Riverdale S04E15 Review: To Die For – More questions than answers…By Salome G| March 5, 2020 TV Blogs Well, well, well. After all that subterfuge and the weirdness last week, the remaining Core Four are arrested for the “cold-blooded murder”–love the editorializing, FP–of Jughead. We get to see a lot of it from Alice’s point-of-view, as she’s capitalizing on the tragedy by making a documentary, Murder in a Small Town, about it. (Fun fact: Mädchen Amick is billed as the director of an upcoming episode this season.) One of the things we find out immediately is how Betty got into Yale. If you’ll recall, we’ve seen a flash-forward to her cleaning out Jughead’s room, and Bret mentioning her acceptance. Well, there was an unexpected opening, thanks to her boyfriend’s untimely death, so she was admitted. Anyway, if you’ve listened to true crime podcasts, particularly those about open cases, then you know that cops are usually cagey when it comes to discussing them. Not FP, though. He’s just free as a bird, talking about the case in-depth with Alice. Should he maybe have recused himself, considering that the murder victim is his own son? Yes, absolutely. But forget it, Salome–it’s Riverdale. And until Mayor Hiram encourages him to take a leave of absence, FP is still investigating this case. He even goes so far as to follow up on an “anonymous tip” he supposedly received that Donna has something of Jughead’s in her room. What? That was the tip? Just “Donna has something that belongs to Jughead”? That could be anything–his chem notes, a pen she borrowed, etc. But, of course, it’s not. It’s a Quill & Skull pin. Betty put it there for…reasons. Listen, I don’t really understand this plan. But let’s just cut to the chase: Jughead is very much alive. Unfortunately for me, and to a certain extent, him, he’s been hiding out in the World’s Foulest Bunker. Donna, though, doesn’t buy any of this. She can’t get real proof, though. Even though the rock the police found turned out to be covered in fake blood, leading to the release of the remaining Core Four, that’s not enough. First, she attends Jughead’s funeral, goading Bret to open the casket. And even though we know he is definitely probably not dead, what a ghoul. She also follows Betty to the bunker, but only catches her in an apparent tryst with Archie. (Again, I don’t get why the fake Barchie moments were part of the plan, but whatever.) Jughead was in the bunker, but he was hiding underneath the cot. (Gah.) Donna, of course, didn’t see him, but she did notice something. As she rages to Bret later, Betty entered the bunker with an order from Pop’s. The number of burgers is no big deal–Archie is a growing boy–but there were three milkshakes. I still don’t see that as a smoking gun, though. There are easy explanations for why there would be three. Maybe Archie wanted both strawberry and vanilla and they had three straws because he doesn’t want to mix the flavors. But Donna is on a mission now and she’s determined to prove that she’s right. And don’t get in her way. After all, she (maybe) killed Jonathan, whoever that is. (I still don’t know.) However, she’s not the only one who can dig up dirt. Hermosa, for some reason, stops bickering with Veronica long enough to help her out. She finds something on Donna that threatens to be a real jaw-dropper. We, of course, don’t know what that is yet, but I just hope it’s worth the suspense. It probably won’t be, but we can always hope. So, who all knew about the plan and when did they know it? Don’t know. Why did Hermosa do the investigating when Betty and Jughead’s mutual brother is an FBI agent? Don’t know. Why did Jughead fake his death to begin with? Lord, I do not know. And what were the videotapes–are they ever going to mention those again? Please let me know peace. 7/10 – While I’m glad that they didn’t drag out the is-he-or-isn’t-he regarding Jughead’s death, the execution left a lot to be desired. Which side of this mortal coil Jughead was on was never in question, but everything else was and still is.
