‘Riverdale’ Recap: A Familiar Evil Returns to Town in “Jawbreaker”

Riverdale‘s final stretch of Season 3 episodes began tonight, and it’s pretty safe to say that things went into some unexpected territory. Read on to find out all of the plot twists and major moments in this week’s episode, “Jawbreaker”.

Obviously, spoilers for this week’s episode of Riverdale, “Jawbreaker”, below! Only look if you want to know!

After being confronted by Betty, Edgar tells his sort of origin story — that he left his old life behind after his life was saved by an elderly farmer. Betty asks about her family seeing their dead loved ones, and Edgar argues that it’s part of their process towards emotional healing. While talking with the Core Four at school the next day, Jughead suggests that Betty prove to Alice that Charles is really dead, so she doesn’t believe what The Farm is trying to preach to her.

Betty tries to do research on Charles, but it’s a dead end. She visits Hal, who reveals that Alice is filing for divorce. Hal begins to tell her a way to prove Charles is dead without actually showing a body. Betty confronts Alice, and learns that she’s basically engaged to Edgar. She then takes Alice to a gravesite for Charles, but Alice refuses to believe it, which leads to Betty knocking her out with chloroform.

When Alice wakes up, Betty has chained her to a bed in the bunker, as she tries to ask her questions about her past. Betty ultimately admits that she faked Charles’ grave, and Alice says that’s why she can’t trust her. Betty leaves her in the bunker and goes to school. When she returns, Alice is burning all of her family photos.

The next day, Evelyn asks Betty about Alice’s wereabouts, and reveals that she still has copies of the confessional tapes she stole. Betty pins Evelyn against a wall, threatening to kill her if she comes near her family again. Betty listens to Alice’s confessionals, in which she admits that she’s scared of Betty hurting her. Betty confronts Edgar about the tapes, and he says that Alice said all of that on her own volition, and that Alice is seeing Charles as a way to help her heal. Betty ultimately brings Alice to Evelyn, who promises to take care of her.

Later, Betty asks Toni if she’s a monster, and she reassures that’s not the case. Betty brings Hal the divorce papers, because she’s realized that she needs to let Alice go. Hal asks for Betty to do a favor for him and allow him to “come home”.

Meanwhile, at Baby Teeth’s murder scene, Jughead wonders if this is the work of a copycat killer, or if it could be tied to the real Gargoyle King coming back. They watch Dr. Curdle Jr. perform Baby Teeth’s autopsy, where he reveals that a matchbook from Penelope’s harem was shoved down his throat. They confront Penelope about it, but are interrupted by a rabid man who was high on Fizzle Rocks.

Jellybean plays a game of G&G at Pop’s with Ricky, the young boy that Archie took in several episodes before.

At school, a Vixen begins to turn rabid, smashing her head into a nearby locker. FP also finds a man at Pop’s with the same symptoms, and Jughead wonders if its a bad batch of Fizzle Rocks. Once the first man comes down from his high, he says that Kurtz was the one who sold him the drugs, but wasn’t the one who made them. They try to hunt down the supplier, ultimately following Kurtz to a deal and stopping him. When they interrogate Kurtz about killing Baby Teeth, he claims that he was only the “warm-up” for the final quest that’s to come — to “save the little princess”, a.k.a. Jellybean.

Ricky takes Jellybean to meet the Gargoyle King.

Other tidbits from the episode include:

• At school, Cheryl wholeheartedly begins to embrace The Farm, even plugging it during the morning announcements. Toni clearly is alarmed by what happened with Cheryl, and Betty explains that the Farmies think they can talk to the dead. Betty asks Toni to show Cheryl the video of Jason’s murder. Toni shows Cheryl the video, but she insists that it’s fabricated and gets upset. Evelyn confronts Toni about Cheryl at school, arguing that she needs to stop detracting her from The Farm. Later, Toni seduces Cheryl, as a way to stop her from going to a Farm meeting. The next day, Evelyn tells Cheryl to either leave The Farm or break up with Toni. Toni suggests there has to be a way to compromise — and ultimately joins The Farm as a mole for Betty.
• At the boxing gym, Archie tries to comfort the other ex-prisoners about Baby Teeth. Mad Dog arrives, revealing that he’s fighting in one of Elio’s matches this weekend in honor of Baby Teeth. Archie asks Veronica to help get his guys into Elio’s match, and she agrees. She visits Elio in a sauna, but he turns her down. Veronica and Archie promote the boxing club on TV, where Archie teases that he’ll be entering the match that weekend and fighting Elio’s prizefighter, Randy. Veronica then convinces Elio to hold the match at Archie’s gym, as long as Archie moves into the next weight class for the fight. Archie succeeds in bulking up for the weigh-in.
• Mad Dog tells Archie that Randy might be taking drugs, and suggests that Archie do the same before the match. Archie takes the other fighters to Baby Teeth’s grave. Before the fight, Veronica gives Archie his own boxing uniform, and promises that she’s always in his corner. Fred asks whether or not Archie and Veronica are just friends. At the match, Elio gives Randy a dose of Fizzle Rocks, and he and Archie begin to fight. Archie can clearly see that Randy is on drugs, but the match isn’t allowed to end unless he forefeits. Archie is able to successfully win the fight, but Randy doesn’t wake up afterwards.

***

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