Riverdale – Chapter One Hundred and Fifteen: Return to Rivervale

After resurrecting those that Percival (Chris O’Shea) had killed off Archie (KJ Apa), Jughead (Cole Sprouse), Betty (Lili Reinhart), Cheryl (Madelaine Petsch), Veronica (Camila Mendes) and Tabitha (Erinn Westbrook) are working on their next course of action. On the eve of war with Percival’s powers getting stronger with the approaching Bailey’s Comet, time is running out for the group to figure out how to stop him. While there is no record of Percival prior to his arrival in Riverdale, the gang is determined to find a way to take him down. Veronica decides to go to Babylonium and try to glean information from Percival and Jughead is working on a potential theory to crack the case. However, Cheryl corners Betty after the meeting and instructs her to come with her to Thornhill immediately. 

Percival 

While the gang is off to investigate Percival continues with his mission by convincing Alice (Mädchen Amick) to do an exclusive interview complete with one horrifying surprise: the live execution of Reggie Mantle (Charles Melton), Marty Mantle (Matthew Yang King) and Kevin Keller (Casey Cott). Utilizing his powers of persuasion, Alice sees nothing but great ratings and smiles at the thought of their upcoming interview. When Alice sits down with Percival live on camera he begins to tell her his story.  

In 1580 Percival came over on The Ruby Pearl to help create the settlement of Sweetwater Village. Along with himself were other founders such as Asher Andrews (KJ Apa), Blessing Cooper (Lili Reinhart), James Jones (Cole Sprouse) and Charity Blossom (Madelaine Petsch). While the settlers were set on building Riverdale, Percival spent his nights dabbling in the dark arts in the forest. One night during his studies Percival was caught by Asher Andrews and he was brought before the council and sentenced to death by being left in a stockade in the forest. Catching the eye of The Devil (Oliver Rice), Percival was offered freedom in exchange for his soul. Consequently, Percival also finds a way to remain immortal.  

Over the years Percival acquired the knowledge to seek vengeance and planned to do so as he approached the city limits of Rivervale, not Riverdale. However, the explosion from earlier in the season sent Percival to Riverdale instead and there he encountered the ancestors of his enemies. There Percival decided to turn his revenge on Riverdale and then found the ancestors also started to develop powers. But no matter, Percival is ready to use his ghost train to exact his vengeance for being wronged all those years ago. His goal? The sovereign state of Percival where he controls everything.  

Veronica 

Veronica arrives at Babylonium to shake down Percival but is met by not only three guillotines set up, but also Uncle Frank (Ryan Robbins) and Tom Keller (Martin Cummins). Since the board held a no-confidence vote and ousted Veronica from her position, she is no longer allowed on the premises of Babylonium. But rather than deter her, Veronica decides to remotely tap into the cameras at her casino and finds out that Reggie, Marty, and Kevin are all being held hostage in a vault. And while they try to make an escape by having Marty fake a heart attack, both Frank and Tom are too far gone under Percival’s power to be saved.  

Betty & Cheryl 

Cheryl brings Betty to Thornhill where she sees not only Nana Rose (Barbara Wallace), but also Jason (Trevor Stines) and Polly (Tiera Skovbye). Upon seeing Polly’s face and warm greeting, Betty immediately faints. Later, when Betty awakens, Polly is by her bedside and more loving than Betty last remembers since Polly’s disappearance and death. Still remorseful about their last conversation, Betty apologizes for their last fight is automatically forgiven by Polly. While there, Betty is still haunted by her past mistakes and tells Polly how awful she feels for all the terrible things she has done in her past—but most of all how she was born with the serial killer gene. Unaffected by Betty’s insistence, Polly decides to cleanse Betty of her original sin by washing her feet. Later when Betty goes to look at herself in the mirror, she sees a bright yellow aura around herself and feels relief.  

As the sisters reunite upstairs Cheryl spends quality time with Jason by painting him. During their conversation, Cheryl learns from Jason about Percival’s real plan and goes to tell Archie. Percival’s ancestor Augustus Pickens has been recruiting souls in “The Sweet Hereafter” and planning to send them to Riverdale on the ghost train. Veronica interrupts Cheryl and Archie’s conversation with news about Reggie, Marty and Kevin being held hostage before their execution at the Babylonium. Archie, Veronica, and Cheryl must now find a way to get them out of there before they blow up the ghost train. 

Jughead and Tabitha 

Later in the bunker, Jughead shares his theory with Tabitha about how he thinks he can do more than just read minds: he can travel through different dimensions. After explaining his run-in with the other Jughead and all the other strange characters that came through the bunker, Jughead convinces Tabitha to come with him as he opens a portal and they go to another dimension to get some answers. As they enter the new dimension, they walk into a bunker much like the one in Riverdale where they find another Jughead typing away.  

Upon seeing his guests, the alternate Jughead is startled by their presence, but explains that they are in Rivervale and what had previously happened to separate Riverdale and Rivervale’s dimensions from one another. Unfortunately, Tabitha and Jughead explain that Rivervale’s timeline has started to bleed into Riverdale and now they need answers on how to stop it. While the Rivervale Jughead tries to dissuade them from going above into Rivervale, they promise to try and remain inconspicuous. Their first stop: Thornhill. 

When they reach Thornhill. Britta (Kyra Leroux) greets them and immediately seems starstruck by Jughead. Upon learning that the Blossom archives were transferred to Highsmith College, Jughead and Tabitha hope to speak to Nana Rose…unfortunately, when Nana Rose transferred into Cheryl’s body so did her dementia. Even when Jughead tries to access any remaining memories in Nana’s mind, they are no longer viable. But before they can leave, Britta presents Jughead with copies of his comics to sign and the duo learns that the other Rivervale Jughead has written a comic book series that eerily resembles Riverdale’s current timeline. This leads them on their next stop: Pop’s Diner to find the other Jughead. While in Pop’s parking lot, Jughead and Tabitha plan how they will get the other Jughead alone.  

Placing Rivervale’s Tabitha in a time loop, Riverdale’s Tabitha brings the other Jughead and Riverdale Jughead together. From there, they learn how the other Jughead created the comic, and he shows them the next issue…with all the Super Teens dead. Unfortunately, in Rivervale Jughead had made a deal with Mr. Cypher (Oliver Rice) to be able to write but he could only write bleak and dark outcomes for his stories. Finding out that Mr. Cypher is at a chess tournament at the Babylonium, Tabitha and Jughead get ready to head there and find Cypher defeating Raphael (Hamza Fouad) in a chess match. 

After the match, Tabitha and Jughead learn from Cypher that Percival was never after Pop’s but rather the land that it was on. Since that land is where he was left to die and is in all universes, the land that Pop’s is on is a hellmouth. Since Pop’s was moved off the property, Tabitha unknowingly opened the hellmouth. Tabitha and Jughead return to the Rivervale bunker. 

There, they find Rivervale Ethel (Shannon Purser) and bunker Jughead arguing over how the universes collided once again. When Riverdale Jughead explains the call Betty received about the bomb, Ethel immediately knows that bunker Jughead was the one who made the call and prevented the universes from separating. Ethel immediately attacks Jughead for still being in love with Betty and he tells her how he wanted to protect his friends. The call explains everything and Tabitha and Jughead go back to Riverdale to inform the group.  

When the group reconvenes at Archie’s house, Veronica tells Jughead and Tabitha about the upcoming execution and Jughead uses his ability to open a portal to save Reggie, Marty, and Kevin. With those three safe, Archie blows up the train tracks and hinders Percival’s plan. But before the group can celebrate saving their friends and derailing Percival’s plans, Percival delivers one final blow as the group receives a text message showing Alice, Uncle Frank, and Tom now set up in front of the guillotines at Babylonium…and a follow-up message of their execution. Percival has started the war by drawing first blood.