TV Review: Riverdale (Season 3, Episode 2)
Share This Article:

Image credit: Dean Buscher // 2018 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
Despite the previous episode ending with Betty having a seizure, that is fairly glossed over at the start of the episode, with Betty having completely bounced back and only a brief mention of her hospitalization.
Her mother and sister deny all of the weird stuff Betty saw before her seizure, claiming that they were simply having a campfire cookout with their "Farm" friends.
Whilst I'm sure that the event was somewhat exaggerated by Betty's Adderall medication, I highly doubt that the Coopers were doing anything as innocent as a simple campfire. We'll have to wait and see whether that is the case or not.
Jughead and Betty are back to what they do best this week, solving crime. Ironically, despite Archie's storyline being the less outlandish one this week, it was Jughead and Betty's subplot that felt more grounded and true to the show. I have clearly been watching this show too long when the weird supernatural-esque plotline feels more normal but there we go!
Anyway, we don't get much in the way of answers this week, but what starts as a teenage roleplaying game seemingly gone wrong turns into a much bigger mystery as we learn that the parents of Riverdale have something to do with the current Gargoyle King mystery.
I have to admit, the Gargoyle King itself was a bit of a letdown, as it was definitely not scary at all (its basically a pile of twigs) but the mystery certainly seems to have a lot more legs in it, which is great.
Archie's jail storyline is far less entertaining, but it seems as if the writers have got the message that no one really cares about him as he is demoted to the B-story this week. As expected, Archie does not do well in jail, in his first few days alone, he manages to make enemies of both the Serpents and Ghoulies, lose his fancy sneakers (there is no way that an actual prison lets you keep your fancy shoes, but there we go with Riverdale logic again) and get beaten up. Archie reaches peak white privilege, when he suggests in a rather cringy motivational speech that football will solve all their problems. However, in all fairness, it does give us the hilarious moment of the River Vixens performing jail house rock and all the guys slathering over them so I might be able to at least slightly forgive him.- Article continues below...
- More stories you may like...
- TV Review: Years and Years
- Too Old To Die Young review - Nicolas Winding Refn's cynical, gorgeous critique of modern America
- Deborah Frances-White's guilt-free feminism