Liam Hoofe reviews the seventh episode of Riverdale season 2…
Riverdale is one crazy show. By this point, fans of the show are more than acclimated to the show’s weird and wonderful storylines, and its over the top characters. This week’s episode, however, gave us something different entirely – a new narrative technique that allowed the show’s writer to have plenty of fun with the ongoing Black Hood mystery.
The episode opened with ominous title cards, telling us that the stories we were about to see were three twisted and macabre tales associated with The Black Hood murders. The show didn’t have the usual Jughead narration, instead, the episode was split into three individual stories, all of which were slightly interlinked in the end. So, with an episode that was effectively three episodes in one, let’s take a look at each individual story from ‘Tales from the Darkside’.
Jughead and Archie
The first of the episode’s three tales focused on Archie and Jughead. ‘The Snake Charmer’ who you may remember from earlier in the season, decided it was time to call in the favour Jughead owed to her. After tricking him into thinking that his father had been assaulted in prison, she had Jug drive over to the Greendale to deliver a crate for her.
Of course, things didn’t go to plan, and Jughead and Archie’s car broke down on the way across, and Jug was forced to hop into a car with a mysterious traveller (none other than the actual Candyman, Tony Todd) to continue his quest. The Candyman (he was never named in the episode, so this seems apt) told Jughead about the ‘Riverdale Reaper’, a killer not unlike The Black Hood, who reaped vengeance on Riverdale for their sins. He then proceeded to leave Jughead in a cafe, before Archie arrived to save the day. Well done, Archie.
Upon completing the task, Jughead discovered that ‘The Snake Charmer’ had lied to him, and that his dad was perfectly fine. She had also video recorded Archie and Jug delivering the crate, as to ensure Jug would continue to work for her.
Of the three segments, this one was by far the strongest. The show flirted with the supernatural here, and the addition of The Candyman to the episode really added to the tone of the story. Greendale is becoming an increasingly mysterious presence in the show, and it will be interesting to see whether we get to spend more time there as the season progresses.
This episode felt an awful lot like a Halloween special, and the presence of The Candyman and the talk of the Riverdale Reaper only added to that. Will we ever hear of the Riverdale Reaper again? The Candyman made him out to be a sort of Pennywise like figure, one who returns to the town at intervals to punish it. To be honest, I doubt there is much in this, I still maintain that Betty’s brother is going to be unveiled as the killer in the coming weeks.
Josie
The second story in the episode was one which had some interesting implications. The story focused on Josie, of Josie and the Pussycats fame, being harassed by a mystery stalker. The show did a fun job of playing guess who with the audience by first bringing in the school sleaze Chuck as her potential stalker and then revealing that he had turned over a new leaf. Then it flirted with the idea of the school janitor being her wannabe lover, only to debunk that theory as well. Then, naturally, it turned its attention to The Black Hood and kind of left us hanging with that one.
Until, in the episode’s final scene, it revealed that Cheryl is actually the one who has been following Josie. While this was never clarified, it was heavily implied when we saw Cheryl drawing a picture of the pair that resembled the pictures that Josie’s stalker had been leaving for her.
Cheryl’s return to the dark side should make for some entertaining viewing, and the dream sequence was definitely one of the episode’s stand-out moments, but Josie as a character just isn’t as interesting as the rest of the cast. Hopefully, her relationship with Cheryl can solve that problem over the remainder of the season.
Betty and Veronica
The final of the episode’s three stories saw Betty and Veronica go full Daphne and Velma in their quest to discover The Black Hood’s identity. This week, Betty had a new theory – that Sheriff Keller is The Black Hood. While it seems pretty stupid, it did kind of make sense because The Sugar Man was murdered while still in prison.
The duo set out snooping around the sheriff’s house, and Betty even managed to find a Black Hood mask hidden in one of his drawers. As it turned out, though, that was just the one he took from Archie, and he had records to prove where he was when each murder was committed. It did turn out, though, that he is having an affair with the town’s mayor, though, I’m sure that’s not going to prove all that relevant in the grand scheme of things.
This story was fun but it effectively just worked as a way to debunk one of the key fan theories. Betty and Veronica’s detective work is always as enjoyable as it is ridiculous and their always good characters to spend some time with.
The episode then ended with all three characters from the three stories sat in Pop’s when all of a sudden, The Black Hood rings the diner and gets Pop to inform them all that the reckoning is upon them. Cue Archie’s dramatic expression before the end credits roll.
‘Tales from the Darkside’ was a fun little episode of Riverdale, one that broke the usual narrative structure and gave us three enjoyable short stories, each of which gives us some sort of indication as to where the show is heading in the coming weeks. Is The Black Hood a returning reaper? Is Jughead now stuck with The Snake Charmer? Has Cheryl gone full crazy with Josie? These are all new questions that the episode gave us, and with the mid-season finale taking place next week (the show returns mid-January) it looks as though there is still plenty left to think about in the coming months. Importantly, though, I don’t think too much of this episode was meant to be taken seriously, the episode felt like a special, a one-shot with a few links to the main story. As I said at the start, Riverdale is one crazy show, and this episode was a fine example of that.
What did you think of ‘Tales from the Darkside?’ Let us know in the comments below, and let Liam know on Twitter @liamhoofe
