Riverdale Season 3 Episode 9: No Exit Review

For our review of last episode of Riverdale, click here.

Synopsis: With Riverdale in disarray following Hiram’s takeover, Veronica leads the charge against her father after he takes aim at La Bonne Nuit. Meanwhile, Betty reluctantly houses the group of patients who escaped the Sisters of Quiet Mercy, and Jughead confronts a group of desperate Serpents who have resorted to drastic measures to make ends meet. Finally, Archie is forced to face his demons. (TVGuide)

Writer: Arabella Anderson

Director: Jeff Hunt

Rating: TV-14

Running Time: 45mins

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

“No Exit”starts off with Archie living with his dog Vegas in the Canadian hinterlands while Riverdale is dealing with an increase in cat burglaries perpetrated by Cheryl and Toni who get to finally enjoy an unrushed intimate moment. It’s been a month and the quarantine is lifted allowing Jughead back into town and Riverdale High is open once again. Veronica’s speakeasy is booming because they’ve started selling booze and meanwhile Betty has fostered all the kids that escaped the dreaded Sisters of Quiet Mercy.

Betty starts to worry when one of her refugees is found with Fizzle Rocks that he says came from a mysterious Serpent. She brings this to Jughead as they try to come up with a theory as to what Hiram is up to and how they can finally bring him down. Betty consults Attorney McCoy and learns that the nuns were kicked out of the church long ago and therefore the vow of silence they’ve taken isn’t as sacred as they think. They manage to push Sister Woodhouse to reluctantly testify, but Hiram gets to the rest of the convent and has them all murdered, poisoned with blue lips. And Betty tries to find homes for the Sisters refugees to live during the trial, but she returns home to discover that Alice has shipped all of the refugees off to the Farm.

With the speakeasy doing well, Hiram offers Veronica protection after Reggie is attacked during a beer run and Josie is scared outside her house. She tries to find a way to give Hiram a smaller percentage, but he isn’t pleased with that proposition and things get worse when Cheryl and Toni steal his prized Glamerge egg. Jughead tries to stop the Serpents from selling Fizzle Rocks, particularly Fangs dealing to high schoolers, but he needed the money for his mother.

They decide to come up with a new source of revenue for the gang by becoming bodyguards for Veronica’s speakeasy so long as Jughead manages to return the Lodge’s prized Glamerge egg. He manages to get the egg and learning about the cat burglaries kicks Cheryl, Toni and Fangs out of the Serpents for their behaviour. Veronica brings the egg, now broken, back to her father and returns to the speakeasy to sing where Reggie confronts and kiss her. Jughead and FP go to Fangs in secret to ask him to rejoin the Serpents as a double agent as he goes undercover with the Gargoyles.

Up north, Archie is on wilderness watch as he tries to avoid any contact with humans when he is viciously mauled by a bear. He makes it back to the cabin and radios for help, but it cuts out causing Archie to undress and try to patch himself up. He passes out and wakes up in a dream surrounded by Cassidy and the other boys from the trial as they tempt Archie into a game of G&G. His quest challenges him to defeat the dreaded Spectre of Death and flashes him back to the Black Hood shooting. While he is able to stop him, that wasn’t his quest and Warden Norton appears telling him to roll again.

His new quest is to kill the Man in Black and flashes into Hiram’s study where they chat before Archie stabs him in the stomach. Unfortunately that wasn’t the answer and Archie is sent to one last round with Veronica, Jughead and Betty. He enters his attic bedroom to find himself sleeping. A baseball bat appears in his hand as Fred pleads that he doesn’t have to do this, but he blames himself for all the trouble that has happened. He needs to break himself to become stronger and does not hesitate to bash his own skull in. The episode ends as park rangers make it to Archie who is wide-eyed and unresponsive.

Questions

• Will Archie survive? #IsArchieAlive
• Will Cheryl and Toni seek retribution against Jughead?
• Is there something still brewing between Jughead’s parents?
• What will happen to the Sisters refugees at The Farm?
• What will Hiram do next?
• What did Gladys Jones do to Penny Peabody?
• Who is the Gargoyle King?

Overall, No Exit was an intriguing midseason return for Riverdale. It puts the main hero Archie’s life in peril while causing tension between the stronger players in Riverdale that can oppose Hiram’s devious plan. Putting the G&G storyline more or less in the background of Riverdale’s current situation, with only Archie playing it north of the border, allowed for some good ole campy fun in this gloomy town. With more questions than answers at the end of this episode, it starts to pave the way for an interesting end to this season where anything seems to be possible.

Score: 8.5/10

What did you think of “No Exit”? Where do you see this season going? Let me know in the comments below!

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Dylan Phillips