Riverdale Season 3 Episode 5: The Great Escape Review

If you would like to read my review of last episode of Riverdale, click here.

Synopsis: After weeks go by with no contact from Archie, Veronica devises a plan to break him out of juvie. Meanwhile, Betty learns that Jughead has taken their investigation into Griffins & Gargoyles a step too far, and she finds herself in a race against the clock to save him. (TVGuide)

Writers: Greg Murray and Ace Hasan

Director: Pam Romanowsky

Rating: TV-14

Running Time: 45mins

Airs: Wednesdays at 8pm on The CW (United States)

“The Great Escape”starts off with Jughead acting as game master for Gryphons & Gargoyles with Toni, Cheryl and the Serpents. Archie and Joaquin try to plan a prison break, but they are shot down by rubber bullets. Betty arrives at the bunker to see them playing and she tries to persuade Jughead away from it, but he’s too deep in the game. As Hiram tries to get into Veronica’s head, he orders Warden Norton to brand Archie as a reminder that he’s not in control of his own destiny.

Betty rounds up the kids of the parents who played Gryphons & Gargoyles and explains the situation, but most of them seem sceptical of Betty’s ridiculous claims. At Pop’s, Kevin and Josie sit down for lunch with their parents and ask about their high school days and Gryphons & Gargoyles. They deny any involvement, but announce they are getting married. Meanwhile Reggie got hit by his father for asking about the game.

Veronica invites Elio, a fellow Riverdale elite, to her speakeasy and convinces him to get her into one of the illegal fight clubs. She learns that Archie is forced to fight as one of the competitors and meets with him after his fight. She decides that they need to plan an old-fashioned prison break and the pool where the fights are held is their best bet.

Things get heated at the bunker when Sweet Pea challenges Jughead for game master so he decides to have some fun. He puts a can on his head and tells Cheryl to hit it William Tell-style then challenges Sweet Pea to do the same. When he denies the request, Jughead orders him to never defy his authority again. Jughead and FP discuss the game with FP visibly shaken by it. Jughead vows to take down the Gargoyle King once and for all.

They are interrupted by Veronica who wants their help to break Archie out of his juvie fight club. Betty goes to Jughead about their plan and he says it’s the perfect rescue mission for the game. She says he can’t see reality from fiction and takes his bike to do the prison break herself. While Veronica and the gang plan their prison break, Jughead explains the rescue mission of the Red Paladin as the stories parallel each other.

Before Archie’s fight, Joaquin kisses Archie then stabs him as the warden said it would help him ascend. Veronica, Reggie, and Josie gain access to the fight where Archie is confused to see his opponent is the very alive Mad Dog. Archie tries to reason with him, but Mad Dog is emotionless as he continuously pummels Archie. Kevin tries to open the escape grate, but runs into Joaquin who tells Kevin to stay away because he’s joined a different gang. Archie snaps Mad Dog out of his trance and he decides to help Archie get a head start when Veronica and the gang release smoke bombs throughout the pool.

Betty helps Archie out of the pipe, but with his wound he doesn’t have time. They race off on Jughead’s motorcycle and are quickly chased by the guards. They hit a roadblock, but it’s revealed that Betty’s passenger is Kevin! They manage to get Archie into a car and take him to Dilton’s bunker. As the quest in the bunker has the players stumped as to where the Red Paladin is, the warden questions Kevin and Betty with the same exact words. Toni patches him up as Archie reveals Joaquin was the one who stabbed him. They hope he can be safe in Dilton’s bunker because no one, not even the warden, knows it exists.

Archie reveals his branding, which looks an awful lot like the marks on Dilton and Ben from the game. Veronica decides that someone always needs to be there to protect Archie and that everyone in this bunker is now part of their pact.

Hermione berates Hiram and Veronica for their actions. At Pop’s, Josie, Kevin and Reggie discuss the break out before deciding they want to play Gryphons & Gargoyles to learn the truth about their parents’ past. Suddenly, they are interrupted by a news broadcast about Archie’s escape. As Archie sleeps, Jughead and Betty discuss his suspicion that Warden Norton could be the Gargoyle King. At the prison, the warden sits over a car that tells him to kill the Red Paladin. With Mayor Lodge there for answers, Warden Norton drinks a glass of cyanide. The episode ends as Jughead heads home through the woods and runs into the Gargoyle King and bows at his presence.

Questions

• Will Archie go after those who lied about him for Hiram?
• Who will save Jughead from Gryphons and Gargoyles?
• Will Josie and Sweet Pea’s summer fling become a full fledged romance?
• Will Joaquin’s escape cause Kevin’s love life to become complicated?
• How will Veronica get back at her dad for his ‘punishment?’
• Will old flings cause some problems for the parents of Riverdale?
• What is the Gargoyle King and what does it want?

Overall, this was a good episode. With Archie finally broken out and the game of Gryphons & Gargoyles in full tilt, things are getting heated in the town of Riverdale. The warden’s involvement in the game poses more questions as to the depth of the Gargoyle King’s grasp on the residents as it shows potentially how long this game has been played. Perhaps Jughead’s paranoid questions about the connection between reality and the game with the past and the present doesn’t seem so crazy after all. The big question is will the town of Riverdale need the help of a local teenage witch to solve their Gargoyle problems?

Score: 8.5/10

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