‘Riverdale’ 4×16 Recap: Jughead reveals the truth

After last week’s not-so-shocking revelation that Jughead is alive, Wednesday’s episode of Riverdale answered the big question of exactly how Jughead pulled off his plan.

Without further ado, let’s dive into this recap.

Jughead reveals all

The main and only storyline this week revolved around Jughead and his mission to finally expose the Stonewall Prep kids for the assholes they really are. Betty and Jughead go to the school and interrupt Mr. DuPont’s study group, locking the door behind them. In the only way Jughead knows how, he lays out all of the evidence, from Moose’s arrival and exit from the school to the Baxter Brothers franchise being stolen from his grandfather Forsythe to the “suicide” of Mr. Chipping.

I gotta say if Jughead and Betty figured all this out, why did it take them a whole season to find out about the Gargoyle King? Anyway, their theory is that the Baxter Brothers ghostwriters were hired around the same time that one of the “Stonewall Four” disappeared and in order to win the rights to the contract, they needed to plan and execute the perfect murder. He goes on to accuse his former classmates of planning to kill him. The way Jughead wiped their smug smiles off their face was PRICELESS.

That’s when viewers are shown exactly what went down that night. Joan was tasked with delivering the blow to kill Jughead, Donna blew “devil’s breath” into Betty’s face to fog her memory, and Jonathan was supposed to check Jughead’s pulse but due to food poisoning did not complete that part of the job. That left Veronica, Betty, and Archie to revive and save Jughead, who ended up being out of it for 36 hours.

So I bet you’re wondering who was at the center of all this, right? Well, it was none other than Mr. DuPont! Why? He wanted to silence all the former Baxter Brothers ghostwriters as well as the Quill & Skull society too and he did so by killing each of them and make it look like an accident. That’s when Jughead brings in Charles, F.P., and his grandfather to confirm the story. When Charles says he found evidence to arrest DuPont, the teacher jumps out the window and meets his death.

One last thing

Story over, right? Wrong! Betty has one more thing up her sleeve. Remember that dirt Veronica’s sister dug up? Well, here it is. Donna is transferring schools and has the rights to the Baxter Brothers franchise, rebranding it as “Tracey True”. But that’s when Betty tells her that she knows it was her behind it all as revenge for DuPont trying to steal the idea of “Tracey True” from her grandmother, the original Quill & Skull member. In the end, she gets Donna to give up the contract.

Other Thoughts

• No Mary, Hermione, or Hiram in this episode. Which makes me wonder, how the heck was Hiram not in on this plan? He knows EVERYTHING that goes on in Riverdale for goodness sake.
• Where we do go from here? Surely the Stonewall storyline is over, right?? So how do they fill the last half of the season?
• Jughead’s beanie saved his head from being cracked open. What the heck is that beanie made out of?!

What did you think of the episode? Let me know in the comments below!

Riverdale returns with new episodes on April 8 at 8/7c on The CW.