Well, with our group united, Riverdale, where do we go now.  We have the known villain, Percival Pickens, who is the devil (or legion).  We have a version of Superman who can’t be easily killed (Archie).  Betty and Jughead’s powers are vision and telepathy.  Cheryl can start fires (and must live in a cold temperature (below freezing).  Tabitha can travel through time to Pop Tate’s past and future  (the home of good).  And somehow Lady Llorna will play a part.  Poor Veronica and Reggie have no power yet (or do they). Veronica seems immune to the mind control but is that a power.  And just how strong is Percival’s mind control.  Well, that is still to be determined.

Tonight, a very strange fog descends.  I’m calling it strange because in fiction, when weather like this happens, the world becomes a strange and evil place.  Let’s face it!  Percival makes it a strange world anyway and he has the help of the cult-crazed Alice at his beck and call.  It seems memes of the “fog coming” has been making the rounds.  Could this plot show signs of John Carpenter’s 1980 movie, “The Fog.”  I didn’t see it but there is a pattern (as also found in “Storm of the Century”).  Well, we’ll have further knowledge at the end of the hour.  I do know it’s not relying on Carl Sandberg “Fog” which talks of it coming on ‘cat’s feet.”

The Dangers of Fog

We open with a discussion of “the fog” that is coming.  Archie and the gang are discussing taking over the council but surprise, surprise, Alice is listening in.  I think that is breaking and entering Alice.  What does she do?  She runs and tells Percival so he can use it to his advantage.  While the gang want to stop tye apocalypse, Alice and Percival wants it to happen.  And the gang think Kevin hasn’t fully bought into the council’s plan.  Yeah right!  When has there been a cult Kevin doesn’t join.  To stop the council’s dismissal, Alice and the present council puts the town on a curfew.  The fog will be just like one that happened in 1922.   All are to go home and stay there with their loved ones and pets (see, I knew “Something Evil This Way Comes”) due to the possibilities of power outages.  Okay, we have had heavy fogs where I live and I don’t recall power outages.  From ice and heavy snow, yes, but not fog.  If so my local village would be without power in the fall due to fog caused by its proximity to a large lake!

Unfinished Business:  Archie and Betty

Archie and Betty are in their respected home but Betty’s doorbell rings.   Betty has been told that she got a message about the “Trash Can Killer,” so Betty is scared.  She sees someone lurking around and locks the door sneaking out the back to go to Archie.  Archie starts out to see who it is but Betty stops him.  A little romance goes on and Betty tells Archie that she’s “late.”  Her period is two weeks late and we all know what that means. 

Archie and Betty spend the night with Betty relating her capture by the Trash Can Killer.  She was his prisoner for two weeks. She didn’t dramatically escape but was given a choice.  She could do what he wished (proving herself as his equal) or die.  She must mutilate a body.  The killer puts on classical music an she does it.  Trash Can Killer told Betty it proved that they were alike and they needed each other in the world.  Was it the Trash Can Killer hiding in the neighborhood?  The FBI did have a tip on him.  Better yet!  Have we a clue to the Trash Can Killer.  More on this at the end of the article

The good news from this is that Archie and Betty sealed their romance.  He will always be there for her (and whoever else comes from their union).  No matter how bleak the future is, Betty and Riverdale are Archie’s home (even though sometimes he wants to leave).

Unfinished Business Ronnie and Reggie

Ronnie is worried because of a lack of business.  Reggie informs her of the curfew s,o she sends the workers home.  Later, Reggie enters the main room with a box of alcoholic beverages.  Ronnie suggests he stays due to the fog.  They decide to play strip poker with Ronnie winning. She suggest the prize be a kiss when Reggie has nothing left to give her as a bet.  They end up in bed and this makes them realize that they are similar.  As they discuss getting back together, Ronnie notes they are both bad like their parents. 

Reggie seems ready to get back together but has a stipulation.  Ronnie must get rid of Hiram’s portrait.  Reggie wants to do it immediately, but Ronnie thinks it can wait.  Reggie realizes that this is just like the Archie/Reggie triangle.  Ronnie says that it’s not.  Archie chose Riverdale over her and Reggie tells her he won’t be a consolation prize (second best).  He realizes that the two of them are just like their parents.  Ronnie is Hiram while he is just like his mother who always left his dad for business. He leaves. 

Good news:  Ronnie asks for packing material.  That portrait of Hiram is gone.  Does that mean Hiram will be gone for good?  (I don’t believe he’s dead folks.  They’ll bring him back if he wants to return.)

Unfinished Business:  Toni, Fangs and Kevin

Toni meanwhile wants a meeting with Kevin over the baby Anthony custody issue.  Kevin stands by his decision that Toni’s lifestyle isn’t safe for the baby (and yours is Kevin?).  Toni brings up all his dangerous liaisons and indiscretions.  They agree to meet later. 

Kevin is preparing to leave for the meeting when Moose arrives at Riverdale High (wonder how long he will stay?).  Moose wants to reminisce about their past.  Kevin tells him that he has a meeting to attend but Moose tells him the fog is bad.  Moose and Kevin talk, and Kevin is confronted by some of the stupid things he did in the past (like the Gargoyle King).  Sometime during this, Kevin falls asleep and dreams he is going down the hall (in a bright red light) to the bathroom.  There, he is bathed in the same red light but is awaken from the dream by Moose. 

The next morning, Kevin seems to want to be more intent on honest talks with Toni and Fangs.  Fangs had gotten mad the night before when Kevin didn’t show up and isn’t in the mood to talk.  Fangs tells Kevin that he doesn’t like Kevin’s lifestyle and tells him off (basically he will do anything to protect Toni and the baby).

Unfinished Business:  Cheryl and Penelope

Cheryl gets a visit from her “mommy dearest,” Penelope who is joining a convent.  Cheryl can’t believe that a brothel owner would be admitted but Penelope swears that she’s just putting things to right (does Penelope remember all her evil?).  Well, Cheryl does and reminds her.  Penelope has something she needs to give Cheryl and all she wants in return is a warm bath and a meal.  Why do I think that bath is going to be warmer than expected?

Later, Cheryl calls mom to dinner only to find Penelope with the doll that contains Abigail’s spirit.  Luckily it’s still in the case and the candle is burning.  I first thought she killed Penelope, but Cheryl only knocked her out.  Penelope awakes to find herself in a chair at the dinner table and her temperature rising.  Cheryl takes great pleasure in letting Penelope know that Cheryl now is a pyrokinetic.  Cheryl thinks Percival sent her but Penelope swears that’s not the case.  She has some old letters from Heather (Cheryl’s former lover) that she hid from Cheryl.  Cheryl takes them, reads them, and has a good cry.  What comes of this?  Well, we have to wait for next week (or so it appears).  Oh, and the reason Penelope treated Cheryl so mean as a child was because she sensed that Cheryl could be evil and was trying to rid her of the evil.

Unfinished Business: Jughead and Tabitha

Jughead and Tabitha are together when Alice announces the curfew.  He uses his mind reading on her which upsets her.  They decide to stay at Pop’s.  When the lights go out, Jughead decides to go to the car and get some gas to start the generator.  There’s something else out there but we never see it.  messes with the ham radio that is in the back room and hears sputters that she can’t understand.  WIth Jughead being gone a long time, she gets the gun only for Jughead to return. 

Tabitha decides to answer a question Jughead has asked earlier in the episode.  He had wondered if she could go back in time and stop the bomb from going off.  She had lied to him telling him that the bomb was a fixed spot in the time stream (and would affect history).  Now, she tells him the real story.  She has gone back in time (384 times).  Each time the same result happens.  His death is the fixed spot in the timeline.  Jughead is Percival’s biggest problem.  He can hear what Percival thinks and the evil suggestions.  When she talked about losing Pop, she really was thinking of Jughead.   Jughead tells her that he’s faced death before and survived.  There’s always hope.

The Aftermath of the Fog

By morning, the fog is gone but a new problem has arisen.  When all the town was sheltering in place, Alice held a city council meeting (sans Tabitha) and proclaimed Percival as mayor (against town’s rules if I remember correctly).  Jughead, Tabitha, Archie and Betty realize that the problem has changed.  Now the evil is the leader (dictator) of the town. 

Next week.

It looks like more old ghosts come back and the question is how much Percival had to do with it.  And Jughead has a shot gun behind him with a deputy holding it.  Could this be the end of Jughead?  Of course not!    Also, someone plays the cello while looking crazy (was it Betty?).  Riverdale gets weird again.

And, I now have a guess of the Trash Can Killer.  Could it possibly be Moose and his father before him.  All of this seems to be possible.