S05.E07: Chapter Eighty-Three: Fire in the Sky

[Bort]

Quote

Following in his Grandpa Artie’s footsteps, Archie begins to recruit Riverdale’s new volunteer fire department. Toni’s attempt to lure Cheryl out of Thornhill and back into daily life in Riverdale leads to more tension between the two. Elsewhere, Betty, Alice and Kevin’s latest investigation leads them into conflict with Hiram. Finally, as Veronica comes up with a risky plan to support Riverdale’s local businesses, Jughead and Tabitha begin to unravel an old mystery surrounding some strange sightings in the town.

Airdate: 10 March 2021

[Diapason Untuned]

Apparently towns making their own money is an actual thing. I can actually say I learned something from this show. 

I can't believe Jughead summoning aliens isn't the weirdest thing I've heard on this show. 

What was truly odd is Veronica getting screwed over by someone other than Hiram for a change. Don't let 16 year olds print their own money, Ronnie! 

Archie and Jackson need hugs and support. 

Toni actually giving Cheryl some real talk for a change. The aliens were more believable 😂

Edited March 11, 2021 by Diapason Untuned

[memememe76]

Toni has been SO GOOD this season. Her giving Cheryl that talk was so needed. 

[SourK]

I'm so embarrassed, and I don't even go to that school. Imagine if you were just trying to do cheer, and the weird woman who doesn't leave her mansion showed up and tried to prove she was the best dancer. And then, a few days after your ROTC instructor forced you to join his football team, he had you working as the fire department. And then your economics teacher printed money with her face on it and paid you with it in exchange for helping her turn an adult video store into a jewelry shop.

And then, randomly, your other teacher who works at the diner and doesn't come to school anymore got abducted by aliens.

I stand by my theory that Hiram's doing the whole world a solid by wiping this town off the map.

[Lady Calypso]

Aliens, show? Really? I assume Pops' theory about the military is more correct than freaking ALIENS. And I know this is Riverdale, but come ON. Aliens? Jughead and Tabitha's mystery story is just weird. I did find it interesting that everyone who saw that light, or whatever, really was curious to see it again, rather than fearful. But yeah, I gotta admit that Jughead's plot interests me a little less than the others'. 

Archie's story is very much grounded and realistic, so that's nice. His stories have always grounded the show, and it was nice to hear them touch on the effects of war and coming back from it. But Archie, you should have just let Jackson go shoot Hiram and be done with it. It would solve everyone's problems instantly because no way could Reggie try and take over what Hiram started. None of Hiram's connections would take a 23 year old kid seriously. 

So, Veronica's woe of the week is her students printing more money and costing her thousands of dollars. I guess it's better than it being Hiram? 

Betty's search for her sister is semi-interesting, at least. I still think TBK is connected to her missing sister and other girls, but with her boss telling her that TBK is back Virginia, maybe not? Unless her boss is TBK. With Riverdale, you can never rule out possibilities.

Cheryl loses it when she thinks that the Vixens are being stolen from her...despite being secluded in her home for seven years. Glad Toni could call her out on that. And, I do have to say, I thought Toni's girl won that dance battle. Cheryl's dance, to me, was a bit laughable and ridiculous. She flipped her hair, did the splits, and that's about it.

[nilyank]

Only Archie would think that he could set up a volunteer fire  department using high school students and a 2 day training with a member of the nyfd.
 

One sheriff. No fire department. No garbage collection for months. Moth men aliens. Serial killing trucker. Fake money that is only being used in 3 businesses.  Ton of gang members. Rampant crime and homelessness. Why is anyone still staying in Riverdale. People should be running for their lives.

I laughed in delight when Hiram told Betty to go kick rocks basically when she tried to assert that the FBI was investigating and he sneered at her fake badge. Has Betty even complete her training and become an official FBI agent?

[tennisgurl]

Are we totally sure that Hiram is the bad guy here? Sure setting fires that kill people is bad, but if it rids the world of the wretched hive of scum and villainy that is Riverdale, is that not for the greater good?

I thought that Riverdale High was a hot mess when the main cast were students, but they're making it even messier as teachers. Yeah, bring in the teens to fight fires against a team of arsonists, have them print their own money with your face on it, and get into dance offs with them while you twerk around and try to announce yourself their new coach. I guess they at least don't have any new cults forming yet, but that's probably just because their population has shrunk so much. It also seemed really obvious to me that Toni's girl won that dance off, I expected Cheryl to be greeted with resounding silence. I guess they clapped because Cheryl could still fund their new uniforms, but is it worth it to deal with Cheryl? I am really glad Toni called her out on pettily trying to dance the dance team from her after so many years, although I am not looking forward to Toni getting shackled to Cheryl again. I have liked her having her own plots so much more. At least Veronica and Archie had good intentions, Cheryl getting into dance offs with teenagers to relive her glory days is just sad. 

I guess it was inevitable that the show would get to aliens, although I am sure that it wont be actual aliens, this show has always pulled back before going with actual supernatural occurrences, even if most of their "explanations" would really make more sense if they just said it was magic. It did lead to some quality Nana Rose time, which is always welcome, and I do like Pops granddaughter with Jughead. She really must be new here if she is weirded out by leaving alien corpses laying around their soda shop, that's one of the tamer things that Jughead has gotten into. 

I guess Reggie still has a conscience down there somewhere, and Betty looking for Polly and the other missing women is kind of interesting. I even want to know what happened with her and the trash man, even if Betty really does look like a kid playing dress up with her FBI jacket and badge. She acts exactly like she did in high school not like someone who is in the FBI. 

Veronica printing her own currency with her own face all over it kills me, its just so Veronica. Yes, get your teenage econ students to print monopoly money with your face on it like Miss Moneybags to turn a sketchy video store into a jewelry store in a town that cant even afford a police force, that's great money management right there. As much as Veronica might mean well, there is definitely a big part of her that wants her ego stroked and to get one up on her dad. 

[mtlchick]

17 hours ago, memememe76 said:

Toni has been SO GOOD this season. Her giving Cheryl that talk was so needed. 

Vanessa Morgan stood up for herself last year when she was getting less pay than the rest. I am hoping she is getting more money now, but her getting better storylines is one of the few reasons I am trying to stick with this show. I don’t like Hiram, but sometimes, you have to let things go. And it’s time for the gang to let go of the town they once knew.

[thuganomics85]

Yeah, it is honestly almost getting to the point where I'm on Team Hiram now, because considering everything that happened this episode; all in the quest to "save Riverdale"; the question I ask myself is... is this all worth it?

I mean, apparently if you attend Riverdale High now, you not only don't really get an actual education, but you now have to a) be asked to join the volunteer fire department that is being led by the ROTC teacher who doesn't even have any experience either, b) find yourself participating in a dance-off against a former Vixen captain who can't let go of her glory years, and last but certainly not least c) get roped into your economics teacher's scheme that involves her not only creating the town's on money currency, but actually putting her own face on the bills!  Yeah, this class is so going to be unprepared for the actual real world once they graduate.  I swear, kids: not all towns in America are like Riverdale!

Meanwhile, Betty's investigation into Polly's disappearance as led to them discovering that there actually numerous girls missing throughout the area and at least a couple of them have been found dead.  They now think it's either a serial killer or human trafficking.  It will probably be the former, but I'm pulling for the latter, because I cling to the unlikely hope that they can just cast John Caroll Lynch to basically play the same character he did on Big Sky.  Sure, they wouldn't be able to actually call him Rick Legarski, but a nice knock-off name would be nice (Dick Bergarski?!  Mick Tergarski?!!)  Wouldn't be surprised though if it ends up connecting to the return of the Trash Bag Killer (ha!) either.

Archie and Jackson addressing PTSD and their time in the war feels like they've stepped off of a completely different show, but credit to K.J. Apa and Jackson's actor for doing what they can to wring out real emotion here.

Toni telling off Cheryl was easily the highlight.  Followed by Veronica/Camila Mendes' outfits.

Jughead might have been abducted by aliens?  It's pretty telling that hearing this just makes me shrug, because alien abduction really isn't that far-fetched for this show.

[rmontro]

There was an old portable cathode ray 4:3 TV at Pops Diner, plus they still had "Chances Are" by Johnny Mathis still on the jukebox.  I don't know if this was because Pops is a 50s themed diner, or if it's just because Riverdale World is so weird.  Come to think of it, have they ever shown a big screen TV on the show?

[Affogato]

Unpopular opinion but the diner story is so genre-stylish. I’m enjoying it. Twilight zone! And Sprouse is killing it in noir. Late night. Spiking his coffee.  Fire in the sky. Writing his book.

Well they made a movie from Travis Walton’s book but I don’t think this is going to cement Jug’s reputation as a writer. 
 

veronica isn’t coming across as an financial genius either.  
 

contrary to the talk Archie has with Jackson I think Archie is still in the army, he is working off the last of his eight years in ROTC. 
 

 I’m not sure what Betty’s position is in the FBI though. also not sure why the fbi itself isn’t more interested. Or at least the state police. 

[Affogato]

On 3/11/2021 at 11:19 AM, nilyank said:

Only Archie would think that he could set up a volunteer fire  department using high school students and a 2 day training with a member of the nyfd.
 

One sheriff. No fire department. No garbage collection for months. Moth men aliens. Serial killing trucker. Fake money that is only being used in 3 businesses.  Ton of gang members. Rampant crime and homelessness. Why is anyone still staying in Riverdale. People should be running for their lives.

 

Well lots of towns don’t have police, fire or garbage collection. Really. The state police cover, things burn down if they can’t get anyone there in time and there is probably a dump. 
 

The arson isn’t helping. 

[Quark]

This show just gets crazier and crazier and I'm living for it.

[rmontro]

I didn't realize this at first, but there was a real Trash Bag Killer, a serial killer named Patrick Kearney who also had the nickname of The Freeway Killer.  When they were calling him TBK, I thought it was a twist on the BTK killer.  

Anyway, I think Betty's storyline is the least interesting since the time jump.  We've seen our share of killers on Riverdale already.  I'd rather see something new like Veronica printing up money with her face on it, Jughead chasing aliens, Cheryl having dance-offs with children, or Archie trying to create a new fire department using high school kids.

[Andromeda]

I also actually learned about the town-money scheme for the first time (and I live in Oregon!), but I really don't get Veronica opening a high-end jewelry store in a dying town. That makes NO economic sense.