S06.E09: Chapter One Hundred and Four: The Serpent Queen's Gambit

[AnimeMania]

PERCIVAL MAKES HIS MOVE — After suspecting that Percival (guest star Chris O’Shea) is about to make a big play, Archie (KJ Apa), Betty (Lili Reinhart) and Jughead (Cole Sprouse) warn their friends about his potential threat to the town. Meanwhile, Toni (Vanessa Morgan) also finds herself a target after Percival announces his plans to rid the town of gangs, including the Serpents. Finally, Cheryl (Madelaine Petsch) makes her move against Archie, Betty and Jughead.

Original Airdate: April 10, 2022   8:00-9:00 p.m.    CW

[secnarf]

Just when I think this show can't get more absurd...it does. Every week I ask myself why I am still watching.

Happy to have Cheryl back, though 🙄

[thuganomics85]

I know it's a completely minor thing in the grand scope of... whatever this is, but it really bugged me that Archie, Betty, and Jughead went to "Cheryl" first for support and not Veronica.  Even if they didn't know about the whole possession thing or ignored how their last big exchange was Cheryl's outrage over what there ancestors did, it just didn't track with me that they wouldn't have talked to their supposed close friend first, before trying to negotiate with sometimes enemy, sometimes friend (depending on the episode.)  At least we did get one small scene with the Core Four.  I miss that.

So, Pickens next step in his grand plan is to get himself on the council by having everyone turn on Toni due to her Serpent connection and booting her out.  Still not sure why he couldn't just "persuade" Toni like he's clearly doing for the others.  At first, I thought maybe the powers is why Archie, Betty, and Jughead can resist, but it seems like Toni and Tabitha can't be manipulated either, so I'm not sure how that all factors in.  Certainly seems like Kevin is falling in line with Pickens, but to be fair, we are talking about a guy who pretty much got suckered into two different cults, so that really isn't that surprising...

Totally missed it last week that head Ghoulie/Twyla is played by Alaina Huffman a.k.a. Nikki from The 100 and Abaddon from Supernatural (or if we're going old school, Dinah Lance from Smallville!), which is cool at least.

Not quite sure why I'm suppose to care about Reggie's father, his gambling addiction, and him apparently only having a year left to live, which is why Reggie is coddling him.

Cheryl is back, but Abigail is now stuck in a doll and while under lock and key right now, come on!  You know that won't last!

As usual, I just love how everyone is so use to this craziness that nothing fazes them.  Archie gets hit by a Molotov Cocktail thanks to Abigail (complete with a Ghoulie-style outfit with Cheryl flavor!), and he's just like "Guys, Cheryl was kind of being a dick today with the whole trying to burn me alive.  Not cool, man!  Not cool!" about it.  You have to just roll with the punches sometimes!

Edited April 13, 2022 by thuganomics85

[tennisgurl]

The only surprising thing about Abigail being locked behind glass inside a doll is that Casa Blossom doesn't already have a whole room full of possessed dolls. I am glad that Cheryl is back, more or less, but most of what she has done is pretty on brand for her anyway, I'm not surprised that it took superpowers to realize that she was possessed and not just being Cheryl. Even Archie's response to Cheryl, in a ridiculous Goolie outfit, setting him on fire was basically just "not cool Cheryl!"

I know that Percival is the bad guy, and him taking Toni's kid, kicking her off the counsel is not alright, and murdering the Goolies (and trying to do the same to the Serpents), but he does make some decent points. Toni is one of the few characters I like consistently, but he isn't wrong that she's a gang member and that the gang fights between the Goolies and the Serpents have certainly caused a lot of problems. Granted, the Serpents are hardly even a gang anymore, more like the Riverdale version of the Knights of Columbus but with more leather and a weird backstory, but they did used to be an actual gang and they still do illegal activity, even if its only Toni's side hustle now. Its weird, to someone not from Riverdale, that the local high school guidance counselor is a gang leader as a side hustle!

I always love seeing the creepy but always helpful coroner. 

Not surprising that Kevin is jumping right to siding with Pickens and his mob, there is not a class of Kool-Aid that Kevin will not drink.

I feel bad for Reggie, must less so for his dad, even if he's dying. The guy has done maybe one or two decent things in his entire life, without someone like Hiram's charisma to make you still like watching him, it sucks for Reggie that he's dying and screwing his last year up. 

I wish Veronica would get a power, she seems so separated from the rest of the gang. Still waiting on that "this is another alternate universe" reveal. 

[Noneofyourbusiness]

A diabolical mastermind, Abigail is not. As if no one's going to remember seeing her visit with biscuits right before the trio dropped dead, and nothing's going to be found in their stomachs.

It's still unclear if Percival has tried and failed to influence the main good guys or made the cliche mistake of so many villains with mind control powers of not even attempting it, because plot. He apparently didn't know Jughead was telepathic until their meeting, since he made a note of it afterwards.

I doubt there will be such a reveal, and if there is I'll be annoyed.

[SourK]

I liked that one moment where Toni suddenly flashed back to Rivervale. Otherwise, my only fun came from playing a game called "Imagine it turns out none of these people have powers, and all of them are insane."

That said, the supernatural stuff frustrates me less than the realistic stuff, even when it's dumb. Like, is a glass cabinet a good place to keep the haunted doll? No it is not. But I'll take it over drawn-out scenes of a town council meeting where no one in the room understands even the basic idea of how town councils work.

[the-grey-lady]

On 4/13/2022 at 2:03 PM, SourK said:

Like, is a glass cabinet a good place to keep the haunted doll? No it is not. But I'll take it over drawn-out scenes of a town council meeting where no one in the room understands even the basic idea of how town councils work.

I laughed when Nana Rose shut the doll into the curio cabinet and announced the entire problem had been solved.

Does she know glass breaks?

And I share your dislike of the town meeting as plot device. Six of them in two episodes? Pick another expository device 'cause this one sucks.

Edited April 15, 2022 by the-grey-lady

[Dobian]

Why is it in every plot in every season, Alice is always on the wrong side of things and in the stupidest way?  Percival doesn’t even need to control her mind, she’s an idiot on her own.