This episode of Riverdale focuses on the relationship between Archie Andrews (KJ Apa) and Reggie Mantle (Charles Melton). They start the day together with a pre-dawn warm up run before the sun rises.
Julian Blossom is in a coma. His whole car full of Riverdale Bulldogs would all be dead if it wasn’t for Reggie, who saved them all. Meanwhile, Clifford Blossom blames Reggie. He wants Reggie off the team and tells Coach Uncle Frank so right in front of Reggie.
Sheriff Keller interviews Ethel Muntz over the body of the dead Milkman. Ethel killed him on last week’s Riverdale. Keller says this answers all the questions, but Jughead (Cole Sprouse) says this just brings up more questions, as in who is the Milkman? Keller wants to bring Ethel back to the Sisters of Quiet Mercy. Ethel refuses. Keller says she needs to be under the supervision of an adult. Jughead calls Archie’s mom. They’re full up houseguests though, considering both Uncle Frank and Reggie have moved in, so Alice Cooper offers to host Ethel again.
Archie calls Reggie a hero, but Reggie says he isn’t. He saved the other Bulldogs because if he let them drown, everyone would have blamed Reggie. If Clifford has his way, everyone in Riverdale still will blame Reggie.
Betty (Lili Reinhart) offers to walk Ethel to school, but Alice says she’ll drive Ethel to school. No car ride for Betty though. Betty complains to Veronica (Camila Mendes), who then tells Betty about her parents locking her out of her own apartment. Betty offers to help Veronica break back in B&E style.
Archie’s English teacher reads a poem, Phantom, written by a student she won’t name. Though it’s immediately obvious that Archie wrote it, except to Kevin (Casey Cott), who thought Clay (Karl Walcott) wrote it. The teacher then outs Archie as the writer. He’s embarrassed, but everyone loved the poem.
Uncle Frank names nepobaby Archie as team captain while Julian recovers. In private later, Archie tells Uncle Frank that Reggie would make a better team captain. Uncle Frank says it was Clifford Blossom’s wish, and warns Archie not to cross Clifford. He gives Archie his dad’s team captain’s patch, which Archie reluctantly accepts.
Sheriff Keller bills the Milkman as a drifter. Jughead doesn’t buy it. Why kill Ethel’s parents, Brad Raybury and then try to kill Ethel? Shouldn’t the drifter have drifted on down the road after the first killing? Also what drifter dresses so impeccably? Principal Featherhead and Dr. Werthers aren’t hearing any discussion on the matter though. They’re all too happy to just blame it all on comics.
Betty easily picks the lock at the Pembroke. Veronica is back in her apartment! Sleepover party!
Cheryl (Madelaine Petsch) is upset that the basketball season is allowed to continue while Julian is in the hospital. Cheryl refuses to cheer while Julian is in the hospital but Clifford threatens to do to her worse than what happened to Julian if she doesn’t.
Clay and Kevin join Veronica and Betty at the Pembroke for a bubble filled party. They all sing and dance to Wash that Man Right Out of My Hair while enjoying rum cocktails. Betty and Kevin both agree they’re having more fun now than when they were dating. Betty tells them about kissing Archie on Halloween but trails off before getting into detail.
Veronica wants some literal locker room gossip, namely “who is packing the most heat?” Kevin says “Both Archie and Reggie have a lot to be proud of.” But to the girl’s surprise, it’s Dilton Doiley with the biggest sausage. The next day at the Riverdale pep rally, Dilton notices both Veronica and Betty checking him out in the stands. Betty, Veronica, Clay and Kevin are all in sunglasses. That rum hit hard.
Cheryl half-enthusiastically invites Archie to speak at the pep rally. We don’t hear Archie’s speech, but Mrs. Thornton, the English teacher, compliments him after.
Mr. Fieldstone tells Ethel and Jughead that he’ll let them do a comic on whatever they want. When Ethel says she wants to do a sequel to the Milkman, he says anything but that.
Stonewall Prep steal Peppy the Riverdale Bulldog mascot statue! Archie is ready to fight but Reggie says to save it for the game. Bret Weston Wallace (Sean Depner) (remember him?) hurls some insults at the Bulldogs before driving off with the Bulldog statue.
That night, Reggie gives the Riverdale Bulldogs a rundown on the Stonewall starters. This talk just makes Archie think more that Reggie should be team captain. Reggie doesn’t care if he’s captain or not though, he just wants to win and keep winning. Archie admits to basketball not being his passion. When Reggie asks what is his passion, he just says, “You wouldn’t believe it if I told you.”
Despite what Fieldstone said, Ethel starts sketching another Milkman story. Ethel wants to tell her story.
Betty and Veronica share stories of parental woe. Betty says she feels so different from everyone else in her family and sometimes feels adopted. Veronica tells her that if she was adopted, then her family is the luckiest on Earth. Veronica admits to feeling like an unplanned mistake and that her parents resent her for it. The two girls make a pact to never be like their parents as they get older. Betty says that Kevin and Clay are the happiest couple she knows. Betty cites a study that says 81% of girls experiment with other girls before they turn 18. Immediately saxophone music begins playing in the background. When Betty admits to having pictured herself kissing Veronica, Veronica offers the real thing. Before they can kiss, Smithers and Mrs. Andrews interrupt. Mrs. Andrews ratted them out after Veronica had some dresses in her shop delivered to the Pembroke. You should have walked out with the dresses yourself, Ronnie.
Julian wakes from his coma while Cheryl visits.
Mrs. Andrews is shocked to find out that Alice told Betty “I’m not your mother anymore” and that Veronica’s folks evicted her via telegram. She says she will personally fix things. How?
Back at home, Cheryl overhears her father and Principal Featherhead talking about replacing Reggie with a new ringer, KO Kelly from Boston. Cheryl fills Archie in the next day, who lets Reggie know. Reggie rightly assumes the new ringer “is a few shades lighter than” he is. Reggie still wants to lead the Bulldogs to the championship. He has Archie’s full support.
Mrs. Andrews lectures Alice about motherhood. Alice reacts with a lot of eyeball rolling. But it works. Alice delivers dresses to Betty, and Veronica is reinstated at the Pembroke.
Mr. Fieldstone loves Ethel and Jughead’s workaround of the Milkman, the Mailman. Still, Fieldstone is worried about the reaction of folks like Featherhead and Werthers. But Jughead says let’s thumb our noses at them. Fieldstone is all in.
Archie brings the Riverdale Bulldogs to Clifford Blossom’s doorstep, saying they’re not going to let him replace Reggie. They give Mr. Blossom an ultimatum. If they don’t make Reggie captain immediately, they all walk. Mr. Blossom says he doesn’t take kindly to theaters, but he gives in…for now.
Betty gets a late night call from Veronica just as she was about to call her. They miss each other. They tell each other “I love you,” and Veronica asks her out to the big game against Stonewall. I like Veronica and Betty as a couple even more than I liked Veronica and Jughead.
Before the game starts, Frank asks the team captain to speak. It’s Reggie. He thanks the team for having his back. He lets them know his folks are in the audience. Archie says let’s win it for Reggie’s folks. They all slap the Riverdale Bulldogs B on the way out the door like it’s Friday Night Lights. So much of this season of Riverdale seems to borrow from Friday Night Lights, down to the instrumental music that plays during the game.
Reggie and the Bulldogs dominate Stonewall Prep. Reggie immediately cements himself as team captain. He was the MVP of the game and broke school records. Archie gives Reggie a gift after the game: his dad’s captain patch. Reggie is touched, and promises to give it back at the end of the season.
Jughead narrates that a storm is coming soon though, and that it will smash them all to pieces. Yoinks!
