Riverdale – Chapter Twenty-Eight: There Will Be Blood

Riverdale: Chapter Twenty-Eight – There Will Be Blood | Season 2, Episode 15 | Rating: 8/11 |

So much stuff happened on this week’s episode of Riverdale. Between a new mayor, a blood pact, finally meeting the twins, a new character, and the big reveal of what Hiram Lodge is up to, there’s a lot to talk about. Let’s discuss…

First: Jughead is hell-bent on finding out what Hiram Lodge is up to and exposing him for the vampire he is to Riverdale. The problem is despite having something akin to a murder board and interviewing everyone he possibly can, he’s hit a dead end and can’t figure out what it all means. It’s not until Archie throws him a bone about Pop Tate no longer owning his Chock’lit Shoppe that Jughead gets onto a fresh scent about the whole thing. After an interview with Pop confirming what Archie said, he sits down with his father, FP Jones to figure out what it all means.

It’s at this point that his dad finally admits to being a party to closing Jughead’s favorite place, the drive-in. FP admits that Hiram hired himself and the Serpents to trash the drive in so that it’s value would go down. Jughead is clearly hurt that his dad helped close down his favorite spot and second home but at that exact moment, he gets a call from someone claiming to have information on what Hiram is up to and to meet at the bus station. It’s very cloak and dagger but we soon see that the informant is none other than Smithers, the former driver and right-hand man to the Lodge family. Smithers tells Jughead about some of the places he used to drive Hiram to and mail he’s received. Apparently, Hiram had some dealings with someone at Shawshank Prison, which isn’t where Hiram did his time.

Archie, FP & Hiram

Thanks to an old prison connection, FP sets up a meeting with a gossipy inmate at Shawshank who spills the whole deal to Jughead and FP. Determined to beat the Lodges, Jughead writes a piece for the school paper, The Blue and Gold, but the principal won’t allow it to run. Jughead is completely stymied as the Lodges make moves to control the situation. You know they have a plan and it starts with Hermione becoming the new mayor of Riverdale. It’s unclear if she is running or is already in office but we all know that she will basically be a rubber stamp for Hiram. Oh, and I should mention that Hiram’s big plans involve turning Southside High into a for-profit prison. Sounds like a great idea, no?

The Invisible Hand:

For some reason, there is a family dinner happening between the Lodges and the Andrews families with a lot of reminiscing about old times and laughter all around. At the end of the meal, both Hermione and Hiram ask Fred to join them in the study to sip on a 30-year-old rum and chat and it’s very suspect.

Figuring that something is up, Archie asks his boo Veronica if she knows what this whole business is about. The always well-informed Veronica tells Archie that the interim mayor is about to step down and both her parents Hiram and Hermione think that Fred would make a great mayor for Riverdale. Although Archie has proved his loyalty to the Lodges, it seems he doesn’t want his dad getting mixed up with them, especially if they just want a “friend” who they can control and manipulate in the office. Due to some nudging by her parents, Veronica adds to the pressure on Archie when she shows up with some design ideas for Fred’s campaign after being shot down by Archie to collect signatures together. Archie confronts Veronica about her handling and manipulating him and calls her out for her behavior. She does realize she’s crossed a line and tells her mother, no more. When it becomes clear to Hermione that Veronica doesn’t want to jeopardize her relationship with her pawn of a boyfriend anymore, she backs off but not before a lovely speech about how the men are the gangsters and the women walk a razor’s edge using their wiles and ways to move things along behind the scenes. It was a great speech but Veronica was not sold.

Veronica does fall on the sword for Archie when her father finds out that someone blabbed to Jughead about Pop Tate and his diner. This time Veronica confronts Archie about his loyalties to her and the family and carries on about wanting to know what her father’s plans are and wanting to protect his dad from what the Lodges can do to someone. During the emergency meeting Hiram sets up with Archie and his father, Hiram reveals his plans about the prison and while Fred gets upset and leaves (wanting nothing to do with the whole thing), Archie stays to hear Hiram out. If that wasn’t enough, Archie and Hiram engage in some kind of blood pact whereby they both cut themselves with this beautiful knife and Archie tosses a journal with everything he did for Hiram into the fire. Apparently, this has been a family tradition and there’s no going back. Oh, Archie, what have you gotten yourself into?

The Blossom Secret:

In true Blossom fashion, it turns out that dear daddy Clifford left a secret will, only to be read after the authorities finished their investigation. Cheryl finds out about this when she comes home to find her mother with a strange man: he’s an estate lawyer, not a client.

The reading of the will takes place publically the following day and Cheryl has her new bestie, Toni Topaz, at the reading for “emotional support.” We also get a glimpse as to how homophobic her mother Penelope is when she bursts into Cheryl’s room before the ceremony demanding to know what’s going on in there. It was just an innocent outfit-borrowing for the occasion and, while her mother is happy there was no hanky-panky, she’s still clearly pissed that Cheryl has a friend there to support her. The will-reading is very exciting for a multitude of reasons, the biggest being Alice Cooper barging in to publicly humiliate Hal for wanting to divorce her before he got his hands on any inheritance from Clifford Blossom. The will states that half of Clifford’s money will go to anyone who can prove they have Blossom blood (like Hal, Betty, Polly, and the twins) and the other half to his rightful heirs, Cheryl and the no longer with us, Jason.

The second big thing that happens during the will reading occurs just after Cheryl finishes a speech about no more blood being spilled and no more horror. A man walks in, says that he couldn’t have said it better himself and Cheryl promptly faints. The man looks a lot like her dead daddy but it turns out he had a twin named Claudius who ran off when they were fourteen. There’s a long-standing history of Blossom twins and one dying (usually by the other’s hand): history lingers because Claudius ran off after Clifford threatened. Now that Clifford is gone, Claudius is back and, thanks to Penelope, is staying for a while. Although he seems like a decent guy, Cheryl overhears Claudius and her mother talking about needing to clean house, first with Nana and then with Cheryl. That’s not ominous at all.

Penelope

Cooper Family Values:

Betty walks into her living room to find a big surprise in the form of Polly and the twins, Dagwood and Juniper! Betty is beyond thrilled to see her sister who decided to stop by and let the twins meet their grandmother. Alice is beyond thrilled to have the babies in the house, but Chic is less than enthused about the idea: he seems to be putting on a face but still gives off that creepy vibe. If that wasn’t enough for Alice, Hal sits her down and says he wants out of their marriage. While he is no longer with Penelope Blossom, he’s still not happy and is even less happy that Alice chose a stranger (Chic) over him. Betty sides with her father about wanting Chic out of the house but Alice is still upset that Hal sold the paper without telling her. Hal says he will give Alice half of what Hiram paid for the paper if Alice lets him out of the marriage STAT. Initially, she agrees until she finds out about the secret Blossom will and, like I said, barges in with her lawyer, former mayor Sierra McCoy.

Although Alice is woefully blind when it comes to all things Chic, Betty is not so lax. She is especially suspicious when Chic flat out refuses to get his blood tested to see if he has any Blossom blood because – apparently – he “doesn’t want their blood money,” so Betty sneaks into Chic’s bathroom and finds some dental floss to send to a lab. To add a whole other layer to the Betty/Chic mess, she recruits Kevin to catfish Chic in order to find out more about him. Betty has grown tired of Chic not sharing anything about himself as well as breaking down and crying to get out of answering any questions. Kevin grudgingly agrees until his good nature won’t let him continue to catfish: Chic seems like a good guy to Kevin and he can’t do this to him anymore.

If that wasn’t enough, Polly can’t handle Chic and his creepy vibe anymore and has decided to leave again; this time heading west instead of back to the farm. Alice seemed to be expecting this thanks to Chic whispering in her ear that Polly was going to leave soon. Her mother’s blind love and trust have left Betty frustrated and her quest to find out more about Chic comes to a head when she gets the blood results back. Chic isn’t who he says he is and she wants answers, now.

Side Note:

While this episode left us with about a million and one questions, I wanted to share something interesting I came upon. You know how the twins are named Dagwood and Juniper? Well, I did some minor research and those of us that read comics know the name Dagwood from the daily and Sunday comic strip, Blondie. It’s a comic about the middle-class husband and wife Blondie and Dagwood Bumstead. Created by cartoonist Chic Young and launched in 1930, Dagwood was heir to a railroad fortune until his family disowned him for wanting to marry below his station and was forced to assume a middle-class life. It’s a weird side note, I know, but how often do you hear the names Chic or Dagwood?

Favorite Quote:

• “I will be taking half of whatever blood money you get from this inbred cesspool of a family.” (Alice)