'Riverdale' recap: 'Chapter Thirty-Three: Shadow of a Doubt'

On the latest Riverdale, Hermione and Fred face off in a debate, Cheryl and Betty investigate and a Serpent is arrested.

Previously on Riverdale, the town attended Midge's funeral. Archie was kidnapped and beaten by Nick St. Clair but Veronica ended up taking him down. Betty discoved Chic was not her brother and after finding out he killed her real brother, she hands him over to the Black Hood.

“Shadow of a Doubt” begins with Archie canvassing for his father. While Archie hands out pamphlets about his father’s campaign, he stares into the eyes of the men he sees, looking for the Black Hood. Also investigating the Black Hood is Betty, who is starting to wonder about her father. As the Cooper’s sit at the dining table, she remarks that she thinks Chic was a test. The family passed and can now handle anything that comes their way.

Veronica helps Archie cover up the bruises Nick St. Clair and his goons inflicted. She tells him that Hiram’s old mobster friends heard about her takedown of Nick and are impressed. The five families are sending emissaries to meet with her and talk about alliances. Later when the young men arrive, Veronica tells them she’s late for school and will speak with them tomorrow, despite her mother’s objection.

Hiram confronts Archie about campaigning for his dad. Archie says what he’s doing is actually looking for the Black Hood. Hiram encourages him to reform the Dark Circle. Archie says the guys aren’t steady enough to help. Hiram tells him he knows the new Sheriff, Michael Minetta. He will set up a meeting between the two to discuss the Black Hood.

Jughead asks Betty if she’s heard from Chic and she responds in the negative. He wonders how anything could be worse than what they’ve been through recently. She responds that Hal may be the Black Hood, but he thinks she’s joking and she doesn’t say anything else.

Betty shares her fears with Cheryl about Hal being the Black Hood, saying Cheryl can understand after what she went through with her father. Cheryl says Betty must find solid proof, pretend everything is fine and be careful. When Betty says she doesn’t believe Hal could hurt her, Cheryl replies she didn’t think her father would either, but he killed his own son. Later at home, Betty suggests Alice go back to work at The Riverdale Register and offers to help out after school. Hal thinks it’s a good idea.

Hiram reminds Hermione she must win the race. They have control of the newspaper and the new Sheriff Minetta under their thumbs. He thinks Archie getting the group together again will prove Fred would be a bad mayor since he cannot control his child.

At Riverdale High, Archie talks to the team about the Dark Circle and says the new Sheriff will back them, unlike Keller. Moose tells them the fight he had with Midge was about her seeing a Serpent. Reggie gets angry and doesn’t listen when Archie suggests they tell the new Sheriff instead of attacking the Serpents. Meanwhile, Jughead is telling the Serpents that the Ghoulies will be released soon and are out for blood when the wrestling team arrives. Reggie and Sweet Pea exchange words then blows. The room erupts in fighting that Archie and Jughead manage to stop.

After school, Fangs goes to Jughead and reveals he was the one who starting seeing Midge. Jughead already gave the film footage to the police, which shows Fangs in her dressing room. Jughead says the Serpents will stand with him because Fangs maintains his innocence.

Veronica begins interviewing the visiting young men at Pop’s. The first three’s business proposals she dismisses. The fourth named Elio talks about opening a casino. She asks if they cheat, but he says there’s no need to with a casino. She warms to him and they continue talking.

At Riverdale High, Jughead confronts Archie about Dark Circle flyers plastered around school. Archie says Reggie did it and says he will try to calm Reggie down. Jughead admits one of the Serpents was seeing Midge and then asks Archie about the new Riverdale Sheriff.

Jughead and Archie go together to the police station and find Hiram chatting with Sheriff Minetta. Hiram introduces them all and it’s clear he’s told the Sheriff all about both teens. Jughead tells the Sheriff he came to talk about the footage he loaned to Keller. Hiram seems annoyed with Archie, then asks Archie to assist Veronica in her meeting with Elio later and he agrees.

The group meets at Pop’s. Veronica tells Elio she’s interested in their families working together to build a casino in Riverdale. When she goes to the bathroom, Elio mentions rumors that Archie was the one who killed Pappa Poutine. Archie denies them, but Elio says the dead man’s son is looking for revenge. Later, Hiram tells Veronica the casinos are always fronts for illegal business. He dismisses her idea by saying it doesn’t make sense for them right now.

At the Riverdale Register office, Betty’s parents leave and Betty picks her dad’s office desk lock. She riffles through his stuff and copies his planner. Cheryl comes over and Betty shows her that Hal’s schedule could work with the Black Hood attacks. Dr. Curdle calls and thinking Betty is her mother, tells her the body of a young man was found. Betty tells Cheryl and says she thinks the body is Chic, admitting she sent the Black Hood after the imposter.

Jughead tells FP the Sheriff won’t let him have the footage back and plans on going over it minutely. The two worry what to do about Fangs, saying he will look guilty no matter what. They know Minetta is tied to the Lodge’s and believe he will put the blame on a Southsider.

Fred finds a note stuck on the front door that says “You’re next sinner!” Fred believes the Black Hood is back. The cops and the Lodge’s come over. Hiram tries to push back the debate, but Fred asks the Sheriff to up the security instead and Hermione agrees.

Dr. Curdle agrees to show Betty and the Cheryl the body as long as he’s paid. Betty gives him the money and Cheryl supports Betty as the body bag is opened. The young man is not Chic. Betty breaks down in the hallway and Cheryl comforts her cousin. Despite the body not being Chic, Betty worries she’s a murderer and that the Black Hood won. Cheryl says no one but the Black Hood is to blame if Chic is dead. She encourages Betty to confront her father with some of the information she found to gage his reaction.

Betty sits with her parents at home and admits that the Black Hood called her before. She tells them that she handed Chic over to the Black Hood and that makes her an accomplice. She looks at her father while talking, saying she’s felt a darkness inside herself and the Black Hood helped her understand. Alice is speechless, but Hal says he feels darkness as well and had a rough time when they were having family issues. He says the Cooper’s must stick together.

The next day at Riverdale High, Toni runs to show Jughead the video of Fangs in Midge’s dressing room, which someone posted online. The two find Fangs, but the cops arrive and cuff the Serpent. Fang’s switchblade falls to the floor during the struggle.

Fred wakes up to find Archie watching over the house with his bat, despite the cop stationed outside. Archie shares his frustration about everything that’s happened since Fred was shot. Fred asks if that’s why Archie has been so hung up on Hiram, and Archie says working for Hiram helps him feel like he can do something.

The Dark Circle minus Archie show up masked at the Serpent bar. Archie wakes to Jughead yelling at him for the group slashing their tires and lighting a dumpster on fire. Archie proclaims his innocence and Jughead hangs up when Sierra McCoy appears. The two rush into the police station and find the Sheriff grilling Fangs. Sierra tells Fangs not to say anything else and announces she’s his new attorney. She tells Fangs he’s in custody because of the switchblade on school grounds and tells him not to talk.

Archie gets the Dark Circle together and demands they stop attacking the Serpents. Reggie says Archie isn’t the one paying them and that he’s in charge now. Archie learns Hiram is paying the Dark Circle and is the one that told them to go mess with the Southside. At the same time, Veronica has a meeting of her own with Sierra. She asks what someone needs to build a casino in Riverdale. She mentions she wants everything to be completely legal.

Betty calls Cheryl and reveals she went through Hal’s credit card information. She discovered he’s still paying for the room he rented when he moved out. The two go to the place and Betty picks the lock. They look around and Cheryl finds the Nancy Drew book that the Black Hood used as a cipher for his message. Betty’s phone rings and it’s Hal. He asks if she wants to ride with him and Alice to the debate, but she says she’s with Cheryl and they don’t need a ride.

At the debate, Veronica tries to talk to her dad about the casino idea, but he shoots her down. Alice moderates the debate and her first question is about safety. Hermione talks about the new Sheriff catching Midge’s killer, while Fred reminds them Fangs hasn’t had a trial. Hermione brings up that Archie started the Dark Circle and tries to ruin Fred’s credibility.

Veronica sees the Black Hood and points him out just as he starts shooting. Archie dives to protect his father and the crowd panics. As everyone runs, Betty looks around for her parents. She’s surprised to find Hal and they huddle together. The shooter runs out of bullets and leaves. Later when everyone’s calmed down, Hiram suggests Archie go with the Sheriff to see if he can help identify the Black Hood. Archie looks at Hiram and declines, saying he wants to stay with his father.

At the police station, Sierra tells Jughead and Fangs that the Sheriff has one hour left to officially charge Fangs. The cops are treating the shooting and Midge’s murder as two seperate crimes at the moment. Sierra warns them about the crowd of angry protesters already waiting outside.

Back at home, Veronica tries to comfort her shocked mother and mentions dropping out of the mayoral race. Before Hermione can say anything, Hiram declares she won’t drop out. Hermione shakingly agrees they’ve worked too hard to stop now. Veronica is furious with Hiram for putting his business plans before her mother’s life. She declares she’s going ahead with the casino plans. He reveals he took the million she got from the St. Clairs and put it in a trust she cannot touch until her twenty-first birthday.

Betty confronts Hal about the book and admits to breaking into his room. He says he found the book online and remembered how much she loved it and was saving it as a present.

Jughead rushes home to get FP. He tells him about the angry crowd and is surprised to see Joaquin DeSantos. Joaquin is there to help them get Fangs out of Riverdale. The Jones’s leave to go round up the Serpents.

Hiram meets with Reggie and tells him that Fangs is being released. Hiram says they can’t change the law, but then subtly suggests the Dark Circle do something about Fangs.

Veronica goes to the Andrews’s house and tells Fred she cannot support her father’s plans anymore. She’s officially supporting Fred for mayor. She and Archie go upstairs and start undressing and making out. Later Archie gets a frantic call from Jughead at the police station. He tells Archie the Dark Circle are there and want to hurt Fangs.

The Serpents try to form a human shield around Fangs to protect him from the crowd. Arche arrives and sees Reggie has a gun. He runs after him and tackles him to the ground. Unfortunately a gun, most likely the one Reggie was holding, goes off and Fangs is shot in the stomach. Toni, Jughead and Sweet Pea try to stop the bleeding as a fight breaks out in the crowd.

Betty looks at the book and the hood, then calls Hal. She asks him to meet her at town hall and starts talking to him like he’s the Black Hood. Betty arrives at the Riverdale Town Hall to meet with her father. She takes items from her Black Hood investigation out of her bag, including the gun. Betty hears a knock and looks up.

The episode ends with another knock being heard, this time at Thistlehouse. Cheryl goes to answer it and screams when the person standing there appears to be the Black Hood.

Riverdale is getting exciting in the last few episodes. I enjoyed this episode, it was interesting and as the show often does, focused on a lot of the characters. The scenes with Betty and Cheryl teaming up to investigate Hal were some of my favorite this season. Hiram is strangely good at manipulating teenage boys, first preying on Archie’s fears, now on Reggie’s anger. The Black Hood mystery is still going strong and with two episodes left, I wonder if we will find out their identity in the next episode. I’m slightly worried about Cheryl, but I think the writers know killing her would be a big mistake.

Riverdale airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on The CW. Check out the trailer for the next episode below.

‘Riverdale’ recap: ‘Chapter Thirty-One: A Night to Remember’