Riverdale: Chapter Twenty-One: House of The Devil | Season 2, Episode 8 | Rating: 8/11
Alice, Betty, Jughead & FP
Let’s all give three cheers for the fact that FP Jones (Jughead’s dad) is getting out of jail early. No doubt this has something to do with the favor that Jug did for snake charmer Penny Peabody where he transported and delivered that crate last week. Needless to say Jughead is pretty excited that his dad is getting out early and he’s so sure things will go back to how they were before, but FP lets Jughead in on a secret: He’s not going back to the Serpents.
FP is now on the straight and narrow and even attending AA meetings, so he won’t be getting into trouble. In fact, he’s hoping to get a job at Pop’s as part of his fresh start. But Jughead wants to stay with the Serpents because he’s trying to make real change within the group. He’s hoping that a sit-down with the mayor will go well for all involved and that the Serpents can help to bring the Southside back from what it is right now to what it used to be back when. This is met with some resistance within the group in the form of Tall Boy (FP’s right hand man) who gets ousted in a vote. Jughead is showing some real leadership within the Serpents these days. In addition, Jughead wants to celebrate his dad and the legacy he left within the Serpents, so he and Betty throw FP a retirement party. The big surprise at the end of the party is that FP isn’t retiring at all! It turns out FP found out what was going on with Penny and decides to regain his title to protect Jughead from her. Now his debt is his own and Jughead can get out. Needless to say, Jug went from happy and proud to feeling incredibly guilty for being the reason his dad is back in the game. Too bad he never got things squared away with Penny, but how did his dad find out?
Archie & Veronica
Lover’s Problems
Veronica and Archie are hot and heavy right now. This must be their way of dealing with the Black Hood still being out and about. Things are going great until Archie utters the words every girl either wants to hear or runs away from. You know, that four-letter word that starts with an L. Things take an awkward turn after that and Veronica doesn’t want to talk about it. Thankfully, since Betty and Jug are busy with FP getting out of jail, Veronica and Archie take over the sleuthing roles and are a little too busy looking into the Riverdale Reaper to have a proper conversation. Archie seems to bring it up at the worst possible times but, he’s smart enough to not bring it up while investigating the creepy house at the edge of Fox Forrest. Yes, that’s the house that the Black Hood got Betty to go to where he put on the hood and looked in the mirror so he could say they are one and the same. It’s also the house where the Riverdale Reaper murdered an entire family. Perhaps there’s some connection between the two? Sadly, the Reaper is not the Hood. Turns out that there was a kid who survived the massacre who had his name changed and was taken in by another family. He also happens to be the janitor at Riverdale that Josie keeps running into. He did tell Veronica and Archie that he saw the guy who killed his family and later identified him to a group of men who, in turn, killed him and dumped his body. So that lead is a bust.
Things between Veronica and Archie come to a head at the party for FP. Archie (being the sweet guy he is) assures her that she doesn’t need to say it back until she’s ready. Veronica realizes in the middle of their awesome karaoke duet of “Mad World” that she has some issues of her own and she can’t do this to Archie anymore. I guess it doesn’t help that she’s never heard her parents say “I love you.”
Over in Bughead-land, Betty wants to be able to keep an eye on Jughead and be “Serpent adjacent” without actually being a Serpent. Toni informs her that there is an antiquated dance she can do to “kind of sort of” become a part of things. Betty surprises Jughead at the party with this dance and the look in his eyes is unmistakable. Jughead is so incredibly upset (not to mention her mom) and he realizes he can’t protect her if she gets involved. For her own safety, he breaks up with her and tells her he’s not dragging her down, too, and to go home. It was a bad night for love all around.
FP, Josie & Cheryl
Face Your Past
Alice is not very happy about Betty and Jughead and the latter now being a Serpent, too. However every time Alice goes to object, Betty reminds her that she was once a Serpent, as well. Despite being a bit too much like a parole officer with FP when he gets out, she’s there with Betty and Jughead to pick him up and take him to Pop’s. She’s later upset that Betty seems to be going down the same road she once went down and confronts FP while he’s working at Pop’s telling him that she doesn’t want her kid to make the same mistakes she did. FP tells her to come to the party so she can keep and eye on Betty and she can come alone since her husband, Hal, wouldn’t want to come anyway. There’s some implied history there that they used to have a hot and heavy thing of their own. In true Alice fashion, she comes dressed for the party in leather and a netted shirt and jokes that she couldn’t get Betty to dress appropriately since she’s in her usual preppy clothes. But Betty’s dance also upsets Alice and it seems to make bad things from the past resurface in her head. Too bad; I liked badass Alice. She was way cooler.
Other Notes:
- Cheryl is getting kind of creepy with Josie in the locker room. I think she’s found a new obsession.
- Also, Cheryl was a class A bitch to FP at Pop’s by deliberately knocking her milkshake to the floor.
- Someone claiming to be the Black Hood has been sending letters out to families and this time Veronica’s parents got one. This prompts Veronica to freak out and say, “I don’t know about those other people, but we’re actually sinners!”
- FP looked good in Pop’s gear. Too bad he probably won’t stay there now that he’s back with the Serpents.
Quotes:
- “Shockingly, Freddy Krueger didn’t lie to me.” – (Jug when telling Betty that the creepy farmer was right about the Riverdale Reaper)
- “I tried to get it outlawed but misogyny dies hard.” – (Toni in reference to this outdated dance Betty has to do)
- “All snakes have a soft underbelly.” – (Penny Peabody threatening Jughead about Betty)
- “How many times are we going to push each other away?” Betty asks as Jughead is breaking up with her. To which he replies, “Until it sticks.”