S06.E21: Chapter One Hundred and Sixteen: The Stand

[AnimeMania]

GOOD VS. EVIL - When Archie (KJ Apa) and Veronica's (Camila Mendes) attempt to negotiate with Percival (guest star Chris O'Shea) doesn't go as planned, the forces of good and evil finally face off, leading to some unexpected revelations.

Original Airdate: July 24, 2022   8:00-9:00 p.m.    CW

[thuganomics85]

So after several misdirects and twists where it basically looked like the gang just drew crazy ideas out of a hat to see what would work (including Tabitha using her powers to actually age up Baby Anthony because why the hell not?), Percival is finally (FINALLY!) defeated because Tabitha and Jughead realize that he is more vulnerable in Rivervale.  After he defeats the gang by using their own powers against them, he is tricked into going into a portal to Rivervale, where Jughead convinces him to go inside Jughead's mind.  While that is going on, the Rivervale versions of the gang show up at stab him like a lot.  Tabitha then dumps him back into past where Cypher finally full-fills the contract and takes him to hell, I guess.  Admittedly not the worst outcome, but still kind of underwhelming on some levels.  In the end, Percival was just a lame villain and him being so dominant until now just didn't make for compelling television.

Oh, and they are able to resurrect Frank, Alice, and Sheriff Keller after the battle and they all seem normal again.  Yay!

Man, this was probably the most Jason Blossom ever got to speak on camera, so it naturally ends with Cheryl killing him because she now realizes that maybe bringing him back to life was not a good thing (but Polly is still around, though?)

Seeing Principal Waldo and Dr. Curdle Jr. as Ghoulies was hilarious.  Only thing funnier was Twyla's reaction when Toni hit her out of nowhere with actual throwing stars!

As I've said before, I generally enjoy the cast and think they are doing their best, but there was something about the way Lili Reinhart played "blind, panicking" Betty that just made me chuckle.

Actual season finale is next week though and it looks like the obstacle is that before he was taken out, Percival somehow changed the course of the comet so that it is going to flat-out hit Riverdale now, and it's up to the gang to stop it!  Too bad it's a comet instead of an asteroid, because if was the latter, the gang could probably just "Armageddon" their way out of it.  We'll see how this goes, but my current prediction is that this will somehow lead to their being truth to Tabitha's claim that Jughead will die (although I don't see it being long term.)  We'll find out next Sunday!

[the-grey-lady]

10 minutes ago, thuganomics85 said:

being truth to Tabitha's claim that Jughead will die (although I don't see it being long term.)

Since there are three Jugheads, one can die. Then Tabitha's prediction turns out to be correct, and the show can pull in another Jughead to pinch hit.

[ruby24]

Baby Anthony grew up to be hot but quite a bad actor.

My favorite part was when Cheryl and Reggie botched the high five, and they didn't even bother to do another take.

Was that Veronica and Cheryl kissing in the preview? Weird.

I now think maybe the comet hits and wipes everyone out and we start over next season in semi-normal Riverdale again. Or some other alt universe because how do we keep going from this into the final season? I mean, really? Don't we want go out with some semblance of the show as it was for the majority of its run?

Edited July 26, 2022 by ruby24

[the-grey-lady]

53 minutes ago, ruby24 said:

Was that Veronica and Cheryl kissing in the preview? Weird.

Classic queer-baiting, I'm sure. Unfortunately. And not for the first time this season.

53 minutes ago, ruby24 said:

I now think maybe the comet hits and wipes everyone out and we start over next season in semi-normal Riverdale again. Or some other alt universe because how do we keep going from this into the final season? I mean, really? Don't we want go out with some semblance of the show as it was for the majority of its run?

I'm predicting that, too. Comet hits and goodbye to current AU. The writers and cast have promised the viewers a finale they deserve, and for me that's a return to a classic Riverdale.  I know some people love the current supernatural bent, and I respect that, but it's not the show I enjoyed when I started, and I'd like to see a return to what made the show fun and compelling.

[Dobian]

Percival is gone. Yay.  Rim shot.

Baby Anthony: "Whoa dude, I'm immortal too bruh, and I like, got this cool knife, and I'm gonna defeat you in this righteous battle, and...where'd you go?"

K.J.'s steadily growing hair looked even longer in this episode.  Mustache and long sideburns are next season for Archie.

Since Tabitha can travel all the way back to the sixteenth century and Jughead can get her to Rivervale, why didn't they just visit Ye Olde Rivervale and kill Percy before he got started?

Meteor hits next week.  Hiram Lodge rides back into town fully alive and buys the ruined town back for fifty cents an acre, rebuilds prison.

[PrairieDogBaby]

18 hours ago, Dobian said:

Baby Anthony: "Whoa dude, I'm immortal too bruh, and I like, got this cool knife, and I'm gonna defeat you in this righteous battle, and...where'd you go?"

Right!  Why age Anthony up and then have him basically do nothing?  What's the point?  I guess it's possible he will have something to do next episode.

[tennisgurl]

Much like a lot of this season, this had a lot of really good ideas, some of which actually worked, but it was all jumbled up into a big mess. I actually have liked the stuff with Rivervale this season, especially the whole "alternate Jughead is writing comics which are really happening to the gang" idea that they came up with last episode, the supernatural stuff, while weird, has been fun, especially now that we know what is going on, and Jughead and Tabitha dumping Percival in the past Rivervale to let Mr. Cypher drag him to hell was a decent way to get rid of him. The whole season has been like that, a lot of concepts that I think are fun, I admit to being a sucker for when this show goes horror or meta, but there is so much going on that it ends up feeling like a disjointed mess. 

So it turns out that Percival wont be what dooms Riverdale, but this comet he is hurling at them. Kind of a lame way to end the season after Percival was hyped up so much, but alright sure. I thought it was hilarious when they were talking about how no help was coming from the outside, as if anyone from outside of Riverdale ever comes to that hell hole besides Sabrina. 

I could get behind most of their ridiculous plan, but aging baby Anthony up seemed really pointless. Turns out he didn't even do anything of note whatsoever, so why even bother? The actor is hot, but man is he not a great actor, which stands out as most of the cast is still solid, even if most of them are clearly bored out of their minds by this show. 

I guess Frank, Alice, and Keller are back to normal, I am guessing its been confirmed that they were mind controlled or else this would have all been pretty awkward. Or not, the gang is quick to turn on people but also very quick to forgive them.

Poor Jason, he finally gets some lines and he immediately gets killed by his twin. Is Polly sticking around or is she going to follow Jason into the sweet hereafter? Dying has done wonders for Polly, after being a fuck up for most of the show she's become the cool big sister that Betty always wanted after death. 

[Daltrey]

I caught the botched high five as well, lol. I had to watch it back to make sure it wasn't my eyes playing tricks.😆

The dog licking all of Archie's stab wounds away with his magical, healing saliva might just be the funniest thing this show has ever given me.🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

God bless you, Riverdale... I'm going to miss your ridiculousness when you're gone.

[SourK]

When was the high five? I want to seeeeee.

Given that I missed that, my favourite part was when Toni was like, "If you age up baby Anthony, we'll miss his whole childhood, but that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make." ❤️ She wants to be rid of him just as much as everyone else.

Otherwise. I don't think I've ever seen power creep happen this fast. In the space of one season, we went from nobody having supernatural powers to tons of people having multiple god-like powers that do whatever they need to do at any given moment. Gone is the simplicity of "Tabitha can see the past, but only if she stays in Pop's" (which I liked) -- now it's "Tabitha can do absolutely anything involving the concept of time, and also she is an angel (literally)."

[Chicago Redshirt]

9 hours ago, SourK said:

When was the high five? I want to seeeeee.

After Cheryl and Reggie went to torch Percival's Brand X Needful Things shop, they did the botched high-five.

I was wondering if they meant to do it like that because it's not like Reggie and Cheryl have chemistry or history or anything like that. Cheryl as a character doesn't seem like she would be doing high fives. 

Or was it that the actors just screwed up and the directors got lazy?

[Noneofyourbusiness]

On 7/29/2022 at 6:21 AM, Chicago Redshirt said:

Percival's Brand X Needful Things shop

That's what I was thinking about it, too.

[Affogato]

On 7/29/2022 at 6:21 AM, Chicago Redshirt said:

After Cheryl and Reggie went to torch Percival's Brand X Needful Things shop, they did the botched high-five.

I was wondering if they meant to do it like that because it's not like Reggie and Cheryl have chemistry or history or anything like that. Cheryl as a character doesn't seem like she would be doing high fives. 

Or was it that the actors just screwed up and the directors got lazy?

Remember when Cheryl was the cheerleaderyist cheerleader? That is high five country, right there.