The whole town shows up for Jason Blossom’s memorial on Riverdale’s “Chapter Five: Heart of Darkness.” And when the whole town gathers, drama quickly follows. Betty and Jughead, meanwhile, use this as an opportunity to investigate. Will Betty finally get answers about Jason and Polly?

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Will Cheryl Speak at Jason’s Memorial?

Riverdale’s “Chapter Five: Heart of Darkness” begins at Thorne Hill, the Blossoms’ mansion. The property has its own graveyard. And Cheryl’s feeling trapped there mourning. She’s been sleeping in Jason’s bed and having nightmares about him. Her mom walks in and says she can’t speak at his memorial because she’d only humiliate them. It’s pretty harsh.

Will Archie Choose Football or Music?

Fred walks in to see Archie working out. He’s overdoing it though. Since Ms. Grundy left, he’s left his music behind and is focusing on making captain of the football team and getting scholarships.

In the end, Archie and another student, Reggie are fighting it out to be captain. Betty accuses Archie of avoiding his feelings by focusing on football. Then the Pussycats’ drummer Val says she could find Archie another mentor, and Archie calls him.

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So Archie meets with the guy, Oscar. He says the first song he wrote was about Jason. Oscar is pretty intense. He doesn’t like that Archie plays football instead of just focusing on music and that Archie doesn’t have any sheet music. He demands he write out his songs by tomorrow.

Val helps Archie write his music down and Fred walks in on them. It’s pretty awkward. Archie also continues to struggle during football practice. He hurts his hand and Reggie says he should take it easy, but Archie refuses. Veronica notices his hurt hand after practice and helps him tape it up. He says his head wasn’t in the game because he was up so late with Val.

Archie then shows Oscar his sheet music, which he says is sloppy and rushed. He also says his songs are juvenile and repetitive. He doesn’t want to work with Archie. It’s pretty harsh.

Archie tells Val what happened, but Val’s not sympathetic. Music careers are hard and you have to work for it. Archie’s the only one standing in his way.

In the end, Archie makes it as captain of the football team, but he turns it down because he wants to focus on his music. Reggie deserves it more because he loves football more. Then he goes to work on his music with Val.

What Happened to Polly?

Kevin goes to Betty and Jughead to tell them about the break-in at his house. They stole a lot from Kevin’s dad’s murder board and they’re trying to recreate it. A kid name Trev interrupts though to confirm his date with Betty. Betty later tells Kevin, Jughead, and Veronica she just wants to get information out of him about Jason.

So Betty and Trev go out. A few months ago, Jason got all weird and secretive. They stopped hanging out, he wouldn’t call him back, and he started selling all his stuff and selling drugs. This all started after he and Polly started dating.

Later, Betty goes to talk to her dad. She says her mom won’t talk to her about Polly but she needs to know what happened. Jason and Polly apparently had a fight and Polly was devastated. He came home from work and heard the water running in the bathroom. Polly didn’t respond, so he kicked the door down. She was trying to hurt herself. They sent her away so she wouldn’t kill herself.

Betty tells Jughead about what happened to Polly. Her dad also told her Polly was doing better until she found out Jason died. Now the question is: Why was Jason selling drugs? Was he running away from her parents? And why? They needed to check out his house and bedroom to find the answers.

Betty later thinks she hears Polly, but it’s really her dad watching old home movies of her, which is really sad.

Can Veronica and Cheryl Be Friends?

Cheryl invites everyone to Jason’s memorial, but she’s pretty rude. Veronica says she wants to be friends, so Cheryl says to come to a sleepover the night before the memorial. She doesn’t want to spend the night before she buries her brother alone.

So Veronica goes to Cheryl’s house and her parents are super rude. Cheryl’s dad goes into detail about Veronica’s dad’s arrest, which is pretty cruel. And Cheryl’s mom brings up that Cheryl rowed Jason across the river to his death. It’s also pretty weird because Veronica’s the only one at this supposed slumber party.

So Veronica and Cheryl go to Cheryl’s room and look at old pictures of Jason. Veronica asks why Cheryl invited her instead of her BFFs. Veronica’s the only one who helped her at the pep rally. Cheryl says everything with Jason has been so public and people say Jason got what he deserved. She wants to publicly say that she’s sorry and that Jason deserved a better family than what he got. Veronica says she’ll help with her speech at the memorial, but Cheryl says her parents will kill her.

Is Hermione in Danger?

Fred, meanwhile, asks Hermione on another date, but she says they’re both married. He thought the drive-in was a date, but it wasn’t.

Later, Hermione works late at Pop’s and finds a snake in a box. It’s a message from the Southside Serpents! So Hermione calls Fred because he’s the only one she can trust. He asks how much money she owes, but she doesn’t want him to get more involved than he already is.

The Memorial

The sheriff goes to the Blossom’s house and they explain they invited the whole town to the memorial because they think one of them killed Jason. They want to investigate them. Cheryl overhears and gets really upset.

Finally, it’s time for the memorial. The whole town’s there and it’s the perfect time for Betty and Jughead to investigate. Mrs. Blossom’s pissed that Hermione showed up. Archie also gives Mrs. Blossom Jason’s jersey and she gets weird touching his hair and saying how similar he is to Jason. Betty also notices Mr. Blossom whispering suspiciously to Mr. Cooper.

Finally, Cheryl shows up dressed in all white. It’s nuts. And she gives her speech in spite of her parents. She says she was wearing that dress the last time she saw Jason. Even though they were twins, she wanted her own birthday party. One year Jason demanded that they have them together. She finally learned it was because nobody wanted to go to her party. He protected her and she feels like they failed in protecting him. Eventually, Veronica has to go up and comfort Cheryl and her mom takes over and says it’s time for supper.

Did Betty’s Dad Kill Jason?

While everyone’s mingling, Fred and Hermione run into each other and Fred offers Hermione a job to help her out. Betty and Jughead, meanwhile, sneak away to Jason’s room, but the Blossoms’ grandmother is sitting there, which is terrifying. She thinks Betty is Polly, so Betty pretends to be her. Grandma notices that “Polly” is not wearing “the ring” and tells her not to tell Mrs. Blossom she gave it to her. So, Jason and Polly were engaged.

Mrs. Blossom, meanwhile, screams at Cheryl and Veronica overhears the commotion. Mrs. Blossom says that Cheryl can’t be in the River Vixens anymore and that she’d ship her off to boarding school, but nobody wants her.

Betty goes home and asks her dad if he knew about the engagement. He did. She asks what he and Mr. Blossom were talking about. He says they were arguing because Cheryl’s great grandfather murdered her great grandfather. They were in business together selling and trading maple syrup but Mr. Blossom didn’t want to share the profits. So they didn’t approve of Polly and Jason’s relationship because the families hate each other. Jason then made Polly sick and she isn’t coming home until she isn’t sick anymore.

After the memorial, Veronica also tells her mom that being with the Blossoms made her realize how lucky she is to have her as her mom. So Hermione tells her about what happened at Pop’s.

In the end, the Blossoms finally bury Jason. Jughead, meanwhile, says that if Betty’s parents lied about Polly, they could be lying about something else. Her dad says he would do anything to save Polly. How far would he go? Someone who wasn’t at the drive-in had to be the one to break into the sheriff’s house. Mr. Cooper wasn’t there. Would he break into the sheriff’s house? Did he kill Jason? Betty needs to talk to Polly.

Riverdale airs on Thursday nights at 9/8 c. on the CW. Like BuddyTV’s Facebook page!

(Image courtesy of the CW)


Robin Lempel

Contributing Writer, BuddyTV