On the latest Riverdale, Hiram’s plans are revealed, Betty continues to investigate Chic, and a surprise guest shocks Cheryl.
Previously on Riverdale, the group went to a cabin in the woods for a weekend and got into a fight over Hiram’s shady business dealings. Cheryl and Toni became friends, while Kevin and Josie came together to help fix their families.
“There Will Be Blood” begins with Jughead researching Hiram and staring at his wall of evidence. FP comes home from work at Pop’s and sees the wall. He reminds Jughead that Hiram forgave the back rent, but Jughead tells him about Hiram buying the town newspaper. Jughead is convinced something big is coming.
Across Riverdale, the Lodge’s and Andrews’s have a nice dinner at The Pembrooke. Fred and the adult Lodge’s reminisce about their youth before going into the study for a drink. Veronica tells Archie that the former deputy mayor is stepping down after taking over for former Mayor McCoy. The Lodge’s want Fred to run, thinking he is the ideal candidate. Later in the truck, Archie talks to his dad about the suggestion. Fred has always wanted to be mayor, so he is considering the idea. He understands Hiram wants a friend in power, but he also wants to help Riverdale.
Meanwhile, Betty and Kevin argue about Chic. Betty convinced Kevin to contact Chic via his cam business and try to get to know the man. What follows is an awkward conversation as Kevin tries to get information out of Chic while Betty encourages him on the other side of the table.
The next morning at the Blossom’s, Cheryl finds her mother talking to Mr. Lazenby, an attorney. Lazenby says her father had a hidden will that was to be released only after the cops finished going through his business. The next day is a public reading of the will.
At the Coopers, Hal sits with his family and declares he wants a divorce. He is upset that Alice sided with Chic. Betty says Chic can go if that will make Hal stay. Alice is angry at Hal for selling the newspaper to Hiram. Hal says it was a good deal and he will give Alice half the money if she grants him a divorce.
Veronica eats breakfast with her family, who ask her to encourage Archie to make his dad run. Veronica agrees after they say their business plans will be received better if Fred is the one telling Riverdale.
At Riverdale High, Archie tells Jughead about Hiram wanting his dad to run for mayor. Archie says since he is in a relationship with Veronica, he is on the Lodge’s side. However, he wants his father to stay away from the Lodge’s given what he knows about Hiram. He tells Jughead about Hiram buying Pop’s and asks if that would be helpful for his article.
Later, Jughead goes to the Cooper’s and shares his intel with Betty and Alice. Hiram bought the drive in, the trailer park, Southside High and Pop’s. The others are in Southside, but Pop’s is central in Riverdale.
With her parents in the room, Veronica calls Archie and tells him Fred needs signatures if he wants to run for mayor. She asks if they should go out and collect them together, but he shuts her down.
Betty comes home to find Polly and her twins, one in Alice’s lap and one in Chic’s. Alice offer’s hers, but Betty goes to take the one Chic’s holding. Polly then asks where Hal is and if everyone is going to the will reading together, but the others do not know what she is talking about.
At the Blossom’s, Cheryl goes through her wardrobe and gives Toni a shirt to wear. Penelope bursts in and Toni introduces herself. Penelope glares at Toni when Cheryl says Toni is there to support her during the reading. When Penelope leaves, the two girls agree she is terrible.
The will reading begins with Lazenby saying Nana Blossom keeps Thistlehouse. He left Penelope Thornhill, but that house was destroyed. He continues saying the remaining fortune will be split between anyone in Riverdale who can prove they have Blossom blood. Before he can finish, Alice bursts in and accuses Hal of wanting a divorce so he can get the Blossom money. She calls them inbred and continues to insult Penelope, much to the delight of Toni.
Meanwhile, Fred shows Archie some plans he made when he was younger for Riverdale. Veronica shows up with some campaign ideas and says she will get some stuff printed. Archie takes her upstairs and tells her to lay off Fred. He feels Veronica is pushing his father into running and using him to help. Veronica talks to her mother about it later and says she wants to protect her relationship with Archie, and try not to use him or influence him for the gain of the family.
At Pop’s, Jughead questions Pop about Hiram. Pop says it was the only way to keep the dinner in his family. He asks Jughead to keep it a secret because his mother is still alive and he does not want her to be disappointed.
Back at the reading, Alice is thrown out and Lazenby says the other half of the fortune goes to Cheryl and Jason. Cheryl addresses the crowd, saying the Blossom’s have always been bathed in blood and she wants it to end. A man walks in who looks like her dead father Cliff Blossom, and Cheryl faints.
Cheryl wakes to find out her father had a twin, Claudius. He says her father threatened to kill him when they were teens and he ran away. He joined the Marines and stayed far away from Riverdale.
Over dinner at the Cooper’s, the group talks about getting blood tests done for the inheritance. Chic refuses to get his blood drawn, citing various reasons. Alice tells Polly and Betty to respect his decision.
Betty talks to Kevin about Chic’s weird behavior and has him make up a story about getting tested to tell Chic. During the cam session, Chic notices him looking over his computer and Kevin ends the session, telling Betty he feels bad about deceiving her brother. Later, Chic looks angry when Alice tells him to walk to work because she is busy playing with Polly’s babies.
Archie goes to Jughead and asks if he got a confirmation from Pop. Jughead says he cannot get an adult to go on the record about Hiram. Archie suggests Josie and goes to see her at Pop’s. Josie agrees to get her mom to talk to Fred, as long as it is not about the Lodges. The McCoy’s visit with Fred and Sierra tells him what being mayor of Riverdale really entails.
Pop goes to Hiram and tells him about Jughead asking questions. Hiram is furious and says someone snitched and insinuates it is Archie because he is the only other person that knows. Veronica immediately says she told Jughead when they were at the cabin because he kept asking questions about the Southside purchases. Hiram starts yelling but Hermione steps in, saying Veronica made a smart decision to give Jughead a small piece of information that bought them time.
Jughead talks to his dad about Hiram. FP offers to go on the record about Hiram asking the Serpents to trash the drive-in. An unknown man calls Jughead and asks him to meet if he wants dirt on Hiram.
Veronica rushes to Archie’s to confront him about leaking information to Jughead. Archie says now that Fred has been brought into their mess, they deserve to know what Hiram is planning. Veronica says he and Fred are safe from Hiram’s wrath, but that Archie needs to talk to Hiram if he wants to know the plan. Fred walks in and tells them he decided he is running for mayor.
The Blossom’s have dinner and Toni tries to make polite conversation but Penelope continues to be rude. Claudius says he wants to stay and Penelope reluctantly agrees, saying he can have the terrible room above the garage.
Betty searches through Chic’s bathroom and takes something from the trash. Chic walks in creepily talks about how everything was better before Polly came back.
Later, Betty goes on a walk with Polly and they talk about how disturbing they find Chic. Betty says she submitted some of his DNA to find out if they are actually related. They arrive home to find Alice let Chic take the babies on a walk down by the river. The girls are scared but Chic arrives moments later and the babies are fine.
Jughead gets to the bus station and meets with Smither’s, Hiram’s old driver. He says Hiram got mail from Shankshaw Prison’s warden, which is not where he served his sentence. Jughead goes to tell his dad and says he tried calling the warden multiple times. FP says he knows someone inside that might be able to help and the two go meet with War Baby at the prison.
Archie goes to see Hiram and tells him about a journal he started when he thought the FBI was looking into the Lodges. He says he needs to be sure he and his dad are safe in whatever Hiram is planning. Hiram claims Riverdale will soon be the safest place to live, but will not tell Archie more.
Polly tells her mother and Chic she is leaving. Chic continues to be creepy and cuts Polly out of a family picture later.
The Lodges get a call from the prison warden about the Jones’ visit. They call Fred and Archie over so they can hear about the plan before Jughead’s article gets published. Jughead and Betty take the article to Principal Weatherbee but he says they cannot publish it in the school’s newspaper. Hiram’s plan is to turn the land where Southside High was into a private for-profit prison. The SoDale project is housing, but housing for the people who will work at the prison. Fred is upset and says he could never support that and leaves. Archie decides to say and hear what Hiram has to say.
Later Hermione announces her candidacy for mayor. As her speech plays on the radio, Claudius tells Penelope he wants revenge on the Lodges. Penelope says yes, but first, they must deal with Nana and Cheryl. He agrees, and neither knows Cheryl is outside the room listening to their conversation.
Betty confronts Chic with the lab results, saying she took some of his dental floss from the trash. The results say he is not who he claims.
Hiram tells Archie he should have told them about the prison sooner. Archie says before all the bad things that happened in Riverdale he would have been against the idea. Hiram then has Archie do a ritual sign of loyalty to the family. They cut their hands and Archie burns his journal.
“There Will Be Blood” was definitely an entertaining episode. A for-profit prison is an interesting way for Hiram to gain power over Riverdale. I am not convinced Claudius is Cliff’s long-lost twin. It feels more believable that Cliff either staged his dead or killed his twin so it would like he was the one who was murdered. Also, it sounded like Claudius and Penelope want to kill Nana and Cheryl. Finally, Toni, Cheryl, Fred and Polly were the highlights for me this episode. Toni and Cheryl had great moments, and I thought Fred and Polly had the most reasonable reactions.
Riverdale airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on The CW. Check out the preview for the next episode below.