Everyone’s been waiting on edge to have all their lingering questions answered after that Riverdale mid-season finale, which aired on December 12, and guess what? The wait is almost over! The season will pick up on January 16, so it’s only a matter of hours before Archie, Betty, Jughead, Veronica, and the whole crew to come back into our lives. Still, it’s been over a month since we’ve seen them last, so there’s a good chance you might need a little refresher as to where exactly the season left off. Don’t worry, we’ve got it covered.
Where are Archie and Jughead?
In the last episode we saw, Archie and Jughead arrive at the rusty junkyard in Toledo, where we meet Jughead’s mom, Gladys Jones, and his sister Jellybean, who prefers to be called JB. Unfortunately (but not surprisingly), things don’t go too smoothly over there, especially when the pig roast at the junkyard gets crashed by none other than — wait for it — Penny Peabody. When Penny arrives, she holds a knife to Archie’s neck, which, thanks to JB’s quick thinking and steady hand, gets knocked out of Penny’s hand by a slingshot.
But wait, there’s more. Before Gladys harms (and probably kills, considering the amount of bloodshed) Penny, we learn that Hiram has a bounty on Archie and anyone who helps him. Knowing that, Archie realizes he must continue on his own and insists that Jughead returns home. In other words, Jughead reluctantly has to return to Riverdale, while Archie has no choice but to flee and leave everyone he loves behind. He dyes his hair black, shares an emotional and heartfelt goodbye with Fred, and takes off toward the Canadian border with his dog, Vegas.
What was the deal with all of those seizures?
One of the most memorable parts of the mid-season finale was when Hiram Lodge bestowed mass seizures upon the people of Riverdale. That’s right! Members of the community would randomly start convulsing on the floor, but when it was the River Vixens turn, the whole squad except for Cheryl had a seizure. Hmm…
What’s going on with Choni?
If you’ve seen the mid-season trailer for the rest of the season, you know that things really heat up between Cheryl and Toni. Well, don’t forget why! Once the River Vixens suffered their seizures and became known as “The Fallen,” Toni agreed to move in with Cheryl. Essentially, we can all rest knowing that, while Riverdale might be in absolute shambles, Choni is still as strong as it ever was.
What exactly did Veronica uncover about Hiram?
As we all know, Veronica has long been a huge skeptic of her father and his criminal activity. That said, she pretty much discovered he was worse than she’d ever even imagined in the mid-season finale. It all started when she learned about fizzle rocks from Reggie. He told her all about Hiram’s connection to the drug, who deals them, and where they come from, which — SHOCKER — is the prison Hiram insisted on building in Southside High’s place.
Of course, Veronica was quick to call Hiram out, and she even busted through the doors of her father’s board meeting with Cheryl in tow to do it. At the time, the two belted out what sounded like wild and unbelievable accusations to those in attendance, but of course, they were right. They were right about everything.
Did Hiram come clean about his evil plans to Veronica?
Yes. After the board meeting, Hiram admitted to Veronica his involvement with fizzle rocks, and he also came clean about his intentions to make Riverdale his Kingdom. Just when you think he get any more terrible, he truly outdoes himself.
What’s going on with Betty?
All things considering, Betty seemed to have been doing okay — or at least comparatively. Sure, she’s at the Sisters of Quiet Mercy, but hey, it’s better than being in Ethel’s shoes. Wait, what?
After a group therapy session, where Betty proudly said that she’s the Gargoyle King’s favorite, Ethel goes kinda nuts. When she tried to do some digging in the Gargoyle King’s chamber, Betty closed the door behind her and locked her in there for hours. However, when she returned several hours later once drugs wore off, she realized the chamber only had a statue of a gargoyle, and not an actual one. Gasp!
Of course, this meant that the nuns had been using fizzle rocks to manipulate its patients all along, so Betty and Ethel wasted no time getting more answers. They tied up Sister Woodhouse in the chamber and were able to get some sort of explanation from Nun Ratched, which was that the room was intended to scare misbehaving kids, and that the frightening legends about the room developed naturally over time, so they sort of just went with it.
What happened to the other inmates of Sisters of Quiet Mercy?
Once Betty and Ethel uncovered that everyone at Sisters of Quiet Mercy were being manipulated, they brainwashed the other inmates to escape. Betty dressed up as the “Griffin Queen” and smashed the Gargoyle King’s stone head to the ground. Inevitably, this riled up the inmates and, suddenly, everyone was running free.
What is the current status of the town of Riverdale?
At the end of the episode, we learn that Hiram Lodge succeeded, and that Riverdale was now under his control entirely. The entirety of Riverdale was surrounded by police and the whole town was made into an “official quarantine site.” Yikes!
Clearly, Riverdale‘s in quite a jam right now, and we’re so relieved that a new episode is about to air so we can finally see how this all plays out. After all, Hiram Lodge can’t maintain control like this forever, right? We’d be willing to bet Betty, Veronica, Jughead and Archie wouldn’t let that happen, so TBH, we can’t wait to see how they’re going to get themselves out of this one.
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