Riverdale – Chapter Sixty-Seven: Varsity Blues

By starrymag | January 29, 2020

By: Courtney Groom

 

 

 

Jughead (Cole Sprouse) meets with Mr DuPont (Malcolm Stewart) in his office at Stonewall Prep where he is told he has an interview with Yale. Jughead is confused because he never applied to go, especially after girlfriend Betty (Lili Reinhart) didn’t get a place. DuPont reveals that the university’s recruiter is a friend of his, so he handed over a few of Jughead’s short stories and he was impressed. Jughead is reluctant as he doesn’t want to upset Betty if he got offered a place, but DuPont tells him not to be foolish as it is a big opportunity for him as a writer.

 

Back at Riverdale High Betty is interviewing Archie (K.J. Apa), Reggie (Charles Melton) and Munroe (Eli Goree) for a piece for The Blue & Gold, which she is writing for Principal Honey (Kerr Smith) about the last football game of the season. The game is big for Munroe as he could potentially get a scholarship to Notre Dame, which would change life for him and his family. Stonewall Prep are currently the undefeated champions and Reggie tells Betty the only reason for that is because they play dirty. Every team they’ve gone up against has ended up suffering from some horrible injury and so Betty starts to investigate.

 

Later that night Archie is talking to his Uncle Frank (Ryan Robbins). Frank tells Archie that he is very grateful for Archie letting him crash at the center for the last couple of weeks and getting to know him, but he thinks it’s time for him to move on. Archie suggests that he could help out at the center or Andrews Construction and can stay as his house instead. Frank says he’d be lying if he wasn’t interested, but the problem is telling Archie’s mom that he’s in town.

 

Archie and Frank then talk to his mom Mary (Molly Ringwald) who is more than unhappy to see him. She asks if he has even bothered to go visit his brother’s grave, seeing as he didn’t show up for the funeral. But Frank defends himself by saying he was on a crab boat and didn’t receive the news until a month later. Archie tells Mary about offering him a job at Andrews Constructions and, eventually, she gives in but warns that soon enough Frank will leave without saying goodbye.

 

Meanwhile at Pops we see Betty ask Jughead what’s going on and he confesses he has an interview with Yale and hopes she’s ok with it. She says of course and, even though she was rejected, she could never ask him to turn down an opportunity like this. Jughead then asks how the article for Mr. Honey is going and tells her she should interview Stonewall Prep team captain Bret (Sean Depner).

 

So, Betty goes to Stonewall to interview Bret and tells him she originally wasn’t going to until she heard rumors that the team plays dirty. He says, “Football is a sport of gladiators and you win by debilitating and slaughtering your enemies.” Betty asks if she can quote him on that before he gets up and leaves.

 

She then goes back to Pops to interview players from different high school football teams, trying to find out more dirt about Stonewall. She tells them she has been studying game tapes and can see a definite pattern of violence coming from them. One of the players tells Betty a Stonewall footballer broke his arm while he was in the pile during a game and the reason, they get away with it is because the refs look the other way. He also says that the coach for Stonewall pays players to hurt other teams, so the worse the injury the bigger the bounty.

 

Later that night Munroe is leaving the center and is met by four masked guys carrying golf clubs. Archie and Reggie are inside and run out when they hear Munroe screaming. They find him on the ground, holding his knee in pain. Munroe says he got jumped and one of them swung a golf club at his knee, but he didn’t get to see their faces. Reggie says it doesn’t matter because they know exactly who they are.

 

Collectively the Bulldogs decide to show up at Stonewall to have a talk with the Stallions. Archie tells Bret he knows what he did and they only did it because they were scared of Munroe claiming the Bulldogs’ victory. Jughead then walks in and asks Archie what he is doing here. Bret calls the Bulldogs “welfare cases,” so Archie throws a punch at him. Before you know it, a huge brawl kicks off and Jughead is stuck in the middle trying to break it up.

 

Jughead then has his interview with Gerald Brooks (Tyler Gibson) from Yale Admissions. He compliments Jughead’s writing, sensing H.P. Lovercraft is his influence. Jughead smiles and apologizes because he isn’t used to people treating him like a real writer. Gerald tells Jughead that everyone at Yale earns their spot, so if he is accepted then he will succeed or fail on his own merits.

 

After the brawl Archie landed himself in a jail cell, but his Uncle Frank quickly comes to bail him out and takes him to Pop’s to talk about what happened. Archie tells them about the Stallions attacking Munroe so he now can’t play. Frank assures Archie not to be ashamed for what he did because his dad would have done the same thing. He says that he and Archie are the same, both level-headed until it comes to protection a friend or family member. Frank mentions, just like Fred taught Archie, that he too boxed while in the army and they start to bond.

 

Betty decides to tell Veronica (Camila Mendes) about Munroe being jumped, but she already found out from Archie. Betty is certain that she thinks it was Bret and the rest of the Stallions who attacked Munroe. Veronica agrees. But for Betty to break the story in The Blue & Gold she needs proof or a confession. Betty says that Reggie told her that Stonewall players are throwing a party for the game, but she can’t go because Bret knows her. She asks Veronica if she would go undercover for her. Veronica says she is down and is willing to wear a wire with an earpiece so that Betty can hear everything.

 

Upon arriving at the party, in which Veronica is going full femme fatale with her Blonde wig, she realizes it’s not a party for the football but a party for the “secret society.” Veronica spots Bret and introduced herself as Monica, asking if she would like to grab a seat together and enjoy her rum. As they both sit down together Bret says the Stallions winning streak will continue again and Veronica agrees by mentioning the fact that Munroe is now out of the game and that is a stroke of luck for them. But Bret says it’s not a stroke of luck because they make their own luck. Before Veronica can dig for anymore dirt Jughead appears at the bar and asks Veronica what she is doing there. Bret is confused and says her name is Monica and Jughead says it’s not because they used to go to school together and questions why she is wearing a wig. Veronica quickly dismisses herself and asks Jughead why he is here when it’s part of the secret society. Veronica asks if he told Betty because if he didn’t than she now knows via her earpiece.

 

Jughead meets up with Betty and says he didn’t tell her because it’s a secret society. Betty mentions the fact that four months ago Jughead hated them and wanted to come home, but now he is best friends with him because they helped get his Yale interview. Jughead confesses that they did help him get the interview, but if he is accepted it’s because of his writing not because of them. Betty says she doesn’t want to start keeping secrets from each other so Jughead apologizes and asks why Veronica was there. Betty tells him she was helping to get a confession out of him for her article, but now their cover is blown she will have to use the quotes as an “unnamed source” which she doesn’t think will be enough.

 

Archie is at the center talking to Munroe before the big game. Munroe says the doctor said if he plays that he could cause permanent damage and never be able to play again. Frank interrupts asking Munroe that if he could play through the pain would he do it? Munroe responds with absolutely. Frank tells Munroe he has some pills which won’t fix anything but can numb the pain long enough for the game. Archie butts in before leaving for the game telling Munroe he is not risking it and taking pills and that Frank shouldn’t have offered in the first place.

 

Back at Riverdale High Betty is in the office letting Principal Honey read through her article. He is furious because it is not the piece that he asked her to write and he cannot publish the story based on hearsay and no facts. So, he asks her to go back and write the article he asked for.

 

The Bulldogs are in the locker room getting ready to head out when Munroe walks in wearing his kit. Archie asks him what he is doing and Munroe tells him he is not sitting out on the game. He took the pills that Frank gave him because he can’t risk losing the scholarship offer to Notre Dame. Archie says if he gets hurt then maybe he won’t ever play again. Munroe tells Archie this is his choice.

 

During the game the Bulldogs make a pact to protect Munroe because they know the Stallions will do everything to get him out again. The Riverdale Vixens also take part in the big game by doing an interesting cheer performance to “Cherry Bomb” by The Runaways, but unfortunately it wasn’t enough for the Bulldogs to win as they lost by one point.

 

After the game Bret goes up to Jughead and Betty on the sidelines saying he heard her article got killed. Jughead tells him to take the win and leave while Betty says her article didn’t get killed, she only just started digging. Bret leaves telling Betty they should do this again sometime soon because he really likes winning against her.

 

Betty meets up with Principal Honey again, presenting him with the article that he asked for. He praises her work and say it’s great press for the school, even if they did lose. Betty says they may have lost the game, but not the war as she’s been doing research into Stonewall Prep’s teams and found they have a world-class quiz team. And the captain? It’s none other than stuck up Bret. Principal Honey says the championship is only a few weeks away and Riverdale doesn’t even have a team together. So, Betty volunteers as captain and they both agree that they would love to get their hands on at least one trophy this year.

 

At Stonewall Jughead walks into the classroom to be greeted by his father FP. (Skeet Ulrich), the society and Mr. DuPont. Mr DuPont says it only felt appropriate that is father was here to celebrate and, although he won’t be receiving official word until the end of the week, he reveals that Jughead got into Yale. FP is over the moon as he is the first in their family to go to college. Bret is in the room and also reveals he got into Yale and hopes they’ll be roomies again.

 

The episode ends with a flash forward to one month later where Betty is in Jughead’s Stonewall Prep dorm putting his belongings into a box. Bret appears at the door and tells her to save her tears and that she got her wish – Jughead isn’t going to Yale. Now, it’s just the two of them going to New Haven.