Riverdale Review: Chapter Eighty-Two: Back To School (Season 5 Episode 6)
Just like that, it’s back to high school.
Riverdale Season 5 Episode 6, “Chapter Eighty-Two: Back To School,” means it’s back to Riverdale High, where new challenges await, and old feelings are waiting to resurface.
Riverdale isn’t exactly known for taking its time, infamously blowing through off the wall plotlines at lightning speed. They say there’s no rest for the wicked, but Riverdale’s speedy storytelling has routinely left character development by the wayside, and monster-sized plot holes in its wake.
Post-time jump Riverdale continues to surprise, giving “Back To School” much slower pacing, allowing backstory for major season arcs to build, and giving its characters time to showcase their more domesticated sides.
No plot means no show, but by Season 5 of a series, it’s the characters people stick around for the most.
Providing viewers an opportunity to live a morning routine with their favorite Fangs, Kevin, and Toni trio, or spend a quiet night at home drinking beers with Jughead and Archie, are small delights that make all the difference in an episode’s overall success.
Finally, characters are taking the time to catch up with each other; everyone may be on separate trajectories, but they are at least invested in major themes of their friend’s lives.
A quiet scene of Archie checking in with Betty over Polly’s disappearance, for example, is a quick yet understated moment; something these two best friends should have been doing all along.
Slowing down also means giving Riverdale a chance to be funny. And no, I’m not laughing because this show is outrageous, I’m laughing because it’s genuinely smart with its comedic beats.
Riverdale was a show that took itself too seriously; embracing camp so aggressively it became its own mockery. Riverdale Season 5 is self-aware, self-referential, and laced with exceptionally meta-humor.
Cole Sprouse continues to exemplify mastery over this new tone, landing his comedic timing better than any of his counterparts. Sarcasm has always been a major characteristic of Jughead Jones, but his experience as an author has apparently made him much more creatively humorous.
It’s not just in his fourth wall breaks about the “epic highs and lows of high school football” that make it work. It’s the small gestures — eye rolls when no one is watching, or swiping cash from a fake tip jar — that make Adult!Jughead so delightful to watch.
Sprouse is given some of Riverdale’s best material, and he knows exactly how to deliver it.
This season truly belongs to the women, though. They are the business owners, the dreamers, the doers, the financial backers, and the success stories. From Tabitha’s big business dreams to Britta’s gusto in joining the football team, women aren’t just thriving in Riverdale — they’re running it.
It’s about time.
The men, unfortunately, don’t fair so well. Jughead is taunted for working as a waiter as he dodges creditors, Archie uses Cheryl’s trauma against her for football funding, and Reggie is a full-on Hiram wannabe.
It’s easy to understand Jughead and Archie’s motives for their bad decisions because they’re given to us (although I’m not quite ready to forgive Archie for using Jason as a weapon against Cheryl). The problem lies with Reggie.
He’s never quite been the golden boy, but he’s certainly never been a villain, either. Without being shown — or told — the reasoning behind his decision to work with Hiram, a gaping hole is left where character development should be.
Romance is also something “Back To School” lays heavily into, setting up potential new loves, and reigniting old flames.
Chad wasn’t going to stick around for long (and he’ll undoubtedly be back eventually), but keeping Veronica married for a mere three episodes, feels like story whiplash, even for this show.
It’s an especially quick shift, considering Archie has a new “beneficial friend” in Betty. They’re still getting it on anywhere and everywhere they can in “Chapter Eighty-Two,” but where the character’s feelings lie, remains a mystery.
Are the two getting closer, or are they simply using each other to distract from the craziness of their lives?
“Back To School” seems to hint at the latter, and with the story pivoting Veronica so she’ll be working closely with Archie, it’s possible Riverdale may finally be playing into the classic Archie Comics triangle before tipping its scale one way or the other.
Jughead and Betty have had far less interrelation, and it’s likely to stay that way with Tabitha in the picture.
The two have clear chemistry that’s displayed in no uncertain terms as they decide to hunt the Mothman together, and newcomer Westbrook brings fresh energy to the story. The two of them as a pairing (Tabihead? Jugitha?) have the potential to stick.
However, there’s is a definite connection between Jughead’s Mothman mystery and Betty’s search for Polly. Both take place on The Lonely Highway, which would allow Riverdale a clear path back to Bughead’s Unsolved Mystery Series, if the show should choose to take it.
If nothing else, the ambiguity and tension between these characters — romantically and otherwise — works, and the groundwork laid allows for messy and interesting dynamics that could fire on all cylinders.
Riverdale is keeping us guessing, and that’s all anyone can ask for.
Random Thoughts:
- Domestic Kangs is the epitome of adorable.
- The same song from the pilot plays when Betty comes to Archies door and the nostalgia is real.
- Camila Mendes slays while singing “Shallow.”
- Chad is just the absolute worst.
- Veronica’s journey to figuring out if she’s “Pop’s” or “Mia’s” is a great potential arc for her character.
- We got three — three! — lovely scenes of Jughead and Archie being friends (and even talking about their feelings)!
- Toni becoming HBIC is only so Cheryl will leave her house to find herself again, and that is true love.
- Betty and Alice searching on the side of the highway for Polly is gut-wrenching.
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!
Kat Pettibone
Kat Pettibone is an aspiring TV writer, artist, and poet. As a Pacey Witter Fan Club lifer who never missed a TGIF, she has dreams of becoming your generations small screen Nora Ephron. She's also an avid lover of coffee, dogs and all things spooky.