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With Archie (KJ Apa) and Jughead (Cole Sprouse) fleeing the town of Riverdale at the end of the last episode, and Betty (Lili Reinhart) dragged off to an evil nunnery, it would be tough to get the whole gang together for a classic Riverdale caper. So instead, the Powers That Be at the show decided to throw back to a Season 2 episode, “Tales From The Darkside,” and this week tell three stories about our favorite mystery-solving teens.
The hour is a big departure for the series — not just in terms of structure, but tone. Written by Janine Salinas Schoenberg and directed by Alex Pillai, “The Man in Black” mostly ditches the horror movie inspiration of last week’s banger in favor of taking its time and digging into the show’s main characters. That means that most of your faves stay off-screen this week in favor of the “Core Four”: Archie, Jughead, Betty and Veronica (Camila Mendes).
Which is a bummer if you’re a fan of any of the other three hundred characters on the show, but given the rest of the season has done a reasonably good job of highlighting everyone as much as possible, they’re allowed to take a break, okay? I’m also personally a big fan of network TV shows shaking up their structure… And while this isn’t a vast reinvention of the formula, it leads to some solid character beats while still making time for huge revelations for the season’s overall mystery.
Okay, enough preamble… Let’s get into some teases for “Chapter Forty-Two: The Man in Black”.
Buy The Farm
As mentioned there are three stories this week, each with their own visual style and story arc. So let’s take them one by one, courtesy of The CW’s promo for the episode. The first finds Archie and Jughead traveling to a farm, but not The Farm, the mysterious cult that Alice (Mädchen Amick) has gotten sucked into this season.
There, they encounter a woman named Laurie Lake (Riley Keough), who takes them in and feeds Archie a frankly ridiculous amount of eggs. There are a lot more mysteries surrounding this particular story, it’s not all eggs and shirtless hay tossing. But there probably is one aspect you’re wondering about…
A Close Shave
Right before Archie left Riverdale, he broke up with Veronica in a heart-wrenching scene that literally made Kleenex go out of business because they sold all of their tissues. I mean, that didn’t happen, but it was super sad. In case you think Archie, who often thinks with his little head instead of the collection of red rocks in his big head, is moving on quickly with Laurie… Well, that’s certainly the implication one could take from the photo, isn’t it?
What I will say is that though the boys are out on the open road, they haven’t forgotten about their girls back home. Jughead’s relationship with Betty and Archie’s break-up with Veronica inform what decisions they make, and why in their section of the episode… Some decisions smarter than others.
Bet The House
The second story features Veronica, and given the above turn of phrase, and the description from The CW, you might be able to intuit what happens in this one. Here it is in case you missed it:
“…after learning that La Bonne Nuit is in trouble, Veronica makes a risky business decision that could cost her everything.”
In particular with this second story, it’s not so much what happens as why it happens. And the why of it is that Veronica is using her breakup with Archie to power some big life decisions… Hermione (Marisol Nichols) and Hiram’s (Mark Consuelos) daughter isn’t one to sit on her hands just because she’s suffered heartache; but in some ways, she’s thinking even less clearly than Archie.
It Suits You
Mostly I wanted to post this picture to highlight Reggie’s (Charles Melton) amazing suit from the episode. But fans have been wondering if Veronica would be getting over her Ginger Stallion by hooking up with one of Riverdale‘s other eligible bachelors. I think I can safely say that Veronica is too consumed with saving her business to make time for romance, with either Reggie or returning guest star Elio (Julian Haig). Though, there is a moment with one of them that… Well, you’ve have to interpret it for yourself.
Meet The King
Yep, that’s right… Elvis finally shows up this episode! Just kidding. The third story features Betty’s adventures at the Sisters of the Quiet Mercy, the evil nunnery/orphanage that has menaced our teens in the past. Of the three stories, this one is easily the most uniquely and tightly structured through Betty’s internal monologue. It’s almost more like a short Twilight Zone episode than Riverdale. I don’t think it’s too much of a surprise to say that though Betty was sent to the Sisters for her own protection, all is not right within its halls. Good thing she has a friend on the inside…
Muggs For The Camera
Guys, if you don’t already ‘ship #Bethel get ready, because when Betty falls in love with returning guest star Ethel Muggs (Shannon Purser), it’s gonna be… Just kidding, they hate each other’s guts. As usual, Purser brings an off-kilter weirdness and danger to her portrayal of Ethel that immediately throws a wrench in Betty’s plans. This story also features the debut of an amazing collage that’s one of the funniest visuals the show has ever delivered, as well as some extremely upsetting moments. Oh, and if you’ve been wondering when that “secret” kiss between Jughead and Ethel might get discussed? Well, the girls do have a lot of downtime…
