Here’s an update on everything that has gone down since Riverdale came back with season 6!
Chapter One Hundred and One: Unbelievable
We return to Riverdale for season six with no parallel universes (or at least none that we know of). Instead, they now have superpowers to add to the never-ending list of things we never see coming. At the beginning of the episode, Archie and Betty tell Alice and Frank about the call that told them about the bomb. Archie claims they ran downstairs and got under the dining table just in time for the bomb to go off while Jughead was in the garage. Frank wonders if Archie is telling the truth because the dining table is completely crushed, and it is pretty obvious that he is lying. They find Bingo before Archie can respond to Frank’s questioning.
We find out that Archie lied because he grabbed Betty and shielded her, and Archie should have been injured for that reason. However, Archie is invincible now. He even tests it by pressing his hands against nails and other objects but never receives a scratch. Betty’s superpower turns out to be an aura detector (very much so reminding me of a Tiktok trend from sometime over the past two years). She can tell whether someone is a threat by the color radiating from them. She first notices it when she’s leaving the hospital after getting checked out. Trevor, an orderly, is glowing red when she passes him in the hall. When a nurse is found dead at the hospital, she realizes what her power is and immediately suspects Trevor. Later, she confronts him with Archie. She reencounters this power when a very drunk Glen (who is glowing red) tries to come onto her. In response, she punches him and sends every man in the unit somewhere else.
Meanwhile, Veronica figures that her father was the man behind everything, so she calls up a hitman, while Cheryl thinks that she is the reason for Archie and Betty’s bad luck with Abigail’s curse, so she tries to reverse it. Unfortunately, with all the working on the curse, something called a soul transfer happens. Cheryl and Abigail’s souls get switched, and Cheryl is now Abigail. Reggie’s father then has a heart attack, and this hits close to home with Veronica. She tries to call off the hit on her father, but it’s so late. Hiram Lodge is dead (supposedly).
Although Betty and Archie both walked away from the explosion with superpowers, Jughead isn’t so lucky. He’s lost a lot of his hearing ability which he initially tries to hide from everyone. However, this doesn’t last long, and Tabitha forces him to get checked out by a doctor.
The episode ends with the Trash Bag Killer making his appearance in Riverdale. When Glen stops to get dinner from Pop’s, the TBK is waiting for him when he gets back in his car, and this is the last time we see Glen alive.
Chapter One Hundred and Two: Death at a Funeral
This episode introduces a new character: Percival Pickens, who claims that he is there to make Riverdale one of the best towns in America.
Jughead is coming to terms with his hearing loss. He’s struggling to write now without music or the sound of his typewriter, so Tabitha tries to help him out. She brings him Daniel, who also experienced deafness in his 20s, and Jughead eventually goes and makes some breakthroughs while drawing a graphic novel. Then, in a not-so-strange-for-Riverdale turn of events, Jughead ends up getting his hearing back, almost magically.
While Jughead may be getting his hearing back, Archie and Betty are experiencing difficulties with their superpowers. Archie falls through the floor of the house and actually ends up bleeding. At the same time, Betty has been getting migraines and has a run-in with the Trash Bag Killer. However, there’s no red aura around him. So either he isn’t a true threat to Betty, her powers are fading, or he’s her weak spot. While having a conversation about this, Archie remembers that he’s been carrying a piece of palladium since one of the construction workers gave it to him. He thinks it may be causing his weakness. So he gives it to Betty since he needs to keep his powers, especially with the Trash Bag Killer around.
Veronica comes clean to Reggie about her father’s death and even says she may tell her mom. When Veronica’s mom comes in, she brings her reality show with her, which makes Veronica slightly uncomfortable. When the camera crews leave the room, Veronica tells her mom the truth, and they have a heart-to-heart. Later at the funeral, Veronica gives the eulogy. She mentions the good and the bad that he did but also talks about how much love she held for him. A little bit after that, Heraldo comes with a video that Hiram made during his last moments. It’s a video of Hiram telling Veronica how she became his treasure and that everything he’s ever done was for her.
Cheryl, or Abigail, sees Toni as a spitting image of her past lover, Thomasina. So Abigail talks with Britta about this, and Abigail is amazed that Cheryl and Toni had dated out in the open. Abigail has a plan to adopt Britta, but Toni says there are a lot of hoops to jump through. Later Abigail finds Toni at her bartending job, and she talks about Thomasina. However, Fangs comes up behind Toni, breaking Abigail’s heart since Fangs’ ancestors had killed Thomasina, so she leaves. When she arrives back at Thornhill, she throws Nana Rose into the dungeon once she calls Toni serpent trash, and it is shown that Cheryl is trapped in a mirror. Abigail smashes it.
In Trash Bag Killer news, Betty receives a foot which leads her to believe that Glen isn’t dead but that the TBK is torturing him. So she makes posters to hang around town, but it turns out the Trash Bag Killer finds her first and brings Glen’s hand with him. He said he wanted to see her after the explosion, and he ended up threatening Archie.
Dennis, one of Archie’s construction workers, gave him another piece of palladium and knocked him out. While this is happening, Betty gets a call saying that the TBK has been spotted. However, it’s just a guy that the TBK is using to send a message to Betty: check the garbage can. She does and finds Glen’s hand. Archie wakes up in the attic of the house tied to a pole and comes very close to death. However, Bingo saves him by attacking the Trash Bag Killer and pushing him out the window. Betty also later finds Glen’s head (so this is the actual last time we see Glen), and she has a plan to lead the TBK out of Riverdale.
Chapter One Hundred and Three: The Town
A very strong opinion gets posted in the Riverdale Choice, calling out Riverdale and basically labeling it as the “Worst Town in America.” It went after a lot of things with a big emphasis on the number of homeless people in Riverdale. Archie is mad at Jughead for printing it and wants to know who wrote it, but Jughead won’t tell. Finally, Alice and Frank decide to hold a town hall on the piece, and the citizens of Riverdale are obviously not happy.
At the town hall is when everyone finds out that Percival “I want to make Riverdale one of the best towns in America” Pickens had written the list. He thinks the homeless should be forced out of the town, while Archie defends Sketch Alley.
After the town hall, Jughead meets with Archie and lets him know that he agrees. He talks about his past and about feeling personal relations with the people of Sketch Alley. He suggests tiny homes for each homeless person, and Archie agrees that this is a good idea. When Archie presents this idea at the next town hall, the costs become the main issue since nobody wants to pay more taxes. Percival takes this opportunity to remind everyone that his solution is free and quick. This leads to Archie meeting with Tabitha and Toni for personal help to underwrite one of the houses, and they agree. Archie, Jughead, Kevin, Frank, and the rest of the construction company start working on the houses in Sketch Alley.
Veronica is helping Riverdale out in her own way by trying to start up a casino with absolutely no shady or risky business. She wants to change the image of the Lodge’s name. However, this will be very expensive for them to do. While in a private gambling room, a customer of theirs has killed themselves. It conveniently happens that Percival Pickens talked to the customer before it happened.
Britta is attempting to get Cheryl back, but Nana Rose says that Cheryl is completely gone. The only way to make contact with Cheryl is for both Britta and Abigail to be in a deep sleep while near each other. Britta could enter Cheryl’s dreamscape that way. She does and ends up dropping a note to Cheryl explaining everything going on. This leads to Cheryl visiting Britta in her dreams.
Kevin tries to introduce himself to Doc, a resident of Sketch Alley, but Doc knocks him out with a hammer. This is quickly reported, and while Kevin is going to recover, the micro homes are taking a blow. With Toni and Tabitha’s help, they manage to finish a house, but it gets vandalized almost immediately afterward. When Jughead goes to talk to Doc in jail, Doc says he has no recollection of attacking Kevin. Instead, he said it felt like a British accent speaking in his head. So, Jughead meets with Percival so he can write a rebuttal piece. When Jughead hears Percival’s thoughts, Percival tells him to stop getting into his mind. When Jughead attempts to tell Archie, Percival shows up and says that Sketch Alley is no longer a problem. He got them all to leave town, and he is now joining the police department as a deputy. To make things worse, he has convinced the council not to work with the Babylonium unless Veronica decides to step back. This leads to Veronica back to the scamming ways.
The episode ends with a shot of a bulletin board of Percival’s that has all of Riverdale’s most memorable citizens and news pinned to it. So, what exactly does he have planned?
Chapter One Hundred and Four: The Serpent Queen’s Gambit
Percival is still up to no good, and he’s currently doing a town-wide census. While doing this, he ends up at Archie’s, but Archie kicks him out. This upsets Frank, who tells Archie that Percival has a lot of good ideas. This census tells Percival that the citizens of Riverdale don’t like the gang war between the Serpents and the Ghoulies, which is presented at the town hall meeting. After the town hall, Betty, Archie, and Jughead discuss Percival, and Jughead talks about how people can believe that mind control is a real thing (and this is Riverdale we’re talking about here. Nothing is off the table). After that, they agree to try and get their friends on their side.
First, they try to get Cheryl, who is still currently Abigail, but she refuses. So they go to Veronica next, who tells them that Percival Pickens doesn’t even exist and explains what happened in the casino. Meanwhile, Percival orchestrates a drive-by shooting at Pop’s, attempting to get Toni removed from the council (he uses the drive-by as his excuse). He succeeds, and he later gets voted to replace her.
Abigail is still on the search for Thomasina, and she has the idea to reincarnate Thomasina’s soul into Toni’s body. Then, they could get rid of Fangs. Abigail was also planning to strike revenge against Betty, Archie, and Jughead with poison. However, Betty saw Abigail’s threatening aura and stopped it from happening. She also tries to throw a Molotov cocktail at Archie, but it’s unsuccessful. Archie figures out what’s going on with Cheryl, and he tells Betty and Jughead. Jughead goes up to Thornhill to see if he can read her mind, but he reads Britta’s thoughts. He goes back to Archie and Betty with the full story on Cheryl. So, Betty decides to go up to Thornhill and pretend that Archie died, which leads to Abigail letting her in the house. When she gets in, she knocks Abigail out. When she wakes up, she is tied up in the woods. Archie, Betty, Jughead, Britta, and Nana Rose burn her while saying a spell. Abigail’s spirit goes into the Julian doll that Nana Rose has been holding, and Cheryl is back.
Kevin has been watching the baby, Anthony, for a little bit and talks about how he doesn’t like that the baby is growing up around gangs. Toni talks about rebranding the Serpents into a political activist group, but their house is raided by the sheriff’s department before they get too much into the conversation. They search for and find illegal weapons, and Fangs are arrested. When Toni visits Fangs, he says that the weapons are his and he was storing them for a battle with the Ghoulies. Back at their house, a social worker, Janet, visits Toni to perform a wellness check. Toni has a déjà vu moment since this happened in Rivervale, and she tells her that she would never harm the baby or let anyone. However, the baby is now missing. It turns out that Twyla Twyst, teaming up with Percival Pickens, has the baby, and she wants one last fight. She wants the Serpents and the Ghoulies to compete for Riverdale and the baby. Toni agrees on the condition that Anthony is safely in Pop’s before the fight.
Tabitha overhears a conversation about a turkey shoot-out with the Serpents, and she calls to warn Toni, but it’s too late. The entire police department shows up, and the Serpents are all arrested. Tabitha pays Toni’s bail, but she’s not allowed to leave until the morning. Thankfully, Anthony is safe, but the Ghoulies got raided during the search for him. Twyla is the only survivor. After Toni is released, Kevin tells her that he’s filing for primary custody of Anthony and that it shouldn’t be hard for him to win. He claims he’s only worried about Anthony, but Percival is shown standing out in the hallway. Of course, it could be nothing, but it’s obviously an intentional choice to have Percival in view at that moment.
Betty gets a call saying that the police did not kill the Ghoulies and that all the wounds were self-inflicted. This leads to Betty, Archie, and Betty being unsure of what to do next. Percival is on the town council with many people’s blood on his hands. What could happen next?
