Riverdale - Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Hills Have Eyes - Review

Let’s go straight to the point: this season of Riverdale has been a roller coaster of great and weak moments. This episode gets Riverdale back to its roots: it’s not a boring episode, there are many narrative developments and chickens come home to roost. Let’s summarize what happened in The Hills Have Eyes.

Hiram wants Archie, Veronica, Betty, and Jughead to go to the Lodge's lake house. The group accepts the proposal and they spend some time together. Things get awkward when the truth about Betty and Archie kiss comes out: Jughead is angry at Betty. In order to find a possible solution to future problems, Ronnie kisses Jug. As Betty perfectly summarized, now the only combination that is missing is Jug and Archie. They all have kissed each other in these two years, and we really want to see this missing kiss. Tensions arise also after a breaking news: back in Riverdale Hiram bought the trailer park and the Riverdale Register. Betty and Jug are furious, but they don’t have time to process it because a group of black hoods tries to rob them. I liked how they handled this situation by reuniting them in a single place, making them face all their issues.

In the meanwhile, we finally have a storyline for Kevin. He wants to go to see the new Greg Berlanti’s movie Love, Simon and he meets with Moose and his new date. Besides having a clear and direct promotion of the movie (we actually have scenes at the cinema), we have some interesting moments between the two formers friends with benefits. But Kevin is not the only one affecting by this coming-of-age new gay comedy, Cheryl reveals to Toni that she had a crush on a girl in middle school! - a lesbian relationship that was interrupted by her crazy mother, Penelope. 

We all know that Toni and Cheryl will end up together, it’s something that anyone could foresee, but I really enjoy how they have created a path to this revelation. It’s a WTF moment, but I enjoyed it.

Not only we got to see Kevin, we have also some interaction between him and Josie. Josie has a confrontation with her mother about her affaire and she goes straight to Kevin and reveals the truth about this matter. In the end, she manages to convince the young Keller to respect their parents’ wish and create a sort of family together.

In front of Archie, one of Hiram's men kills one of the intruders. These two share one of their shady and creepy conversations about how to keep their close ones safe, with a Godfather vibe. It’s clear: in this episode, the writers have finally decided that it was time to actually discuss all the problems and themes that were part of this second season. I really hope they will continue to keep this rhythm. Riverdale deserves to go better to season one’s roots.

And you? What do you think of Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Hills Have Eyes?