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Riverdale season 2, episode 9 review: Chapter 22

By Rob Wolkenbrod

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On Wednesday night, Riverdale closed the first half of season 2. What went down before the winter break?

Unfortunately, all shows must hit their respective midseason end in December. This already happened for the Arrowverse, with Riverdale one of the last programs to hit its midseason mark. It didn’t disappoint, however.

Like the other CW shows, it was Christmas time in Riverdale. Archie and Fred Andrews sold trees for extra money, there was a Secret Santa Party and a missile toe appeared. “Chapter 22: Silent Night, Deadly Night” contained this and a deadly reveal.

For the first time since leaving the hospital, Fred received a storyline. His presence was larger in season 1, but that’s hardly been the case in season 2. The hospital hit the eldest Andrews with an $86,000 bill from his near-death experience (the Black Hood shot him in the season 1 finale). This put the Andrews’s in a crunch, until Archie told Veronica Lodge, who explained it to her parents and used their credit card to pay off the debt. Hermione and Hiram weren’t exactly displeased, which was strange since their daughter just spent $86,000 in one shot. However, the Lodge’s are ridiculously rich, so that doesn’t matter.

What does matter is Mr. and Mrs. Lodge’s willingness to let Veronica in on their business dealings. Ronnie wanted to learn more, as when she used the credit card, she discovered her parents bought Pop’s Diner. We didn’t receive an on-camera look at the Lodge’s secrets, which should come into play in 2018.

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Meanwhile, Jughead and FP’s relationship continued to fracture. So, with Penny Peabody controlling FP and making him her drug runner, Jughead decided to take matters into his own hands, by rounding up younger Serpents. They captured Penny and brought her to Greendale. There, Jughead brought out his darkest side yet, cutting the Serpent tattoo from her arm and forcing her out of the group. A bold move that probably bites Jughead in the behind, like FP said.

All right, Black Hood time. Betty had her latest nightmare of the killer. This time, Polly woke her up on Christmas morning, only to see the Hood in a Santa costume. It was the latest connection to this masked murderer, and something that got tied up in the episode’s final minutes.

Betty and Archie set out to discover more information on Joseph Conway/Svenson, the janitor and man who was connected to the Riverdale Reaper’s killing decades earlier. They go to the Sisters of Quiet Mercy for more information, only to learn Joseph may have accused the wrong man of killing his family.

Another questioning happened at the Blossom’s, as Nana Rose was apparently part of the group that killed the accused man. She didn’t take part but revealed the accused man was buried alive, as well as Betty’s grandfather’s involvement.

In the midst of this, Svenson was “sick” and not at school. Suspicious, right?

Well, after looking through pictures, Archie and Betty went to the Devil’s Hand, the location of the accused man’s burial. Svenson looked at the photo in the previous episode of Riverdale. Upon arrival, they find a grave with an empty casket that’s dedicated to Svenson, who they assumed was captured by the Hood (he sent a severed finger to Betty that alluded to this).

Moments later, the Hood appeared and pointed a gun at Betty’s head. He demanded Betty to bury Archie and did so, until finding a moment to hit the Hood in the head and chase him down. At a standoff, the cops arrived and Sheriff Keller shot the masked murderer, killing him.

https://twitter.com/CW_Riverdale/status/941123428777541632

Keller removed the hood, revealing it to be Svenson, missing finger and all. He was the man behind the terror.

To close the episode, Betty burned Hood-related evidence, until she got up to the actual black hood itself. Instead of burning it, she kept it and the episode ended.

  • Did you catch someone taking pictures of Archie and Veronica in the final moments? Suspicious and creepy, which makes me think it’s Betty. Her investigative personality fits this potential profile, along with the budding Barchie (?) romance.
  • Why would Betty keep the hood? They discovered the man who terrorized the town and he was put down. Unless this previously teased connection goes deeper than we think.
  • That, and because the Hood’s reveal didn’t feel completely satisfying. Questions still remain, which probably explains the return of Betty’s dark connection to the deceased man.
  • Glad to see the Lodge’s story will take off (or should) in the second half of season 2. It was teased in the first few episodes, but they sat back over the past month.
  • Penny will be back, and I suspect she kills FP before season 2 ends.
  • The 2018 promo for Riverdale revealed that Southside High School will shut down and merge with Riverdale High School. So, expect all hell to break loose.

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Riverdale returns on Wednesday, Jan. 17 at 8:00 p.m. ET on The CW.

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