Liam Hoofe reviews the sixth episode of Riverdale season 2…
Black Hoods, Red Circles, Southside Serpents, and now Sugarmen. Riverdale season 2 has seen a fair bit of expansion this season and episode 6 may just be season 2’s most audacious offering so far.
The episode picked up with Betty desperately trying to save Nick St Clair after she gave his name to The Black Hood at the end of the last episode. As it turns out, though, The Black Hood has no interest in harming someone from out of town, instead, he wants Betty to find out who the mysterious ‘Sugarman’ is – the town’s largest drug supplier. The Sugarman, it transpires through the episode, is something of an urban legend, an identity that has been passed on discreetly from one man to the next, for decades, while successfully hiding in the shadows and evading capture. Sounds perfectly achievable, right?. Of course, Betty, seemingly just forgetting that The Black Hood has been watching her every move over the last few weeks, instantly reconciles with Veronica and recruits her in her quest.
The town’s current drug of choice, Jingle Jangle, is also at the centre of the ongoing war between the two sides of the city, and this week it turns out that there is dissension among the ranks of The Southside Serpents. Tall-Boy, FP’s right-hand man is trying to unite between the Serpents and their rivals, The Ghoulies, during these times of war. Jughead, sensing that this is only going to lead to trouble, goes to prison to get some advice from his father, FP. In true, Riverdale fashion, FP suggests the only logical solution to this situation – an illegal drag race between his son and The Ghoulies, to determine who should control the Southside.
Of course, Jughead takes Archie along with him, and then, following a scene from the 1950s the two gangs get racing. Only, Archie has other plans, and The Ghoulies are ambushed by the police after Archie stops Jughead’s car mid-race. Naturally, this creates further conflict, with Jughead warning Archie that when The Ghoulies inevitably return to the streets, they will be looking for Archie’s head on a stick. Following The Red Circle fiasco, you do have to wonder why anybody would take the slightest piece of advice from Archie, or, even worse, let him get involved when there are such high stakes. The only sequence of events, though, was highly amusing, especially seeing Cheryl and Betty get involved in the racing – who knew Betty was such a gifted mechanic? This show is full of surprises.
Back to ‘The Sugarman’ now though, and it turns out that Penelope (who, I must say, has recovered awfully quick from those burns), Cheryl’s wicked mother happens to know the identity of ‘The Sugarman’ due to her husband doing business with him for a number of a years before his death. After a long, heartfelt conversation about her mother not caring for her well-being, Cheryl finally convinces her mother to share his identity with her. And, who’d have thought it? Turns out ‘The Sugarman’ was Jughead’s teacher/editor. The episode ends with him being sent to prison, and, after Betty revealing his identity in the paper, and not to The Black Hood, the killer decides to put a bullet in him anyway.
The final few scenes in this episode were full of moments that have implications heading forward. First of all, we got The Black Hood killing The Sugarman, then we got the reveal that Betty is now going to track down and ‘end’ The Black Hood, before she revealed all to Jughead, reuniting the show’s most popular couple in the process, and finally, the best reveal of all, was that Hiram had seemingly orchestrated an accident involving the St Clairs after Veronica revealed to her father earlier in the episode that Nick had tried to sexually assault her. Hiram has been one of the best additions to the show this season, and watching him slowly turn his daughter towards the dark side is a joy to watch. It was also a nice reminder that in a town overrun with criminal activity, Hiram is still the most dangerous man in Riverdale.
Death Proof was Riverdale at its finest. Chocked full of utterly ridiculous, yet equally entertaining moments, it shifted the season’s focus from The Black Hood and onto the ensuing civil war that is currently consuming the city. Betty’s promise to find The Black Hood is no doubt going to lead to his reveal in the comings weeks and I, for one, can’t wait to see what next week has in store for us.
SEE ALSO: Trailer and promo for Riverdale Season 2 Episode 7 – ‘Tales from the Darkside’
What did you think of ‘Death Proof’? Let us know in the comments below, and let Liam know on Twitter @liamhoofe
