get in the way of the A-plot. After Veronica found out about her dad’s terminal illness, she doesn’t react well. She suddenly becomes very concerned with the fact that her time with Archie might be coming to an end. She tries to have sex at school constantly, which Archie’s happy with at first, but even he starts to feel it’s inappropriate. She starts drinking at school and putting on a party girl facade. Archie realizes something’s wrong and asks her directly. She tells him about her father’s condition, and for once, he actually has some good advice. He tells her he regrets not spending more time with his dad before he died. That she, of all people, knows what he needs most to get through this difficult time. The next morning, Veronica taunts her dad with an ad campaign for her new rum. For the first time in days, he comes to life, joyfully vowing to crush his daughter. Seems about right for this messed up family. And hey, Archie did a smart! That doesn’t happen often.
Archie’s story was fine, if entirely pointless. We learn he’s struggling in school and probably won’t graduate with his friends. Because he’s had a traumatic couple of years and nobody’s reached out to help this kid. Seriously, he was framed for murder, put in an underground boy fighting ring, run out of town by a vindictive rich guy, and his father died and left him in charge of a construction company. Now, Principal Honey is acting like his slipping grades are his fault because there are no decent adults in this town. In any case, Archie asks Hiram for advice, who suggests he sell one of his businesses. He chooses the construction company, but backs out of the sale at the last minute. Instead, Tom Keller agrees to become the foreman again at a lower salary until they can get some more jobs. So Archie thought about doing a thing, but didn’t. Cool story.
Honestly, it doesn’t matter if Archie had a nothing plot. Veronica got a good, empathetic character arc, and Jughead’s Stonewall mystery really took off. This episode left things in a great place for Riverdale to pick up when it returns in two weeks. Now that we’ve reached Jughead’s death, the timeline shackles are off. Time for Riverdale to really get nuts. At least, I hope.
Riverdale airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on The CW.
Previously on Riverdale:
- Riverdale Season 4 Episode 12 recap
- Riverdale Season 4 Episode 11 recap
- Riverdale Season 4 Episode 10 recap
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