Riverdale - Chapter Forty-Five: The Stranger - Advance Preview: "A Generous Donation"

Please remember that I’m attempting to keep these previews as insightful as possible, but as spoiler free as possible as well, which leaves me with not a lot to work with.

Riverdale. Oh Riverdale. You teeter between being bold and being boring so frequently it’s hard to believe that anything we see will ever truly amount to anything. I find myself frustrated by your need to drag things on but engulfed by your complete disregard for sanity. Why would this week be any different?

The CW has a specific list of Do Not Reveals for this episode, that really make it hard to give this preview some real meat. It’s going to be tease-soup and I hope you’re okay with that. First, if you came here looking for hints about what happens to Archie….you might want to leave now. But honestly, do you expect the show to kill off the de-facto male lead? If so, I have a bridge to sell you. Either way, Archie’s conundrum is deal with almost instantly, so you don’t have to wait in suspense too long.

I was honestly surprised to see such an outpour of support for #Veggie in my corners of the web, but it’s refreshing that the show decided to shake up at least one of the core four relationships this year. Veggie may just be a fleeting moment, but it’s going to last a little bit longer than I initially thought and I’m okay with that.

I’ve made my stand on Hiram pretty clear. I’m honestly much more interested in The Farm, or the The Sisters of Quiet Mercy, or two hours of Ethel paying G&G. In short, I’m over him, and honestly I was rewarded this week for my patience and that is all I can say about that. Speaking of The Farm and the Sisters, color me surprised that both still play a pretty decent role in this episode. Alice and Betty are still at odds over The Farm and it leads Betty to a place I didn’t think we’d see… prison with the Black Hood aka her Father. Their potential dynamic post-reveal peaked my curiosity and I’m all in for exploring it, so that’s a high point of the episode. Take your guesses as to what leads to it.

There’s more gang stuff and the “Gargoyle” is once again unmasked in both past(?) and present. I wish we could put G&G to bed, but alas it’s glitter bomb of the season, blown everywhere and impossible to get rid of. There are some big changes in store based on some shifting power presented by the end of the episode, and I honestly let out an audible WHAT when an alliance is maybe revealed?

The hour flew by, an accomplishment I hadn’t been able to speak of in a good batch of the season, and it ends with some new balls in the air, with some of the same questions still on our lips. Am I fooling myself to expect anything else?

Here are some initial thoughts I wrote down on what can’t be revealed:

Oh. That is going to leave a stain.

If they were already presumed dead or gone…why does this even matter?

Now this show wants me to believe these kids take academics seriously?

An SAT study session that’s turned into a party? Sounds about right.

Hey Josie’s mom. Nice to see you getting more lines than Josie.

What does The Farm have on Alice? They must have something over her!

Conjugal Visits? I need a family flow chart, because right now this feels icky.

Veronica. Honey. Just admit you’re ready for some new man meat. It’s OK.

Well. Skeet makes that outfit look good.

I mean, we had a bear attack, so an alcoholic storyline is just a walk in the park.

Riverdale, Chapter Forty-Five: The Stranger airs Wednesday, 01/22 on the CW. Will you be checking it out? Sound off below!