Ever since last season’s finale, a pretty big mystery has loomed over the sleepy, murder-filled town of Riverdale. The fate of Jughead Jones (Cole Sprouse) has been teased and toyed with in a series of flash-forward sequences, which seemed to hint that he would be dead by the time spring break rolls around. Given this week’s title, “The Ides of March”, it was safe to assume that things would get even more twisted — which was definitely the case. Here’s what you need to know from this week’s episode, “Chapter Seventy: The Ides of March”. Obviously, spoilers below! Only look if you want to know!
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Jughead visits DuPont, who kicks him out of Quill and Skull and terminates his Baxter Brothers contract, unless he writes a novel within the next five days — by the Ides of March. Jughead calls Betty for help, and explains that the Quill and Skull throw a big party in the woods for the Ides of March. Betty suggests that Jughead write a story based on his time at Stonewall, and he does just that. He reads the first chapter aloud to DuPont and his classmates, but it doesn’t go over well. He reads a second chapter the next day, and gets a much more positive response.
DuPont later accuses Jughead of plagiarizing his story submission to Yale from another student, and is subsequently gaslit by the other students. DuPont tells Jughead he’s going to have to go in front of the headmaster and his committee. Jughead complains to FP and Betty about the accusations, but Betty gets an idea.
Betty and Jughead set up a lie detector test to prove the other kids are lying, but they refuse to take it. Jughead takes the test instead, and it comes out positive.
Betty and Jughead sneak into Joan and Donna’s room, but find nothing. They sneak into DuPont’s office, where they find a Baxter Brothers manuscript ready to print — Jughead’s original novel idea, which has been edited by all of his classmates.
Jughead and Betty put together a murder board, and suggest that DuPont convinced Donna to lie about the affair with Chipping and drive him to suicide. Betty meets with Donna and suggests that they’re being manipulated by DuPont, but she doesn’t confirm or deny it. Meanwhile, Brett continues to antagonize Jughead, who says that he’s not going to hold back during his tribunal. Brett reveals that he videotaped Betty and Jughead having sex, and is going to use it as blackmail if Jughead tells the truth.
Jughead goes in front of the tribunal, who give him the choice to either resign from the school or go forward with the trial. Jughead agrees to leave, which Betty realizes is because of the sex tape. Brett and Donna invite them to the Ides of March party, and Jughead accepts, saying that he has a plan to fix everything. Jughead puts on his Serpent jacket and packs a knife and a rabbit mask.
Betty, Veronica, and Archie arrive at the party. Jughead also arrives and dons the rabbit mask, and begins to creep Brett out. Brett takes Jughead into the woods, while Betty tells Donna that she’s not afraid of her. Donna says that she visited Evelyn, who told her the magic word that puts her into a fugue state.
Veronica and Archie follow them into the clearing, where they find Betty standing over Jughead’s lifeless body, officially catching up with the flash-forwards to Spring Break.
Other tidbits from the episode include:
- Archie wakes up early and brings breakfast to the construction company, and to Monroe’s mom at the community center. She mentions that Archie is such a good man that he should definitely be pursued by colleges. Archie visits Honey and asks about college, but he reveals that he’s most likely not going to graduate along with the rest of his class.
- Hiram visits Archie at the gym, and decides he’s going to train there. Later, Archie asks Hiram for business advice — about whether he should shutter Andrews Construction or the community center. Archie meets with Tom about it, and asks if he’d help run the center with him full-time, if he ends up selling the construction company. He agrees.
- Archie eventually backs out of selling Andrews Construction, but makes Tom foreman anyway. He then takes the Andrews Construction sign to the community center.
- Veronica gets upset at Hiram over breakfast, which leads her to find Archie at school and hook up with him. Afterwards, she tells Archie that she wants to have fun with him in their final months before graduation. They party at the dance club, but Archie leaves early, to Veronica’s chagrin. Veronica drinks from a flask — which Honey later finds in her locker. Archie takes the blame for the flask so Veronica doesn’t ruin her chances of graduating, which Veronica later thanks him for later.
- Cheryl and Toni get a call at their business, about a bar patron who appears to be asking about the secret rum bar. Toni visits the woman, who is just Hermosa in a bad wig, and offers a meeting with them and Cheryl. While they wait for Cheryl, Toni takes Hermosa to dance, which Cheryl joins in on. They suggest that the three of them leave together, while Cheryl gets a message about Hermosa to Veronica. They all go to a suite at the Pembrooke, where Veronica meets them. She accuses Hermosa of helping Hiram, and of learning about his condition before she did.
- Later, Archie visits Veronica, and she tells him about Hiram’s condition. He suggests that she spend time with Hiram while she still can. The next morning, Veronica shows Hiram, Hermione, and Hermosa an ad campaign for her and Cheryl’s rum, which convinces him to become fired up about his own rum production.
- Later, Archie tells Veronica that he won’t be able to graduate, but that he plans to go to summer school and then apply to colleges in the spring. Archie and Veronica are then invited to the Stonewall party.
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