After a month-long hiatus (and an early Season 5 renewal), Riverdale is finally back on our television screens. On Wednesday night, the network aired its long-awaited midseason premiere episode, and dropped some major twists and turns along the way. Read on to find out everything that happened in this week’s episode. Spoilers for this week’s episode of Riverdale, “Chapter Sixty-Seven: Varsity Blues” below! Only look if you want to know!
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Riverdale High celebrates Spirit Week — namely because the football team is headed to the state championship, where they will face Stonewall Prep’s team. Betty is commissioned to write an article about the game, and interviews Archie, Reggie, and Monroe about it. They accuse Stonewall’s team of playing dirty. Jughead suggests that she interview Brett, and she does. Brett makes some very creepy remarks. She then meets with a series of football players, who confirm it — and that the Stonewall coach pays the players to hurt people.
While leaving the community center, Monroe is accosted by masked Stonewall players and beaten up. Archie and the Bulldogs visit Stonewall Prep and confront Brett, and a fight breaks out. Betty tells Veronica what happened, and they decide to have Veronica go undercover and try to get information out of Brett. Brett initially verbally harasses her, but gets drunk as the night goes along. As he’s about to tell Veronica information, Jughead recognizes her, and Betty finds out that he’s in the Quill and Skull. Jughead apologizes for lying to Betty.
Later, Betty gives the article to Mr. Honey, who refuses to publish it.
Archie laments about the championships being his last game ever. Later, he has dinner with his Uncle Frank, and suggests that he stick around longer. Archie introduces Frank to Mary, who suspects that Frank will be unreliable. Frank picks up Archie from the police station, and they bond over Fred and their shared love for boxing. Later, Mary confronts Archie about his relationship with Frank, and tells him that Fred took a DUI charge to help Frank. She then grounds him, outside of playing on the football team.
Archie confronts Frank about the DUI, and he explains that it was a result of his PTSD from the Army. Before the game, Frank gives Monroe a series of pills, which he takes so he can theoretically play in the game.
DuPont tells Jughead that he pulled some strings to help him meet a college recruiter from Yale. Jughead gets upset about this, as Betty tried and failed to get into it. Betty later tells him to take the opportunity. Jughead meets with the recruiter, who compliments his writing, and makes it seem like he has a genuine chance at Yale. Later, DuPont asks Jughead about the article Betty’s writing — but turns it into an invitation for Jughead to sit in the alumni section of the game.
The game takes place, and Jughead decides to sit with the Riverdale side of the crowd. The coach is locked inside her office, which lets Cheryl regain control of the group. They perform “Cherry Bomb” during the game, as the Bulldogs try and fail to win. Archie confronts Frank about the drugs he gave Monroe, but Monroe is okay with it, because it helped him get into Notre Dame.
After the game, Brett tries to accost Jughead and Betty, to no avail. Betty meets with Honey, and suggests that they form a quiz bowl team to go up against Stonewall.
Jughead finds out that he and Brett are both accepted to Yale.
In a flash-forward to one month later, Betty looks over Jughead’s belongings. Brett arrives and tells her that she got her wish — for Jughead not to go to Yale.
Other tidbits from the episode include:
- Cheryl and the Vixens are met with their new coach, who is much more strict and quickly butts heads with Cheryl. Cheryl later brings muffins to the coach as a way to make amends, but it doesn’t go over well. Cheryl and the Vixens decide to go on strike, but ultimately rescind it, except for Cheryl.
- Brett criticizes Jughead for his old computer. Later, Jughead finds that the Quill and Skull bought him a new computer, and is invited to a ritual with the group later that night, where they are forced to tell their darkest secrets. Donna talks about being sexually assaulted and self-harming as a child, Brett talks about being forced to lose his virginity to a sex worker, and Jughead talks about watching a man being beaten up while he was homeless.
- Veronica engineers a recipe for spiced rum, which is still similar to the recipe Hiram uses. She meets with local restaurants to try to sell them the rum. Later, Hiram gives Veronica a cease and desist for the rum recipe, and uses it as an attempt to get them to partner up. She refuses. Later, Reggie convinces her to key Hiram’s car, and leave a bottle of rum in the gas tank. After the game, Cheryl gives Veronica a maple-covered snow cone, which gives Veronica an idea. They meet the next day, and Veronica pitches that they combine their businesses for a maple-flavored rum.
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