‘Riverdale’ Recap With Spoilers: “The Red Dahlia”

Jughead types at his typewriter, remarking about how Riverdale has turned into a full-blown “noir town”. He explains that everyone has their own secrets to keep — and his was Tall Boy’s wereabouts.

Jughead, Fangs, and Sweet Pea explain to FP where Tall Boy went. FP doesn’t believe the story, and leaves. Jughead also reveals that Claudius Blossom died, and that Betty refuses to believe that it was a suicide.

Betty questions Claudius’ death while meeting with Hal. She suggests that Penelope was behind it — as well as all of the other poison suicides that happened in Riverdale. Hal questions if Penelope had even been responsible for Clifford’s death, and suggests Betty look into Cheryl as a witness.

Archie tells Fred that he’s unsure whether or not he wants to go to college, and offers to work at Fred’s construction site instead. Fred agrees.

Archie and a bunch of other boys work breaking rubble at a construction site. Archie’s boss tries to get him to take his union break, but he refuses. Archie immediately get fired.

Elio delivers a bouquet of flowers to Veronica, along with advice — that whoever shot Hiram probably wants to finish the job.

Veronica visits Jughead, asking him to investigate who shot Hiram. She suspects that Hermione could’ve been behind it, because they were arguing shortly after Veronica had her seizure.

Jughead interviews Hermione, asking her point-blank if she shot Hiram. She reveals that she was the one on the phone with Hiram when he was shot. Jughead asks why they’d fought on the day of Veronica’s seizure, and Hermione says it’s because she found out Hiram was having an affair. She had Sheriff Minetta follow him, and he gathered several photos of evidence. Hermione says that Hiram ended the affair once Hermione asked, and that she suspects the mistress could’ve been behind the shooting.

Fred confronts Archie about his behavior at the construction site, as well as the bottle of alcohol hidden in his room. Archie gets frustrated and leaves.

Betty shows up at the Blossoms house, just as Claudius’ funeral is going on. Afterwards, Betty asks Cheryl about Clifford’s suicide, which Cheryl gets upset by.

Sweet Pea and Fangs tell Jughead that the Gargoyle Gang is looking for Tall Boy, but Jughead says it’s too early to move his body.

Veronica meets with Hiram’s bodyguards, who suggest that she align herself with Elio’s family. She fires them.

Veronica meets with Reggie and Smithers, asking for their help with keeping the peace in the town. Smithers tells a story about how his battalion misled their enemies during the war, which gives Veronica an idea.

Betty and Jughead go after Hiram’s mistress. While they wait, Betty reveals that Claudius was cremated, so there’s no way to check for foul play. They open the door to the mistress’ apartment and find a sort of sex club called the Maple Club. Jughead asks about Hiram’s mistress, and one of the workers says that she doesn’t work here, but she’s seen her around. Penelope then walks in and confronts Betty and Jughead. She denies having been involved with any of the murders.

Betty gets a text from Dr. Curdle Jr., who has the info she needs from Clifford’s autopsy.

Archie eats and drinks at the speakeasy as Josie performs. Reggie decides to cut him off, and Archie almost starts a fight with him. Josie defends him, taking him into the bathroom and spraying him with a cold shower.

Veronica picks up one of Hiram’s shipments, while Reggie and Smithers impersonate Hiram and his driver.

Betty meets with Dr. Curdle Jr., who confirms that Clifford was killed by pufferfish poison before he actually hung himself.

Josie gives Reggie a detox drink, while suggesting that he channel his anger into something more constructive, whether it be through music or boxing.

Veronica goes through the family’s books, and finds out that Hermione is part of Hiram’s Fizzle Rocks empire. Hermione denies it, and reveals that the quarantine was a way to end the empire — but Hiram consolidated it all anyway. Hermione suggest they sell the Fizzle Rocks empire to another buyer.

Betty confronts Penelope about Clifford’s autopsy, and she admits to some of the murders — at least, the ones that happened to men. She reveals that Claudius had been dumping the runoff from Fizzle Rocks into Sweetwater River, which had caused all of the girls’ seizures. Betty argues that that isn’t a good enough reason to kill someone, but Penelope threatens to expose what Betty did to Chic if she does the same.

Jughead snoops around the apartment of Hiram’s mistress, Mrs. Mulwray. She enters the apartment with a gun, just as Jughead finds the faberge egg. Jughead reveals that Mulwray is a health inspector, who Hiram had paid to fake the reports about the town’s water supply.

Jughead gets a call from Sweet Pea, who had been following around Hermione. They arrive at a secret cabin, where they find Hermione hooking up with a very alive Sheriff Minetta. Hermione suggests that she and Minetta frame FP for “taking care of their problem”.

Archie arrives at the hospital, intent on dealing with his demons.

Jughead tells FP about Hermione and Minetta’s plan. He reveals that Curdle faked Minetta’s death, because Hermione told him to. Jughead worries that FP is going to be framed for Hiram’s shooting, but he reveals that he’d actually been the one to shoot Hiram, something he’d been wanting to do since Riot Night. Jughead reveals the truth about Tall Boy.

Archie stands over Hiram’s bed, telling him how much he’s been manipulated by him. He points a gun at Hiram’s head and cocks it, but panics when someone opens the door to the room. In walks a masked man, who Archie shoots at. The man runs away.

Hermione arrives at the Sheriff’s station to find FP preparing for an interview with Alice. FP reveals to Hermione that Tall Boy was the one who shot Hiram, and that he’d died on the way to the hospital.

Veronica asks Reggie to help her destroy all of the drug equipment, before Hermione can sell it off. He agrees. Veronica then gets a call from Archie about what happened in Hiram’s hospital room.

Veronica arrives at the hospital and hugs Archie. They both apologize for their behavior to each other. Veronica says that Hiram’s awake and wants to see Archie, so he goes and enters the room. Archie and Hiram both agree to make a truce with each other.

Veronica and Reggie destroy the Fizzle Rocks equipment in a bonfire.

Betty tells Hal about the evidence she found on Penelope, but that it makes her feel pity on her.

Archie thanks Josie for her help in getting him clean, and they decide to work together with music again.

Hermione confronts Veronica about her destroying the Fizzle Rocks operation.

Hermione meets with Jughead, who reveals what he learned about Mulwray and the poisoning of Sweetwater River. He confronts her about trying to frame FP for Hiram’s shooting. Hermione mentions that it was all payback for Hiram paying Tall Boy to shoot her at the mayoral debate. She suggests that they keep each other’s secrets.

Later, Hermione is in bed with Minetta. She gets up, gets a gun, and shoots him in the bed.

Veronica visits Jughead, and reveals that she’d told Hiram that Tall Boy was behind the shooting. She gives Jughead the rest of his money, and he asks if she wants to know who really shot Hiram. She says she doesn’t want to know.