Riverdale S6B Ep #104 (Serpent Queen’s Gambit)

I was so so scared that this was going to be an episode about chess. I am eternally grateful to whoever is owed that it wasn’t.  Spoilers and extremely pro-Jughead analysis ahead. 

We open the episode with Archie coming home from a run wearing a black beanie.  I’ve never seen him wear something like this before. I’m exceptionally excited by this sartorial choice for no very good reason.  Percival Pickens and Uncle Frank are chuckling together in the dining room over cups of tea/coffee.  Since I wished for Percival to orally service Alice to get her buy in, I shall be feminist and hope the same was done for Frank.  Percival is going to do a census, asking people what they care about, which is a good idea actually, but of course, Archie hates ideas that are not built for his glory by Jughead Jones, so he kicks Percival out of his house.   Frank is all in on Team Percival which of course he would be.  

Abigail and Britta are in  the Riverdale cemetery holding up an umbrella against a sunny thunderstorm.  This bit looks entirely like Lemony Snicket’s Series of Unfortunate Events, a sort of Victorian picaresque, given the highly unnatural outdoors-but-inside mood and the matching black fur collars on both Abigail and Britta’s coats.  Abigail tells Brittania that she has lots of plans for murder as a way to be reunited with Tomasina.   Abigail like many villains both fictional and actual, loves talking about her plans, so she tells Britta everything - when, what and with which tools. 

Reggie wants to let his dad feel like a big deal, so he asks for Veronica’s help to achieve this using the casino.  The amount of care and understanding that Reggie gives his father enraged me at this point in the episode, but the worm does turn later.   The idea that you have to embrace an aging abusive parent is gross to me.  Reggie talks like he is now parenting his dad- trying to find what would give him a sense of purpose in a wasted life: “feeling like a big shot.”  Veronica says she’s happy to participate in this project  in the spirit of Good Girlfriendship. 

At the Town Hall, the new leader that is Percival Pickens says that his census is complete, so now turns on Toni Topaz, telling everyone present that the Ghoulies v Serpents war is now the most pressing concern.  Toni says that she’s been in contact with Twyla Twyst to de-escalate the tensions. Pickens asks if the Serpents shouldn’t be disbanded, so Tabitha speaks up and says it’s not Toni that’s on trial. 

Fangs doesn’t understand quite what’s happened but Toni is on it right away - that Pickens has targeted the gangs.  Kevin walks in with Baby Anthony  and carrying a very big baby bag. He returns the baby to his parents. Kevin says he’s worried about the baby being raised around gang culture.  So there seems to be some sort of hierarchy among Serpents - you can be BORN a Serpent, RAISED as a Serpent or JOIN them. Fangs and Toni are the Raised kind, and Toni has said she was BORN one too.  Jughead should’ve been technically a BORN Serpent since both his parents and his grandfather was a Serpent, but he still had to JOIN.   In any case, Kevin fires his warning shot across the bows saying it’s a “safety “ issue. 

Production Note:  Covid restrictions have all been released apparently, because I forgot to note this in the last episode but they now have crowd scenes where people can sit close together and have a speaker of lines sit among them.  

While Veronica is getting Reggie’s father situated at the casino, the Other Three are speaking in the backroom office of the boxing gym/ former(?) firehouse and current town hall meeting space.  The entire moment where each of them learned that the other two have mutant abilities has been achieved off stage and we’re moving along.  Archie finds Percival very suspicious - well done!  Jughead says that Percival inspired him to look up psychic abilities. Betty wants to know “What does Percival want with Riverdale?”  This very important question is left hanging.   Betty refuses Jughead’s very sensible suggestion that she abuse her FBI powers (which she does at will constantly) to throw Pickens in jail.   So Jughead then asks Archie to do violence unto Pickens.  Very surprisingly, Archie decides at this moment to grow both ethics and principles and says he can’t do that either because it would be “bad.”  Archie says  the better idea is to talk to their friends (they have friends??)  as some sort of partisan bulwark against Pickens.   Archie posits they now have ‘powers’ so they can protect Riverdale from Percival.  Jughead teases him with an X-Man reference which amuses Betty but Archie has never heard of Professor Xavier.  They start with Cheryl Blossom. This is AMAZING - that any of them think of her as a friend. 

Abigail/Cheryl is wearing Trinity’s  black latex outfit from The Matrix in her Gothic House, with Britta standing at attention behind her like a bodyguard. She claims to have not participated in the census because she was taking a “buttermilk bath.”   Like Wilbur?  Abigail openly mocks all three of them for the very dire way they discuss Percival.  Right behind her is her self portrait as a red fox head connected to a miniskirted young woman’s body. Why do these people never ask the right questions?     Abigail says that she’s still very upset about what happened to Abigail (Because she’s Abigail).   The thing is, the three of them don’t have friends because they have no idea how to make friends and appease people.  None of them can set aside the irritation they feel to get CherylAbigail to give them real information. 

Archie says “We’re the Good Guys” to which Abigail/Cheryl retorts, “Spoken like a true villain.”  This is very interesting that suddenly there’s a We.   As soon as they’re gone, Abigail tells Britta to bake arsenic scones. 

There’s a drive-by shooting at the Diner.  Tabitha, at her now once-firebombed once-shot up Diner, calls Toni to tell her that the white people are about to betray her and not even do her the courtesy of a farewell phone call.   But she overplays it- when Toni wonders aloud what Percival’s issue with her might be, Tabitha calls Toni “a pillar of the community and a threat.”  Ermm okay?  But is she?  Toni isn’t even a pillar of the Serpents (WHERE IS SWEET PEA, TONI?).   Toni is on her way.

Meanwhile!  The three are sitting across a big desk from Veronica  - Barchie are seated, with Jughead standing between them.  Veronica, as has always been her role ever since she moved to Riverdale that first time all those years ago, is the only one with any sort of useful information.  She shares with the other three what she’s found out about Percival. (Betty is still the worst law enforcement ever, because isn’t this information SHE could’ve also found out??) Veronica shares the suspicion she has that Percival caused that client to commit suicide in the casino. 

“Not that that makes sense. None of this makes sense.”

It makes me nervous when characters make comments like this in their own stories.  Archie never questioned why there was a bear that attacked him and how come he survived it and all the other outre things that happened to him, but I suppose invulnerability is a different deck of cards.  In any case, he really wants to know how Percival’s mind control works.   Jughead is still the only one who feels any sort of urgency about Pickens - beat him up! lock him up! something! - and Barchie  don’t share it.  Their continual third-wheeling of Jughead grates on me throughout this episode.

At the Town hall, Toni is fighting for her spot  on the City Council by saying what an exceptional person she is - long term resident, earned a college degree elsewhere, kept the high school open and is a counselor there, is a social worker, and a parents raising her kid in Riverdale.  Which is entirely beside the point - the attack she received was about being a Serpent, yet she doesn’t say a single thing about what the Serpents are, what good they do (if any) etc.   Toni just says she herself is a special person and doesn’t answer the question asked.   I don’t know if Percival necessarily had to do anything to get Toni voted off, mind-control-wise.  It’s the Serpents he’s attacking, and the Serpent Queen literally had nothing to say in defense of the Serpents.  

Back at the casino, Marty Mantle has lost $7K and Veronica has to go deal with it.

The three arrive late to the Town Meeting, only to be told by a very proud and pleased Alice that Toni was unanimously voted off the council, except for Tabitha’s vote. How exactly does voting work here?  It’s an open vote, and you can’t do it confidentially? And um, this is what happens when you shove Alice and Frank on the council, you three, so really, whose fault is it? 

At the casino, Marty Mantle asks Veronica Lodge to ‘float him’ $5K because his luck is about to turn, which Veronica refuses. 

To the tune of Baby Did a Bad Bad Thing, Cheryl/Abigail, in a red mini dress with a big red floofy heart on the torso and knee high red boots  is bringing a basket of poison treats, a Little Red Riding Hood metaphor turned inside out, and in slow motion to boot. I adore these slow mo entries of Cheryl’s (which are also now given to Abigail so this must be a Blossom thing).  Abigail/Cheryl seems very pleased by all the high school boys turning to look at her as she passes.  I suppose this is meant to indicate that she looks hot to them, but her dress is so very strange, so I wonder if that’s why they’re staring.  Archie has not read the internet treatise about being wary of women who bring treats for everyone else at the workplace but don’t partake, so he accepts the very poisonous-mushroom looking scones without question. (Kudos to the hawk eyed in the fandom who alerted us all that Archie misspelled distinction as destinction).  

Next victim - Abigail calls Jughead Jones Jug-Jug which she has never, ever done.  He’s looking particularly soft eating his home-made white-bread sandwich (What, no Tabitha- approved take out from Pop’s?) .  Jughead wipes his mouth on the back of his hand.  This Jughead-is-a-messy-eater thing is a post- time-jump development.  I am trying very hard not to think dirty thoughts about Jabitha.  

Betty can see the red homicidal intent radiating from Abigail, then runs to the rescue.  The show is very aware of the fandom battles, I’m sure, because of the choices they make.  Betty says, Jug! Archie! in that order, and then runs to Archie first. This is a little bait for everyone to get into it, should they so choose.  Archie’s mild irritation at the thought of being poisoned is hilarious.  He acts like Cheryl/ Abigail slashed his tires or something.  But in the very mild panic, both Betty and Archie take a really long time to remember that he is invulnerable (This technically means he’s immortal, then, surely?).   Betty yells at Jughead to stop eating, and the three convene in the (gender neutral?) bathroom so Jughead can ingest saltwater and vomit.

Fangs and Toni are talking over Serpent business in their apartment.  Toni wants to take the gang into being a political activist group.  “Like the Black Panthers.”  I suspect that in the same way none of the people who ran the Serpents knew what a gang was, Toni doesn’t know what a political activist group is either. Does she know what happened to the Black Panthers? Fangs doesn’t like it, says the Serpents won’t go for it, and is silent when Toni asks if they’re united on this.

That’s when Kevin, his dad, Percival and assorted deputies break down the door. Fangs has been keeping weapons in the apartment, a grave error which he compounds by shoving Kevin against the wall, leading to his arrest. In answer to the question “Kevin why are you doing this?” Kevin looks directly at Percival, then silently leaves.  To a weeping Toni, Fangs reveals to Toni the extent of her absolute failure as a leader of the Serpents, and his own incompetence as King - the Serpents want to fight, Fangs was with them on this stance but she had absolutely no idea what was going on.  I mean so that’s not new - this role used to be held by FP Jones, then Jughead Jones and Betty Cooper.  The Serpents cannot catch a break in terms of getting effective leadership.

Reggie comes home to Veronica, and Marty Mantle has lied.  He said he had a “blast” and didn’t mention the part where he begged for money from Veronica, so now she has to be the one to tell him.  Reggie is very defensive about Veronica’s concern.  I do not recall at this point why exactly Marty Mantle was in debt to Hiram Lodge - Sorry, I forgot that this debt existed at all - but I am assuming that it had to do with gambling, so Reggie is lying on behalf of an addict relative to his girlfriend.

Abigail tells Britta that her murder attempts failed this time, but she is trying to think of other ways. 

Barchie and Jughead are in the Jabitha apartment discussing the poisoning incident.  The two are standing, and Jughead looks squashed and small. Barchie suggest that Jughead go visit the person who tried to kill him that afternoon, and he agrees. 

Abigail brings Toni roses, so she can gather a bit of her blood and a lot of information.  Toni gives Abigail a very important hint about the Ghoulies wanting revenge on Archie.  

For these scenes with Abigail throughout this episode, we get a comic-book split screen effect to show us in close up the scones, then later, roses.  This is a curious choice, because Abigail is someone who just spells out her plans step by step in spoken dialogue, so these visual flourishes are merely stylistic indulgences.

Mantle father and son discuss Marty’s gambling addiction. He’s lost the car lot altogether to the “Wise Guys” because he participated in even worse gambling than what he was doing at the casino.  Marty asks for Reggie’s help.

Meanwhile, the social worker pays Toni a visit, saying exactly what she said to Toni-Vale in the Rivervale AU.  Toni has a flashback/ deja-vu to that exact scene, and in a replay, Baby Anthony is gone.  Toni keeps calling her own son Baby Anthony. 

THANK GOD FOR ABIGAIL. She’s dressed up like a Ghoulie (in red) and molotov cocktails Archie.

Tabitha and Betty have set up a citizen’s search group for Baby Anthony. Tabitha is wearing a blue leather (Pleather?) jacket that sort of echoes the Serpent Jacket.  Toni’s hair is loose, Tabitha’s hair is tied in a super neat bun.  While both Toni and Betty take a backseat, Tabitha starts to speak for the group, saying very Archie-esque things that are nonsense like “In Riverdale, we take care of our own.”   The only thing Betty knows how to do is canvass a grid - she used the exact same system to find TBK as she’s proposing to find a kidnapped baby. Even though the Serpent Queen has a declared enemy, nobody, not a single soul, thinks to bring in the Ghoulies to ask some questions.

Jughead listens on other people’s useless thoughts, but fortunately, Archie the Invulnerable is there to tell him and Betty about his adventure last night.  “It’s hard to mistake Cheryl, no matter what she’s wearing.”  TRUER WORDS WERE NEVER SPOKEN and look at Archie being extremely accurate!  Betty orders Jughead to go talk to Cheryl/ Abigail, with a very put-upon sounding ‘WILL YOU PLEASE NOW GO.”

Jughead is trying so hard with Barchie, with his little jokes, but the other two don’t even bother giving him a polite chuckle of acknowledgment.  Back at the apartment, he talked about waiting to get his  ‘sea legs’ because he’d chugged a glass of seawater. Nobody laughed.  Now, when he says, “I hope I don’t get killed”  they just stare at him.  Poor thing.

Reggie and Veronica fight about Marty Mantle’s problem, with a very unproductive Your Dad is Shittier Than My Dad approach.

Twyla Twyst, in the most studded jacket ever, is still giving off Bossy Mom of the PTA energy.  She calls Toni to tell her the most obvious thing - that she is the one with the baby.  Toni finally, finally just calls her son Anthony and not Baby Anthony.  Twyst invites Toni to a fight on the docks, while Toni cries a single tear down the cheek that’s getting the lighting in the shot.   Even though Tabitha tells Toni that this sounds like a bad idea (“I’m not comfortable with this”), Toni decides that she has to do exactly what the kidnapper says.  “This is how it works, and this is how it has to be.”   

Does the title of Serpent King/ Queen damage your reasoning capacity?  How else should I understand Toni’s inability to suspect an untrustworthy person and maybe imagine that some part of what is happening to her might be a trap? 

Reggie meanwhile visits the mobsters at the Italian restaurant, who are framed with the burning embers of hell in their fireplace.  Marty’s entire car lot was handed over to the mob for $100K.  These gangsters do not have an ongoing identity crisis (unlike the Serpents) so they refuse to talk business with Reggie until he proves that he knows (from his long association with Hiram Lodge, I suppose) how things are supposed to work. 

Jughead visits Britta.  Jughead can recognize a distressed child in peril, which I very much admire him for.  Britta has already been through so much weird shit that she absolutely accepts Jughead’s very bizarre claim to being able to ‘read’ her thoughts.  She tells him the entire murder-and-reincarnation plot, and BLESS Jughead again, because his immediate question after all this is to ask the distressed child in peril about her well being.   Britta nods affirmation that she should be OK, which is a very Jughead thing to do, and Jughead leaves into the night.

Tabitha overhears a deputy (Walker) talk about decimating the Serpents to Kevin at the Diner, and goes to confront him.  This is either extremely brave or foolhardy of her, I can’t tell.  Visually, we get an explanation for why she’s suddenly wearing this new blue (p)leather biker jacket - it’s biker /outlaw outfit like the Serpents, but blue, like the Sheriff’s uniform.  They fess up, so Tabitha calls Toni just in time to warn her of the impending massacre.  Toni having a smartphone and some sort of social media channel saves everyone’s lives (for now) but her stupidity in not suspecting Twyla, not asking Betty to look into the Ghoulies, and walking right into this trap is a decimation of her original character trait, which was to be The Smart One, and this makes me sad. 

Reggie and Veronica have a very chilly conversation wherein Reggie lies to Veronica about what’s going on with Marty.  

Jughead gets Barchie to help him deal with Cheryl.  He’s so completely out of the Serpents that it’s not even funny.  

Percival comes to gloat at Toni, who has been arrested.  Percival says all the Ghoulies are all dead, but for Twyla, and also that Anthony is safe and sound with his father. (Meaning Kevin).   So this is why Cheryl as mouthpiece for the show told us all not to ask who the sperm donor was - she said it was ‘gauche’ - so that Riverdale the show could fuck around like this. 

The Three, Britta and Nana Rose are burning Abigail once again. Betty calls a woman she’s about to set on fire a bitch, which.. why do they keep making Betty do this?  She doesn’t like men, much, but she also doesn’t like women.  While they’re doing this, Percival gets himself elected to the council.  Alice Cooper is just having the time of her life, running things.  Abigail’s soul leaves Cheryl’s body (and goes into a doll) and Cheryl is back. 

I’m getting a little obsessed with Tabitha’s outfits.  I have rarely seen her outside her Pop’s waitress uniform, so everything she wears appears ripe with meaning. So the next day, Kevin brings Anthony to see Toni, which I don’t care about, but Tabitha is in some sort of military/navy captain’s long coat type deal. It makes her look very tall, very powerful, in command.  Please? Can she do that please?  Toni still has her too-much-hair-for-her-tiny-frame giant mophead going on (understandable perhaps since she spent the night in jail) which puts the neat side-bun that Tabitha has going on in high relief.  Is that what they’re going for with these choices for hairdos? Kevin wants to take Anthony away from Toni, saying that he’s doing this in the best interests of the child.  He’s not wrong, is the thing.  Percival gloats at Toni.

We get an explanation for why Reggie is behaving in this strange way with his dad.  Marty Mantle has a year to live - I suppose he has a heart issue? - and the doctor says that he should try to make sure his father “enjoys what little time he’s got left.” So that’s what Reggie is doing - letting Marty do whatever he wants, because Reggie is very dumb, and he took those words literally.  This is why people should read difficult novels even if it’s daunting. That’s where you learn about nuance, about human nature, and about dying men’s obsession with legacy.  Marty Mantle is actually getting a severe, nasty form of punishment from his unknowingly passive-aggressive son that he raised to be a dumb, disconnected person - he only has a year left, and he’s being enabled to be the worst side of himself, frittering away all dignity, because he’s indulging in his addiction.   Reggie hates his dad in equal measure as he loves him, and so he’s committing a sin by doing this. 

Dr Curdle Jr calls Betty to tell her that twenty two Ghoulies all suicided.  I love Dr. Curdle Junior - he looks so much more freaked out by a mass suicide than he did by anything else he’s had to look at or do, including doing an acting gig pretending the not-dead Jughead Jones on his table was a corpse.  He, Cheryl, Britta and Nana Rose are the only ones bringing some joy into this episode. 

Cheryl keeps wearing these extremely top-heavy mini dresses that I don’t understand.  She lights a candle next to the cabinet they’re keeping the doll that now houses Abigail’s spirit (it’s been feminized out of respect for Abigail’s obsession with feminine beauty, which is kind of them). Cheryl says that it is their (hers, Nana Roses’ and also, for some reason, Britta’s) duty to keep the magic fire burning as a ward against Abigail’s resurgence. 

Now at the Andrews’ residence, Jughead is getting indirectly yelled at/ blamed by Archie for allowing Percival’s election to the council.  Jughead’s pointing out that they saves Cheryl gets a dismissive “Yeah, well” from Archie.  Archibald! That’s very mean!  Jughead asks if Percival wants to ‘take over’ Riverdale “like Hiram” to which Archie, who just doesn’t agree with anything Jughead says these days, says that Percival, unlike Hiram, wants to destroy it.  Except (a) they’re both wrong about Hiram - Hiram wanted very much to destroy Riverdale and (b) there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot to destroy.