'Riverdale' Recap: New Alliances are Formed in "Fire Walk With Me"

The world of Riverdale has been through quite a lot in recent days, following the sudden passing of series star Luke Perry. Nevertheless, the series aired the first of many episodes dedicated to Perry tonight, an installment that brought some interesting plot twists, heartwarming moments, and a lot in between.

As usual, full spoilers for tonight's episode of Riverdale, "Fire Walk With Me", below! Only look if you want to know!

Tonight's episode saw Alice following through with her post-baptism epiphany, and attempting to sell the Cooper house. Expectedly, Betty tried to sabotage the sale by highlighting the ghastly things that happened in the house. At school, Betty laments about her situation, and tries to stop Kevin from getting in too deep at The Farm, to no avail.

The Farm kids, the Serpents, and the Pretty Poisons all get into a fight over using a classroom outside of school. This angers Weatherbee, who also suspects one of the gangs of stealing from the chemistry lab and gives the gangs one final warning. Toni gets nervous about Weatherbee suspecting the group, but Jughead quickly learns that Kurtz and the other former Gargoyles did it as a G&G quest. This causes a conflict within the group.

Kurtz complicates things even more by trying to "sacrifice" Fangs in a G&G game. This motivates Jughead and FP to try to turn things around, by trying to officially deputize the Serpents. The Serpents all agree, except for Kurtz, who leaves the group.

Betty finds Evelyn holding a Farm meeting, where each person is tasked with holding their hand over an open flame. Betty tells Josie, who reveals that their parents don't know about Kevin being in the Farm. Betty later finds a meeting of the Farm in the woods, where Kevin is tasked with walking over a path of hot coals. Betty starts to write an article exposing the Farm, but Evelyn and Kevin threaten to expose all of the Cooper family's dirty secrets if she posts it.

Meanwhile, Archie agreed to help out at the boxing gym, in exchange for him being able to practice there without paying. While there with Josie, Archie discovers a kid named Ricky sitting in a closet. They learn that Ricky is an orphan, and that he escaped from a shelter that might have ties to G&G, because he has the same "sacrifice" brand that Archie does. He takes the boy under his wing, and Betty agrees to put him in contact with a social worker. At Pop's, Ricky goes missing, and Archie finds a placemat that he drew on, which shows a G&G sacrifice.

They meet with the social worker, and Archie employs Jughead and the Serpents to try to find Ricky. Jughead and Archie search for Ricky in the Gargoyle HQ, and find a list of names to be "sacrificed" -- as well as Ricky. Archie starts to train Ricky, who is still nervous that the Gargoyles are after him. Archie gets a call from the social worker, who reveals that Ricky is really Joaquin's younger brother and that he has a violent streak.

Ricky begins to turn hostile and try to stab Archie, as a way to be initiated into the Gargoyles. He reveals that he faked all of the stuff tied to him being a sacrifice. He then stabs Archie and runs away, just as Fred arrives home. He patches Archie up, and they find that Ricky left a G&G card proclaiming to "kill the red paladin". Archie worries that he's still being targeted in G&G.

Betty then comes home to find that the Cooper house has been sold to a mysterious buyer. While in her room, she's tempted to hold her hand over a candle like the Farm kids did. Alice tells her to finish packing up the house, but Betty burns everything down instead.

Other tidbits from the episode:

• Veronica laments about the fact that Hiram and Gladys both have control over the speakeasy. She suggests that they hold a casino night once again, and sets up machines that can be easily hidden if they get raided. Hiram quickly finds out about the casino, and tries to use it to land a business deal for the prison. Veronica agrees to that - and to letting Gladys sing at the speakeasy - in exchange for some of her debt being taken away. Hiram's client quickly gets thrown out of the speakeasy for being impolite, and Veronica continues to feel taken advantage of by both Hiram and Gladys. Veronica decides to ask Toni and the Pretty Poisons to serve as security, and she accepts, to Cheryl's dismay. The Poisons block both Gladys and Hiram from the speakeasy.

***

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