Riverdale, I missed you last week but I was on a deadline.  We now know that Hiram is, once again, a big bad.  He wants to close down the town we know so he can put a swanky housing development in that will make the taxes higher and his (er — I mean) the county’s coffers more wealthy.  To do this, we know that he must shut Riverdale down, get rid of the scum — the present residents — and make it just a ghost of what it had been.  He just forgot about Archie and company.  It also looks like his daughter is in on the scheme to make him fail.  I thought Hiram was supposed to be in the Caymans? And will we learn what happened to the girl from the truck pick up during the episode two weeks ago?  Oh well, on with the show.

High School Anyone

Let’s get logistics down first.  Jughead and Archie are sharing a house, Betty’s with her mom and the twins, Veronica at her family’s apartment, and Toni, Sweet Pea and Kevin are in an apartment.  The school has reopened much to Hiram’s disgust.  As Hiram tells Reggie that could be problematic as people feel ties to the high school.  Reggie figures there’s nothing to it, but we know there will be.  Wait for it!  So who are the teachers? Ronnie is teaching business, Archie — ROTC, Betty — auto-mechanics, Jughead — English and each have a set of students who just don’t care. At the end of the day, Archie and Betty meet to discuss the day and instead have a hot steamy car date at the school.  Well, their date didn’t last long as two students from the opposing high school Bulldogs try to set fire to Riverdale High (at Reggie’s urging, of course).  By the way, I’m going on record now and say that Reggie is a bigger creep than Hiram.  Hiram is, as least, somewhat out in the open with his dirty tricks.  Reggie relies on others.

The next day, Archie meets with Weatherbee and Toni to report what is happening.  They all figure out that the Bull Dogs were responsible for the fire but Mr. Kline says nothing can be done because Hiram owns the DA (so what else is new).  As the day progresses, and Archie finds out that Reggie is coaching the Bull Dogs (convenient right), he arranges to set up a team.  He recruits the players, including a girl named Britta, only to learn there is no money.  The athletic money has gone to Toni to arrange a cheer team called – what else – the Vixens with a goal of winning cheer competititions.  When Archie approaches Cheryl for $20,000 and mentions Jason, Cheryl tells him to get out and cries.  Well at least we know Cheryl still has emotions. 

Oh, and I did not mention that there is a spy in Riverdale High.  The principal’s secretary is giving information to both Cheryl and Hiram.  Hiram will use anyone to close the school  Archie has approached Veronica for money and she’s given it to him for the football team.  Of course, the principal’s secretary calls Hiram and Reggie is with him when the call comes in.  Looks like Reggie doesn’t teach, only coaches.  He plans to send a message to Archie through a visit.  More on that at the end.

And Cheryl and Her Money

Evidently, Cheryl’s plan didn’t go well.  Remember, she’s turning the Blossom home into another Winchester mansion. Cheryl does have an interesting hobby though with her painting.  She has decided to sale the portrait of Jason. Meeting with an art dealer, Cheryl and Nana learn that the picture is worth a quarter of a million dollars.  Cheryl says she will let the dealer sell the portrait but she wants to keep it one more night.  She’s goinig to finish the forgery and send that to the dealer to be sold.  Cheryl is a very good forager.

Meanwhile the snitch has called Cheryl and told her that Toni is setting up a cheer squad.  Toni walks into her office to find Cheryl behind her desk, issuing threats.  I can see Cheryl back cheering (as we see in previews).  If Cheryl gets in this mix, daddy Hiram and evil Reggie will not really stand a chance.

Jughead and His Writer’s Block

Jughead is teaching and working at Pop’s.  His students find out and has a jar of tips on his desk which he takes as funny.  He no longer has writer’s block but is working on a book about Riverdale.  Tabitha, Pop’s granddaughter, offers to help and gives him a name of an old man living near the swamp.  The man has a story to tell and Jughead goes to get it. 

Jughead spends time with the man and learns about a mysterious ship (can we say oh no) from the past.  It seems they were doing work and one man disappeared.  They couldn’t find him but when he returns, he talks about a ship and that Raven will be taken.  Sure enough, Raven disappears and returns two nights later missing an arm.  No one knows where they have gone but the man hands Jughead a book.  Jughead wonders why he never heard about it before but the man tells him that articles were written.  Later, Tabitha asks about the meeting and Jughead tells her everything.  He has also gone hunting for the men who worked with his source.  They all died of cancer.  Jughead says maybe from radioactive material like a spaceship.  Tabitha doesn’t believe it and I don’t think Jughead does either but he ways it makes a good story.  Some how I think it will tie in with another mystery coming.

Ronnie Needs Some Space

Let’s just say that Chad gives me the creeps.  He follows Ronnie to Riverdale and shows up during her class with the typical gift of candy and a gift.  She tells him she is teaching and he goes sits in the back to the classroom.  Later they go to Whyte Wurm to party having survived two days of teaching and Veronica is asked to sing.  Chad, of course, has to join her for the duet.  Archie doesn’t look happy but what should he care.  He and Betty are getting it on! 

Later at the apartment, Chad tries to convince Ronnie to leave.  This will be the theme of their time together.  Archie approaches Ronnie for a loan for the football equipment and she agrees.  Chad sticks his nose in and says with interest.  Then he decides that Archie can renovate the apartment for them.  Ronnie has a talk with Chad who lets it slip he has been talking to Hiram and offered a job selling real estate (and wait for it) in Pembroke.  If you have seen any of the Cheryl story in the comics, you know Pembroke was her stomping grounds.  She tells him that she needs some space. She has found that Riverdale is where she needs to be and Chad lays the blame on Archie.  He agrees to return to New York and later at the school, the snitch tells Hiram that Ronnie is downstairs with the football team.  Hiram tells Reggie that his money is sponsoring Archie’s team and Reggie plans a visit to Archie to get the message across.  Yep, Reggie is slim.

Betty and Kevin and the Mystery of Polly

Betty teams up with Kevin to find out where Polly is.  They have her email and finds out she met a man at the truck stop.  Kevin and Betty set a trap and she is waiting instead of Polly.  Arresting the poor guy, she takes him to jail only to learn that he did pick up Polly but she freaked out and left the truck.  He gives her information on the highway and Betty and Alice start searching.  They find her purse and identification but no phone.  With Alice driving Betty crazy, she goes to Archie and they have another fling with the next morning the information on Polly coming in.  Hmm! Wonder if Polly found her way back to Storybooke and is living there as Robin? (Oncer’s joke there folks.)

Betty has had Sheriff Kline and the FBI try and track the phone.  The GPO results say that she was in the marsh/swamp.  Betty, Kevin and Polly go looking and  find a hand protruding out of the mud.  This will be part of the ongoing mystery and another serial killer (I figure).  Could Jughead’s mysterious ship be tied to the things happening in the swamp.  Of course they can!

So where does that leave us as the show ends?  Would you believe Archie’s house on fire and no way out!  Let’s be honest.  We all know that he and Jughead escape.  We also all know that Reggie the slimy fire bug was behind it but how long will it be before Reggie’s delight with fire backfires?

Next week:  A body is found in the swamp.  Newspaper headlines reports the Mothman.  (If you don’t know the reference, Google Richard Gere, West Virginia and The Mothman Prophecy.)  Another fire breaks out (at the gym I supposed) and Cheryl comes back to cheering.

And not confirmed: As I prepared to write this, Twitter was abuzzed with a rumor that after the 13th episode, Riverdale will take it’s usual break. This season supposedly will end around July 13th.