When Betty, who still hasn't shared the original letter with anyone other than Kevin, swears the answer to the code is at the top of her head, Toni replies, "Maybe if you loosened your ponytail." Which just feels very aggressive, but leads to the best line of the week, from Kevin: "Betty's ponytail is iconic and beyond reproach." When he tells her he's already promised to work on it with Toni, Betty is visibly disappointed, but suggests they all work on it together-plus Kevin!īasically, Toni has no interest in hiding her disdain for Betty Cooper.
When Betty finally tracks him down before school the next day, she too thinks cracking serial killer codes sounds like a perfect date. He later texts Betty, "Sorry for the phone tag-talk tomorrow" and I already hate this. They've agreed to work on the Black Hood's cypher together for the Red and Black. Jughead is ignoring Betty's calls and lightly flirting with Toni Topaz over their shared love of serial killers and true crime (Jughead's crack). This is where Bughead diehards need to buckle their seatbelts, because things are about to get rocky. She's rightfully freaked out, but takes the logical next step and brings the entire package directly to Sheriff Keller.JK, she decides to keep the letter to herself and hands off the cypher to her mother, who prints it in the paper for the whole town to take a stab at deciphering. He was inspired by her speech at the last Town Hall meeting (looks like it's not Hiram, then?) and is basically doing all this in her name, according to this new letter, sent with a cypher for decoding his next target. See, it's not people close to Archie the Black Hood is targeting, but Betty herself. Especially if you consider his newest letter, addressed to Betty Cooper. Oh, and everyone on the north side is pretty much convinced the Black Hood is from the south side, even though that literally makes no sense. Side note: Why does Sweet Pea have so much power over the Serpents? Wouldn't initiation be handled by FP or literally any other adult in the gang? Anyway, Jughead attempts to goad them into taking on the Black Hood instead, but it turns out the southsiders consider the Black Hood a hero for taking out the hypocrites to the north. Meanwhile, over on the wrong side of the tracks, baby Serpent Sweet Pea's got ahold of the video and decided the perfect initiation for a wannabe club member would be to attack our fearless leader.
With T-shirts! (I'd also like to congratulate Veronica on only saying "Daddy" four times this episode.) But once Archie tells her it was her father who put the idea in his head (yes, the same guy who just told her to break up with Archie over the video from last episode), she's TRC (team Red Circle). Now, Archie's planning to go into the Black Hood's "territory," which he's assuming is the south side, where he already has a target on his back. But, as Dilton Doiley-slowly becoming my prime suspect as the mastermind behind the Black Hood-creepily points out, Archie always really wanted to take on his nemesis one-on-one "to the death." After supplying Archie with a gun two episodes ago, Doiley's more than happy to point him in the direction of more nefarious supplies. are pissed that there are actual consequences for their actions, and even more upset when Archie refuses to apologize. The mayor has called a town hall meeting, and it looks like his crew is disbanding already. He's been kicked off the football team, which is also disbanded until Andrews and the Red Circle (that should definitely be his band name when he returns to his music career) sign a letter of apology to the school. The town is unanimously affronted by Archie's "Unabomber-like manifesto," which strips away any semblance of his golden-boy status. Now sit back, relax, and watch as everyone else loses their goddamn minds-starting with our gun-toting, red-haired vigilante, Archie Andrews. Good for you, Cheryl! You deserved a break from burning down houses, creeping around hospitals, and stalking Kevin Keller. Let's just start by saying this episode was so crazy, it didn't need Cheryl Blossom. Warning: Spoilers for Riverdale season two, episode four, "The Town That Dreaded Sundown," are ahead.