Riverdale Review: Chapter Forty-Three: Outbreak (Season 3 Episode 8)

The battle for Riverdale and all of its inhabitants reaches a fever pitch on Riverdale Season 3 Episode 8, “Chapter Forty-Three: Outbreak,” as Jughead and Archie find the other Jones’, Betty stages an escape, and Hiram makes his move to take over the entire town. 

With every episode of Riverdale Season 3, it becomes more and more apparent that everything is connected, but this mid-season finale leaves us with more questions than answers. 

We’ve known of Gladys and Jellybean as early as Riverdale Season 1, and on “Chapter Forty-Three: Outbreak” they finally make their first appearance. Jellybean, now JB,  has only been here for about 20 minutes, but I would already fight anyone who tries to cross her–though if her skill with a slingshot is any indication, she doesn’t need my help. 

JB: Drop the butterknife bitch. 

Gladys Jones, on the other hand, is half trouble, half everything I ever dreamed. She’s every inch the exact counterpart to FP Jones that one would expect. They almost seem like two halves of the same person, with similar patterns of behavior and parenting, yet different priorities that would lead to the clashing and toxicity that we know drove them apart. 

She is a combination of protective, motherly instincts and pure venom. 

Penny: That was business between me and him.

Gladys: Yeah well I’m his mama, so it’s between me and you now. 

Gina Gershon brings an irresistible quality to Gladys Jones that makes it as impossible to dislike her as it is impossible to trust her. She is the type of mother who would seemingly kill to keep her son safe, but also one who left him behind with no real plans to ever go back.  

She does the right thing in the end and reunites the boys with their fathers. JB isn’t exactly too keen on seeing her dad again but hopefully, 2019 holds all sorts of new stories for the Jones family. 

FP: Can I get a hug?

JB: Can I get a dad?

FP clearly loves his family and has mentioned getting them all back together since as long as we’ve known him, but he’s certainly gotten his act together without Gladys in the picture. Will he be able to mend his broken family and keep his relationship with Alice (and save her from the farm cult)?

Meanwhile, back at the Sisters of Quiet Mercy, Betty has immediately found a new way to get what she wants, even after her visit with the Gargoyle King left her seemingly broken on the previous episode. 

Alice sending Betty to the Sisters also immediately turns out to have only been an expositional plot device to allow Betty to get important story information. Riverdale would be a much better show if it relied on character consistency to move the story forward rather than sacrificing character development for the sake of fast-tracking certain information. 

Nonetheless, it’s fun to watch Betty outsmart everyone at the Sisters of Quiet Mercy, make Ethel tolerable, and openly mock The Gargoyle King by crowning herself The Gryphon Queen. 

Betty: Monsters don’t scare me and neither do you.

If Betty can break the spell The Gargoyle King has over a bunch of brainwashed orphans, then surely she can do the same for her own family. Will she infiltrate the Farm in the next part of her investigation? Can Betty use her expert sleuthing skills to bring the whole game down?

When all hell (aka Hiram Lodge’s evil plans) breaks loose at Riverdale High, Cheryl and Veronica team up to take on their truly dastardly parents. 

Individually, both Cheryl and Veronica are no strangers to facing-off with their parents, and together they make an even more powerful team. And you definitely don’t want to cross either of them when they’re fired up. Which is exactly what they are after a mass seizure hits the Vixens right before the annual pep rally. 

Cheryl has come a long way since Riverdale Season 1, and it’s truly so heartwarming to see her in a place where she can not only stand up to her own villains but fight them for the people that she loves too. 

Cheryl: You messed with my squad, which means you messed with me.

She’s also not buying Penelope’s fake seizure (and neither am I) nor giving her any sympathy for the show. 

Veronica is slowly getting better at not announcing her every plan to her enemies. And while she’s beaten Hiram once or twice, he’s playing a much bigger game and can see all of the moving pieces, which puts him two steps ahead of Veronica at any given moment. 

As hard as she tries to distance herself from him, Veronica is continually pulled back into Hiram’s clutches. In her heart and in her head, she knows that Hiram is practically the devil incarnate, but he’s also still her father. It takes a lot more work to cut someone toxic out of your life when they’re your own flesh and blood. 

Veronica: What do you really want, daddy?

Hiram: What every king wants, a kingdom. And a legacy. 

While Veronica and Cheryl are drowning Penelope in cheap maple syrup, Hermione is drowning in an inability to stand up against her husband. Will she ever come to her senses and see that he’s irredeemable?

Now that Riverdale has been quarantined what comes next for those we love who are trapped on either side of the barricade? Will Veronica be able to challenge her father from the inside? How will Jughead and FP handle being kept away from their home and the women they love? Will Cheryl and Toni redecorate now that they’re going to live together?

OTHER THOUGHTS:

• Moose and Kevin are using fizzle rocks. I feel like that’s going to lead to some real trouble for those two.
• Jellybean is officially my favorite Jones. Sorry FP.
• Does Gladys still love FP? I can’t wait to see what happens when Gladys and Alice come face to face, bring me all the angst and drama you have Riverdale. Bring it on.  
• CHERYL AND TONI, CHERYL AND TONI, CHERYL AND TONI. That’s it, that’s the bullet point.
• Gladys assuming Jughead and Archie are a couple is iconic and beyond reproach. 
• Did Gladys kill Penny Peabody? That was a lot of blood on her hands and some pretty ominous language too. Just how dangerous is Mrs. Jones?
• Archie is still on the run but we all know he can’t stay away for long. Also, how is he going to feed Vegas out there in the wilderness? How is he going to feed himself in the wilderness? Jughead was the one that packed juice boxes!
• Why was Cheryl the only Vixen not to have a seizure? Is Penelope growing something in her garden to cause them? Is she in cahoots with the Evernevers? Who were somehow nowhere to be found for the most recent round of seizures.
• My money is still on Hiram Lodge being The Gargoyle King. Who do you think the masked monster is? Let me know in the comments! 

 

What did you think of this episode of Riverdale? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Riverdale returns Wednesday, January 16th at 8/7c on The CW.

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