S06.E17: Chapter One Hundred and Twelve: American Psychos

[AnimeMania]

THE CAST PERFORM MUSICAL NUMBERS FROM AMERICAN PSYCHO THE MUSICAL - In order to catch the Trash Bag Killer once and for all, Betty (Lili Reinhart) devises a plan to hold a serial killer convention in Riverdale. Elsewhere, Cheryl (Madelaine Petsch) receives some news about Toni (Vanessa Morgan) and Fangs (Drew Ray Tanner) that sends her spiraling, while Archie (KJ Apa) and Tabitha (Erinn Westbrook) try to loosen the grip Percival (guest star Chris O’Shea) has over his workers.

Original Airdate: June 12, 2022   8:00-9:00 p.m.    CW

Next New Episode: June 26, 2022

Edited June 12, 2022 by AnimeMania

[ruby24]

I swear I never disliked Veronica before this season but every episode now makes her worse and worse. Was there any reason for her to get in Drake's face and talk to her like that? How about mind your own business, bitch! Seriously, Betty wasn't even upset by it or anything.

Also, I don't really understand what's going on with Betty and Archie. Does the show...want us to expect them to be together permanently now all of a sudden? I guess I'm not quite getting why they seem to be going all in on this pairing. It seems like Betty/Archie and Toni/Fangs might actually be the permanently changed couples? Unless Heather turns out to be evil, it sure seems like she and Cheryl are meant to be.

Meanwhile they throw Veronica and Reggie off a cliff for the second time without even giving them a chance (why does the show hate that couple and why did they even try it again if they hate them so much?) and I'm pretty sure most people forget that Jughead and Tabitha are even a thing with how little screen time is devoted to their "relationship."

It's just odd. I don't know what they're doing here, especially with next season being the last.

[rmontro]

That was just weird.  Betty kills the Trash Bag Killer and we don't even see his face?  I kept expecting him to be revealed as Betty's father (somehow - with the way this show is now it could be her dad from another dimension).

They say you shouldn't date crazy.  I guess Archie has never heard this piece of advice.  Betty just basically told him she was afraid she would kill him someday.  As for the helping the baby bird story, I put that down to Archie's goodness and influence, not Betty.

[thuganomics85]

Not even in a minute in and I'm already uncontrollably laughing thanks to Archie's hilarious "WTF?!" reaction to Charles' "Serial killers have a saying: don't kill where you eat" line.  As usual, I wonder how much of this is scripted and how much is just K.J. Apa going "Seriously, that's the line!  Someone wrote that?!  And I have to react to this?!!  Good lord..."

I guess I'm just dense or really wasn't paying attention before but I never got the sense that Drake had romantic feelings for Betty and certainly didn't get any "vibes" from Betty at all.  But I got the sense I was suppose to see this coming.  Whatever, I guess we'll see if this is a potential love triangle forming or if this is a set-up for Drake to be crazy/evil.  Do think Veronica's overprotective reaction was bizarre.  It might have made more sense if Betty/Veronica have been any kind of a focal point this season, but it feels like they've barely interacted.

Toni tells Cheryl about her engagement to Fangs and Cheryl handles it about the way one would expect: roping Kevin into helping her perform a curse that would break their bond.  Which, apparently, means almost killing Baby Anthony.  Brilliant, you two.  I know no one on this show really is has great decision making, but Cheryl and Kevin just need to quit doing anything together because it seems like they are always causing trouble.  And now that Cheryl and Heather officially hook-up, I'm really starting to think a swerve is coming soon.

TBK is finally dead, but now Betty is back to freaking out if she is going to be evil or some shit, and is worried she could hurt Archie.  He naturally comforts her and they're all lovey-dovey at the end, but at this point who knows how the relationships will end up?  Come final season time, the endgame couples will probably see random ass pairings like Betty/Reggie, Jughead/Veronica, Archie/Cheryl, and Fangs/Toni/Kevin going full poly.  Oh, yeah, and Tabitha.  Maybe she can hook up with Charles!  Why not?!

At least they do show that Percival gets weak if he uses his power to control numerous people, which I guess explains why he doesn't just do this all the time.  Still think this should be way easier for him though.  But now that he's lost his workers again thanks to the power of family bonds and songs (and because for some odd reason he doesn't just pay them more, even though I have to think he can afford it), so he's planning on going "Biblical" next time.  Fun!

Easy week for Cole Sprouse!

[tennisgurl]

I truly wonder sometimes if the writers have some sort of memory loss issue because sometimes scenes just happen regardless of what else has been happening this season. So I guess Betty is cool enough with her mom to have her help out with her serial killer convention despite working for the resident demon lord? The same with the gang asking Kevin to engage in our most recent useless musical number? I guess characters flip back from good to evil so many times everyone just forgets who's working to undermine who, or just knows that eventually everyone will make up at some point anyway. Then we build up all this drama about Percival mind controlling the workers, only for them to get back to normal thanks to one cheesy folk song? Why even bother? What is even happening?  

Cheryl and Kevin find out that their ex's are getting married, directly because of Kevin's actions, so what do they do? Cast a magic spell to break them up and almost get Anthony killed, because of course that's what they do! The two of them are the king and queen of the easily forgiven club, so of course this will never get brought up again and Cheryl not only gets to go to the bachelorette party, but will probably end up with Toni again, even after she almost killed her baby with black magic. 

TBK gets shot in a shockingly anti-climactic ending, we never even get to see his face, all so that Betty can angst about being evil again. Then Archie tells Betty how much he loves her even after Betty admits she thinks that she might kill him one day. I would say that they both need buckets of therapy, but I shudder to imagine what any therapist that Betty might get would be like, nor was I impressed by Archie's old therapist he saw for about a week.

What the hell has Veronica's problem been this season? Why has she been such an asshole lately? Its not her business what the other agent said to Betty, back off would you please. There's a really obvious joke here somewhere about a bug crawling up her ass...

How was an episode featuring a serial killer fan convention, a major villain being killed, and Cheryl and Keven engaging in dark magic out of petty bitchiness so boring?

[the-grey-lady]

11 minutes ago, tennisgurl said:

I truly wonder sometimes if the writers have some sort of memory loss issue because sometimes scenes just happen regardless of what else has been happening this season.

Either this or they don't care.

[rmontro]

11 hours ago, thuganomics85 said:

I guess I'm just dense or really wasn't paying attention before but I never got the sense that Drake had romantic feelings for Betty and certainly didn't get any "vibes" from Betty at all.  But I got the sense I was suppose to see this coming. 

Hey, this is the CW, where people switch sexual orientations at the drop of a hat.

[PositiveBean]

I won’t be surprised if we end up finding out these past 1-2 seasons have been a parallel universe. Barchie and Tangs end up together in one and Bughead/Varchie and Choni end up together in the next and final season. 
***This is just a guess based on the weirdness going on and Roberto’s interviews. Everything feels so out of whack, everyone feels so out of character and none of it really meshes with the first couple of seasons.Jughead’s sudden Bughead triggers and Tabitha’s special episode make me believe there will be some sort of reveal, re-set, etc. 

Regardless, more Betty/Lili singing please. And can we also please have Draper before anything changes? Talk about HOT. 

[the-grey-lady]

5 minutes ago, PositiveBean said:

I won’t be surprised if we end up finding out these past 1-2 seasons have been a parallel universe. Barchie and Tangs end up together in one and Bughead/Varchie and Choni end up together in the next and final season. 

It's funny you say this. This rumor is really going around, and has been for awhile now. It wouldn't surprise me if Roberto thought this was a way to make both factions happy.

[ruby24]

Aaah, now that I see that suggestion in writing it...totally makes sense. For this show at least. I could see it happening.

In which case I wonder even more why can't Reggie and Veronica get a shot for real? Even in another universe?

[rmontro]

On 6/15/2022 at 10:19 PM, PositiveBean said:

I won’t be surprised if we end up finding out these past 1-2 seasons have been a parallel universe. Barchie and Tangs end up together in one and Bughead/Varchie and Choni end up together in the next and final season. 

Yeesh, just make Archie, Betty, and Veronica a threesome and be done with it.  Or throw Jughead in and make it a foursome.  Or have him watching the other three in the corner of the bedroom writing it all done for posterity.

Edited June 18, 2022 by rmontro

[The Wild Sow]

WT actual F was that?  Betty kills TBK and they don't even show who it was?  What did she do, just leave his body in the garage?  Where's the police, the FBI, the coroner?  Are she and Alice just gonna plant him under the table again??

Even if TBK wasn't Betty's dad (I kind of assumed it was - I mean, they didn't find his body in the wreckage, just his hand...! And hey, sacrificing a hand is nothing if it means you can get away clean - just ask a certain Dr. Lecter!)  But who was it?  Looked like Betty didn't even unmask him.

[rmontro]

19 minutes ago, The Wild Sow said:

Even if TBK wasn't Betty's dad (I kind of assumed it was - I mean, they didn't find his body in the wreckage, just his hand...! And hey, sacrificing a hand is nothing if it means you can get away clean - just ask a certain Dr. Lecter!) 

Almost makes me wonder if they filmed the scene with TBK being unmasked as Betty's dad, but then edited it out because they wanted to keep him alive for a latter reveal, maybe in the series finale.

[the-grey-lady]

20 minutes ago, The Wild Sow said:

WT actual F was that?  Betty kills TBK and they don't even show who it was?  What did she do, just leave his body in the garage?  Where's the police, the FBI, the coroner?  Are she and Alice just gonna plant him under the table again??

Even if TBK wasn't Betty's dad (I kind of assumed it was - I mean, they didn't find his body in the wreckage, just his hand...! And hey, sacrificing a hand is nothing if it means you can get away clean - just ask a certain Dr. Lecter!)  But who was it?  Looked like Betty didn't even unmask him.

I saw an interview with one of the writers. At the end of the day they didn't feel like TBK's identity was all that important. It was the construction guy after all. 🙄

[Dobian]

On 6/13/2022 at 5:08 PM, ruby24 said:

I swear I never disliked Veronica before this season but every episode now makes her worse and worse. Was there any reason for her to get in Drake's face and talk to her like that? How about mind your own business, bitch! Seriously, Betty wasn't even upset by it or anything.

I think the writers think they're still in high school.  No adult woman gets in someone's face for hitting on a friend, that's completely ridiculous.  Drake's acquiescence was also completely ridiculous.  In real life she would have torn Veronica a new one for inserting herself into Drake's personal life like that.

Also, what was the point of having Drake come onto Betty (I noticed it from their very early scenes together) if they were just going to kill it like that?  Nope, how dare they threaten to break up Barchie!

Edited June 18, 2022 by Dobian

[the-grey-lady]

11 hours ago, Dobian said:

Also, what was the point of having Drake come onto Betty (I noticed it from their very early scenes together) if they were just going to kill it like that?

I think the point was a hackneyed plot device. And really unfortunate queer-baiting. Such a terrible decision.

Edited June 19, 2022 by the-grey-lady

[Affogato]

I really liked that Veronica admits to being a serial killer. Maybe there is a twelve step program.

I'm OK with the trash bag killer being someone we don't know, it doesn't seem particularly important. The impact was supposed to be on Betty. I'm not sure she really learned much new, though.

Serial Killer Convention--nod to Neil Gaiman?

Betty should have given the poor guy her autograph.

On 6/14/2022 at 2:57 AM, thuganomics85 said:

Easy week for Cole Sprouse!

But it must have sucked for Jughead.

[Lethallyfab]

Apparently, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa wrote the book for the ‘American Psycho’ musical in case you were wondering why we were subjected to its songs.

Is either Drake secretly evil or Heather secretly evil or are they *both* evil?

[Chicago Redshirt]

2 hours ago, Affogato said:

Serial Killer Convention--nod to Neil Gaiman?

Yeah, the writers were pulling from the Sandman's issue with the serial killer convention, even pulling a version of "we don't shit where we eat."

[Bill1978]

I confess I tuned in because it was the musical episode. So naturally I had zero idea what was happening with the plot but as a musical episode this was a major, major let down. I didn't even manage to get through that Union busting song without fast forwarding it. Betty's song bored me - probably cause of its presentation. The other 3 songs I didn't mind, I quite enjoyed the 80s sound of the songs. The execution of Kevin's songs were probably the best although I could have done without the cuts to Betty walking around the convention. The girls song was fun but I hated the way they sang into the camera like it was a video clip.

I also felt the editing of the sequences in the timeline was odd. One minute Kevin is singing on stage, the next minute he is at home so Cheryl can talk to him. Very odd. Anyway, always fun to pop in for the musical episode even if this was the worse one.

[LadyChaos]

I feel like Reggie's issue is that he always wants the shortcut to get what he wants so he is easily persuaded to work with the bad person.