Riverdale Review: Chapter Sixty-Five: In Treatment (Season 4 Episode 8)

Riverdale Season 4 Episode 8, “Chapter Sixty-Five: In Treatment,” sees each of our teen protagonists take a long overdue visit to the school guidance counselor Mrs. Burble, played by the incomparable Gina Torres in a delightful guest spot.

It’s the one where the gang goes to therapy, and while it works well in some cases (Cheryl and Jughead), the writing falls short for others (Betty and Veronica). Meanwhile, Archie rests somewhere comfortably in the middle remaining wholesome and worthy of all of our love and a few good hugs. Let’s get into it. 

Betty

We open this therapy session with the weakest writing of the entire episode, which is certainly a disappointment given how strongly this season began for Betty, and by extension Alice. Many of the issues between Betty and Alice were created by continuity failures and previous writing mistakes, such as brainwashing Alice for shock and flipflopping on her character development for a plot device. 

Instead of giving us a deep dive into how they could fix those issues or an open honest discussion between the two women, Riverdale pushed Alice back into a caricature of her Season 1 persona to make Betty the savior of her own story and paint Alice as a deranged overbearing parent.

Now don’t get me wrong, Alice has done some pretty terrible things I’m not saying she hasn’t. But when the writing is good you can see a clear character arc of her improving and wanting to improve her relationship with Betty. When the writing is not so good, Alice either acts like a completely different character for plot purposes or is back to a one-dimensional villain in Betty’s narrative. 

We make some progress towards the end of this episode with Alice giving Betty her money back, but that’s not enough for me to be satisfied with this relationship. This episode feels like a waste for these two in particular because instead of showing real, substantial growth for either character, they fall back into arguments reflective of their worst moments, pinning writing mistakes and weaknesses as character flaws. 

Alice: Because I love you more! I love you most. 

Yes, it’s great that they textually acknowledge how much they love each other, but that’s little more than a bandaid on the conflict between Alice and Betty.

If the writers are going to double down and pin all of the things that initially read as continuity errors or weak writing to Alice as a character, then they need to do the work of showing her have the growth to show her love for Betty in a healthy way. Changing a character’s personality from episode to episode to fit the narrative of the moment just isn’t good writing. 

Betty: Mom? I love you most too. 

I want to see these two continue to move forward but the preview for the next episode doesn’t instill a lot of hope there. 

Cheryl 

Cheryl’s therapy session is a vast improvement from Betty’s and perhaps the most desperately needed of the episode. I’m so glad to see Cheryl finally addressing her mental health and the absolute crisis she’s been in for maybe the entire show, but this still plays as too little too late in some ways. 

Having Cheryl gaslight Toni earlier this season to convince her to keep Jason’s body around, and then having her need to contextualize the term after she’s been told someone is doing it to her is another character inconsistency for the sake of driving an episode-specific narrative. 

I’m happy to see Cheryl work through which parts of her behavior are unhealthy and which parts are normal grieving, I’m just disappointed that the writers took her so far down this dark twisted path before showing her that glimmer of light that will hopefully allow her to get back to peak end of Season 2 / early Season 3 Cheryl.

Archie

Archie has one of the most cathartic sessions with Mrs. Burble as he finally gets to release the pent up emotions he’s been holding in since the loss of his father. Archie is justifiably angry at all of the things happening in his life and to the people he loves. He desperately wants to feel as though he has control and that he can protect his loved ones from the unspeakable so that he doesn’t lose anyone else the way that he lost his father. 

I’m pleased with Archie’s session and I remain delightfully surprised at how much I genuinely care for Archie this season. He has good intentions, and his story is the most honest and relatable of the series at the moment. 

He gets some good advice from Mrs. Burble, but in true Archie fashion, it only partly sinks in. I’m worried about him living at the center and I hope they continue to make Mary a constant presence in his life even if he isn’t in their home. 

Veronica

Mrs. Burble drops some hard truths on Veronica, but in the end, it seems like we’re entering into the same dance that Veronica has been stuck in since Hiram got out of jail the first time. Veronica is locked in a sick twisted obsession with her father and nothing will change until she cuts him off for good. That is one of the truest things that Mrs. Burble says in the entire episode. 

Unfortunately, Veronica has to genuinely want to cut her father off for it to stick and the Riverdale writers keep having her come back to him over and over. She does throw down the gauntlet at the end of this episode and swear to take him down on the battlefield, and then walk away from him. But this is far from the first time we’ve been here with Veronica and her daddy issues. 

Hopefully, this time it will stick, but I’m not holding my breath. 

Jughead

Jughead is the most receptive to his session with Mrs. Burble and he handles her psychoanalysis the best of any of them. While his conspiracy theories are usually quite entertaining, when Jughead goes on a bender he can end up neglecting the people in his life that care about him the most.

His Baxter Brother’s quest for his grandfather’s glory had the potential to hurt FP, and while I think it’s far from over it’s good to see Jughead take a step back and remember that his grandfather is no hero and his dad kind of is one. 

Jughead: I love you, and I appreciate everything you’ve done for me. I don’t think I say that enough. 

Blue and Gold Classifieds: 

• I thought FP was going to get a copy of Betty and Jughead’s sex tape this week, prompting Alice’s sex talk with Betty. I wonder when exactly that bombshell will drop now. 
• This new flash-forward makes me believe in the theory that that’s all happening in Jughead’s book even more. 
• Spare character consistency for Alice Smith, please? Spare character consistency?
• Gina Torres is a fantastic addition as Mrs. Burble and while I doubt we’ll see her again on Riverdale I’m overjoyed to have had her here for this episode. 
• Mrs. Andrews, I’m still obsessed, even though you only got one scene this week. 
• Are we gonna talk about how Alice said she loves Betty more than both her other kids? I mean we all know our parents secretly have favorites but wow, that was intense. 
• As much as I love the growth for FP and Juggie at the end of this episode I’m not going to lie, it’s more than a little sexist that FP keeps getting the hero recovery arc from drunk absentee father to sheriff hero dad while Alice is relegated back into the worst moments of her character development. 

 

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

Critic Rating:

User Rating:

 

Riverdale airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on The CW.

 Follow us on Twitter and on Instagram!

Want more from Tell-Tale TV? Subscribe to our newsletter here!

15 Soul-Healing TV Shows You Can Stream Right Now