Riverdale season 5, episode 7 review: Varchie to the rescue

Riverdale season 5 returned from its one-week hiatus with a new installment, but was “Chapter Eighty-Three: Fire In The Sky” worth the wait?

Was Riverdale‘s one-week break The CW’s way of preparing us for the oncoming extended hiatus or was it just one of the typical stopgaps we get in-between every TV season? Who knows, but the fact that it felt much longer than a week is a real indicator as to how strong the show has been this season.

Now this writer had been feeling this way since the time-jump got itself off the ground but never had he been so fully aware of it until there wasn’t another installment to indulge in last week. Yes, it seems that Riverdale is no longer “so bad it’s good”… it actually might be really, really good.

That’s all very philosophical considering we haven’t even talked about this week’s episode yet but it does pose the question: Could the returning episode continue that momentum? Let’s see what happened in “Chapter Eighty-Three: Fire In The Sky”.

What happened in Riverdale season 5, episode 7?

Riverdale‘s return episode very much carried over the plot threads from previous episodes as it was all about getting to the bottom of what was happening in the modern day iteration of the town. But it wouldn’t be Riverdale if that didn’t mean harking back to the olden days as more mysteries that were long-thought buried began to unearth themselves for the Riverdale residents.

Betty, Alice and Kevin continued to investigate Polly’s disappearance after they found a body in the swamp. Though it wasn’t Betty’s sister, a second body of a woman who had gone missing during the seven-year time-jump revealed that the swamp Hiram Lodge considered his property was hiding secrets that Betty Cooper was going to uncover.

Elsewhere, Archie and Veronica hammered home their attempts to save Riverdale. The former did so by launching a new fire department of volunteers while the latter invested her own “Riverdollars” into the town so that she could rebuild the economy. As for Jughead? Well, he attempted to get to the bottom of another mystery – the Mothman one – and got answers that not even he could decipher.

Investing in the future

The real stars of “Fire In The Sky” were undoubtedly Archie Andrews and Veronica Lodge. The pair were determined to prevent Hiram Lodge’s planned takeover – or, uh, take-under? – of Riverdale and teamed up to stop him. But they didn’t do it together per se, no they did it individually – allowing the writers to showcase what each character does best.

Veronica’s plan to produce her own Riverdollars which could revive Riverdale’s dying economy was an excellent use of her Wall Street knowledge as the life she lived in those seven years served a real purpose to the narrative, justifying her return to the town she once called home. And Camila Mendes sold it so well, performing every monologue, scene and strut with the sheer determination that only a real life version of Veronica Lodge herself could.

It was Archie’s narrative, however, that made up the emotional heart of this one as his desire to follow in his grandfather’s footsteps by restarting Riverdale’s Fire Department was such an Archie Andrews thing to do. And not the caricature version that has filled the roles of henchman, second-in-command and boxer over the years simply because the narrative required him to. No, this was the homeboy Archie who loved Riverdale so much and was willing to do what it took to carry on his father’s legacy.

Moreover, the return of his friend from the army, Corporal Eric Jackson, laced this installment with an emotional undercurrent as Eric’s battle to find a place for himself outside of the army forced Archie to address the fact that he was doing the same. And thanks to two powerful performances from KJ Apa and Sommer Carbuccia, it was the episode’s greatest scene.

Close encounters of the Riverdale kind

It wouldn’t be Riverdale if Jughead Jones wasn’t off solving a mystery that pushes the bounds of believability way past what they should be but the Mothman one may be taking even that a little too far. The show might exist in the same world as Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (or so we think) but every reference to the occult or supernatural in Riverdale has always been debunked by a logical (well, a Riverdale logical) explanation. Remember the Gargoyle King?

And yet it feels as if the writers are taking us down the supernatural path again with this Mothman storyline. Whether or not they’ll pull out remains to be seen but it is worth noting that Riverdale has felt genuinely grounded as of late – and that’s shockingly a good thing – so maybe aliens (or whatever the Mothman creatures are supposed to be) isn’t what the show needs right now. Then again, why not?

Jughead is, without question, the right candidate for the storyline and he works very well with Tabitha, so your writer is willing to take the supernaturally-charged bait and reserve judgment until we see where this one goes. In other words: I’m hooked.

Riverdale Ramblings

• Veronica and Archie have been reinvigorated, both as characters and as a duo. This friendship thing they’ve got going on right now really works for them. Of course, these two do belong together and it’s pretty clear that they will reunite in the future, but for now, it’s nice seeing a different dynamic between the two.
• Betty’s arch-nemesis, the Trash Bag Killer, has returned. But could he be involved in the mystery of the missing girls in Riverdale?
• Cheryl Blossom’s return to action with a dance-off against one of the new River Vixens was so undeniably Cheryl Blossom.
• The dynamic between Cheryl and Toni continues to be intriguing. Toni is clearly not happy with how her ex-girlfriend is attempting to stage a coup and her confrontation with her reflected that.
• Jughead and Tabitha do make a great team.
• Dr. Curdle Jr. being as creepy as ever, I see.
• I do still have problems with the dialogue from time-to-time. A lot of the conversations in this episode were full of exposition and even though most of it was necessary because Veronica and Hiram’s knowledge of the Riverdollars situation, some of it was not.
• BEST LINE OF THE EPISODE: “Story of my life.” – Kevin Keller in response to Archie’s request for “a few good men”.

What did you think of Riverdale season 5, episode 7? Let us know in the comments below!