Post — Aaron Ngo

Major Spoilers are included in this episode review. Please read with caution.

Full disclosure: I stopped watching Riverdale at the beginning of season two.

I have only written reviews if certain episodes catch my interest like the musical episode or the one where Cheryl decided to become the Red Arrow. This fun episode is joining my short list of exceptional episodes because this is the type of entertainment I’ve been waiting for.

The Big Bad of Season Three, based on what I gathered from the “previously on…” recap, is using G&G (parodied of D&D) to commit murder. All of the kids in Riverdale are addicted to playing the game, even the jocks are having a nerdy time in the locker rooms. I was enjoying the dumbness of the situation, and how the adults were ruining everything by banning it.

That’s the present day situation. After the game “gets out of control” (?), actually not sure, Betty asks her mother Alice about the past—why do the adults hate the game and why is it getting people killed?

Turns out, G&G was the game that bonded all of the adults (Hermione, FP, Fred, Penelope, and Sierra) together as teenagers. This is where we enter ‘flashback mode’ for the majority of the episode. Instead of casting actors to play the teenagers though, they decide to have the main cast actors play the teenage versions of their parents.

That’s right… Archie is Fred, Veronica is Hermione, Cheryl is Penelope, Jughead is FP, and Josie is Sierra. Kevin is also Tom… I was kind of liking the teenage pairings too. The flashback really fleshes out the parents in a surprising way and establishes how they became who they were at the start of the series.

I had no idea Penelope Blossom was chosen from a group of red-head orphans… so she could get adopted into the Blossom Family and become Clifford’s future wife. The Blossom Family is too close to incest-levels and reminded me of the whole Frankenstein situation with Victor and Elizabeth. Ewwwwwwwww…. Such a Riverdale move.

After a Breakfast Club-like detention scenario, these kids start to get obsessed over the game and play it religiously every Saturday night, dubbing themselves The Midnight Club. Then one night, they take pop rocks (drugs) and start getting too high for their good during the LARP.

I personally geeked out at the music video they put together and the crown on top of FP’s head, referencing how the Comic-Version Jughead wears a crown.

Principal Featherhead (wow what a name) ends up dead after their latest game, dying the same way as the current victims with blue lips. This incident destroys the group and drives them to make the life-changing decisions:

Fred Andrews loses his father and decides to give up music, going into construction.
Hermione dates Hiram and gets lost in his corruption.
FP gives up trying to fit in with the Northside and joins the Serpents.
Penelope gives into her fate and becomes Clifford’s sister/lover/wife/ew person
Alice, pregnant with FP’s baby, hooks up with Hal Cooper to make him believe that the baby is his own.
Sierra and Tom break up… the saddest one of all. They worked. Alas, it was not meant to be.

I hope the board game is haunted by the Gargoyle King, which means I theorize he is indeed a supernatural being. The show is connected to Sabrina now, so magic is not out of the cards. I had a lot of fun watching this, but I know this will not last… it is Riverdale after all.

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