Paranoia Takes Over Riverdale in "The Crucible" Preview

By Nicole Drum

The CW has released a preview for "Chapter One Thirty: The Crucible", the thirteenth episode of Riverdale's seventh and final season, set to air on Wednesday, June 28th, and in it, the adults of Riverdale are starting to get a little paranoid about the activities and perceived moral failings of its youth. In the preview, which you can check out for yourself in the video below, there are accusations about sexuality and indoctrination and from the looks of things, we're only scratching the surface. The episode will also see the return of Mark Consuelos as Hiram Lodge. You can also check out the episode synopsis below.

HIRAM LODGE (MARK CONSUELOS) ARRIVES IN RIVERDALE / MÄDCHEN AMICK DIRECTS — Panic ensues after Archie (KJ Apa) and the gang learn that Mrs. Thornton (guest star Frances Flanagan) is accused of being a communist.  Cheryl's (Madelaine Petsch) father Clifford (guest star Barclay Hope) forces her to out gay students at Riverdale High or risk losing power over the Vixens.  Meanwhile, Hiram's (guest star Mark Consuelos) surprise arrival to town is quickly met with suspicion by Veronica (Camila Mendes), and Jughead (Cole Sprouse) devises a plan to get around a boycott of comic books.  Lili Reinhart, Casey Cott and Vanessa Morgan also star.  Mädchen Amick directed the episode written by Janine Salinas Schoenberg & Will Ewing.

Society is One of the "Big Bads" of Riverdale's Finale Season

Unlike previous seasons of Riverdale that has a more direct villain to deal with, showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa previously told ComicBook.com that society and narrow ideas of how society should be is one of the real villains this season.

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"Usually, when we talk about the season, when we're planning the season, we usually have a big bad or a villain that all of the kids are at some point or other engaging with and fighting against. And in season six, it was Percival Pickens who was an intergalactic time-traveling sorcerer. But when we were talking about this season, we really felt like the villain or what they were fighting against society was the 1950s," he said. "And that the conflict that all of our characters to some extent or other were caught up in was, how do we live honest, authentic lives that are individualistic and that allows us to be exactly who we want to be in a society that represses that and that demands conformity and that punishes anyone who falls outside of the carefully constructed mores of the 1950s, the institutions of the '50s celebrated, which is to say via traditional American family, traditional American gender roles, traditional ... a social order that has since been exploded and broken down and rebuilt time and time again since that time? So, it felt like the villain, if there was one, were the 1950s. And by the way, we have characters that symbolize that... but the big conflict was with society at large and them sort of bristling against that."

Riverdale airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on The CW. "Chapter One Thirty: The Crucible" airs June 28th.

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