SPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers from the Riverdale episode “Chapter 34: Judgement Night.” Proceed with caution.
Riverdale was full of surprises this week. The Black Hood was revealed, Penny Peabody returned to Riverdale to exact her pound of flesh, and a rival gang war escalated between the Bulldogs, the Serpents, and the Ghoulies. Sadly, one life was taken early on in the episode and one was potentially taken at the end. Riverdale was not a safe place to be this week, by any means. So, let’s jump into the details of the episode.
RIP Fangs
At the end of last week’s episode, Fangs, a member of the Southside Serpents, was shot after he was released from prison. He was being held under suspicion of Midge’s death, but was released after being found innocent. Reggie, a Northside Bulldog, ran at Fangs with a gun, and he was shot. Archie maintained that Reggie didn’t fire his gun, but Fangs’ shooting further enraged the Serpents.
When Fangs died from his wounds at the hospital later, the Serpents started burning Riverdale High. It was an all-out gang war. However, Fangs’ killer was not a Bulldog, it was Midge’s mother. When she confessed, the Serpents called off their riot squad. Since the Black Hood killed Midge, he should be to blame for Fangs’ murder as well.
And Jughead?
If the Serpent/Bulldog war wasn’t deadly enough, the Ghoulies came back to town. Penny Peabody and her drug-dealing Ghoulie gang attacked Pop’s and threatened to destroy Riverdale. They were acting on Hiram Lodge’s orders, which Jughead figured out.
Instead of letting the town implode over gang rivalries, Jughead offered up himself to Hiram and Penny. Penny took her pound of flesh, like he took hers, and the Ghoulies beat him within an inch of his life. FP found Jughead and carried his bloody body like Batman carried Jason Todd’s body in A Death in the Family. It was a shocking way to end an episode that already saw one young man die.
This is one of the most iconic images in modern comics. And an inspiration for tomorrow’s episode of “Riverdale.” pic.twitter.com/ITRdGebbAh
— RobertoAguirreSacasa (@WriterRAS) May 9, 2018
So, is Jughead dead? It’s not likely that the show would kill off one of the “Core Four” (Jughead, Archie, Betty, and Veronica) but actor Cole Sprouse did tweet a cryptic goodbye tweet after the episode aired:
It’s possible that Jughead is alive but will have a long road to recovery next season. There is one episode left in the season, hopefully we find out about Jughead’s fate ASAP!
Riverdale airs on The CW on Wednesdays at 8PM in the US and on Netflix in most countries the next day.
