*Warning: Spoilers ahead*
It’s been three weeks since Riverdale teased the potential return of Jason Blossom (Trevor Stines)…then took a hiatus. And now, The CW series is back with an all-new episode that proves The Farm is getting weirder by the minute.
Here’s what went down in Chapter Fifty-Three of Riverdale, titled “Jawbreaker.”
The episode begins right where we left off in Chapter Fifty-Two, with Sheriff FP (Skeet Ulrich) stumbling upon Baby Teeth’s (Connor Paton) body. He immediately turns to Jughead (Cole Sprouse), saying, “I need your help, son. Please.”
After examining the corpse, Jughead notes that it has similarities to previous homicides. Blue lips? Check. Bizarre back markings? Check. Missing teeth? Check.
The Gargoyle King is back, and he’s coming with a vengeance.
When the medical examiner conducts an autopsy, he finds a matchbook lodged in Baby Teeth’s throat. “Whoever did this isn’t even human,” he says.
To no surprise, the matchbook traces back to Penelope’s (Nathalie Boltt) brothel. While discussing the case, they’re interrupted by the sound of glass shattering in the other room. When FP follows the noise, he finds a man foaming at the mouth and holding a knife.
FP takes him out and brings him to the station, where he learns the man ingested a bad batch of Fizzle Rocks. Go figure.
As it turns out, the drugs made their way to the school, too. Jughead walks down the hallway only to find a female student banging her head against the lockers à la Bird Box. When he calls his dad, FP confirms she’s one of many cases.
Their investigation eventually leads them to Kurtz (Jonathan Whitesell), who is charged with illegally dealing Fizzle Rocks.
At The Farm, Betty (Lili Reinhart) is interrogating Edgar (Chad Michael Murray), who dives into some lame story about why he started the cult in the first place. But Betty doesn’t care. All she wants to talk about is how he allegedly brought her brother, Chic (Hart Denton), back to life.
“Do you have someone dress up like Charles?” she asks, only to receive a chuckle from Edgar.
At school, Cheryl’s (Madelaine Petsch) obsession with The Farm is at an all-time high. When Toni (Vanessa Morgan) pulls Betty aside, she demands to know what’s really happening behind closed doors.
Betty explains that Cheryl believes she’s seeing Jason, despite the fact that everyone knows he’s dead. Although Betty tries to give Cheryl a reality check by showing her the video where Clifford (Barclay Hope) kills Jason, she’s still in denial.
Later on, Betty visits her dad, Hal (Lochlyn Munro), in jail. He explains that Alice (Mädchen Amick) asked him for a divorce, which prompts Betty to confront her mom, demanding to know if she’s engaged to Edgar.
“Edgar and I have a deep understanding of one another,” Alice says.
When she refuses to hear Betty’s side, Betty smothers her mom with a rag and brings her to the bunker. “This is your life. Look at it. And remember who you are,” Betty says, leaving her with a stack of photo albums.
Betty returns a few hours later, only to find Alice burning all the photos.
After threatening Evelyn (Zoé De Grand Maison) for absolutely nothing, Betty sits down to listen to her mom’s interview tapes from The Farm. In a surprising turn of events, Alice reveals that her family life hasn’t been the same since Chic died because she’s afraid of what Betty might to do her.
“I think she wants to hurt me,” she says. “She’s her father’s daughter. She has the same darkness in her that I saw in him.”
Dark Betty is baaaccckkk.
When Betty returns to the bunker, she says, “We’re going somewhere.” After a short drive, she takes off Alice’s blindfold and hands her over to…Evelyn.
At Archie’s (KJ Apa) new gym, Mad Dog (Eli Goree) reveals that he’s competing in an upcoming boxing tournament, called “The Gilded Gloves.” Archie wants in. So, he turns to Veronica (Camila Mendes), who immediately tracks down Elio (Julian Haig)—aka the tourney’s organizer.
In true Veronica fashion, she bursts into the men’s steam room, surprising a near-naked Elio. After giving an elevator speech about why he should partner with her on “The Gilded Gloves,” Elio isn’t having it and demands she leave the steam room.
“Remember, I tried to keep things civil,” Veronica says.
Cut to Alice preparing Archie and Veronica for an on-camera interview at the gym. After Alice introduces him as a “Gilded Glove” candidate, Archie calls out some guy named Randy (Darcy Hinds) and challenges him to a spar.
Prior to the match, Mad Dog pulls Archie aside and says he saw Elio giving a white powder—possibly Fizzle Rocks—to Randy. Since they’re potentially laced with God knows what, Mad Dog tries (and fails) to get Archie to take some, too. But he refuses…
With his dad—Fred (Luke Perry)—in the audience (*tear*), Archie takes the ring. Although it doesn’t look good at first, Archie ends up pulling through with a “W,” knocking Randy to the ground with a precise right hook. The problem? Randy isn’t moving.
Cue the sirens.
The last few minutes of Chapter Fifty-Three revolve around one (literally) small character: Jellybean (Trinity Likins).
At the police station, FP and Jughead are questioning Kurtz, who claims that Baby Teeth was only the warm-up. “One final game for you and your family,” he says.
Suddenly, Jughead realizes where this is heading. Cut to Jellybean befriending Ricky at Pop’s Diner. (You know, the young kid who scammed Archie back in Chapter Forty-Nine.) When he leads her into the woods, he introduces her to—you guessed it—the Gargoyle King.
*Please not Jellybean. Please not Jellybean.* Riverdale returns to The CW next Wednesday, April 24, at 8 p.m.
