SPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers from the Riverdale musical episode “Chapter 31: A Night to Remember.” Proceed with caution.
The CW aired their ambitious Riverdale musical episode this week and it was perfect. Overbearing mothers, Stephen King-esque murder and mayhem — there was even pig’s blood — at least we hope that’s what Cheryl was covered in when she confronted her mother. The Riverdale musical of “Carrie” was a fitting choice for the sophomore show, whose themes tend to verge on the more macabre storylines, including that of this season’s serial killer, the Black Hood.
The Black Hood was caught in the winter finale, however most fans assumed the janitor was just a red herring. After tonight, there was no doubt the Black Hood was back. The question remains, who is he, or she, what does he want, and can our Nancy Drew and Hardy Boy crew stop him before the entire town of Riverdale becomes a ghost town?
The Musical Unlocks Friendships & Unravels Families
First, let’s talk about the musical. “Carrie the Musical” was a very short lived Broadway play that was based on the Stephen King book and film of the same name. As each character found his or role in the play, his or her true colors emerged. Betty was the good girl, Archie was the good guy, Veronica was the bad girl, Cheryl was the scared teen and Betty’s mom, Alice, was Carrie’s overbearing mother.
As each character sang, danced, and said their lines, they realized something about themselves: Alice realized that everyone had left her, except Betty. This spurned a mother/daughter bonding moment between them. Veronica came to terms with her bad girl image and Betty embraced her for being her own person. Archie felt conviction and guilt that he wasn’t the good guy anymore, and decided to come back to his father’s side. And Cheryl? She decided to go full Carrie on her mom — which may have actually been a good thing.
Overall the musical was a hit — and since the cast is so talented — it’s easy to assume more musical episodes could be in the show’s future.
The Black Hood Strikes Again
While Kevin was plagued with letters from the Black Hood throughout the musical, he wasn’t sure who the real sender was. After all, the “real” Black Hood was supposed to be dead. The first letter from the Black Hood told Kevin to recast Carrie, which he did. He swapped out Cheryl for Midge.
Unfortunately, Midge was one of the Black Hood’s victims who escaped previously. He (or she) chose to get Midge once and for all the night of the musical. During the performance, when Midge was supposed to emerge from her mother’s closet singing, Midge was instead strung up on the theater wall with knives. A message in blood surrounded her, “I am back from the dead. All those who escaped me before will die, B.H.”
That means that anyone who survived the Black Hood’s attacks could be next, including Pop, Fred Andrews, Moose and even Archie. It seems that with this killer ending, Riverdale is back on track to solve the question they were asking at the beginning of the season, who shot Fred Andrews? Hopefully Archie and the gang figure it out before more people die.
Riverdale airs on The CW, Wednesdays at 8PM.