Riverdale – Chapter Thirty-Seven: Fortune and Men’s Eyes | Season 3, Episode 2 | Rating: 9/11 |
Riverdale Inhabitants Status Report:
- Betty Cooper is fine. She seems to have suffered from a seizure brought on by stress and that whole twins being dropped into the fire thing was a hallucination, apparently.
- Dilton Doiley is dead. He suffered from cyanide poisoning from something he drank. It’s not yet apparent if it was suicide or murder and his friend, Ben, is in the hospital and while out of danger, remains in a coma.
Now that we’ve covered the lingering questions left over from last week’s episode, let us begin our deep dive into everything that happened this week…
The Mystery
Jughead is struggling with everything that happened to Dilton and Ben in the forest and he’s looking for some answers. Who best to help him find those answers than his girlfriend Betty? They begin by checking in on Ben, who is still in a coma at the hospital. They happen upon a figurine in his room, which leads them back to Ethel Muggs who is being less than helpful about the game and the Gargoyle King. Ethel does reveal that the now dead survivalist Dilton (irony!) had an underground bunker in the forest where they hung out all summer and played the game and she will show it to Betty and Jughead, but only at night.
When Betty and Jughead make their way towards the meeting spot, they find themselves in the path of what we can only assume is the Gargoyle King. Thankfully, they were able to outrun him and make it safely to Pop’s to sort out what just happened. Things are definitely getting more supernatural in not-so-sleepy Riverdale. Betty and Jughead do manage to find the bunker on their own thanks to the map that Dilton left for Jughead, but they didn’t expect to find the scout who had been missing for two days in that bunker. The kid later tells Betty and Jughead that he was apprenticing with Dilton to learn the game but was told to stay in the bunker until Dilton came back. He also dished that despite what Ethel was saying, she and Ben were only dating in the game, not in real life. When Betty and Jughead confront Ethel, she admits a reluctance to talk based on what happened to Dilton: He went to Jughead for help and ended up dead. Just as she’s saying all this, Ethel starts having a seizure at school. If that wasn’t enough, Betty and Jughead stopped by to visit Ben in the hospital again. He was awake, sitting on an open windowsill and kept going on about how he was going to ascend and join Dilton and the next thing we know, he falls from the window.
Jailbird Life
Archie isn’t doing so great in jail. He’s not terrible but things aren’t all that good either. He’s a free agent with no gang affiliation since Joaquin (remember him?) ratted that Archie is not a real Serpent and since Archie wouldn’t shiv a Ghoulie to join, so he’s a little screwed. He made a new friend in his cellmate Mad Dog who seems to enjoy privileges the others do not like books and a record player. The only thing we know about him is that he was “tapped” by the warden and after juvie, he’s going to a real prison for another 20 years. He’s an enigma for sure.
Unhappy with the two gangs in jail, Archie proposes a football game between all the inmates on mixed teams. The goal is to bring people together to stop the stupid animalistic fighting so the prison guards don’t win. The game comes together and seems to be going fine until Hiram shows up to watch. With a simple nod to his business partner and friend, the warden, there is an onslaught of guards calling the whole thing a riot and issuing an absolute (illegal) beat down on everyone in the yard. Upon returning to his cell Archie finds his cellmate and all trace of him gone. The guards are saying Archie killed him in the riot when Mad Dog wasn’t even there. Apparently, the warden had other plans for Mad Dog and he left before the game even started. We don’t know what happened to Mad Dog but the warden came to Archie’s cell and went on about how Archie impressed him and proved he has what it takes after putting three of his guys into the infirmary. After asking for clarification about what’s going on the warden says he has decided to “tap” Archie to be the new Mad Dog. Oh dear.
Odds and Ends
- Veronica wants everything to be just right for Archie when he gets out of jail and finds herself thwarted by Cheryl Blossom in a bid to be the new student body president. Veronica eventually gets over it and enlists Cheryl’s help along with the River Vixens to cheer at the jailhouse football game. They did a lively rendition of Jailhouse Rock.
- Veronica also got herself banned from visiting Archie (thanks to Hiram) so she took Cheryl’s advice and changed her look and name. She’s now Monica Posh of the Innocence Project.
- Speaking of the Innocence Project, she did manage to get her mother’s endorsement to open a local chapter. Baby steps.
- Kevin is trying to be all cute and adorable for Moose but Moose has decided they need to play it cool while at school. Moose joined the RROTC and doesn’t seem to have much time for Kevin right now so Kevin decided to join the RROTC himself and we aren’t sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing.
- The daughter of a guru from The Farm is new at Riverdale High, her name is Evelyn Evernever, and I don’t like her at all. Between telling Betty she won’t blab about the seizure in the worst possible way and just standing there when Ethel was having a seizure, she’s a shady gal.
