This time on Riverdale, Jughead and Betty work together to find the statue head, while Archie gets closer to Hiram, and Veronica gets ready for her confirmation.
Previously on Riverdale, Jughead wrote an article that caused a stir in Riverdale at the Pickens Day celebration. Archie agreed to work for Hiram after finally gaining some respect through wrestling, while Betty tried to connect with her brother.
“The Wicked and the Divine” begins with Archie’s internship work for Hiram. He does errands around Riverdale for Hiram, like picking up dry cleaning and grabbing food at Pop's. After he finishes, he arrives back at the Lodge’s to find Veronica getting fitted for a dress. The dress is for her confirmation, which she is having at a later age than normal and many family members will come to Riverdale to attend. Veronica explains the ceremony. She also says she is volunteering as part of her duties and invites him to join her at the soup kitchen. Hiram arrives and compliments his daughter, and Archie does as well.
Keller shows up at the Jones’s trailer, questioning them about the Pickens statue for the fourth time. Jughead accuses Keller of harassing the Serpents. Keller replies that Jughead’s article was the reason the Serpents came to Pickens Day to protest. Jughead, in turn, suggests Keller is more interested in finding people who damaged a statue than he was the Black Hood.
At the Cooper’s, Betty is getting in touch with her dark side and webcamming with some guy. Alice knocks on Betty’s door and she quickly takes off her get up and answers the door. She claims she was on the phone with Jughead and closes the door again to get ready for school.
At Riverdale High, Veronica asks her friends to come to her confirmation and tells them the dress code. Betty and Jughead are then called to the office. Principal Weatherbee says they have received backlash from the Pickens article and Hiram is suing for defamation of character. Weatherbee suspends both of them from the newspaper and tells them to go pack up their stuff.
The two go to the Blue & Gold’s office and Jughead apologizes. He mentions Keller is continually questioning him and Betty asks him if he did have anything to do with the statue’s beheading. He asks why, she suggests he did it for Toni and says she saw them eating breakfast together at Pop’s. When she asks, he does admit to something happening with Toni. When he asks if she has done anything since their breakup, she lies and says no.
At home, Veronica finds a confirmation present from the St. Clairs. Hermione says that it is just a formality because of being business associates. Veronica tells her mother to get rid of the gift. Hermione then asks if it is true that Archie visited Nick.
Meanwhile, Archie is at Pop’s going over Hiram’s order when Pop accidentally mentions Hiram is the boss. Archie questions Pop, but then Agent Adams texts and Archie rushes away. He meets with Adams, who chastises him for not being in contact. Adams says he needs to report on Veronica’s confirmation because Hiram’s family is coming.
Keller goes to the trailer park and posts eviction notices for everyone. When Jughead questions him, he says the order came from Mayor McCoy’s office, citing back rent. They have two weeks and he says if they can bring him the statue’s head, then he will see what he can do.
Veronica arrives home to find Josie and her mother Sierra. Sierra apologizes for their behavior, and Josie does as well. Josie and Veronica agree to sing together at the confirmation celebration.
At the Serpent bar, FP addresses the Serpents about the eviction and asks if anyone knows about the statue. Tall Boy accuses Jughead and FP stops them from fighting.
Hiram questions Archie about visiting Nick St. Clair, and Archie admits to beating him up. Hiram tells Archie he is impressed with his desire to protect Veronica. He then invites Archie to help with a poker game with some business friends before the confirmation and Archie agrees.
At the Cooper’s, a guy named Ben leaves and Chic comes down after, in a bathrobe. Chic says he had an interview with Ben and Betty mistakenly thinks he was a client. Chic says no and reminds her never to tell a client where you live.
Jughead meets McCoy and she says the Governor called and is upset because the statue cost a lot. Jughead questions her, asking if Hiram is behind her behavior. She tells Jughead to leave her alone.
Archie joins Veronica in serving at a soup kitchen. He tells her about Hiram’s poker game and she shares her concerns. She says the people there are friends of her father’s, and that makes them people to be careful around. Archie tries to reassure her, but Veronica still looks worried.
Later she confronts her father about inviting Archie. He says he wants to see how Archie behaves around the others and believes Archie is more like them than he originally thought. Veronica disagrees and does not want to corrupt her boyfriend. Hiram tells her someday she has to either tell him or keep it a secret forever.
At Pop’s, Jughead meets with Betty to tell her about Keller and the meeting with Mayor McCoy. Betty suggests they go to the root of the problem and solve the mystery of who beheaded the statue.
That night, Jughead arrives at the Serpent bar and discovers Tall Boy brought Penny Peabody back. Penny shows everyone, including FP, her arm where Jughead cut her tattoo off. She says she can help with the evictions. Penny insists she does to Jughead what he did to her and that he be removed from the Serpents. Later FP and Jughead get in a fight after he tells Jughead that the Serpents will vote on who gets to stay in the gang. FP blames Jughead for everything happening to the Serpents.
Archie meets with Adams, who tries to convince him to wear a wire to the poker game. Archie refuses, saying it is too much of a risk.
Meanwhile, at the Cooper’s, Hal argues with Alice and Betty about Chic. Hal decides to leave since Chic is staying.
Veronica goes to confession and asks for forgiveness for her treatment towards Archie. She asks for advice, but the priest just tells her to do her prayers. At home, she talks with some of her family who are in for the confirmation about confession. The women say they pray for their families and give to charities. The women ask her about Archie and Hermione mentions he is from Riverdale and a good person.
At Pop’s, the poker game is going strong and Hiram introduces Archie to his three business friends. One of them, Poppa Poutine, makes insinuations about Hermione and Fred’s relationship after hearing Archie’s name. He insults Pop’s cooking and when asking who owns the place, Hiram answers he does. The man goes outside to calm down.
As Archie works to unclog one of Pop’s toilets, he hears a conversation between two of Hiram’s business associates outside, one of them Poppa Poutine. The men say Hiram has lost his touch, mentioning his attack on St. Clair, and his association with Fred. The men decide to “remove” him following Veronica’s confirmation.
The next day, the confirmation begins with Josie and Veronica singing. The ceremony takes place and Veronica looks out into the crowd, finally focusing on Archie and she finishes the confirmation.
A party is held and McCoy gives the Lodge’s the money from the Southside High land deal, saying it went through. Veronica ushers Archie over to meet her grandmother, who finds him adorable.
Betty goes to find Jughead and when she does, he tells her all about Penny and the Serpent decision. He mentions that their breakup and everything after has been filled with terrible decisions. Betty then gets a call from someone who saw their flyers about the statue. They go to meet the man, a junkyard owner. He gives them the statue head, saying he thinks the man that left it had a jacket like Jughead’s. Jughead then asks about the man’s height, believing it to be Tall Boy.
Veronica and Archie dance together at the party before Hiram cuts in. Archie moves away and looks at the two men over in the corner plotting Hiram’s demise. Veronica tells her father she does not want Archie to be a part of their criminal life and he says okay. A while later though, she sees Archie get into the elevator with her father after Archie had asked him to talk in private. Archie tells Hiram what he heard and Hiram thanks him and sends him back to the party before picking up the phone.
Jughead, FP, and Betty walk into the Serpent bar with the statue head. FP questions Tall Boy, who admits he did it partly because he wanted to get rid of the Jones’, but also because Hiram asked. Tall Boy is then kicked out of the Serpents after a vote for betraying the gang and breaking their laws.
Back at the party, Veronica pulls Archie aside to ask what he was doing with her father. He says they were talking about internship stuff and she is surprised he is still working for Hiram. She tries to tell him about her father and he interupts, saying he knows Hiram is a terrible person. She starts to talk about their plans but he shuts her down, saying he does not want to know. He says he loves her and is not scared off by her family. The two then kiss.
Betty and Jughead hang out at his trailer and muse about Hiram. Jughead is on probation from the Serpents, but Penny is not coming back. He then apologizes for how he treated Betty. He asks her to stay and the two start making out. She pulls away to tell him something, but then just tells him she wants him and they start making out again.
The remaining Cooper’s are eating dinner, wondering where Betty is when there is a knock at the door. Alice goes to answer and a man asks for Chic.
Archie meets with Adams who tells him Poppa Poutine was found shot dead in his hotel room. Adams asks if Archie heard anything incriminating and Archie lies saying no.
At the Lodge’s, Veronica receives a wrapped gift and opens it to find the statue head. She tells her parents the gift seems to be for them and they come over to look at the object.
Betty arrives home to find her mother trying to clean up blood on the floor. Beside her is the dead body of the man who came to see Chic.
This is much better than the last episode of Riverdale, despite the fact that Cheryl was nowhere to be seen. The big question is did Chic kill the man, or did Alice kill him to protect her son? An accident is also possible, but doubtful given the preview. Archie continues to go down a darker path (as they all have this season) by not telling Adams what he knew. That said, I still do not believe Adams is actually an FBI agent given that he is using a teenager as an informant and does not seem to be very concerned with protecting said teenager. I look forward to seeing how long Betty can go without telling one of her friends about the dead body.
Riverdale airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on The CW. Check out the trailer for the next episode below.