Before he closes the library, he wants all of its books back. Jughead rightfully surmises that this is because Percival seeks to control the knowledge and thinking of Riverdale’s residents. Books promote imagination and independent thought, things that are enemies to Percival and his evil plans. Since none of our heroes except Reggie have the books handy, Percival takes possessions that have great importance to them. He then uses these totems to create spells that will reignite past traumas, resulting in Betty recovering forgotten memories of her serial killer father, Jughead needing some serious time with a dermatologist, Archie recalling his abuse from Ms. Grundy, Veronica dealing with literal black widows, Cheryl…getting roses, and so forth. It’s all extremely unsubtle, as one would expect. Yet also very effective.
Betty compares Percival’s latest antics to “someone picking through my brain with dirty fingers.” It’s an accurate statement, as he is utilizing items of great importance to mindfuck his enemies. While Jughead is able to find the missing books and get all of their possessions back from Percival, the damage is already done. By the time the credits roll, Archie has recontexualized his experiences with Ms. Grundy, Betty has made discoveries about her father that she can apply to the TBK case, Cheryl has, well, just become every more amazing, Jughead has verbalized one of his greatest fears, Veronica has inadvertently killed (more on that next week), and the not-too-bright Reggie has decided to learn Percival’s dark magic.
Other than reminding viewers that public libraries are necessary and generally awesome, the big accomplishment of this episode was to remind viewers of what an absolute asshole Percival is. One that has a mastering of dark magic too, which makes him even more of a threat. But at this point his antics are already getting tired, and if the season continues to establish him as untouchable then, powers or not, he will just be Hiram 2.0. And nobody wants that.
Riverdale Rundown
• Riverdale finally (and fleetingly) addresses how problematic the Ms. Grundy storyline from the first season is here, showing Archie haunted by their relationship and Betty reminding him that the music teacher was grooming him.
• Kevin Keller continues to circle the drain as a character, choosing to ally himself with Percival. (And hooking up with him too, despite having Moose yearning for him). On a series where everyone makes bad decisions always, Kevin might just be the worst of the lot.
• Veronica casually referring to Dr. Curdle Jr. as “Betty’s bestie” is the funniest dialogue of this episode.
