Riverdale: “The Town That Dreaded Sundown” Recap

Riverdale is afraid and suspicious over the Black Hood, and Archie’s Red Circle video has a lot of people even more worried. Riverdale is taking sides and tempers are flaring.

At school, Veronica is upset with Archie about the issues his video is causing with her parents. It appears that more than parents are upset though, as Principle Weatherby calls Archie into the principal’s office to tell him that there will be no more football until Archie apologizes for the video. Archie’s not ready to back down though.

Jughead Jones (Cole Sprouse), Betty Cooper (Lili Reinhart) Kevin Keller (Casey Cott) Photo by Bettina Strauss/The CW

Kevin has made peace with Betty after she informed on his dangerous behavior, and he’s decided to play it safe in the future. Unfortunately this good news is overshadowed by a letter to Betty from the Black Hood which reveals that Betty is the Hood’s inspiration. The letter also contains a cypher with clues to the next crime, and Betty’s got to solve it. Betty keeps the information about the letter to herself, but gives the cypher to her mother, who puts it front and center in the newspaper.

Reggie and the football team confront Archie about the fallout from the Red Circle video, but Archie is gunning for the Black Hood and wants to take the fight to the Southside as he’s convinced the hood must be from there.

Jughead is digging into research about serial killers to try to understand the Black Hood. Jughead and Toni find common ground over their interest in this topic and decide to join up to do some digging. Jughead ignores a call from Jughead, leaving her to research and deal with the letter on her own. Uncool Jughead, uncool.

Veronica confronts her father about manipulating Archie. Then later she tells Archie that she’s got his back, as long as she knows what’s going on.

Toni Topaz (Vanessa Morgan). Photo by Bettina Strauss/The CW

That night Archie gets stocked up and ready to hunt for the Black Hood. Betty finds Jughead and asks him to help with her research. Jughead let’s her know that he’s already been working on it with Toni, and Betty suggests that Jughead and Toni team up with Betty and Kevin, getting what she wants and sidelining the possible threat to her relationship like a true Queen B.

Veronica meant what she said about supporting Archie, and when he shows up to school the next day she’s got the school showing support for him, in the form of Red Circle t-shirts. Why is Cheryl so sidelined this season? She’s got to be up to something.

Betty, Kevin, Toni, and Jughead all get together to crack the cypher, but things get tense when matters of the Northside and Southside come up. Toni gets a little salty to Betty, but realizes she’s miss-stepped when Betty takes the high road and comes out on top. Do we love Toni or is she shady? I like her, so I hope she ends up on the right side of things.

Archie’s out on the streets. The young Serpents confront Archie about tagging the southside with red circles. When the Serpents get aggressive in defense of their turf, Archie goes full psycho, pulling his gun for the first time.

Things seem OK with Jughead and Betty the next morning as they are cuddled up together asleep when Betty’s mother calls and wakes them up.

At school, Principle Weatherby and Sheriff Keller come to get Archie out of class because a Northside student was reported for pulling a gun in Southside the night before.

There’s no gun in the lock, but there is a black hood. The hood is from Reggie’s practical joke, but things aren’t looking good for Archie, and his father can’t protect him. Fred is more scared by Archie’s behavior than the threat of the Black Hood. Speaking of parents, Veronica’s mother has a chat with her about the dangers of misplaced loyalty.

Betty accidentally left the letter from the Black Hood at Jugheads. When he confronts her about not telling him, she deflects. She tries to put the blame on Jughead for being absent and spending time with the Serpents, but really she’s concerned she’ll be blamed for what the Black Hood is doing, particularly by Archie. Jughead reassures her and unintentionally inspires Betty to solve the cypher.

Archie Andrews (K.J. Apa). Photo by The CW.

After Archie sends Veronica to retrieve his gun, hidden at school, she gets angry about his recent behavior. Archie is out for blood, the Black Hood’s blood, but Veronica wants to know what happens if Archie does manage to kill the Black Hood. The football team shows up just at the nick of time, telling Archie they want to keep the Red Circle going. It’s a good thing too because the Serpents show up on Archie’s doorstep.

At a Town Hall, Alice confronts Sheriff Keller about lack of action, and she takes aim at the Soutside, as usual. Fred jumps in as the voice of reason for unity against Alice’s divisiveness, and the Lodge’s definitely seem to be up to something. Betty and Jughead rush in to raise the alarm, the decrypted cypher having led them to believe something would happen at the meeting.

Things comes to a head between the football team and the Serpents, and a vicious fight quickly becomes blood. Veronica fires Archie’s gun to stop the fight, and just in time, as Doiley has been stabbed.
After Veronica patches up Archie, he thanks her for saving him and it seems like Archie is starting to come back from the edge a little. He and Veronica go to the river to dispose of the gun. Meanwhile, Betty has revealed the letter to her parents and the sheriff, and as she reads in her room, the phone rings. It’s the Black Hood.

Riverdale airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on the CW.