RIVERDALE Review 3.20 “Prom Night”
This post contains spoilers for Riverdale.
Check out our last review here.
The number of serial killers running around Riverdale just doubled, not that anyone’s counting. There was a void to be filled now that the jingle jangle racket has shipped itself out of town. The Black Hood couldn’t just let that need go unanswered, now could he? Strangely, “Prom Night” features very little prom. But it does start laying the ground work as we get ever closer to the finale.
As mentioned, Hal Cooper is out of prison. At least that’s what the writers want us to believe for the time being. If it is him, kudos to them for not leaving that thread hanging for an unnecessary amount of time. If not, we’ll just have another mystery on our hands while the quest to unmask the Gargoyle King continues. But cutting off his own hand to fake his own death and then trying to off his daughter is pretty on brand for ol’ Hal.
With all the kids flocking to their ranks, The Farm is stronger than ever. That’s not really a good thing, but it will help serve Betty’s purposes as this new Black Hood story starts to unfold. Her mistake has put her exactly where Edgar wanted her: on The Farm with her family. I was annoyed by Betty turning to Edgar for help initially, but the more I think about it, the more I find it to be a solid character decision. The team needed a way to illustrate just how deep her fear of her father is, and they found it. The Griffin Queen might face the Gargoyle King unflinchingly, but she ain’t about that murder-dad life.
Farm-adjacent is would-be Prom Queen Cheryl Blossom. It seems that running for such an office is against Farm policy, and Edgar’s not afraid to threaten to take away JJ to get their bombshell back on track. She quickly concedes, not willing to give up the chance to see her brother, but Edgar’s challenge is the first thing to really shake Cheryl’s devotion to his cult since joining. Never change, you shallow, perfect little thing, you!
What’s Archie doing during all of this? Uh… going on a diet? Week after week they come up with a fun new way to illustrate this well-meaning doofus off in his own world. Betty and Jughead are trying to take down the seemingly mythological creature that’s been haunting their town for months while Archie Andrews is taking away boxing opportunities from fighters who both deserve it and need it more than him. Sorry, Mad Dog. I hope you get your due someday.
Veronica’s story finds itself woven back together with the Red Paladin as she decides to sponsor both Archie and his gym. After he was shot, Ronnie decided to let bygones be bygones with daddy dearest, even going so far as to leave her beloved beau. Finding out that he gave her a fake deed to Pop’s turned that loyalty on its head once again. Looks like all the jerk dads in Riverdale are losing their daughters’ loyalties right and left.
Speaking of dads, it looks like we’ve finally found out what Riverdale’s decided to do with Fred Andrews after the loss of Luke Perry (at least for the time being). Fred’s off taking care of something non-descript for the rest of the season, while Molly Ringwald’s Mary returns to take care of her son in his absence. This will likely be all we get this season, while the teams behind the show decide what to do with his character (and Archie) during the off-season. RIP, man. We miss you.
We continue to work on the mystery of Riverdale’s two serial killer’s next week. Shout out in the comments below with your favorite theories!
