Riverdale – Chapter One Hundred Thirty-Five: For a Better Tomorrow

While at the movies with his friends Dilton Doiley (Daniel Yang), Ben Button (Moses Thiessen) and Ethel Muggs (Shannon Purser) we see Jughead (Cole Sprouse) partake in the benefits of being Veronica Lodge’s (Camila Mendes) boyfriend and checks out the local gruesome feature night. However, upon leaving the group is witness to a mysterious melting man walking towards them. Sheriff Keller (Martin Cummins) takes him down, but not before Ethel notes that the man is wearing the same uniform that her father wore when he worked for the Blossom Maple Factory. Taking the investigation into his own hands, Jughead heads to Dr. Curdle Jr. (Nikolai Witschl) for answers. Curdle explains that the man died of radiation, but the body was quickly taken away by Mayor Clifford Blossom (Barclay Hope). 

As Betty Cooper (Lili Reinhart) prepares to head to school, it is clear tensions are still high between her and Alice (Madchen Amick). Betty encourages Ethel to walk with her to school, despiteHal’s (Lochlyn Munro) attempts to bridge the gap between Betty and Alice by having the matriarch drive them to school. But no matter, as Betty and Veronica are signed up for driver’s ed at school.  

In the Andrews residence Uncle Frank (Ryan Robbins) tells Reggie (Charles Melton) about a basketball camp that he has been accepted to. Mary (Molly Ringwald) is happy for Reggie, but Frank takes the opportunity to take a dig at Archie (KJ Apa) for continuing to write poetry and let sports take a backseat. Mary offers to have Archie come work with her at the dress shop for the summer and Frank continues to make snide remarks in response. Archie leaves the breakfast table.  

Cheryl (Madelaine Petsch) and Julian (Nicholas Barasch) witness their father Clifford speaking to a man in uniform. When the gentleman leaves Cheryl and Julian are left with questions. Clifford brings them to the study and shows them the statue of Moloch that he has acquired. He threatens that his children should obey him or feel the wrath of Moloch.  

After what he learned from Curdle, Jughead tells Ethel about his findings and inquires about her father’s time at the Maple Factory. When Ethel asks why Jughead is curious about her father, he explains that the recent string of deaths are not a coincidence. But Ethel is not interested, as she is finally putting the past behind her. However, as Jughead heads to his seat in class, a concerned Dilton Doiley looks his way.  

When class starts the students are forced to watch a video about the newest national threat: the atomic bomb. After class the group starts to speculate what they would do in the chance of an actual bomb dropping. Veronica offers up the Pembrook’s sub-sub basement to her “Juggiekins” while Cheryl would have Toni (Vanessa Morgan) accompany her in the Blossom mines. Archie believes he could outrun the blast with his car, but Clay (Karl Walcott) corrects him. Kevin (Casey Cott) says he would seek shelter in a fridge, but Clay advises the only way to live is in a bunker. But still, could an atomic bomb hit Riverdale? 

Later, Archie finds Kevin and Clay trying to make knots. As Archie helps them, they explain how they are planning to join the Merchant Marines. It’s a civilian job that allows for travel on a boat, which intrigues Archie. When he shares this idea with Mary at dinner, Frank is willing to go with the idea until Archie explains that the Merchant Marines would give him a place to write and experience the world.  

A concerned Dilton heads to Jughead’s traincar to talk. After the whole atomic bomb talk, Dilton shares with Jughead about the bunker that his father built. While Jughead looks around the bunker in awe, Dilton hands a piece of palladium to him. The palladium came from Ethel’s dad before his death. And because of that palladium, Dr. Doiley (Carlo Yu) built the bunker to protect his family. The palladium talk pushes Jughead to dig deeper, realizing that Rayberry (Christopher Shyer) mentioned palladium in some of his work. 

Awoken by a rather disturbing dream of Jughead not taking cover under his desk at the sight of an atomic bomb, Cheryl gets out of bed and heads downstairs for water. On the way back to her room, she overhears her parents speaking in Russian in Clifford’s study. Clifford and Penelope (Nathalie Boltt) are discussing the melting man, among returning to the Motherland. The next day when Jughead approaches Cheryl about the deaths, she shares what she learned about her parents and they team up to take down her parents once and for all.  

At a meeting for the Merchant Marines, Archie learns that he must earn a spot as there is no guarantee he will be accepted into the program. He immediately gets to work getting himself in shape to sign up. While using a rowing machine in the garage Uncle Frank comes in and sees him. But instead of supporting Archie with the Merchant Marines, he gives Archie his father’s dog tags and tries to push him to join the Army instead. However, the encouragement comes with Frank using Fred to convince Archie of the path he wants him to pursue. The next morning Archie grapples with the decision to join the Army. Heading into the kitchen with Fred’s dog tags on, Mary is taken aback by the new development. 

After Driver’s Education with Mrs. Grundy (Sarah Habel) the day before, Ethel manages to pass her driving evaluation with flying colors. With the whole class passing, the girls are going to be able to head to the DMV for their actual test. In order to do that, they will need a copy of their birth certificate. As the other girls are excited, Ethel is less than. The next day Ethel tells Betty that her birth certificate is still at her house and Betty offers to get it for her. While there, Betty uncovers more than just Ethel’s birth certificate….she also finds receipts with Hal’s name on them and a picture of him holding a baby. 

Doing some recon at her home, Cheryl starts snooping through Clifford’s drawers in his office. As she finds a helmet in the drawer, she notices a breeze hit her candelabra. There, she uncovers a secret room behind a portrait filled with nothing but milk man costumes. At school the next day, Cheryl shares everything she found in her father’s office. Instead of a maple factory, Clifford dabbled in palladium mines.  

At dinner Mary has had enough of Frank’s antics. She calls out Frank for using the memory of Fred to manipulate Archie into walking away from poetry. Mary points out that after high school, Archie can choose his own path. Furthermore, Frank is no longer welcome to stay at the Andrews residence. When he leaves, Frank says goodbye to Archie. Archie reminds him that he is the only one in charge of his path. 

After what she found at Ethel’s former residence, Betty heads back home to confront her parents. Hal tries to claim that the checks were for Mrs. Muggs and her housecleaning services, but Alice has enough of the lies. Sending Hal away, Alice tells Betty about the affair that Ethel’s mom had with Hal. But rather than leave, Alice stayed with Hal and asked the Muggs family to keep the secret of Ethel’s parentage….sending monthly checks to them. In Alice’s confession, Betty realizes that everything that Alice has done was to cover the shame she felt. In a touching moment between mother and daughter, Betty acknowledges that her mother did the best that she could, but now it is time to tell Ethel the truth.  

When Ethel learns the news of her real father, she is not surprised. To finally be a true family, Hal and Alice tell Ethel that they would like to adopt her. Ethel is touched, but she would rather move on with her life and start over. She decides to leave Riverdale and move to Hollywood with Ben Button as a storybook artist…thanks to Veronica’s connections in Tinseltown.  

With the next step in their investigation, Cheryl and Jughead head out to the Blossom Mines for answers. Collecting photographs as evidence, Jughead explains to Cheryl that he will have Veronica reach out to her friends at the FBI so they can take the next step. During the development of the photos Cheryl gently teases Jughead for his relationship with Veronica.  

The next day at Thornhill the FBI arrives with Glen Scot (Greyston Holt) making the official arrest of Clifford and Penelope. The FBI learns about Operation: Project Moloch and how Clifford was mining palladium to create a bomb. After foiling the plot, news of the project exploded all over town.  

As Ethel and Ben leave Riverdale, Jughead mentions how Ethel was the first one to leave the town. But the story is not over….not by a long shot. According to Jughead there is something much bigger on its way.