S05.E13: Chapter Eighty-Nine: Reservoir Dogs

[Bort]

While helping Eric deal with his PTSD, Archie is forced to confront his own past trauma in the Army. To find the Lonely Highway killer, Betty and Tabitha come up with a way to lure truckers to Pop's. Cheryl extends an invitation to Kevin and Veronica gives Reggie a shot to prove her wrong.

Airdate: 25 August 2021

[ruby24]

So Archie was fighting in the trenches in WWI?

After once again clearly building up a Reggie/Veronica storyline with them working together, I really hope it doesn't end the same as it did last time, with her dropping him like a hot potato for Archie, and then him apparently having NO reaction to it. If you guys are doing this again, give them an actual shot. Let them have a season together. Let Ronnie choose him this time to see what happens. For difference sake, at least!

[thuganomics85]

I'll admit that I did think it was kind of cool how they shot all of the war in a different style of format compared to the rest of the episode, but the whole plot still feel way too self-serious for this type of show, despite K.J. Apa and the rest of the actors efforts.  And I should have known they would somehow throw in a dog fighting story into it, because every horrible thing you can think of is somehow in Riverdale: the worst town ever!

Considering how much Coyote Ugly was name-dropped and imitated here, I'm kind of surprised they didn't have a cameo of any kind.  Sure, Tyra Banks or Maria Bello might have been a stretch, but Piper Perabo or Izabella Miko seemed in the realm of possibility.  But, hey, it looks like Betty and Tabitha did catch the Lonely Highway killer, who is some dude that apparently has every horror film killer weapon ever in his truck (just needed to bust out a fish hook or sickle!), but since Betty is going to try and make him tell her what happened to Polly instead of turning him over to Keller or the authorities, I'm guessing it will backfire.  Assuming he's actually the killer and not just some random crazy guy...

Veronica and Reggie have traded in the mafia life for now and are going full Wolf of Wall Street on this joint.  Did love them stealing one of Hiram's clients and him over-dramatically throwing the phone because of it.  Mark Consuelos is certainly embracing the camp and I approve!

Hi, Moose!

So, Kevin has gone back to his old, sketchy hook up ways, but seems to be finding peace by joining the Blossom ministry, where Cheryl allows him to do things like sing from "Jesus Christ Superstar" from the altar.  Because joining a cult sure worked out well for you last time, Kevin!

And to end things on a shallow note: certainly won't complain over whoever's decision it was to put Madelaine Petsch in an extra low-cut top throughout this episode.

[rmontro]

13 hours ago, ruby24 said:

So Archie was fighting in the trenches in WWI?

Sure looked like it.  And I also loved the way everyone was using rotary phones during the business sequence.  What a weird show lol.  I'd like to see someone come up with an explanation for all this time strangeness that goes on.

Betty:  "We are.  We are the hot girls."  Far be it from me to argue.

Archie's pretty hardcore with the brass knuckles and all.  Not sure if Cheryl has actually gotten spiritual, or if it's all a scam to make money, or a little bit of both.

[MaggieG]

13 hours ago, ruby24 said:

So Archie was fighting in the trenches in WWI?

My husband (who has never watched the show) watched a little with me. He asked the same thing and when I tried to explain the way it works in Riverdale (old phones, old cars, old timey nurse outfits but with modern day thrown in) he got more confused. I guess it's no use trying to explain the show to someone who has never watched lol

[the-grey-lady]

12 minutes ago, rmontro said:

Betty:  "We are.  We are the hot girls."  Far be it from me to argue.

 

Right?! The women on this show are crazy hot!

[tennisgurl]

After last weeks shockingly competent outing, this week we return to the main plot and our regularly scheduled nonsense. I know that this show takes place in a weird vague time period where all technology, fashion, etc. are just a big random grab bag, but I really didn't think I would see Archie fighting in the trenches of WWI. Normally the show goes for a sort of mid twentieth century aesthetic, I certainly never expected to be dropped right into the middle of 1917. 

Betty's plan to lure in truckers to find the killer by doing a Coyote Ugly take off is yet another in a long line of scenes that seem to exist because the show runner has tricked the CW giving him money to film all of his personal porn fantasies and calling it a TV show. This week we got not one but TWO musical numbers, I guess because after last weeks more understated story they need to remind us that this is, in fact, Riverdale. Betty's plans usually only work because the plot says they need to work, if she was anyone else she would have been murdered about seven times by now by various serial killers she confronts on her own, although I am not sure that she even caught the right guy. Riverdale is the kind of place where you can think you've caught a serial killer you've been chasing but in fact its a totally different, unrelated serial killer, and the one you were looking for is still out there. 

Was Kevin voted "Most Likely To Join A Cult" in high school? Does he not remember how badly things went the last time he joined one of these things? At least he is aware of how messed up his dating life is and how he mostly has himself to blame for it. 

Nice to see Veronica and Reggie working together again, I have always thought they had good chemistry, I hope that they either keep it platonic or they give a possible romance a real shot, not just having Reggie be a placeholder for Archie while Veronica waits for the divorce to finalize. Its nice to see Reggie being good at something.

As often happens, Archie ends up in a somewhat more realistic plot in the midst of the many insanely campy plots. Well, as realistic as this show gets, with Archie apparently storming the trenches of WWI and breaking up dog fighting rings, because of course those have popped up all over Riverdale. Bless KJ for giving this story a ton of dramatic weight that the writing doesn't really hold up to. Its just this insanely serious story in the middle of the madness of high camp, like clips from Saving Private Ryan got stuck in the middle of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, its just so jarring. 

[rmontro]

4 hours ago, MaggieG said:

My husband (who has never watched the show) watched a little with me. He asked the same thing and when I tried to explain the way it works in Riverdale (old phones, old cars, old timey nurse outfits but with modern day thrown in) he got more confused.

Well, mission accomplished, I guess.   I don't understand it either.  You just have to embrace the confusion.  My theory is that Riverdale exists at some nexus of alternate dimensions, similar to the Marvel and DC mulitverses.

 

8 minutes ago, tennisgurl said:

Its just this insanely serious story in the middle of the madness of high camp, like clips from Saving Private Ryan got stuck in the middle of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, its just so jarring. 

I'm getting a little concerned that this show is starting to reference too many movies.  Last week we had Scarface meets Goodfellas, and this week we had Coyote Ugly, plus the ongoing references to the She-Wolf of Wall Street.  I don't want this to become The Goldbergs.

Aren't Reggie and Archie rivals for Veronica in the cartoon and comics versions?  Maybe we will see that.  

What happened to the plot about the aliens?  Has anyone mentioned them recently?  Maybe they're tied in with the serial killer somehow?

[the-grey-lady]

4 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

After last weeks shockingly competent outing, this week we return to the main plot and our regularly scheduled nonsense.

This is pure gold in an otherwise stellar summary of this week's episode.

At one point during the episode I turned to my poor husband (who will want me to tell you that he does not watch this show) and said, "Did she just hit a probable serial killer in the head with a wrench? In the middle of the woods? In the dark? While terrified? And it knocked him out?"

Mr. Grey looked appropriately appalled.

[rmontro]

1 hour ago, the-grey-lady said:

I turned to my poor husband (who will want me to tell you that he does not watch this show)

Tell him to quit bragging  :)

 

1 hour ago, the-grey-lady said:

"Did she just hit a probable serial killer in the head with a wrench? In the middle of the woods? In the dark? While terrified? And it knocked him out?"

She's got plot armor.  And apparently plot aim also.  It was a semi, so maybe it was a heavy wrench.  Really, the fact that it was dark makes it more plausible, because maybe he couldn't see it coming and duck.

[SourK]

Why do TV shows suddenly believe that, when you watch someone die, you have to remember them as a dog? This is the third example I've seen.

(I did like the dog though. When they cut to him snarling because he had PTSD, I was like, "Precious.")

On 8/27/2021 at 12:14 AM, thuganomics85 said:

 And I should have known they would somehow throw in a dog fighting story into it, because every horrible thing you can think of is somehow in Riverdale: the worst town ever!

When Archie got depressed and said there was nothing in Riverdale worth saving because it was the worst town ever, I honestly just agreed with him. I was like, "Yeah, you finally get it."

On 8/27/2021 at 12:14 AM, thuganomics85 said:

But, hey, it looks like Betty and Tabitha did catch the Lonely Highway killer, who is some dude that apparently has every horror film killer weapon ever in his truck (just needed to bust out a fish hook or sickle!), but since Betty is going to try and make him tell her what happened to Polly instead of turning him over to Keller or the authorities, I'm guessing it will backfire.  Assuming he's actually the killer and not just some random crazy guy...

I also enjoyed his pre-murder chat, which was mostly just, "It's great to see the light leave someone's eyes."

In seriousness, I like Betty and Tabitha as pair and I hope they continue to have a plot line together.

9 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

Betty's plan to lure in truckers to find the killer by doing a Coyote Ugly take off is yet another in a long line of scenes that seem to exist because the show runner has tricked the CW giving him money to film all of his personal porn fantasies and calling it a TV show.

Forget about the Serpents -- it seems like there's an initiation ritual when you join this show where you have to shake your butt at all of your coworkers for very spurious reasons. I get that watching young, hot people gyrate is part of the CW brand, but in universe, why are all of their problems solved this way? What kind of people say "I want to catch a serial killer, but the ultimate win would be if I could also turn it into a way to act out Coyote Ugly?"

Riverdale is also becoming an Issue of the Week show, except, instead of cramming every news headline into the plot, it's cramming every movie that was popular with millennials.

 

[Affogato]

I continue to really enjoy the episode titles and how the source material is worked into the episodes.

[rmontro]

On 8/27/2021 at 1:12 PM, the-grey-lady said:

Right?! The women on this show are crazy hot!

It's the Cover Girl.

[Mattipoo]

On 8/27/2021 at 5:17 PM, tennisgurl said:

As often happens, Archie ends up in a somewhat more realistic plot in the midst of the many insanely campy plots. Well, as realistic as this show gets, with Archie apparently storming the trenches of WWI and breaking up dog fighting rings, because of course those have popped up all over Riverdale. Its just this insanely serious story in the middle of the madness of high camp, like clips from Saving Private Ryan got stuck in the middle of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, its just so jarring. 

I am actually enjoying the Rocky Horror Picture Show aspect of Riverdale, so Archie's story arc is the most annoying one for me at the moment. I am also really disliking the actor who plays the corporal with PTSD. Wasn't he Teri Hatcher's son on "Desperate Housewives" many years ago? He just has the most punchable face so it's really taking me out of the show. 

On a different note, I am shipping Reggie and Veronica as they make a great team in Pearls and Posh. Betty and Tabitha are also good together investigating the Lonely Highway killer. Of course Kevin has to join another cult. I am loving Cheryl and her mother's all-red sermons with "Jesus Christ Superstar" songs.

[LadyChaos]

It's safer for Archie, that Veronica not tell him what her husband roped her in to.....but immediately tells Reggie even though he was just working for her father who loves to toy with her.....that makes no sense.....except that it clearly hints that she trusts Reggie more...

Betty ......no words for utter stupidity that move was....