In the Riverdale recap, Archie and the gang perform ‘Carrie: The Musical’ and the production turns bloody by the end…
By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer
The Riverdale musical episode had been teased all season long and the moment finally arrived on Wednesday night — and it did not disappoint.
Musical episodes have become a popular idea lately with The Flash doing one last season and now Riverdale jumping on board with this episode based around Carrie: The Musical — a much lesser known production but it somehow fit perfectly for the themes playing out on Riverdale this season.
It didn’t hurt that Riverdale creator and show runner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa actually wrote the Carrie remake in 2013.
When we last left the Riverdale gang, Archie was getting drawn deeper and deeper into his relationship with the Lodge family while Jughead and Betty were lashing out at Veronica after she lied to them for months about what her family was up to on the southside. Meanwhile, Alice finally kicked Chic to the curb and a mayoral race was heating up between Hermoine Lodge and Fred Cooper.
All of those stories played some part during the Riverdale musical episode but the end is what really amped things up for the final few episodes of the season as the Black Hood made his ominous and bloody return with another character meeting their demise this week.
With that said, let’s recap the latest episode of Riverdale titled ‘Chapter Thirty-One: A Night to Remember’…
The Gang’s All Here
With Kevin Keller as director, all the parts are in their places as casting is finished and rehearsals have begun. Cheryl Blossom will play Carrie White — the lead role albeit a tragic one — with the rest of the gang settling into their roles almost perfectly to what’s happening in their current storylines on the show. Veronica plays privileged bully Chris Hardensen while Chuck Clayton — in an attempt to reform himself — plays her boyfriend Billy Nolan. Archie plays the boy next door in Tommy Ross while Betty plays his girlfriend and the good girl Sue Snell.
Alice Cooper even gets to play a part — despite the fact that she’s not a teacher or student — as she portrays Carrie’s overtly religious and abusive mother Margaret.
As for Jughead, he doesn’t sing or dance but he’s happy to play documentarian to film a behind the scenes look at how this musical comes together.
After Cheryl belts out a tune to prove she’s fit for the lead role, a sandbag nearly falls on her head, which leads Kevin to reveal to Jughead that he received a threatening note in his locker. The letter said to get rid of Cheryl as the lead role in the musical or she would die and the note was signed by the Black Hood.
Now everybody in town believes the Black Hood is dead so Kevin does his best to try and play this off as some kind of bad prank but it concerns Jughead enough that he turns to Betty to let her know what’s happening as well. Jughead suspects that perhaps Ethel Muggs is behind the note considering she was made to play Carrie White, yet she was never even considered for the lead role.
When confronted with that theory, Ethel lashes out by telling Jughead and Betty that she may be jealous that Cheryl is in the lead role but she would never resort to violence to solve her problems.
Despite the ongoing threat, the musical moves forward with everybody working through their issues via the magic of song.
Betty and Veronica clash over the secrets that were kept during the Lodge family takeover on the southside but the two friends eventually come back together thanks to a gentle judge from Archie.
Cheryl apologizes to Josie after quietly stalking her while figuring out her own sexual orientation and they put the past behind them.
As for Alice, she makes an attempt to reach out to F.P. Jones to join her at the musical but he brushes her off, which only sends her into an even deeper depression about all the people that seem to leave her these days. She even makes a tearful call to her son Chic, who has refused to speak to her ever since she kicked him out of the house.
That leads to an emotional song from Alice that ends with a plea to her daughter Betty to promise to never leave her.
Betty tries to prove to her mother that fences can be mended when she invites her father Hal over to the house as he pleads with his ex-wife to let him return home again. Alice comes clean that Chic isn’t his son but Hal already knew that from the day the troubled kid showed up at their house. Hal is willing to move forward and Alice agrees so the Cooper family is reunited.
Father of Mine
The one conflict that isn’t solved by song this week is the ongoing feud between Fred Andrews and the Lodge family, especially where Archie is concerned.
Archie accepted a car as a gift from Hiram Lodge in the last episode but he’s still keeping that a secret from his father. He even asks to park the cark at the hotel where Veronica lives just until he figures out a way to tell Fred about the gift.
Meanwhile, Hermoine is concerned that Fred might actually pose a real threat to her in the upcoming mayoral election so Hiram decides to do everything in his power to widen the gap between Archie and his father to ensure he keeps at least one Andrews on their side. Unfortunately, Hiram overplays his hand when he leaks to Fred about the car he bought Archie and that finally leads to the red-headed doof waking up to see what’s happening.
Archie ends up returning the car to Hiram and warning him to stop trying to come between him and his father or that will not end well for him.
To help rebuild the relationship with his father, Archie sells some of his musical equipment to then buy an old beat down junker that he hopes to rebuild alongside Fred so he can earn his first car the right way.
There Will Be Blood
The threats against the musical continue after Kevin gets a second note signed from the Black Hood that promises to do away with Cheryl Blossom if the role of Carrie isn’t recast. Kevin considers the request but ultimately decides to leave Cheryl where she’s at because there’s no way this could be the real Black Hood.
Sadly, Cheryl is forced out of the musical anyways after her mother Penelope refuses to allow her to remain in the role in some ‘matricidal fantasy’ with all students requiring parental permission to participate.
With Cheryl out, Kevin turns to her backup Midge to fill the role of Carrie White.
As for Cheryl, she decides to exact her revenge by actually living out a night as Carrie White when she shows up at home wearing the prom dress she was expected to use during the musical before pouring a bucket of blood over her head.
Cheryl then shows up in the dark of night, candelabra in hand, as she warns her mother than her blood will be the next spilled in his house if she doesn’t sign emancipation papers. Cheryl intends on taking her rightful place as the head of the Blossom family with plans on living with Nana Rose in Thistlehouse. Remember, Cheryl was supposed to be the sole heir of Clifford Blossom’s fortune, which is why Penelope and her brother-in-law Claudius seemed to want her to go away permanently.
Opening Night
The whole town is buzzing for opening night at Carrie: The Musical as the crowd arrives for the show.
F.P. shows up in hopes of connecting with Alice but then finds her back together with Hal. Jughead stumbles upon Ethel’s dressing room where he finds cut up magazines with letters missing, which would match the note left by the Black Hood threatening to do away with the actress playing Carrie White.
Kevin finds Fangs in Midge’s dressing room just before the show is about to start while Moose is irate about something that just happened as he storms through the backstage area.
And of course Chic Cooper shows up thanks to an invite from Betty so he can see his mother and sister in their breakout roles in the musical.
All that aside, the musical finally starts but just as Alice wraps up a big number, the set is lifted from the stage and they find Midge, stabbed to death and pinned to the wall by a knife with a note written in blood surrounding the body.
“I am back from the dead. All those who escaped me before will die.” ~ signed B.H.
The Black Hood is back and Midge is his first unsuspecting victim. Of course all signs point towards Chic Cooper as the culprit as he’s been the prime suspect since before the first guy got caught.
With only a few episodes left to go this season, Riverdale will kick into high gear next week as the search for the Black Hood begins again as the sleepy little village will once again transform into the town that dreaded sundown.
Riverdale returns with a new episode next Wednesday night at 8pm ET on the CW.
