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Riverdale Recap: “The Town That Dreaded Sundown”

By Kelly Shanaphy

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Riverdale turned heads this week with another fantastic episode that takes the show to a whole new level.

“The Town That Dreaded Sundown,” is not only beautifully shot but is one of the best episodes of the series. Showcasing the rising tensions between the North and South Side due to the serial killer running about, it seems like “the town with pep” has completely fallen apart.

After the events from last week, Kevin decides to reach out and forgive Betty knowing that she was only trying to help. It’s a bit convenient but “The Town That Dreaded Sundown,” needs her to have a new partner since Jughead hasn’t been returning her phone calls. Turns out the Black Hood has sent her a message to the Blue and Gold offices that includes a cypher along with an ominous message about how her speech inspired him.

The two agree to pass it along the to the police while keeping the letter a secret and Betty has a plan to get it to Sheriff Keller without raising suspicion. Donning some smeared mascara and a few tears, she runs to her mother knowing that’s all it will take for Alice to take action. Speaking of Alice, Madchen Amick is amazing in this episode.

Her speech in the beginning of the episode about her heart stopping whenever Polly or Betty don’t answer the phone is the one of the most emotionally honest things a character on the show has said.

With the cypher published in The Register, everyone gets to work trying to crack the code. Jughead decides to team up with Toni, even though he knows it’s a move that might upset Betty. The blonde detective takes the news in stride and suggest that they all work together (Kevin included) to get to the bottom of cypher.

“The Town That Dreaded Sundown” has only one big misstep and that’s the way Toni is written. She lashes out at Betty for suggesting the killer could be from the South Side, and accuses her of hating the Serpents. All of this seems a little weird considering Betty risked her life last season writing an article defending the gang and becoming one of their biggest defenders in the North.

Considering Toni is such a landmark character in the comics, it would be nice to see her get more to do than be the obvious obstacle in the Betty/Jughead romance for drama. Nevertheless, her outburst forces the two lovebirds to start communicating after Betty accidentally leaves the Black Hood’s letter at Jughead’s house. He confronts her and she finally reveals that she’s afraid Archie will blame her for everything. Jughead comforts her, and with the two finally on the same wave length, they break the code and manage to save everyone in city hall.

Anarchy is beginning to rise in the city and all of Riverdale‘s parents have convened for a town meeting. Alice is capitalizing on the insanity to start a crusade against the South Side, starting with closing down their school. She’s met with firm resistance by Fred while Hermione and Hiram revel in the chaos.

Mayo McCoy is desperately trying to keep the peace but it all goes up in flames when Betty comes flying in. Her and Jughead tell everyone they need to leave because the next attack takes place “where it all began” at the town hall. Turns out, the Black Hood never actually showed up which begs the question is her speech where it all began?

Later in the episode Jughead says in his narration that “the place where it all began” is Sweetwater River, which means an attack could have happened just not where Betty thought it would.

While Betty is dealing with a serial killing stalker, Archie has completely spiraled down a dark hole. “The Town That Dreaded Sundown,” makes it clear that the red-headed hero is no longer acting noble but instead chasing a death wish. Even after he’s kicked off the football team and had the rest of his teammates suspended as well, Archie still decides to keep up his crusade.

With the help of Dilton, he gets a new supply of vigilante merchandise and heads over to the South Side to graffiti it with his red circle nonsense. Through it all, Veronica blindly supports him without realizing the full extent of his breakdown. Yet viewers can see, that Archie is willing to pull a gun out on a bunch of Serpent kids then it’s only a matter of time before he shoots an innocent bystander.

Luckily Veronica finally cracks when she realizes that her boyfriend is hiding a gun in the boy’s locker room at school and claims she’s tossed it in the river.

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It’s a good thing she took away his weapon of choice because a bunch of Serpents show up on the Andrews’ doorstep. They want retribution for Archie waving a gun in their face, and the Bulldogs are more than willing to give it to him. In one of the most beautiful shots of the series, “The Town That Dreaded Sundown,” has an all out brawl between the North Side Bulldogs with the South Side Serpents.

It gets broken up by a gun-toting Veronica, but Dilton still gets a knife to the leg for their troubles. Thankfully, the ginger hero has learned from this experience and ends up tossing the gun with his girlfriend by his side. Meanwhile, Dilton is more than happy to blame his injury on the Serpents due to a “random attack” with Reggie gleefully driving him to the hospital. Considering behind-the-scenes photos seem to have confirmed the Riverdale/South Side High school merger is happening, and these two groups are definitely going to need some group therapy before they get along.

Riverdale has shed its naivety and an all out war is brewing. “The Town That Dreaded Sundown” makes it clear that the Black Hood is only the start of this town’s fall. Hopefully, everyone stops fighting in favor of protecting Betty, who receives a phone call from the killer at the end of the episode.

Next: Riverdale Recap: “Chapter Sixteen: The Watcher In The Woods”

Next week’s promo makes it clear that the Black Hood has an unhealthy obsession with the young detective and is planning to isolate her from the people she loves. He started off killing sinners to get her attention, but now that he has it, the Black Hood looks like he’ll be targeting her friends. With the recent casting announcement for Tiera Skovbye, Polly’s head might be the next on the chopping block.

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