Riverdale Season 3 Finale Review: Chapter Fifty-Seven: Survive the Night (Season 3 Episode 22)
On Riverdale Season 3 Episode 22, “Chapter Fifty-Seven: Survive the Night,” some mysteries are solved while fans get a sneak peek at more grisly secrets to come.
Viewers are rewarded for their patience after trudging through the lackluster back half of season 2. Riverdale fails to completely redeem itself, but there are some promising reasons to forgive the writers for a season full of more holes than a termite infested Thornhill.
At long last, the identity of the original Gargoyle King is revealed, and it’s Penelope. She’s the one who introduces G&G to the Midnight Club, and she’s the one who dusts it off for the next generation. All is revealed in an Agatha Christie-like set up which is likely to go unappreciated or undetected by most of Riverdale’s audience.
Penelope is a viper, and her maternal instincts are inconsistent and twisted. But Penelope’s motives are pretty weak for executing such a diabolical, long-term plan. She’s holding a grudge because A) a bunch of high school kids fail to rescue her from the Blossoms before they marry her off to their son/her adopted brother and B) because she didn’t get sympathy and casseroles after Jason’s death.
At least she shoots Hal, effectively shutting the door on the Black Hood storyline for good. Let’s hope Riverdale doesn’t continue the tradition of using multiple villains with different agendas posing as the same serial killer.
Chic’s return is no surprise: unless we see a body, it’s best not to assume someone is actually dead.
It’s disappointing the Farm will factor into Riverdale Season 4 because the sheer stupidity of someone hoarding organs like a Costco shopper who goes nuts during a sale on frozen fish sticks is beneath us all. Particularly, Chad Michael Murray who is the one bright spot in the whole mess.
It’s nice to know Alice isn’t brainwashed, but many fans speculated she was working some other angle. She’s still not going to win any mother of the year awards since she basically chooses Polly, the twins, and Charles over Betty, leaving her youngest daughter twisting in the wind while her homicidal ex-husband is on the loose.
Also, if Alice is spilling all her secrets to Edgar, wouldn’t the FBI know about them too? Does she get immunity for her involvement in the death of the Shady Man, aka “Dwayne?” At least we know she’s actually has been seeing Charles who finally shows up and turns out to be a good guy.
Ever since viewers learned Alice and FP have an illegitimate son who Alice gave up for adoption, every sketchy character to roll into town could be Charles. We can all stop with the crazy theories (this writer included).
Or can we? Nobody is ever who or what they seem on Riverdale, so it’s doubtful Charles will turn out to be the perfect, prodigal son. He’s certainly as inept as other members of the law enforcement community who are constantly outfoxed by savvy teenagers.
It’s nice to see the core four together in the finale since they haven’t shared as much screen time together as in past seasons. Riverdale takes a page from the This Is Us with that flash forward. Everybody’s chummy, but things turn very I Know What You Did Last Summer roughly nine months from now.
Don’t worry. Cole Sprouse’s movie career isn’t exactly taking off, so Jughead isn’t dead. We’re all dying of curiosity how Betty, Archie, and Veronica wind up in the woods in their underwear and covered in blood with Jughead conspicuously absent.
It also looks like both Kevin and Cheryl have been properly mind-effed by Edgar. Although Cheryl appears to be the worse off of the two since she’s hanging out with her dead twin’s corpse.
The writers shove 10 pounds of story in a 5-pound bag which feels like a desperate plea to make sure we all tune in for season 4. As long as there’s no kidney swiping afoot, I’m sure we’ll be there.
What did you think of this episode of Riverdale? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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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.