If you thought Ms. Grundy’s murder would be the extent of the bloodshed on Riverdale, think again. The Wednesday, October 18, episode “Chapter Fifteen: Nighthawks” ended in a shocking double murder. Read the recap!
Betty Saves Pop’s and Jughead’s Dad
Betty (Lili Reinhart) was on a crusade to help Riverdale’s least fortunate. At the moment, that meant Pop’s Chock’lit Shoppe, which had been empty since Fred Andrews’ shooting, and FP Jones (Skeet Ulrich), who was in jail for his role in covering up Jason Blossom’s murder.
Although Pop Tate was ready to sell the struggling diner to an anonymous buyer, Betty was convinced a “retro night” could save the place where she’d made so many happy memories. By all accounts, her soiree was a success, but as her mother pointed out, the drug deals and Serpent presence at the event proved that Betty was “almost singlehandedly responsible for giving crime a haven in Riverdale.”
The ponytailed River Vixen also made it her mission to see that Jughead’s dad didn’t wind up in prison for 20 years. FP needed the Blossoms to testify that they’d forgiven him and ask a judge for leniency. After Cheryl (Madelaine Petsch) refused, a glimmer of Dark Betty threatened to release the video of Clifford Blossom killing Jason. Cheryl gave in, lying under oath that her father had threatened to hurt Jughead (Cole Sprouse) if FP didn’t do his dirty work. The judge agreed to reevaluate FP’s case, which hinted at “a win for the good guys.”
Jughead Meets the Snake Charmer
Before Betty stepped in, Jughead tried to help his dad on his own, with little result. The Serpents — who are showing up in Jughead’s life with suspicious regularity — suggested he meet with Penny Peabody, a Serpent lawyer working out of a tattoo shop. She gave Jughead the idea to have the Blossoms testify on FP’s behalf, and when Jughead asked if he should pay her for her advice, she called it a favor. FP found out about Juggy’s dealings with Ms. Peabody (aka the Snake Charmer) and told him to stay away from her. Why do we have a feeling that’s not going to stick?
Archie Get Your Gun
Archie (KJ Apa) was still scared out of his mind about his dad’s shooter coming back to finish the job, and his paranoia only grew once he discovered Ms. Grundy had been murdered. Although Alice (Mädchen Amick) found out it was a crime of passion committed by strangulation with a cello bow, Archie was convinced the two incidents were connected. He told Sheriff Keller that he suspected Ms. Grundy’s abusive ex-husband, but Keller said his alibi was airtight. Guess we can rule out the most obvious suspect.
After Reggie pointed out that Archie shouldn’t bring a baseball bat to a gun fight (pretty good advice from someone who pretended to be the masked killer just to prank Archie), Archie got a gun from Dilton Doiley, while insisting he wasn’t going crazy.
One Devious Daddy
Veronica’s (Camila Mendes) family problems spilled over into this week’s episode. Her father tried to reconnect with her, but she wasn’t having it…until she talked to Jughead, who can relate to her messed-up-dad situation. He encouraged her to give Hiram (Mark Consuelos) a second chance, and she did.
But, unbeknownst to Veronica, Hiram proved he was up to his old, no-good ways. He bought Pop’s behind V’s back and told Pop Tate he could stay on as manager in exchange for his silence. Meanwhile, Hermione (Marisol Nichols) told Veronica she wrote the letter V received threatening her to testify on Hiram’s behalf so her mother wouldn’t get dragged into his legal troubles. But we later found out she was covering for Hiram when he thanked her for her loyalty.
Double Murder
We didn’t see much of the hooded serial killer terrorizing Riverdale until the episode’s closing moments. Moose and Midge were partaking in the town’s hot new drug — which for some reason is called jingle jangle — and making out when the murderer walked up to their car (with such a carefree, laidback ease, we might add) and shot them both. From the looks of all that blood, we’re going to venture a guess and say they’re dead.
Riverdale airs on The CW Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET.
