Riverdale (5×11) Strange Bedfellows Review

I binged Riverdale earlier in the pandemic so now I’m ready to continue our coverage now that its fifth season and all its trashy glory has returned.

Synopsis: In the aftermath of the prison break at Hiram’s jail, Archie leads the charge to round up the remaining convicts on the loose. Tabitha reaches out for Betty’s help when she realizes Jughead is missing. (IMDb)

Strange Bedfellows began with a walk through Riverdale High to surveil the damage caused by the escaped convicts but luckily, Hiram’s publicity stunt of offering a reward for the capture of the same escaped convicts whom he facilitated their escape would surely help pay to fix it and you know Archie is going to go for it. Veronica managed to secure a precious blue opal for which she had planned to facilitate a sale for where those proceeds would help pay back her husband’s victims/but first thing’s first, she had to go back to Riverdale to help. Once that opal got stolen by Dodger (Juan Riedinger) and his mother (Azura Skye), hers and Archie’s interests were aligned which made things complicated for them as he wanted to wait until Veronica’s divorce was finalized before rekindling their relationship but she and her husband’s legal troubles made it a little tougher.

Those same criminals and others were interested in a cut of palladium that was allegedly dug up from underneath the prison for which Hiram of course kept for himself. Having kidnapped Hiram, Governor Dooley (Fred Henderson), and Tom Keller (Martin Cummins), Archie and Veronica devised a plan to get everyone and the opal back which of course worked. Undeterred, Hiram made sure Governor Dooley (who wanted a cut of the palladium) remembered who was in charge.

Betty’s search for those missing girls would have to wait after Tabitha asked for her help to track Jughead who was missing. In fact, he had wandered to Sketch Alley while still high on maple mushrooms. Luckily, another homeless man named Doc took care of him. Meanwhile, retracing his steps, Betty and Tabitha tracked down Jughead’s girlfriend Jessica who proved to be little help after slipping them drugs so they could go on a trip of their own. She had a motive of her own which was capturing any evidence of her relationship with Jughead that could be found in his manuscript which Betty gave her while tripping.

A recently escaped Penelope Blossom was up to her old schemes once again, founding a church while her skeptical daughter watched. For some reason, Betty and Tabitha’s trip lined up with Cheryl in a musical sequence where she gave in to her mother’s religion by drinking some special maple water.

Following Betty and Tabitha’s trip, they received a voicemail message from Jughead saying he was fine but going back to New York to confront his demons as he hitched a ride in a big rig truck. Whether or not he’ll make it to New York remain to be seen.

As with most Riverdale episodes go, things are okay until character start singing…

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.