Riverdale Review: Chapter Forty-One: Manhunter (Season 3 Episode 6)
On Riverdale Season 3 Episode 6, “Chapter Forty-One: Manhunter,” Archie, Kevin, and Veronica all search for proof of Archie’s innocence. Betty confronts the parents of Riverdale in an attempt to figure out who is a murderer.
“Chapter Forty-One: Manhunter” feels like a scene out of the movie Clue (only far better and darker). Did Daryl Doiley kill Featherhead in the bathroom with cyanide, or was he poisoned by Penelope Blossom?
There’s a whole lot of finger-pointing during this episode, and it’s safe to assume that the most obvious suspects are the least likely to be guilty.
It’s still hard to contemplate that yet another Riverdale parent is a murdering psychopath, and none of them really have any motive since reviving Gryphons and Gargoyles puts their own children at risk.
Now that viewers have seen the gaggle of Gargoyles, and Archie and Jughead appear to be heading to the infamous Farm (along with Alice), we might finally get some clues on how these two storylines — which have diverged just enough to throw us off track — might come back together.
Who else but a group of brainwashed cultists would be doing ceremonial rituals in the woods at night? That scene is awfully reminiscent of the “BBQ” Betty encountered in her own backyard.
It’s also impossible to ignore that the arrival of the “Farmies” coincides with the reemergence of the Gargoyle King.
It is Edgar’s idea to send Betty off to the Sisters of Quiet Mercy where in addition to a laundry list of other atrocities, the inhabitants are playing … G&G.
The Serpents search for Joaquin is a less compelling subplot, especially since he offers up no useful information other than implicating Hiram. We can safely rule out the mob boss because Hiram is utterly believable when he dismisses the whole G&G thing as the work of some über nerd.
For two experienced sleuths, Betty and Jughead are making some pretty amateur moves by confronting all these would-be killers. And do they really expect any member of the Midnight Club to just come right out and confess?
Riverdale is doing a great job of weaving an intricate tale with so many cooks in the kitchen, it’s hard to say who’s in charge. The parents of Riverdale are a shady bunch, but it feels like their cover-ups are due to a lack of information as opposed to knowing too much.
In an attempt to not implicate themselves, they’ve continued playing the game all these years. Yes, FP shows up, and the Gargoyle King vanishes.
But fans of the movie Scream will likely recognize this as a nice little Easter egg since Skeet Ulrich made a similar entrance as Sidney Prescott’s homicidal boyfriend, Billy Loomis.
FP does seem more on edge than the other parents (burning the manual, handcuffing his son to the fridge, his perceived slip of the tongue about seeing the Gargoyle King on Ascension Night), but it would be unbearably tragic to find out Alice’s taste in men leans towards sociopaths, and that Jughead and Betty both have serial killers as fathers.
What did you think of this episode of Riverdale? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Riverdale airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on The CW.
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Jennifer Lind-Westbrook
Jennifer has been working as a freelance writer for six years, contributing to BuddyTV, Screen Rant, TVRage, Hidden Remote, Gossip On This, and PopMatters. She prefers binge-watching old episodes of The Office (British and American versions) to long walks on the beach. She's still holding out hope that Happy Endings will get a revival.