Riverdale – Chapter One Hundred and Eleven: Blue Collar

As Percival (Chris O’Shea) begins the work on his new railroad, he begins to inform the workers that he is changing the terms of their contracts. While he lured the workers away from their union work, he now plans to change the terms to meet with his line of thought. With lower pay and no overtime, the workers begin to gripe even as Percival begins to crack the whip.  

Archie and Tabitha 

Meanwhile, across town at the makeshift Pop’s in El Royale, Archie (KJ Apa) sits down with Cheryl (Madelaine Petsch) and Tabitha (Erinn Westbrook) to discuss Percival’s breaking of promises and how they can combat that. As Cheryl talks about the supposed ghost train that Percival intends to build, Archie asks Cheryl to start digging through her archives for anything relating to the Blossom/Pickens relationship that can be used against Percival. Cheryl leaves to continue her research and Tabitha and Archie begin to discuss ways to persuade the workers to unionize. 

Deciding that the best way to start persuading the workers is to offer them things that Percival won’t allow, Tabitha and Archie show up with a Pop’s Truck and hot coffee on tap. With Frank (Ryan Robbins) and Kevin (Casey Cott) storming over in a huff, Archie and Tabitha shut their tantrum down by offering a special for the workers at Pop’s: 25 cent hamburgers….the same price as they were when unions were first formed. This persuades Fangs (Drew Ray Tanner) and Carlos (Andres Soto) to come meet with Archie, later bringing all the workers to Pop’s where Archie can remind them about the importance of unionizing.  

Afterwards, Percival tries to convince Archie multiple times to join his crew….all met with rejection. It is when one of the workers is hurt on the job more than likely due to Percival’s influence that Archie receives a potential advantage from Cheryl’s research. At another meeting of the workers in Pop’s, Tabitha reads a letter from Percival’s ancestor showing the lack of caring and compassion in the Pickens bloodline. With anger over the Pickens work ethic, the workers listen to Archie and make him their representative.  

Agent Drake, Betty, and Veronica 

In the FBI Office, Agent Drake (Sophia Tatum) meets with Betty (Lili Reinhart) and Veronica (Camila Mendes) over Veronica’s poisonous power. Fortunately for Veronica, her body acts more as a giant dialysis machine and filters out the poisons in her body. During their meeting Betty receives a phone call from Alice (Mädchen Amick) that she is needed at home. Upon her return to the Cooper household Betty soon learns that Charles (Wyatt Nash) is in her bedroom…and slowly dying. 

With the information about her body and learning more about her father’s selling of absinthe, Veronica appeals to Agent Drake and discusses potentially creating a stronger, distilled version of absinthe that she could sell. Agent Drake is immediately intrigued and wants in on Veronica’s plan. In order to execute that plan, Veronica decides to pay Cheryl a visit and collect any books that she may have in order to try her hand in the absinthe business.  

As Charles lay in Betty’s bed, Betty asks Charles about what happened to Chic (Hart Denton) at Shankshaw. Apparently when they were caught, the lovers were separated and unable to see one another even though Charles has been released. But no matter, Charles is ready to die and feels that this is his punishment for his bad deeds. Betty later confides in Archie about Charles and his condition, but then notices from Archie’s window that Alice is holding a pillow in her hands. Running back to her mother’s home, Betty gets there in enough time to stop Alice and tells her that enough people have died in their home already.  

Betty then decides to try and tap the one resource she could think of to save Charles: having Veronica filter Charles’s blood and clean it. The treatment ends up working and Charles will live to see another day. While Betty did hesitate to save her brother, she tells Charles that she did it for her mother. In repaying the favor, Charles gives Betty an idea on how to catch TBK.  

Cheryl and Heather 

Cheryl and Heather (Caroline Day) continue to sort through the Blossom archives for anything that can help them figure out how to defeat Percival. Heather comes across correspondence that talks about how the Blossom and Pickens family had a falling out, and the Pickens family were in possession of an important text that they took from the Blossoms. In order to get it back, Heather decides to teach Cheryl how to become invisible. 

Once they enter Percival’s curiosity shop, Cheryl and Heather enter…but only Heather is visible. Cheryl masters the ability to become invisible and while Heather keeps Percival busy, she heads to the back of the shop and discovers the text. With the book in hand, Cheryl and Heather continue their research into the Pickens and Blossom correspondence until they come across a letter that will help Archie with the workers. Later that night Cheryl tells Heather that she had her help with a private library for the selfish reason of spending time with her. Fortunately for Cheryl, Heather would like to continue spending time with her….much to Cheryl’s happiness.  

Toni, Fangs, and Kevin 

As the battle for custody of Baby Anthony carries on, Toni (Vanessa Morgan) and Fangs meet with their lawyer (Julia Benson) to go over the case. Since Toni and Fangs have extensive juvenile records, they need to be prepared for whatever Kevin and his attorney throws their way. Fangs is also still on the fence about Toni’s marriage proposal from the prior episode, unsure of why they need to get married when the Serpents provide them the protection they desire. Across town in a lavish apartment courtesy of Percival, Kevin tries to explain to Moose (Cody Kearsley) the need for him to win his case. For Moose, he is uncomfortable with the way Kevin is acting.  

The next day at work while Kevin shows off a picture of Baby Anthony and brags how they look alike, a fight breaks out between Kevin and Fangs on the job site. Toni immediately chastises Fangs for his attitude, even though Fangs is not sorry. But for Moose, he questions Kevin’s motives and wonders if he is worried about not being Baby Anthony’s father. Later on that night when Toni returns to her apartment, her babysitter Britta (Kyra Leroux) is tearing the apartment apart for Anthony’s pacifier. Once Toni hears that Kevin came for a visit, she storms over to Kevin’s apartment during dinner with Moose and demands the pacifier. Serpent Toni is on the warpath! 

Jughead, Percival, and Reggie 

Helping Reggie (Charles Melton) figure out the reason for his missing memory, Percival discovers the torn remnants of the missing memory that Jughead (Cole Sprouse) managed to pull from Reggie’s mind. With Reggie upset and looking for revenge on Jughead, Percival teaches Reggie the art of ventriloquism. Later at Jughead’s show in Babylonium, Reggie tries to use his voice to throw off Jughead while Percival attempts to enter Jughead’s mind. 

Unfortunately for Percival, he finds that Jughead has barricaded him from being able to enter the room. Later that night, Percival advises Reggie that he will need a totem of Jughead’s that will make him appear harmless. Remembering Jughead’s beanie is buried in a time capsule, Reggie retrieves that along with Jughead’s serpent jacket, S t-shirt, and a picture of him and Jellybean. Percival is now ready to wreak havoc.  

At Jughead’s next show while he is in the middle of his act, Reggie lets Percival know it’s time. With all of Jughead’s personal effects on and at the ready, Percival enters Jughead’s mind and is able to open the door…propping it open with one of Jughead’s newspapers. Unfortunately for Jughead, this now means that he can hear everyone’s thoughts all at once and is unable to turn them off. No matter where he goes, he cannot escape the voices. 

As Archie stands up for the railroad workers, Percival reminds him that he has not seen real fighting yet. Using the idea that Charles gave her for TBK, Betty asks Veronica about renting Babylonium for a potential serial killer convention. After retrieving the pacifier, Toni decides to keep the Serpents as a gang and tells Fangs that she wants Baby Anthony to be inducted immediately. Excited over this news, Fangs accepts Toni’s marriage proposal. A battered, bruised Kevin learns from Percival that he is not Baby Anthony’s father, but unfortunately for Baby Anthony he is Riverdale’s Greatest Hope…and in Percival’s eyes there can be only one. And once Tabitha returns home from Pop’s looking for Jughead she finds a note, Jughead has returned to the bunker to try and quiet his mind…only to find that he is now hearing voices from Rivervale.