Riverdale does Carrie: The Musical in ‘A Night to Remember’

It was only a matter of time before Riverdale did a musical episode and the show knocks it out of the park.

“A Night to Remember” feels like a great reminder about why so many people fell in love with the first season of Riverdale. It’s a perfect combination of camp, fun, and horror to inspire confidence heading into the end of the season.

Carrie: The Musical is a cult Broadway favorite and a perfect fit for Riverdale to adapt. However, the big question heading into tonight was how well the cast would handle singing.

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Many shows have done musical episodes that have failed due to the songs and the actors. Thankfully, “A Night to Remember” manages to showcase how incredibly talented this cast is vocally and some creative choreography.

“A Night to Remember” is structured around the musical with almost every in the cast participating. Kevin is the director of the show, Betty is playing good-girl Sue Snell, Veronica is mean-girl Chris, Archie is Sue’s boyfriend Tommy, and Cheryl is tackling the titular role.

Joining them are the newly reformed Chuck Clayton, Josie, Midge, Moose, and Toni while Jughead is filming a behind-the-scenes video of the production. While everyone is supposed to be working together, all of the friendships are in a poor place at the beginning of the episode.

Luckily, the power of music manages to reunite some of the feuding friends. A love ballad Archie and Betty are meant to share ends up being a way for the latter to reconcile with Veronica.

Meanwhile, Josie finally manages to forgive Cheryl for her incredibly creepy behavior earlier this season. Even Jughead is able to bury the hatchet with Archie despite the red-head truly crossing over to the dark side this season.

However, “A Night to Remember” has more than just broken friendships and music to deal with. The Black Hood is leaving threatening notes in Kevin’s locker because he wants Carrie recast.

Naturally, Betty and Jughead are on the case and quickly try to discover the real culprit but Kevin still needs to cast someone new for Cheryl’s safety. She’s not afraid to play with fire though, unfortunately, her mother comes in and douses her hopes of continuing the play.

While the mother-daughter Blossom duo’s relationship was plummeting, the Coopers finally reunited. Alice’s solo song has her begging Betty to stay rather than Carrie, and the latter realized how distant her family had become. She hugs her mother and tells Jughead that she plans to do something to help Alice cope with the loss of her family.

Typically, Betty manages to orchestrate a tentative reconciliation between her parents and poor FP sees his chances with his high school love fading once again.

The best character turnaround in “A Night to Remember” is Archie who realizes how far down the rabbit hole he’s gone with the Lodges. When Hiram attempts to turn him against Fred, Archie takes a stand.

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He hands back the keys to the Firebird and makes it clear his loyalty will always lie with his own father. In a touching moment, Archie ends up buying a beaten up jalopy for the two to fix up and things begin to look up in Riverdale.

That is until the end of “A Night to Remember,” when the Black Hood resurfaces. It’s been clear for a while that Archie and Betty caught the wrong guy but Midge’s murder is still shocking. In fact, it’s surprising a warning didn’t air before the episode to warn viewers of the gruesome death.

For Archie Comics fans, it’s a bit sad to see Riverdale let go of such an iconic character especially when Midge has been a bright spot in her few appearances. Unfortunately, a former Black Hood victim has to be killed to get his point across and Midge is the only expendable option compared to the others.

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It looks like Riverdale is going to wind down the remainder of the season with the kids trying to track down the Black Hood. However, Chic reappears in tonight’s episode and it makes one wonder what the show’s endgame is with him. With the Black Hood back, there’s a huge target on Betty’s back and it will be interesting to see if her brother knows more than he’s letting on.