Riverdale season 3, episode 19 review: Fear the Reaper

As Riverdale careens toward its third season finale, Farm secrets are exposed, the Joneses go on a quest and Archie reckons with the fallout from his match.

With Jellybean’s life on the line, the Joneses embark on the family game night from hell. Can they make it through unscathed? Meanwhile, when Randy dies after fighting Archie, Elio sets up Archie to take the fall. But Veronica vows to clear his name.

Plus, Betty’s investigation into The Farm confirms a long-held fan theory, but an unexpected betrayal leads her into ambush. Elsewhere, Josie reunites with her dad and makes a decision about her future. Here’s a look at what went down in “Fear the Reaper.”

Long Day’s Journey into Night

Kurtz promises to reveal JB’s location, but only if Jughead, FP and Gladys play a round of G&G… and win. Knowing how obsessed Kurtz is with the game, Jug figures that Kurtz will indeed honor the rules of the game if they win and stay true to his word.

But they have to win first, and they’re not off to a promising start when Gladys reluctantly reveals that she is the Fizzle Rock kingpin and that Kurtz is her former employee. FP is understandably furious, and his night goes from bad to worse when he gets shot by Pop Tate while the three of them are robbing Pop’s (an unfortunate errand for the quest).

Next up: it’s Gladys versus “The Cyclopes,” aka Penny Peabody, in a knife fight. Yes, it turns out Gladys didn’t kill Penny. She took the slightly less brutal path and carved her eye out instead. This time, she stabs Penny in the leg after disarming her. But Gladys also sustains injuries of her own, so Jug is forced to go solo after dropping her off at the hospital.

Unfortunately, his assumption about Kurtz’ intentions proves to be false. After letting Jughead talk on the phone to JB, who reveals she’s back at their house with Ricky, Kurtz gives Ricky the order to give kill JB and locks Jug in a freezer in the woods.

Jug manages to bust out rather quickly, and he finds Kurtz lying on the ground dead with the Gargoyle King lurking nearby. So it seems the King does have a code and didn’t take too kindly to Kurtz using the game to suit his own ends.

When Jug returns home, he finds JB unharmed, but the same can’t be said for the Jones family. Despite his anger, Jug admits to Gladys that he wants her to stay and “face the music” for once instead of running away. However, Gladys decides it’s “better for everyone” if she leaves and gives FP time to cool off. At Jughead’s suggestion, though, she tells JB to stay behind, so JB can start to make a life for herself in Riverdale.

“The Riverdale Reaper”

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Archie just can’t seem to catch a break. Despite trying so hard to turn his life around after being falsely accused of murder, Archie now finds himself facing a harsh reality: Randy wouldn’t have died if Archie had forfeited the match. In Luke Perry’s poignant final Riverdale scene, Fred comes to Archie’s defense and tries to assure his son that he is not a killer.

Archie’s guilt doesn’t fade, but he does find a way to make amends with help from Veronica. Despite Elio slandering him in the press (first as being a drug user and then as being Randy’s dealer) and trying to bribe him with his winnings from the match, Archie actually manages to turn the tables on Elio.

After declining the money, Archie later takes it from Elio by force in order to donate it (along with money raised at a La Bonne Nuit benefit concert) to Randy’s older sister since Elio refused to give her anything from Randy’s life insurance policy. Despite publicly blaming Archie for her brother’s death initially, she thanks Archie for his generosity and admits that Randy had a drug problems for years.

Despite swearing it off after the match, Archie decides not to give up on boxing, thanks to some encouragement from Veronica.

The Evernevers Exposed

As many fans have long suspected, Evelyn isn’t Edgar’s daughter. She’s his wife, and she’s actually 26 years old. As Betty’s sleuthing reveals, Evelyn has been transferring from high school to high school for more than a decade to recruit kids for The Farm.

Betty’s more immediate concern, though, is rescuing Polly’s twins. Toni reveals that Edgar is planning to adopt them after marrying Alice. At Hal’s suggestion, Betty turns to Penelope, who manages to negotiate the release of one twin. Unwilling to leave them separated, Betty breaks in with Toni’s help, but the kidnapping goes sidewise when Toni reveals her true colors: she’s joined The Farm…for real.

She leads Betty into an ambush, and Betty tries to use the truth to set herself and everyone else free. The move backfires, though, because they all know about Edgar and Evelyn’s relationship, even Alice. Edgar tries one last sales pitch on Betty, and she almost seems to consider it for a moment before taking off.  Edgar order his minions to capture her, but she makes it to her car in time and drives away.

Josie’s Swan Song

In perhaps the smartest move of any character on Riverdale (but mostly because she’s starring in Riverdale‘s pending spin-off), Josie decides to get the hell out of dodge and jump starting her music career by joining her dad’s tour. While he is initially hesitant to accept her offer and almost bails on her concert at La Bonne Nuit (apparently in an act of tough love), he comes around in the end.

Though Archie admits he was going to ask Josie to prom, he take the news in stride and appears to be quite happy for Josie, who bluntly admits what they both knew: They’re cute, but they’re “not endgame.”

Most importantly, shoutout to Ashleigh Murray for giving us one final cover: an awesome rendition of Amy Winehouse’s “Back to Black.”

Riverdale Randomness

• It seems pretty clear that Varchie is going to reunite in next week’s “Prom Night,” but how exactly will it happen?
• Did Hal really die in that prison transport accident?
• How is Hiram planning to take down Archie this time?
• Is Gladys gone for good?
• So Archie knew it was Mad Dog calling him after looking at his phone…but if someone calls you from a payphone, there’s no Caller ID.