S03.E20: Chapter Fifty-Five: Prom Night

[Bort]

Betty takes matters into her own hands after learning some unsettling news about her father. Mary grows concerned by Archie’s desire to take boxing to the next level. Elsewhere, Cheryl runs into a roadblock during her campaign for prom queen, while Jughead and Betty’s plan to confront the Gargoyle King takes an unexpected turn.

Airdate: Wednesday, May 1, 2019

[methodwriter85]

Oh my god, does this mean that they're finishing up junior year? I really thought they'd pull 2 seasons=1 school year for the rest of the series.

[jay741982]

So this show literally shows Jug telling Betty all the protection she has yet have Betty agree to stay at the Farm knowing how dangerous they are ? SIGH WHY? Betty better not fall for anything next week 

[jay741982]

1 minute ago, MollyWebber said:

I don't believe Betty is "joining" The Farm. She's going to use them for some twisted protection from Hal while deep-diving her investigation into them and probably also continue to try to get through to Alice, Kevin, Cheryl, etc. (I'm still not sure if Toni hasn't been duped and is just playing along to keep an eye on Cheryl.) There's nothing to indicate she's changed her mind about them being a dangerous cult.

Also, Betty believes her murderous father is after her. She would never endanger Jughead and his family by moving in with them. He's already threatened to kill Jug in the past, and now Jellybean would be in danger as well.

I really loved this episode!

It was a good episode!. And I get not endangering her man, along with his dad and little sis. And like i said i dont get why shes staying with them. Never said Join them even though it looks like Edgar is trying to get her sucked into the Farm based on the preview. I really liked the Sequence after the Black hood was revealed to be back. I'm also wondering/Thinking that wasnt Hal behind the Hood. It could really have been Edgar and Betty should really figure this out with how Edgar is trying to get her in The Farm

[RandomWatcher]

Um...didn't they say the bus hit a truck? Didn't Archie's mom say that Fred went out driving in his truck? I'm not trying to draw conclusions, but....

[Snookums]

Quote

So this show literally shows Jug telling Betty all the protection she has yet have Betty agree to stay at the Farm knowing how dangerous they are ? SIGH WHY? Betty better not fall for anything next week 

I saw it as Betty trying to protect her delusional mother, because no matter how sublimely rotten parents are on this show, their kids keep trying to give them one more chance. Plus, the whole "don't want to endanger my boyfriend and his little sister and his HOW IN GOD'S NAME IS HE STILL SHERIFF dad" thing to consider. Add in her Type A sleuth personality and yep, it makes as much sense as anything else on this show.

Plus, she was smart enough to bring a gun to Prom! Ah, Riverdale, where a student bringing a gun to a dance is a good thing. Not that she actually fired it but that wasn't her fault. (Where did she get that piece, by the way?) 

[Gotta say, though: Alice, if you're gonna be down with serial killers for spouses, Edgar is a grade up--YUM. Can see why Evelyn is still catfishing for him (gross) and everybody else is grooving on him. I've had trouble in general with cult leaders in real life and on TV because they're supposed to be all charismatic and give me your wallet and most of the time I'm all I would not give this guy the time of day, let alone my daughter's college fund, you know? I will say that at least Edgar understands the importance of presentation.]

So, has it always been that easy to switch up the entire presentation/decorations/everybody's outfits for Prom? Wouldn't most everybody already have their dresses bought and tuxes rented and such? How did everyone have those movie-ready costumes at their fingertips? 

Were we supposed to know who the murdered people were? Even for Riverdale everybody seemed to take three dead bodies/two serial killers at large very much in stride! Did they  even go home early or did everybody dance and head over to Pops?

Was everybody else afraid, speaking of, that Pops was going to tell Ronnie he had cancer or something? I was actually relieved that it was just more Hiram bullshit. 

Good to see True Cheryl is emerging from the puddinglike grasp of the Farm--yeah, yeah, oneness and everything BUT THIS IS PROM QUEEN. I adore the idea of her just turning on the Farmies because dammit, there's cults and there's dead brothers, but you cheated me out of my crown, assholes.

Good to see Archie's mother arrive, bringing a breath of realistic parenting to this craziness (and sad to see her because we know Fred is not coming back from his trip.) What ridiculous version of Sarah Lawrence did she say she went to--Florence or whatever? I love how the show so nakedly advertises sponsor products while flamboyantly bowdlerizing real places and things. And while I agree that college is simply not for Archie, Mary is completely right in pointing out that a seventeen year old choosing this kind of brutal and mainly short lived career with no backup plan is ludicrous. 

[jay741982]

1 hour ago, MollyWebber said:

The "Black Hood" in this episode looks like Chic/Hart. The body type is definitely not Hal/Lochlyn. You know they didn't just drop the Chic plot point so this would be the perfect time to bring him back. He certainly would want revenge on Betty. 

I have a feeling Hal is going to end up saving or helping Betty in the finale. Maybe they can use the soap trope of a brain tumor making you a serial killer and bring back old Hal. 😆 Nothing is too ridiculous for the show anymore so I would totally buy into it. I really enjoyed old Hal's relationship with Betty. And I would love to see Hal and Penelope's relationship annoy Alice!

Speaking of ridiculous, it did cross my mind after he just happened to pop up at the door that Jughead could have been somehow hypnotized or brainwashed by G&G and is the one now going after Betty. But that would have been too quick of a costume change.

I'm betting on Hal showing up to save Betty. And im bad but when Betty was fretting about Hal coming for Alice and Killing her " that wouldnt be so bad Betty since she treats you like Crap and I would be glad not to see you being a Doormat for your bitch Mother ever again" came out of my mouth

[thuganomics85]

I'll find it highly amusing if having to give up Prom Queen is what causes Cheryl to turn on The Farm.  Really, it would be one of the most realistic things to happen on this show!

I'm still thinking that Hal isn't actually dead, but I do suspect that he isn't The Black Hood that is chasing Betty, because for all of his psycho... err, motives and thoughts, I guess, I don't see him wanting to harm her.  I think he thinks that they are kindred spirits or some shit now.

I can't believe that actually had Archie do a training montage with "Eye of the Tiger" playing.  Oh, Riverdale!

Camilia Mendes certainly was rocking that corset!

I'm surprised it took them as long as it did to finally have Chad Michael Murray take of his shirt.

So, Mary is back while Fred is "out of town."  Yeah, I think I know how this is all going to play out.  Poor Archie...

[AnimeMania]

The Betty roaming the halls scene was strange to me. It seemed like Betty was shown wearing 2 different costumes in the scene. Was this to indicate that one was Betty and the other was Betty playing Alice from the episode set in the past? Did we see Betty drink the punch at the prom (I wonder what color the punch was?). Most likely Betty was trippin' balls for the entire scene. Did the sheriff mention if anybody was murdered at the prom because Betty saw a lot of dead people.

[TaylorBruh25]

How’s everyone doing!? I’ve been missing for a couple months cause of moving out but man its to be settled and express how frustrating this second half of Season 3 has been. I’m gonna try to keep my thoughts to this episode, I’ll go to other topics to discuss other episodes. But some brief S3 character thoughts will be in here too. 

  So, we’re in Ep 20 now and I feel like this should’ve been 16. Mind you, we STILL DONT KNOW THE GK’s identity. Once again the second half of the season just spins out of control, like Deputizing the Serpents, The Gargoyles being lackluster as hell, the Quarantine being dropped after nothing, Hiram being the go-to bad guy (which I have big problem with this, but I’ll get it to it) or even The Farm consuming Cheryl, Toni, Kevin, and Fangs. The only thing saving the Farm right now for me is Chad is killing this whole manipulation as a weapon thing he’s doing. 

So, trying to stay in this episode, I already have a huge problem with Hal’s “death” just for character progression sake, wasn’t Betty somewhat attached to her father by now? That she wouldn’t immediately jump to calling him black Hood and doubting his demise? What was all there conversing paralleled with her fallout from Alice for if she didn’t have any attachment re gained for him? But, okay my real big problem with this show right now: 

KJ Apa is the shows lead, I don’t care how much Betty crap they keep throwing in my face like she’s the worlds greatest detective Archie needs to lead the ship and not for Name-sake or comics or whatever cause I could care less I’ve never read an Archie comic in my life. Every plot or at least almost every plot feel grounded be it his scenes with Fred, be it his scenes on his PTSD trip with Veronica, be it his weirdly impressive hero/villain chemistry he has with Mark/Hiram. Archie being around the plot does not hurt it helps. Out of the two main plots going right now, for the second season in a row Archie is excluded from both. He was excluded from Chic and the Black Hood for the second season in a row, he’s now excluded from the farm, The GK (which he was targeted by like 5 eps ago) and The Black Hood who brought down this more violent development and has obviously given him PTSD and he here’s this villain is back and has NO CARE!? AT ALL!? Like I really do enjoy him finding fighting as a strength and love the boxing stuff but why are rushing him alll the way to pro boxer in half the season when we need him involved in these storylines to close this season? Almost same thing with Jughead, guy is shown a scene putting things together once or twice an episode but when it’s crunch time he’s excluded, and I’ve enjoyed him more this season so I don’t get why we can’t incorporate him into The Farm plot a little more. Like seriously I knew we were getting Archie vs Hiram but man this was thrown together so last minute and feels like “oh man we’ve mapped out the last 4 episodes for Betty to take down The GK, Edgar, and Donald Trump who do Archie, Veronica, and Jughead go against”? Like seriously, I like Lili but what is the writers obsession with throwing her into every story every episode and crying through it until she figures everything out last minute? 

Bar all that it was a decent episode. 

JB meet the GK was already known I thought, how did Jughead not ask the question before this? 

Why is Veronica Archie’s... manager? Can we give the core four a minute to breath without sex as well too please? 

Mad dog sticking around is cool

pretty much hate everything to do with Cheryl & Toni at this point, I cared for hot sec when Cheryl revealed she talked to Jason but now she’s going to be snapped out of like CULT-LIKE HYPNOTISM BY PROM QUEEN?! 

Idk why they’re giving Jughead rings to look punk rock or something but it’s cool like I don’t have a serious thought about I just noticed the change. 

Uh so the tattoo guy is either Chic or Hal and I’ll get to why later 

Gotta give CMM many props for staying in that shape at his age, also liked them picking someone who looks in shape, because I feel like he can secretly have this violent fighter side indicated by his very confident protection speech later on. 

Thank God Archie isn’t joining the Navy, I’m sorry but I really didn’t wanna see Archie be all Army driven just because he’s not the smartest guy in the room. 

Cant believe Riverdale took the Prom aspect of the episode so lightly. 

So I feel like Archie’s passing out other boxing stuff was supposed to lead to a bigger story but got cut off with mary because it’s defintley getting by seasons end with Fred. 

Betty being confronted by the Black

Hood in full costume was cool. But, who were those peopl he killed? I really wish Riverdale would Infinity War half the cast this year, imagine how chilling and much more it would’ve made Hal scary had those 3 bodies been Sweet Pea, Weatherbee, and Fangs or something. 

Anyway, I kind of like Edgar finally making his way into the G&G/Black hood stuff, I really wanna see these three villains cross paths. 

So, my theories right now are that either Hal got the tattoo and is being controlled by the Gargoyle King as Hiram sort of was, that his big part will be he helps Betty in the finale or so to stick around in Hiram’s prison to Hannibal-help Betty once in a while. 

My three major guesses for The Gargoyle King are: 

-Chic, I’ve news about him being on set or whatever and remember we never saw the characters body, so I don’t put it besides Riverdale to pull something stupid and make it him.

-FP Jones, he’s been there so much, finagled his way to sheriff and is smack in the middle of all this with mini teasers like him saying Alice had her own story regarding the Midnight Club, him coming trough Coopers window in the callback to Scream, or him being the only innocent not in the know person regarding this G&G stuff. 

- Dr. Curdle, his father was the first GK, he’s the one now for some sick psychopath creating reason. 

I honestly hope there’s some satisfying conclusion to this season. 

[Snookums]

Quote

Thank God Archie isn’t joining the Navy, I’m sorry but I really didn’t wanna see Archie be all Army driven just because he’s not the smartest guy in the room

The thing is (oh, Riverdale), this recruiter is talking about not just the Navy but ANNAPOLIS, which is basically the equivalent of Harvard. That's where they train the people who run nuclear subs. If Archie can't qualify for community college he sure as hell isn't getting in the door there--their boxing program is not so hard up that Mary's old college roommate has to recruit a seventeen year old who's basically flunking out and has to have his mom sign his fight permission slips. 

I wish they'd treat Archie's path to the future a bit better. He's not college material AND THAT IS FINE. Considering the astronomical cost and steadily diminishing returns a college education is offering these days, Archie saying I'm not cut out for this is one of the smartest things he's ever done! But that doesn't mean his only options are things like music and boxing; they're both highly unstable, poorly paid, and in the latter case will most probably have him dealing with traumatic encephalitis by the time he's thirty. Mary is perfectly right to be concerned! What in Heaven's name is wrong with him going to vocational school and taking over Fred's business or the like? He already has experience and that's a steady, high paycheck for an in-demand skill! But this ,of course, is Riverdale.

[Chaos Theory]

I was laughing therefor a moment that for Betty her serial killer dad turned out to be the good parent.  But nope.  Betty doesn’t get a good parent.  I am still kinda hoping she turns out to be the Gargoyle King.  Then her entire family can be crazy Nutso psychopaths but the show would never go THAT dark.

Archie continues to be on a different show.  Nice to see mom though.  Must be hella awkward on the set.  Not that Molly Ringwald is ever NOT welcome but everyone knows why she is there.    All the “when dad gets back” made me  sad.  

Edited May 2, 2019 by Chaos Theory

[secnarf]

19 hours ago, MollyWebber said:

The "Black Hood" in this episode looks like Chic/Hart. The body type is definitely not Hal/Lochlyn. You know they didn't just drop the Chic plot point so this would be the perfect time to bring him back. He certainly would want revenge on Betty. 

I'm amazed you could decipher this level of detail. It was so dark on my TV that I couldn't even tell it was the "Black Hood".  I didn't realize until afterwards when Betty said it out loud.

[AnimeMania]

6 minutes ago, secnarf said:

I'm amazed you could decipher this level of detail. It was so dark on my TV that I couldn't even tell it was the "Black Hood".  I didn't realize until afterwards when Betty said it out loud.

Then you totally missed that the Black Hood had a hook for a hand now.

[secnarf]

16 minutes ago, AnimeMania said:

Then you totally missed that the Black Hood had a hook for a hand now.

I did indeed, thanks!

Can't say I'm surprised - as soon as they said they identified Hal's DNA from part of a hand, rather than a more vital body part.

[catrice2]

So...they really had Josie leave before prom??

[Carrots4]

Mary Andrews, what do you think you’re doing being all logical, thinking about your child’s future, and trying to set reasonable limits for him? It’s as if she is on a completely different show from the other adults. I love her character and scenes with Archie, but she just doesn’t fit. Meanwhile, Sheriff FP is having Jughead cut class to come investigate at the junkyard. 

Is it even possible to fake-sell a business? Wouldn’t Veronica have some kind of proof of payment to go with her fake deed, allowing her to charge Hiram with fraud or something similar?

[Bort]

Lets keep the discussion at hand to the events of the episode, please.

[tennisgurl]

Of course the thing that pulls Cheryl from the grip of the Farm is not being prom queen! I mean, floating babies and creepy zerg rushing her friends are one thing, but having to give up being prom queen, the thing that Cheryl is made for, is simply too much! Honestly, its one of the most in character moments this show has ever had!

Its nice to see Mary again (even though its because Fred is "on a trip" *SOB*) being the one normal and rational parent around who is actually thinking about her kids future in real, practical ways. Yeah, I can see why Archie wanting to go into boxing professionally wouldn't be a great long term career, and why she would be against it. He really needs some kind of back up plan, whatever that may be. I mean, he does have experience as a park ranger or whatever, as long as he can avoid being mauled by a bear. Again. 

I do think that Hal is alive, but I dont think he was the Black Hood that was menacing Betty. For all his crazy, I dont think he would do anything to hurt her. Its probably yet ANOTHER serial killer running around, the way that there are about thirty seven different Gargoyle Kings on any given day. When Jughead showed up, I almost thought that maybe he was hypnotized into having an evil alter ego or something that his normal self cant remember, but that may be a bit much even for this show, even beyond how long it must take to change in and out of these costumes...maybe...

They literally had Archie working out to Eye of the Tiger without a trace of irony! Its actually pretty adorable. 

So CMM can still get it! Like, Alice might have exchanged a serial killer for a cult leader, but she did sure trade up abs wise! He might even be the lesser of two evils, as of now. Well, maybe, jury is still out on that one. With so many evils, its really hard to figure out who is out eviling who, especially when everyone is so damn secretive about everything. Also, Evelyn i still at school, even though everyone knows she isnt a teenager? "Arent you like 30? Havent you already had a million proms by now?"

Edited May 4, 2019 by tennisgurl

[Chaos Theory]

On 5/2/2019 at 10:02 PM, Carrots4 said:

Mary Andrews, what do you think you’re doing being all logical, thinking about your child’s future, and trying to set reasonable limits for him? It’s as if she is on a completely different show from the other adults. I love her character and scenes with Archie, but she just doesn’t fit. Meanwhile, Sheriff FP is having Jughead cut class to come investigate at the junkyard. 

And Veronica's dad is outright stealing from his daughter but then at this point Hiram is a mustache twisting villain.

I am still hoping we can get more traction out of Betty and her parents playing who is crazier.  Because if I know the show dropped the Dark Betty storyline but I really thought it was the most fun Betty has been and it makes soooo much sense for the character.  

[IndyMischa]

On 5/2/2019 at 12:17 AM, MollyWebber said:

Speaking of ridiculous, it did cross my mind after he just happened to pop up at the door that Jughead could have been somehow hypnotized or brainwashed by G&G and is the one now going after Betty. But that would have been too quick of a costume change.

Crackpot idea: I thought the "[GK will] be here, wearing a crown of some kind" was a possible tip to Jughead's crown-style hat.

On 5/4/2019 at 3:39 PM, tennisgurl said:

So CMM can still get it! Like, Alice might have exchanged a serial killer for a cult leader, but she did sure trade up abs wise! 

QFT. Lordt. When he finished his slow turn, and asked Betty if she was "satisfied," there may have been literal applause at my house.

[SourK]

Forgot to comment when the episode aired, but it drives me crazy that no one thought to let Mad Dog audition for the recruiter. It seems like a program he could benefit from, and Archie didn't even want it.

On 5/2/2019 at 7:48 PM, secnarf said:

Can't say I'm surprised - as soon as they said they identified Hal's DNA from part of a hand, rather than a more vital body part.

TV has led me to believe that, if you've got six heads and you need to ID the bodies, you start by looking at the dental records and stuff. Supposing Hal escaped the bus crash... did he find another person's head to leave a the scene so that they had the right number? Where did that person come from? This crime scene is weird.