Riverdale Recap with Spoilers: Chapter Five: Heart of Darkness

The episode opens around a mansion in Riverdale, idilic and unsettlingly still, complete with its own graveyard. Jughead explains that the mansion in question, the Blossom family's Thornhill, has long been regarded as creepy by kids in the town. Jughead says that Cheryl barely leaves the mansion anymore, still grieving over Jason's death.

We see Cheryl walking through the mansion in a red cloak and carrying a candelabra. She approaches a room filled with candles - as well as Jason' casket. She opens it and sees no body, and bloody claw marks on the inside. She feels a presence behind her - it's Jason, in a zombified state. He puts his hand around her neck and she screams.

Cheryl wakes up from her nightmare. She sees Penelope in the door way, who tells her to stop sleeping in Jason's bed. Cheryl explains that she was working on her eulogy for Jason, but Penelope says that Cheryl is not allowed to speak at the memorial, as whatever she says will embarrass their family. She begins reading what Cheryl wrote, before throwing it away.

Archie punches a punching bag in his room. Fred walks in, and Archie explains that he's exercising in hopes of becoming the new football captain. Archie says that his hope is to become captain, and then he can get a scholarship to college and study music there. Fred looks at him with disdain and leaves, and Archie continues punching.

At school, Kevin reconstructs Sheriff Keller's murder board, which was destroyed after the drive in. He reveals to Betty and Jughead that the thief also stole all of Keller's other evidence regarding the case. Trev walks in, momentarily confused by the murder board, and asks Betty if they're still on for their date tomorrow. Betty says yes and Trev leaves.

Kevin asks Betty if Alice will approve of the date, and Betty reveals that her mom is out of town, and that the 'date' is more for gathering intelligence from Trev about Jason.

Archie participates in football practice, and immediately gets sacked. Coach Clayton chastises Archie for his poor performance on the field. In the locker room, Coach tells Archie and Reggie that they both have a week to prove themselves worthy of becoming captain.

Fred walks into Pop's, where Hermione hands him his usual to-go order. He asks for coffee, and explains he hasn't been getting sleep because of Archie. He invites Hermione to dinner, but she reminds him that they're both technically still married.

Betty, Veronica, Kevin, and Jughead walk through the bleachers, Veronica teasing Betty about her date. They join Archie, and Veronica asks him how he's doing post-Grundy. He explains that he's trying hard to become captain, and Betty asks if he's doing so to avoid his feelings. Archie responds that he's just trying to get his life together.

Valerie joins the group, and offers to get Archie in touch with a prestigious music tutor. He reluctantly accepts.

Cheryl barges into the group, offering them formal invitations to Jason's memorial. Cheryl expresses disdain at the fact that Veronica is invited, and threatens Veronica not to steal anything from their mansion while she's there. Betty tells Veronica to cut Cheryl some slack, given how much pain she is probably going through.

Veronica follows after Cheryl in the halls. She offers an olive branch to Cheryl, wanting to make sure their relationship doesn't get worse just because of what Cheryl is going through. Cheryl says that she'll accept, only if Veronica attends a slumber party at her house the night before the memorial. Veronica is taken off guard, and Cheryl explains that she doesn't want to spent the night before she buries Jason by herself. Veronica accepts the invitation.

Archie sits in the locker room, contemplating between football and music. He ultimately picks up his phone and calls Valerie's music tutor.

Archie sits in the office of the music tutor, Oscar Castillo. Archie explains how he got into music, and Oscar explains that Archie is going to need to make sacrifices to really be a successful musician. He asks Archie to play some songs, and Archie hands him a thumb drive. Oscar asks him for sheet music of all of his songs by tomorrow.

Penelope and Clifford usher Sheriff Keller through their house, explaining the plans for the memorial and Jason's burial. They explain that the invite list for the memorial is also their personal list of suspects in Jason's murder. They believe that Jason's murder was carried out by someone in one of the town's founding families - including the Lodges. Cheryl overhears this, and criticizes her parents for being heartless.

Trev and Betty sit at a booth at Pop's. Betty asks about Trev's involvement with Jason, and Trev explains - with the confidence that Betty won't tell anyone - that he saw Jason acting weird and secretive in the months leading up to his death, cutting ties with Trev, selling all of his stuff, and possibly selling drugs. Trev thought it was because of Jason's newfound relationship with Polly, as the pair had been dating for a few weeks at the time.

Archie and Valerie sit in Archie's room, helping transcribe Archie's music. Fred walks in, surprised to see the two of them together. They have an awkward meeting, and Fred gives them some privacy.

Betty arrives home to find her dad Hal working on a car. He invites her to help fix the car with him. Betty brings up the fact that Alice never tells her the truth about Polly, and asks her dad to be honest with her about it. Hal explains that Jason and Polly had a really bad fight that caused Polly to attempt suicide. According to Hal, this is why they sent Polly away to her group home.

In the student lounge the next day, Betty tells Jughead what she learned about Polly. She had asked her dad if she could call Polly in the group home, but Hal had told her that hearing about Jason's death was a major setback in Polly's treatment, and that he doesn't want to risk it again.

Jughead and Betty question why Jason was selling drugs, and Jughead suggests that Jason might have run away not to avoid his parents - but to avoid drug dealers. Betty disagrees, saying that Penelope and Clifford are horrible people. Jughead suggests that they look through Jason's bedroom during the memorial to find evidence against Penelope and Clifford.

Archie leads the football team, but discovers that the plays he wrote down on his hand are now smudged and illegible. He tries to make it through several plays and fails. He ultimately makes a successful catch, but is tackled by Reggie and hurts his hand. Reggie tells him to sit out the rest of practice, but Archie decides to stay in.

Veronica notices Archie attempting to bandage up his arm in the hallway. She sits down and helps him, remarking that Archie shouldn't be risking injuring his guitar-playing hand. Archie chastises himself for having focused on his music with Valerie the night before instead of learning the football plays. Veronica is surprised that Archie and Valerie were together, but she fully supports it. She finishes bandaging his hand and leaves.

Archie shares his sheet music with Oscar, who thinks that Archie's music is underdeveloped and juvenile. Archie mentions that Grundy praised Archie's music, and Oscar says that Grundy must have connected with Archie in a way that they will not. He tells Archie he does not think he'll be able to help him with his music.

The Blossom family eats dinner at their mansion, joined by Veronica. Veronica thanks Penelope for having her in her home, and Penelope remarks that she has no idea why Cheryl invited her. Veronica says she agrees, and points out the fact that she's the only other girl at Cheryl's sleepover.

Veronica and Clifford make small talk about Riverdale's maple syrup industry. Clifford points out that its how Sweetwater River got its name, and implies that Hiram had something to do with that. The Blossoms remark negatively about Hiram.

Clifford asks how Veronica handled watching Hiram be arrested, and she explains that the worst part was how quickly it happened. She mentions that it must be nice that the Blossoms have a chance to say goodbye to Jason, and Penelope mentions that Cheryl already got to say goodbye when she was following Jason's plan to row him across the river. Penelope gets up and leaves the table.

Hermione works at Pop's, doing the dishes. She hears the front bell ring and goes out to see who has entered the diner. She finds no one, just a box. She opens it and screams. Inside is a live snake.

Betty tiptoes through her house late at night. She hears a child's laughter, and follows the noise into the basement. She finds Hal there, watching an old home movie of Polly as a child.

Cheryl and Veronica are now in their pajamas, looking through the Blossom's photo albums. Cheryl remarks that Jason would have liked Veronica if he had met her. Veronica asks why she was invited, and Cheryl says it's because Veronica had helped console her after her panic attack on the night of the pep rally.

Veronica asks why Cheryl wants to say goodbye to Jason is such a public setting, and Cheryl says it's because she wants the rest of the town to know that Jason deserved a better situation, and a better family. Veronica offers to help Cheryl give the eulogy at the memorial, but Cheryl says that doing so will motivate her parents to want to kill her. Veronica is shaken up by this.

Fred enters Pop's with the now-empty box that the snake was in. He asks why Hermione called him instead of the authorities. Hermione says it's because it was a message from the Serpents because Hiram still owes them money. She thanks Fred for being there, but says that she doesn't want him to get more involved in the situation.

Betty get's dressed for Jason's memorial. Jughead walks in, wearing a suit. They both chuckle at the sight of Jughead being all dressed up.

Penelope welcomes guests to the memorial. Hermione offers her condolences, and the two women embrace. Penelope whispers in Hermione's ear, saying that she feels Hermione is here to gloat on Hiram's behalf.

Veronica helps Cheryl get ready for the memorial. Cheryl tells Veronica to go downstairs and join the other guests, and that she'll make her way down soon.

Archie approaches Penelope, offering his condolences and Jason's football jersey. Penelope remarks that Archie looks so much like Jason, and awkwardly caresses his hair. She realizes what she is doing and thanks him for the jersey.

Archie sits back down with Kevin, Betty, Jughead, and Valerie. Betty compliments Archie for his gestures, and he says that Penelope deserves Jason's jersey more than he does.

Veronica joins the group, remarking that the memorial helps put their own mortality into perspective.

Betty looks across the room and notices Fred and Clifford talking. Clifford angrily walks away.

The memorial begins, and Cheryl walks down the aisle in the exact all-white outfit she wore to the river, to the surprise of her parents and all of the guests. Cheryl gets up to the podium and addresses the guests. Clifford holds Penelope back, stopping her from interfering with Cheryl, and Veronica remarks that Penelope stopping Cheryl will only make things worse.

Cheryl begins her eulogy. She explains that her outfit is the same one she wore the last time she saw Jason, and that she feels a connection to Jason when she wears it. She tells an anecdote about her and Jason's childhood birthday parties, and that Jason had suggested they combine them because he didn't want Cheryl to realize that no one would attend hers.

Cheryl says that she regrets not protecting him at Sweetwater River, the way he protected her his whole life. She begins crying and turns around to talk to the casket. Veronica gets up to console her and the two hug.

Penelope approaches the podium and moves the memorial proceedings forward.

Hermione approaches Fred and the two make small talk. He offers her the bookkeeping position that he had initially turned her down for. She excitedly accepts it and they hug.

Jughead and Betty sneak into Jason's room. They start looking for Jason's hidden possessions. They are startled by the appearance of Jason's grandmother, who is sitting in the corner of the room. She begins wheeling her wheelchair towards them, and asks for Betty to come closer.

It turns out, the grandma thinks that Betty is really Polly. She grabs Betty's hand, and makes a comment about a family ring that she gave to Polly. She remarks that Jason and Polly's wedding was the last thing she was living for. Betty gets distraught and leaves, and Jughead follows behind her.

Penelope and Cheryl get into a fight in Cheryl's room. Cheryl saying that her eulogy was what Jason would have wanted. Penelope disagrees, believing that Cheryl was being selfish. She says that Cheryl needs to quit the River Vixens, and says that she considered shipping Cheryl off to a boarding school. Penelope walks away while Cheryl cries in her bed.

Archie and Valerie sit at Pop's. Archie questions whether or not he is really good at music, or if Grundy was just lying to him. Valerie says that she doesn't have time to wallow with Archie while he questions this. She asks who is really stopping Archie from doing his music - the people in his life, or himself.

Hal and Betty arrive at their house from the memorial. Hal asks why Betty pulled him away from the memorial and didn't say why. She reveals that Jason and Polly were engaged, and asks if Hal knew. He says that it's none of Betty's business, and Betty disagrees, begging him to tell her what's going on.

Hal says that he and Clifford were arguing because of a longstanding rivalry between the two families. The rivalry started after Cheryl's great-grandfather murdered Betty's great-grandfather after a bad business deal in the maple syrup industry.

Betty asks if this is the whole reason why the Coopers hated Jason to begin with, but Hal says that it was because Jason's actions caused Polly to develop her mental illnesses. He tells Betty that Polly will remain in her group home until she's better, and that Betty needs to stay out of it. He also reassures Betty that he would do anything for Polly.

Hermione tells Veronica how bad she feels for the Blossoms, despite the antagonistic relationship between her and Hiram and Penelope and Clifford. Veronica says that spending all that time with Cheryl made her realize how lucky she is to have a mom who cares about her. Hermione begins to tell Veronica about the snake incident at Pop's.

At Riverdale High the next day, Coach Clayton meets with Reggie and Archie. He says that although their competition to become captain is almost too close to call, he gives it to Archie. He gives Archie a new jersey, telling him that he did the right thing in retiring Jason's number and giving the jersey to Penelope.

Archie says that he can't accept the jersey, because his love for music makes it to where he can't fully commit to football the way that a captain should. He asks to remain on the team, while still being able to focus on his music.

Valerie walks in on Archie playing his guitar in the music room.

Penelope, Cheryl, and Grandma Blossom all stand over Jason's newly-buried grave. Jughead explains that the emotions - both positive and negative - that were brought up in the Blossom family by Jason's death will soon make their way into the town.

Betty tells Jughead that she feels she doesn't understand who her parents are anymore, now that she knows they are keeping these secrets from her. Jughead agrees, saying that there's a chance Alice and Hal lied about more things. Jughead suggests that Hal's devotion to Polly could have caused him to murder Jason.

Jughead goes to add something to the murder board. Betty points out that whoever stole Sheriff Keller's evidence was someone who wasn't at the drive-in - like her dad.

At the Cooper house, Hal looks through a folder of Sheriff Keller's evidence, before closing it.

Jughead hands Betty an index card with 'The Coopers' written on it, and she pins it onto the murder board. Jughead suggests that Betty needs to visit her sister to find out what she knows, and Betty nods her head.