‘Riverdale’ Recap: The Town Is Reborn in “Requiem for a Welterweight”

After a three-week delay, Riverdale is finally back with quite a vengeance. This week’s installment, “Requiem for a Welterweight”, brought about new changes for a number of the show’s ensemble members, and just might have plunged the show (literally) into new territory. Read on as we break down what happened in tonight’s episode.

As usual, full spoilers for tonight’s episode of Riverdale, “Requiem for a Welterweight”, below! Only look if you want to know!

Early on in the episode, Alice’s involvement with the Farm heads in an interesting direction, as she reveals that Edgar is about to officially “baptize” her into the group. Betty finds it suspicious that Alice is shutting her out, and Jughead suggests that she try to embrace the baptism as a way to keep tabs on Alice. Betty goes along with it, before learning that Alice signed a waiver excusing the Farm if she gets hurt or injured.

Betty begins to research people who have escaped the Farm, and asks Kevin to help her contact them. As it turns out, Kevin has actually been considering joining the Farm, in the wake of Moose leaving. Betty starts to interview people, but they largely refuse her calls. One woman, Marta, agrees to talk to Betty about it, as long as they meet in private. They meet in the bunker, and Martha reveals that her sister died during the baptism ceremony. The Farm apparently believes that only on the brink of death can someone really achieve “ascension” — something that sends Betty into a panic. She runs to the Farm, as Alice nearly dies from drowning in the baptism ceremony.

Betty tries to get Martha to tell Alice the truth about the Farm, but she doesn’t pick up. It’s clear that Alice doesn’t believe it anyway, because the baptism made her “reborn”. Alice says that she’s going to sell the house and have her and Betty live in the Farm,

Meanwhile, Hiram begins to suspect that the Serpents – particularly, the Joneses – were behind the stolen Fizzle Rocks. Veronica relays that information to Gladys, who asks that she spy on Hiram for her as a way to get him out of the drug trade. Veronica agrees to help. Veronica meets with Hiram, and suggests that he turn his focus over to his prison, as opposed to the drug trade. Instead, Hiram decides that he’ll try to take control of the Ghoulies.

Veronica relays that information to Gladys, and Hiram begins to catch on to Gladys’ involvement. Veronica confronts her about this, but she’s largely unphased. Gladys meets with Hiram, suggesting that she handle the drug trade while Hiram handles the prison. Hiram doesn’t accept, but Veronica stops Gladys before she reveals that Hermione paid off the govenor. Veronica offers to help Hiram run the prison, which leads to him accepting Gladys’ offer.

Hiram later confronts Hermione about how she paid off the governor, which leads to Veronica admitting to burning the Fizzle Rocks. Hiram says that she owes him $75,000, which she agrees to pay.

Elsewhere, Jughead learns about Cheryl and Toni forming the Pretty Poisons, and decides to try to bring them back into the group. He meets with Toni, who tries and fails to get him to make her Serpent Queen. Jughead declares that the Poisons are nothing more than a vanity project, something that both Toni and Cheryl end up taking issue with.

Cheryl and the Poisons corner Sweet Pea and Fangs and beat them up. Gladys tells Jughead that they need to get more members of the Serpents, and suggests that they make a pass for the Ghoulies. Meanwhile, Toni confronts Cheryl about the Poisons beating up Sweet Pea and Fangs.

Jughead asks FP for immunity in trying to court the Ghoulies, and he reluctantly agrees. Jughead visits the Ghoulies, who reveal that they’ve dissolved into the Gargoyle gang, and point him in the direction of the new leader of the Gargoyle Gang. He meets the leader, who clearly doesn’t believe that G&G is a game. Jughead is clearly distraught about how into the game the Gargoyles are.

Gladys ends up recruiting the Gargoyle Gang, to Jughead’s chagrin.

Other tidbits from the episode include:

• Archie and Josie get used to being a couple, as Josie looks into her college plans and Archie gets trained to box by Sheriff Keller. When he realizes he’s not that great of a boxer, Archie agrees to fight in a paid match orchestrated by Elio, as long as he agrees to lose. Neither Keller or Josie approve of the idea, which leads to Archie trying to back out of the fight. When he can’t, Archie gives Elio his money back and agrees to fight fair. Archie fights, but is not dubbed as the winner of the fight. Josie congratulates him after the fight, and they decide to hook up.

Riverdale airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on The CW.