Riverdale – Chapter One Hundred and Two: Death at a Funeral

After learning that her hit on Hiram (Mark Consuelos) was a success, Veronica (Camila Mendes) is now tasked with holding a memorial for her father. While she finally tells Reggie (Charles Melton) the truth about Hiram’s body being found in the New Jersey Pine Barrens, Reggie is angry that Veronica did not tell him sooner and assumes she didn’t try to cancel the hit. Later at the town meeting Veronica announces Hiram’s memorial service to the townspeople, even though most of them have more reason to celebrate Hiram’s demise than mourn him. Just as enlightening as Hiram’s death is the arrival of outsider Percival Pickens (Chris O’Shea), who has found a way to stay in Riverdale.  

As Archie (KJ Apa) and Betty (Lili Reinhart) navigate their new powers and work on rebuilding the Andrews residence with a local crew, Betty can’t help but wonder whether Jughead (Cole Sprouse) has also been affected by the explosion in a similar fashion. Unfortunately for Jughead, we see that as soon as Archie learns of Jughead’s loss of hearing and relays the sad news to Betty. And more unfortunate for Archie and Betty is when they realize that their powers can wane in different ways. For Betty she has started to develop migraine headaches while pouring over her case files while Archie learns that palladium is his kryptonite and weakens his super-strength when he falls through the floor and starts to bleed from his injuries.  

At Thornhill Manor Britta (Kyra Leroux) quickly realizes that Cheryl (Madelaine Petsch) is not herself lately, a fact that Nana Rose (Barbara Wallace) is excited about. With Cheryl trapped in her body and Abigail in control, Nana Rose is ready for the Blossom family to take Riverdale back and their rightful place at the top of the Riverdale hierarchy. During the town meeting Toni (Vanessa Morgan) arrives late after a recent Serpent issue and Abigail sees the spitting image of her beloved Thomasina. Eager to get closer to Toni and rekindle her relationship with Thomasina’s ancestor, Abigail and Britta meet with Toni at Riverdale High where Abigail hopes that Toni will help her with the process of adopting Britta.  

Toni agrees to help and, believing that she is still talking with Cheryl, they set up a meeting at the Whyte Wyrm during Toni’s work hours. Unfortunately for Abigail, when she meets with Toni she quickly learns that Toni is already dating Fangs (Drew Ray Tanner), who looks like Fen Fogarty…the man who murdered Thomasina! Enraged by this development, Abigail returns to Thornhill in a rage over Toni’s current paramour. Instead of consoling Abigail, Nana Rose calls Toni “Serpent trash” and immediately feels the wrath of Abigail, who locks her up in the stable. Later that night in her room Abigail sees Cheryl in the mirror pleading to be let out and smashes the mirror.  

While Betty is looking through case files and fighting her worsening headaches, she learns that Glen (Greyston Holt) is missing. She then receives a package sent to the FBI…it’s Glen’s foot! The Trash Bag Killer has followed Betty to Riverdale and is slowly dismembering an alive Glen for her to find. Betty later tells Archie that despite coming face to face with TBK in Riverdale she cannot see him in the “bad guy light,” which prompts Archie to inform Betty of his palladium weakness. Later at the Andrews residence Archie is handed another piece of palladium from Dennis (Douglas Chapman), one of the workers at the house. Admiring the palladium, Archie is then knocked out by Dennis and brought upstairs. Dennis turns out to be none other than TBK and plans to dismember Archie in a similar fashion to Glen. Luckily for Archie we see Alice (Mädchen Amick) bringing back Archie’s dog Bingo and Bingo arrives just in time to rescue Archie from TBK’s grasp. That night Betty realizes that TBK has been listening in on their conversations and she must leave Riverdale to get him out of town.  

With Hiram’s memorial service, Veronica is inundated with family returning to Riverdale. From her beloved Abuelita (Ana Mercedes), Abuelita’s godson Heraldo (Ricardo Hoyos) and reality show driven mother Hermione (Marisol Nichols) Veronica has her hands full. During Hermione’s visit to Riverdale we watch Veronica ask for time away from the camera to inform her mother about her part in Hiram’s death. While Hermione suspected that Veronica had something to do with it, Hermione then shares with her daughter her jealousy over the closeness that Veronica shared with Hiram. Mother and daughter reconcile, but not before Hermione asks that Veronica re-enact their heartfelt conversation for the cameras and ratings.  

But not all is well as Veronica is visited by Anatol (Andre Roshkov), who has now been contracted by Hermosa (Mishel Prada) to take out Veronica. Luckily, Heraldo intervenes and kills Anatol, letting Veronica know that he is aware of her initial hit out on Hiram. Fortunately, he will not tell Abuelita of Veronica’s plan and to spare his godmother that image of her son. Later at Hiram’s memorial service Veronica delivers a eulogy reminding those in the audience that her father was a terrible man, but he also did a lot of good things as well. Later when Veronica is alone in her office she plays a tape that was given to her, Hiram’s final words informing Veronica that he is giving her the rum business. 

Jughead’s loss of hearing has impacted more than just him, especially as Tabitha (Erinn Westbrook) tries to do everything in her power to help him. As he can no longer listen to the music that would help him write, Jughead struggles to find the words on his typewriter. Thinking that a motorcycle ride would help him, he is sorely mistaken when he gets into an accident and Tabitha rips into him for getting hurt. Still depressed and suffering from an inability to write, Tabitha enlists the help of Daniel DaFoe (Caeden Lawrence) who also suffers from deafness later in life. Daniel has Jughead come to his office and sit at a table with a pen and paper to write, telling Jughead to accept the silence and write. After five hours of nothing, Daniel still encourages Jughead to not give up and gives him a copy of his own graphic novel to read.  

Inspired by Daniel’s book, Jughead then creates his own graphic novel and begins writing again. Tabitha is elated to see that Jughead is finally getting back into his writing, but that’s not all. While Jughead is working, he hears Tabitha’s voice wondering if she left the lights on in the diner…even though she is not talking. It seems that while Jughead lost his hearing from the explosion, he has finally acquired his own superpower: the ability to hear thoughts.