#RiverdaleRecap S3 E3: As Above, So Below
Tell your D&D nerd friends they’re missing out by skipping this season, bruh.
What happened?
Archie agrees to be the warden’s fight club fighter so Joaquin doesn’t have to be. He somehow is a great boxer, though we haven’t explored this part of his character before (though I guess it explains his body type more than American football does?), and manages to win enough to get the warden’s “approval.”
Veronica opens her speakeasy despite attempted intervention by her father via the Goolies and the sheriff attempting to extort or frame her via Jingle Jangle stash. Josie is her headliner, and Hiram shows up opening night to give Veronica the portrait that hung above his study desk. Veronica gathered evidence of a Jingle Jangle lab to use as leverage against Hiram, but it looks like he’s packed up shop since.
Jughead and Betty dig deeper into the dual mysteries of the Farm and the Gryphons and Gargoyles game by sidling up to Ethel and Evelyn. Jughead ends up almost being complicit in Ethel’s attempted suicide (drinking the mystery blue drink with her), and Betty finds out that Alice told the Farm about that dude Chic killed in the kitchen last season. She also knows about the G&G game, but refuses to tell Betty more. Alice and FP tear the Jones trailer apart to find the game manual Jughead got from Ethel and burn it, but it’s too late — Ethel has made copies for every teen at Riverdale High, apparently at the behest of the Gargoyle King.
After winning a fight, Archie receives a bottle of Lodge Rum from the warden, which makes him realize he’s been set up by Hiram. In his ensuing rage, he discovers that his newly inherited copy of The Count of Monte Cristo contains a small rock hammer. Reinvigorated by this find, Archie approaches the other fighters to concoct an escape plan.
Okay, but what comic references did you freak out about?
I will never, ever, EVER get over FP’s Jellybean tattoo, which of course references his daughter we haven’t met yet.
So, whenever they reference literally anything on this show, I assume it’s something deeper, so of course I tried to figure out if dialing 642 to get into Veronica’s speakeasy meant anything. I can only assume it references the number of poisonous snakes in the world according to a dubious source (Wikipedia pegs that number at ~600), as Archie #642 was the second issue of the Glee crossover, which isn’t super applicable here. I guess some things in this show aren’t a reference after all!
I have questions.
I appreciate that Betty and Jughead want a private place to get frisky, but why would they choose Dilton’s bunker? Especially after Ethel is able to get in and light approximately 10,000 candles prior to showing Jughead the game?
Speaking of Ethel, does she have a creepy crush on Jughead now that she made him kiss her?
How come neither Veronica nor Reggie mentioned his gratuitous shirtlessness in the speakeasy setup scene? That’s a missed opportunity for banter and potential conflict for V, is all I’m saying.
Is it legal for someone in juvie to be in solitary and unable to contact their legal guardian for weeks on end?
What was Alice and FP’s involvement with G&G when they were younger, and why won’t they tell the kids?
OMFG THIS SHOW.
SERPETTES. Cheryl and Toni are queens of my heart, forever and ever, amen.
LOVE YOU STRONGER. Overlaying the Jingle Jangle song by The Archies on the drug den espionage scene was inspired. Also, can we marvel at the return of the sneak thief chic look?
FRANKLIN KNOWS. I mourn the loss of the Pussycats as a group but revel in Josie’s phenomenal lounge singer situation.
