Riverdale season 4, episode 4 review: Halloween

Riverdale reaches new levels of absurdity in its first-ever Halloween episode, which finds Nana Rose spilling some spooky tea and [SPOILER] dead?!

While 99 percent of Riverdale episodes could be categorized as Halloween-themed in one way or another, we’ve never seen an actual Halloween episode until now. So did it live up the hype?

Well, it wasn’t the most interesting or entertaining episode Riverdale has ever done, but it did set up larger arcs for the season — some that may be promising… and one that will prove absolutely devastating, if that flash-forward was not a fake-out.

Here’s a look at what went down in the fourth episode of Riverdale‘s fourth season: “Halloween.”

Does Jughead really die in the future?!

Jughead’s discomfort at Stonewall Prep reaches an all-time high when his writing group buddies drug him and trap him in a coffin. Miraculously, he doesn’t die of oxygen depravation overnight and is rescued by Mr. Chipping, who basically writes it off as some run-of-the-mill hazing.

It seems more like his other students are psychopaths, though, especially since Jughead returns to his room to find Moose and his stuff gone. He suspects the others may have trapped him so that they could force Moose to leave the school without interference.

But maybe that actually makes Moose the lucky one. At the very end of the episode, we flash-forward to find FP and Betty standing over a dead body in a coroner’s office, waiting to identify it. When the coroner pulls the sheet down to reveal the person’s face, the person appears to be Jughead!

Riverdale has teased Jug’s death before only to reveal it as a fake-out. But could it be the real deal this time? What we know is that Jughead does go missing in the future, and someone who looks a heck of a lot like him ends up dead.

Charles is a creep

Betty has some really bad luck when it comes to family. Her dad was a serial killer who tried to kill her. Her mom seemingly lost her mind, except it turns out she was working undercover the whole time… so all is forgiven? Her sister is still very much under Edgar’s spell. And her fake brother was her real brother’s murderer… except her real brother is alive, so who did Chic kill? Or is Charles not the real Charles, either?

Well, DNA aside, Charles is definitely not who he seems. After Betty gets repeat calls from someone claiming to be the Black Hood, Charles shows up unannounced and offers to trace the next call that comes in. He traces it to Shady Grove and suggests it must be Polly.

Charles then calls the facility, tells the receptionist he’s Edgar and hands the phone to Betty. Polly picks up immediately and eagerly for “Edgar,” proving that therapy is not going very well but doesn’t admit to impersonating their dad.

Granted, Polly doesn’t really get a chance to do so because Betty hangs up almost immediately. But the end of the episode suggests that Polly may not have had anything to do with it. Charles is shown tapping Betty’s phone and listening in on her call with Jughead. And earlier, Charles recommends that Betty join the FBI’s Junior Training Program, explaining that they could work together on cases. So he’s definitely up to something.

The question is: if he was responsible for the Black Hood prank calls, then who did the talking when he was inside the house sitting right next to Betty. Does he have a partner?

My Brothers’ Keeper

Speaking of creepy brothers, Toni finally convinces Cheryl to bury Jason’s dead body in the backyard instead of keeping him in their house like a doll. But Cheryl isn’t actually ready to let go so after they bury him, she tries to convince Toni that his spirit is haunting them via an actual doll, which she digs out of the garbage every time Toni throws it out.

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Cheryl has been a problematic girlfriend before, like when she got all salty about Toni having other friends, but this elaborate gaslighting proves she’s reached a new low. Toni may have deserved better before, but she really deserves better now.

To Cheryl’s credit, she admits to it eventually, but only after she’s gotten what she wanted (a freshly dug-up Jason back inside the house) and only because she needs Toni’s help figuring out what’s going on when the doll mysteriously returns to their house without her help.

Nana Rose insists it’s the spirit of her other brother…  Julian. According to her, Cheryl and Jason had a triplet, but Cheryl “absorbed” him in the womb. And Penelope was so distressed that she ended up raising this doll as her third child, Julian.

Riverdale has put Cheryl through a lot, but this whole storyline is just so absurd that it feels like it’s bordering on character assassination, which is an unfortunate move considering Cheryl has been a fan-favorite for a long time and Choni has been a very popular ship.

Riverdale Randomness

• Veronica names drops Katy Keene as a friend from New York who’s into fashion design. She makes (Archie Comics-inspired) superhero Halloween costumes for Archie and Monroe, aka Mad Dog.
• Pretty much everyone in town has now gotten a videotape with hours of surveillance footage of their house on it.
• Falice is now officially together again.
• Veronica kills a serial killer, who comes into Pop’s to kill her but not before getting a meal, because apparently that’s his signature: getting unwitting victims to cook for him before he kills them.
• Principal Honey continues to be a creep.