Riverdale – Chapter One Hundred and Three: The Town

While Jughead (Cole Sprouse) is still adjusting to his deafness and convincing everyone his hearing has returned with his new gift, his publication The Riverdale Choice has a new problem: a scathing article written about Riverdale being the worst town in America. The attacks on the town not only target the gangs and lack of law enforcement, but also the businesses and their inability to generate more income for the town. Reading the article, Archie (K.J. Apa) immediately comes to Jughead and demands to know the identity of the anonymous author. Not satisfied with Jughead’s answer, Archie decides a town meeting is necessary. Meanwhile, at Pop’s Diner Percival Pickens (Chris O’Shea) casually sits at the counter watching the chaos unfold over the article.  

At Thornhill, Britta (Kyra Leroux) seeks help from Nana Rose (Barbara Wallace) and lets her know that she saw Cheryl (Madelaine Petsch) in the mirror while Abigail was brushing her hair. Realizing that Cheryl is trapped, Nana Rose advises Britta that the only possible way to get to Cheryl is by placing Abigail into a deep sleep and trying to get to the dreamscape Cheryl is trapped in. Meanwhile, in the dreamscape Cheryl is sitting with Jason (Trevor Stine) and Penelope (Nathalie Boltt) eating breakfast as Penelope shares that she is throwing a birthday party for her children….sans Heather, of course.  

In order to save Cheryl we see Britta take matters into her own hands. Drugging Cheryl and then herself, Britta enters the dreamscape that Cheryl is trapped in and finds herself at a birthday party for Jason. When Britta questions Penelope about Cheryl and sees Cheryl crying by herself in a corner. Even though it is both Cheryl and Jason’s birthday, Penelope has punished Cheryl and cancelled her birthday while lovingly doting on Jason. Before going any further, Britta has made sure to wake herself up and leave Abigail’s bedroom as to not get caught.  

During the town hall meeting citizens are up in arms as to who wrote the article about Riverdale. Alice (Mädchen Amick) immediately starts going after Veronica (Camila Mendes) and Reggie’s (Charles Melton) casino, but Veronica is quick to defend her hard work. Archie finally takes the lead and starts to question who wrote the article and Percival Pickens immediately stands up to explain himself. His suggestion involves removing the homeless from Riverdale to clean up its image. However, Archie does not agree with Percival’s ideas to which Percival questions what Archie suggests the town do to help Riverdale.  

After the meeting Jughead meets up with Archie at the Andrews residence and proposes a new idea to help house the homeless of Riverdale in micro housing. Intrigued by the idea, Archie immediately gets to work on his proposal. Meanwhile, Percival has begun to wreak his havoc by working on persuading others to his point of view. Starting with Alice, Percival appeals to her by promising a safer Riverdale and giving consoling words over the loss of Polly. Percival’s persuasion pays off when during the next town meeting. While Veronica pitches a legal way to incorporate her casino and turn Riverdale into the next Atlantic City, Alice pushes her pitch to the side to hear Archie’s proposal and warns Veronica to watch her step. Archie’s micro housing idea is seemingly well received, but the idea of funding and Alice mentioning raising taxes sends citizens into a frenzy over the money.  

Realizing that he may need to switch tactics, Archie later sits down with Tabitha (Erinn Westbrook) and Toni (Vanessa Morgan) to discuss their businesses each underwriting a micro home to show the town the potential. As Tabitha and Toni agree to help, Archie, Jughead and a few of the citizens of Riverdale head to Sketch Alley where the homeless community resides. As Jughead spots his old friend Doc (Adrian Hough), Archie proposes his micro housing idea to Doc and offers the opportunity for the citizens of Sketch Alley to help in the building process if they like. During the building process, all seems well until Doc approaches Kevin (Casey Cott) in a trance-like state. When Kevin tries to talk to Doc, he is instead hit with a hammer. While Kevin recovers in the hospital with his father Tom by his side, Percival pays a visit to them both.   

Later at Pop’s we see Archie, Tabitha and Toni watching Alice’s newscast about the incident. It is clear that Alice stands firmly against the citizens of Sketch Alley and wants them gone. Worried about how an endorsement of their business would look on the home, Toni still offers to help but would rather keep her business name off of the home to help it sell. Tabitha also decides to still help Archie and does not mind endorsing her business. Archie manages to complete the first micro house and alongside Uncle Frank, Jughead and Tabitha, they admire their hard work. Later on that night Archie receives a phone call from Tabitha and arrives to Pop’s parking lot to find the micro house spray painted with words telling those in Sketch Alley to leave the town. In anger, Archie punches his truck.  

Jughead goes to visit Doc in jail and soon finds out that Percival Pickens is behind the reason that Doc hit Kevin. Deciding to try and speak with Percival under the guise of an interview, Jughead begins his questioning and hopes to listen in on Percival’s thoughts. However, Jughead soon learns that Percival knows about Jughead’s ability to read minds and is immediately rebuffed by Percival, even called trash. Jughead reels back in horror as Percival manages to remain composed as though he said nothing.  

The next day Archie returns to the Pop’s parking lot to find that Toni, Uncle Frank, Jughead and Tabitha are cleaning up and putting the finishing touches on their micro homes. Undeterred by the graffiti, they vow to help Archie get these micro homes off the ground and help those in Sketch Alley. Unfortunately, Percival Pickens decides to show up and shares that through the power of persuasion Sketch Alley has been cleared and he has managed to send the homeless out of Riverdale for good. Archie, Uncle Frank, Jughead, Tabitha and Toni all head over to Sketch Alley to find it empty.  

Hoping to get out from under Hiram’s (Mark Consuelos) dirty dealing tactics and the tarnishing of the Lodge name, Veronica proposes to Reggie turning the casino legitimate and doing everything above board. However, Reggie shows Veronica that if they were to obtain all the legal permits and run a legitimate casino they would not profit from it…instead suggesting that they continue to run scams make money. Before Veronica can answer there is an issue in one of the private rooms, a man has hanged himself from the ceiling. Knowing that this incident would bury their casino, Veronica enlists the help of Heraldo (Ricardo Hoyos) for help.  

Heraldo arrives and helps Veronica and Reggie get rid of the body in the casino. Veronica laments to Heraldo about how the casino is flailing while they try to stay legal and he offers the services of Wiseguys to help come and inject some cash flow into the casino. While tempted, Veronica declines and instead asks for help in finding more information about Percival Pickens. Earlier before Heraldo’s arrival, Reggie and Veronica had reviewed footage of the dead gambler and found that Percival had approached the gentleman while he was on a winning streak and whispered something into his ear.  

Returning to Cheryl’s dreamscape, Britta goes to try and rouse Cheryl to help her escape. But Penelope quickly enters and Cheryl pushes Britta under the bed. When Penelope enters, she has taken on more of a Mommie Dearest characterization with face mask and talk of wire hangers. Before Britta can be caught under Cheryl’s bed she rouses herself from another dream state. Relaying the information to Nana Rose, Nana tells Britta to find a way to tell Cheryl that Penelope is not real, and she can overcome her.  

Realizing a more practical approach and a quicker way to relay a message, Britta pens a quick message and finds her way back into the dreamscape once more. Reaching the dreamscape with letter in hand, Britta reaches a distraught Cheryl who has had her hair cut off by Penelope for being caught with Heather. Britta tries to tell Cheryl that she is not in reality, but eventually Penelope interrupts and drags Britta out. However, before Britta leaves the dreamscape she manages to leave the note for Cheryl, who reads the truth and realizes that she can overcome Penelope. As Penelope approaches Cheryl to beat her with a wire hanger, the old Cheryl emerges and finally overcomes Penelope. Later, Cheryl visits Britta in her dreams and thanks her for helping her see the truth. While she is not sure how they can remove Abigail from Cheryl’s body, Cheryl is grateful that Britta came to her aid and is there to help her.  

By the next town hall meeting Percival is revered as a hero for removing the citizens of Sketch Alley. While Archie and Jughead throw death glares in Percival’s direction, Tom Keller is proud to share that Percival is now the new Deputy on the Riverdale Police Force. As Archie calls Percival a “super villain” in his mind, Jughead decides to finally respond to Archie’s thought and tell him that they need to talk about Jughead’s new gift. After the meeting Veronica and Reggie approach Alice about the lack of discussing their casino proposal. Still disgusted by the Lodge name, Alice tells Veronica that she is the problem and that if she tries to do anything Alice will make sure the town takes her down. This later prompts Veronica deciding that the high road is no good, instead taking a page out of Hiram’s book and going the route of running scams and side hustles to make as much money as possible. As Veronica then talks to Heraldo about Percival, he relays that he was unable to find any information on him prior to his arrival in Riverdale.  

That night while Archie is at home relaxing he hears the door open. Betty (Lili Reinhart) walks in in a pair of dark sunglasses, fresh off of running the Trash Bag Killer out of Riverdale and away from her loved ones. As her power of seeing auras has intensified, her headaches have gotten worse and caused an aversion to light. Betty questions Archie about the ongoings of Riverdale where he not only shares about Jughead’s new power but the dirty dealings of Percival Pickens. Meanwhile, in Percival’s home, Percival is looking over his own board of the citizens of Riverdale and plotting his next move. His main focus: Archie Andrews.