Riverdale – Chapter Fifty-Nine: Fast Times at Riverdale High

By starrymag | October 22, 2019

By: Courtney Grooms

 

 

As Jughead (Cole Sprouse) tell us in his opening narration, the Core Four spent the rest of the summer trying to help Archie (KJ Apa) cope with the sudden death of his father. It is now present day and the first day of senior year. But no first day would be complete without a new teacher, right?

 

After Principal Featherhead (Anthony Micheal Hall) was killed last season on Ascension Night, it meant there was room for someone new to take over Riverdale High. Thus, we are introduced to Mr. Honey (Kerr Smith).

 

The friends meet Mr. Honey in the hallway of first day after being distracted the night before by having sex in adjacent rooms (always remember your alarms kids).  He’s presented as everyone’s enemy for wanting to finally bring order and discipline to the school. Cheryl Blossom (Madelaine Petsch), the Student Body President, also has a run in with him over her highly anticipated back-to-school dance after he cancels it due to the circumstances that occurred last year when multiple students were murdered (which is a valid point). Cheryl and Toni Topaz (Vanessa Morgan), her girlfriend and Student Body Vice President, take matters into their own hands and host an equally as good back-to-school dance at Cheryl’s house.

 

Archie is still continuing his boxing and persuades Monroe (Eli Goree), a/k/a Mad Dog, to enroll in Riverdale High and join the Bulldogs. However, one Bulldog which is not happy about this decision is Reggie (Charles Melton) as he needs to be the top dog.

 

At the Bulldogs training Reggie tries to take down Mad Dog but falls over himself. From the sidelines you can hear Reggie’s dad (Matthew Yang King) call him over and berate him for being outperformed.

 

After a school announcement Jughead is called to the principal’s office to be greeted by Mr. Honey and Mr. Chipping (Sam Witwer), who is a teacher from Stonewall Prep. Over the summer Jughead entered a writing contest and did not win, but Mr. Chipping was nevertheless impressed by Jughead’s writing ability and invites him to transfer schools. However, very quickly, Jug declines because he does not want to leave his friends behind at Riverdale High. Although, it does not take long for his father FP (Skeet Ulrich) to step in and insists he at least takes a tour.

 

While Jughead is indulging into the world of Moby Dick at Stonewall, Betty (Lili Reinhart) has some free times to try and track down her mom and sister after disappearing at The Farm. She also gets some help from her brother Charles (Wyatt Nash). Last season it was discovered that Betty’s mom (Madchen Amick) was actually undercover at The Farm, but recently has lost contact with both Betty and Charles with their location unknown.

 

Kevin (Casey Cott) had put under The Farms spell, but then was left behind when they packed up and ran. He comes to apologize to Betty and ask if they can once again be friends. But the trust has been lost. So, Betty decides to feed Kevin some fake intel – that the FBI found a witness to testify against The Farm in order to see if Kevin really can be trusted. And it is no surprise that he can’t because he immediately gets into contact to meet with ex-lover Fangs (Drew Ray Tanner), who is still away with The Farm, and tells him about the witness. But Fangs says it is not good enough and he needs a name, then he can rejoin The Farm. In which Betty saw all of this as she secretly followed Kevin to the secret location they met.

 

Charles dismisses Kevin, saying again he cannot be trusted, but Betty disagrees. At Cheryl’s back-to-school party Betty sees Kevin alone in one of the bedrooms and decides to tell him all about her mom being undercover. She then asks Kevin to meet with Fangs again and use Penelope Blossom as the fake witness inorder to find out where the farm is now located to bring back Betty’s mom and sister.

 

It did not take long for FP to arrive at Thornhill to break up the party after a noise complaint by no other than Mr. Honey. For Cheryl, the war between them is on. She lives up to her name of “Queen Bee” and leaves a beehive on the principal’s desk the next day.

 

Kevin manages to find out The Farm’s current hideout which is an abandoned motel beyond the “maple barrens” telling Betty he did not see Alice. But he did see Edgar (Chad Michael Murray) and a stockpile of weaponry.

 

Veronica (Camila Mendes) is also dealing with her own problems with the press swarming her house and school to see who she is testifying with, her mother or her father. But Veronica is done with the Lodge name and does not want to help either of her parents. Mr. Honey confronts her in his office, informing that an article has been released on Riverdale.com that she is the one responsible for her father’s crimes. Mr. Honey does not want the press coming back into Riverdale High so he suggests to Veronica that she takes a sabbatical from school.

 

Meeting at Le La Bon Bonne Nuit we see Veronica confront Reggie, who is wearing sunglasses indoors, asking if he is the inside source that leaked the story. He takes off his glasses to say no when Veronica notices that he has a black eye. In shock, she asks what happened, but he dismisses it and leaves. She later tells Archie that she thinks Reggie’s dad is abusing him and he needs to confront him to stop.

 

At another Bulldog practice Reggie under performs and his dad comes marching across the field threatening him. This time Archie comes and confronts his dad, telling him to leave him alone and pushes him. Reggie panics and pushes Archie back in his dad’s defense because he knows he will pay for it later and shouts to Archie that he is dead to him.

 

Archie has a one-on-one with Reggie, explaining that he cannot keep putting up with his father’s abuse and needs to take action into his own hands. Reggie goes on to say his dad has been doing this for as long as he can remember and he does not know how to stop it. Together they decide to smash his dad’s favorite car to teach him a lesson and to show Reggie has the guts to step up for himself.

 

Veronica finally relents when the paparazzi come banging on her apartment door and she cannot leave. So, she promises one press conference at the Le La Bon Bonne Nuit with a special performance. This includes her singing in a sequined leotard for the reporters to “All That Jazz” (true Riverdale style).

 

She announces that everything the articles accused her of doing was true because she was a “daddy’s little girl” and did what she was told, but that now will not be the case as she won’t testify on behalf of either of her imprisoned parents. The press finally stops invading Riverdale High. While sat with Archie, finishing up her Harvard application, she decides to finish the name Lodge for good and adopt her mother’s maiden name, Gomez, instead.

 

After sitting through an overcrowded English class full of students throwing paper airplanes, who clearly did no reading over the summer, Betty can see Jughead with his head down trying to do his work because he is the only one that cares. She calls him out the room, in which the teacher doesn’t even notice, and tells him he should go to Stonewall Prep and make something of himself.

 

It’s only after Jughead is about to leave with his uniform on for his first day at Stonewall that FP reveals his Grandpa Forsythe briefly studied there before dropping out and disappearing. As Jughead smiles we cut to Spring Break. It is an eerie flash-forward to a downpour in the forest with Betty, Veronica, Archie, FP and many Riverdale residents scouting the forest for Jughead.