Riverdale: Chapter Seventeen: The Town That Dreaded Sundown
November 2, 2017 10:04 PM - Season 2, Episode 4 - Subscribe

Mayor McCoy calls an emergency town hall meeting to deal with the growing chaos in Riverdale; Betty finds herself at the center of a deepening mystery; tensions between the North and Southside come to a head and leads to an unexpected showdown.

Riverdale Recap: Everyone Has Lost Their Damn Minds -- That escalated quickly. (Elle)
Let's just start by saying this episode was so crazy, it didn't need Cheryl Blossom. Good for you, Cheryl! You deserved a break from burning down houses, creeping around hospitals, and stalking Kevin Keller. Now sit back, relax, and watch as everyone else loses their goddamn minds—starting with our gun-toting, red-haired vigilante, Archie Andrews.
Den of Geek recap and comic comparison -- In which Betty is befriended by the Black Hood, Archie loses his damn ginger mind, and Civil War breaks out in Riverdale
At the end of tonight's exhilarating episode, Jughead grimly states that "Riverdale would no longer be the town with pep, from now on it would be the town that dreaded sundown." It's a completely melodramatic moment, one that beautifully illustrates how, early in its second season, the series is unafraid to double down on its inherent ridiculous. It would be far easier for Riverdale to play its world of pixie stick-drug addicts, anarchronistic gangs, and nonsensical musical performances with a nod and a wink. But the fact that every thing is played so earnestly makes it work so much better than if the angst-angst-angsty lines were delivered with the actors' tongues firmly in their cheeks.
And as a reminder, here's Betty's speech (YouTube; transcript)
I'd like to thank Mayor McCoy for inviting me to speak on this historic day. Seventy-five years of Riverdale But what is Riverdale? It's the people, right? You, me, our friends, our neighbors. Riverdale is Archie Andrews. Kevin Keller is Riverdale.
Veronica Lodge, she's Riverdale.

But you know who else is Riverdale? FP Jones, who we were so quick to blame for Jason's murder. Jughead Jones is Riverdale, the very soul of Riverdale. Without him, we may not have ever found out what happened to Jason. And yet how do we thank him? By banishing him. Which is what we do when the truth gets too ugly in Riverdale. Truth being that Clifford Blossom was also Riverdale.

Riverdale's at a crossroads. If we don't face the reality of who and what we are, if we keep lying to ourselves and keeping secrets from each other, then what happened to Jason could happen again. Or, God forbid, something even worse.

Riverdale must do better.

We must do better.
posted by filthy light thief (6 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
"Betty's ponytail is iconic and beyond reproach." Gotta say it.

Dark Archie and gang rumbles continue to crack me up.

Anyone else think Betty's dad is a likely suspect for the Hood? Who the hell else would know about her Nancy Drew obsession beyond a relative?
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:26 AM on November 3, 2017 [3 favorites]


Fun fact: the Nancy Drew Secret-Code Activity Book is real! (Amazon link, no current sellers, but there's a copy on AbeBooks for $25 + $4 shipping, and I am so tempted to get it -- I imagine that there were more copies last week :)) Confirmed via screencap in Harper's Bazaar episode review.

Her dad is a good guess, but are his eyes the right color of vivid green? In this Bustle investigation into Hal Cooper notes he has "similar blue-green eyes."
posted by filthy light thief at 11:22 AM on November 3, 2017


I dunno, but green eyes are pretty hard to peg on some people.
Also, colored contacts do exist as a disguise.
posted by jenfullmoon at 4:44 PM on November 3, 2017 [1 favorite]


In case anyone is not aware, the episode title comes from a 1970s horror/true crime film of the same name about the Texarkana "Phantom Killer" who is referenced in Jughead's library tour of famous murderers. It's not a great movie, but if you like weird regional horror from that period it's worth a look.

There was also a "remake"/sequel/meta-something-or-other released in 2014 that was written by Riverdale executive producer/Archie Comics writer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and produced by Ryan Murphy. It's surprisingly good, but it really requires a viewing of the original film to get the most out of it.
posted by tomorrowromance at 12:50 PM on November 6, 2017 [1 favorite]


There was also a "remake"/sequel/meta-something-or-other released in 2014

Someone on the Amazon Reviews calls it a "REquel." ha. The original can be purchased or rented via Amazon, but the 2014 version is included with Amazon Prime. For free, I might check it out.
posted by terilou at 5:27 PM on November 13, 2017


Just getting to this episode now, probably put off because I hate serial killer plots. I was suspicious of the librarian, who thought it was terrible about the vigilant video, but apparently not about the serial killer. Also, she totally knows what Betty used to check out.
posted by Margalo Epps at 8:31 PM on November 18, 2017


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