| “ | Believe you? Okay. So, tell me the truth, Betty. Was that really Charles' grave?... So how can I trust you? You lied to me. You faked a gravestone. I love you. I love you, Betty, but you're gonna have to let me go. | ” |
"Chapter Fifty-Three: Jawbreaker" is the eighteenth episode of the third season of Riverdale, and the fifty-third episode of the series overall.[2] It premiered on April 17, 2019.
Synopsis[]
REMATCH — When a tainted batch of fizzle rocks makes its way through Riverdale, Jughead and FP set out to find who’s responsible. After asking Veronica to help get him into an upcoming boxing tournament, Archie quickly learns he may be in over his head. Elsewhere, Betty makes one last attempt to rescue Alice from The Farm's grip, and Toni becomes unsettled by a sudden change in Cheryl's behavior.[3]
Plot[]
FP and Jughead at Baby Teeth's crime scene
FP and Jughead hover over Baby Teeth’s body in the clearing. They’ve identified him as Brandon Morris. At first glance, the scene is very similar to how Jughead found Ben and Dilton, and it is because of that that FP asks for Jughead’s help in solving the case. The blue lips and markings of Baby Teeth’s back are the same, but his missing teeth is unusual, Jughead remarks as he takes photos of the scene. He suspects they could be looking for a copy cat killer. This could be the same guy who went after Ben and Dilton, but they were willing participants. Jughead believes that the killer may be sending a message through the brutality of the killing, that the real Gargoyle King is back.
Betty questions Edgar's intentions
At the Farm’s compound, Betty continues to question Edgar and his motives. She claims that there’s no record of his existence, to which Edgar explains that he was a different man many years ago. His life was in shambles and so he left it behind and walked into the desert to die, until he stumbled onto a tree, on a hillside of a farm. Edgar knocked on the farm’s door and when he woke, he was being tended to in a white room by a kind, elderly farmer. Edgar repaid the woman by lending a hand around the farm. He watched the field grow into something beautiful and in the process, felt reborn. Thus Edgar made it his sacred duty to open his own Farm, where he could welcome lost souls. While this may be true, it doesn’t explain how Edgar has convinced Alice that she can see her dead son. Edgar claims that at the Farm they strive to create a safe place, where wounded people can heal and become the best versions of themselves. Though, this doesn’t answer Betty’s question, so she asks again how Edgar has convinced her mother that she’s seeing Charles. Betty suspects that maybe he has someone dress up like Charles.
Archie rallies the other fighters at his boxing gym, the El Royale Fight Club. While they’re all still reeling over the death of Baby Teeth, they have to honor their fallen brother. Mad Dog interrupts to add that he’s doing so by dedicating his upcoming match to Baby Teeth. Mad Dog then informs Archie that there’s an upcoming boxing tournament this weekend, the Gilded Gloves.
Betty tells Veronica, Archie, and Jughead about the Farm
Betty, Veronica, Archie, and Jughead gather in the student lounge, where they discuss the upcoming boxing tournament. Archie hopes that Veronica can help get his crew into the tournament by talking to Elio. Cheryl, along with Evelyn, Fangs, and Kevin, advocate for the Farm, spreading the word around school. "Where the one become many and the many become one". Toni watches very concerned as Evelyn, Cheryl, Fangs, and Kevin pass through the school hallway. Back in the student lounge, Betty has explained to the others that the reason her mother and Cheryl have joined the Farm is because they are allowed to talk to Charles and Jason. Jughead tells Betty to prove to her mother that Charles is dead since she’s lost touch with reality. The best way to snap her out of her delusions may be a harsh dose of reality.
Toni blames Betty for Cheryl's involvement in the Farm
Betty takes to Jughead’s suggestions and begins making calls from the Blue and Gold office, thought she doesn’t have much luck. Toni enters the Blue and Gold as she holds Betty personally responsible for whatever the Farm has done to Cheryl. Betty explains that Edgar is a con artist who has somehow convinced everyone that they can talk to the dead. Unlike with Charles, there’s proof of Jason’s death. Betty sends Toni the video of Clifford Blossom shooting Jason. Betty’s kept a copy of it on her laptop. She hopes that showing it to Cheryl will snap her back into reality.
Veronica asks Elio to participate in the Gilded Gloves
In an attempt to fulfill her promise to Archie, Veronica ambushes Elio in the men’s steam room. She wants in on the boxing tournament. She recalls how Archie almost beat Ronson. However, as far as Elio is concerned, Archie is a poor fighter who has no place in his tournament. Veronica leaves, but not before telling him to remember this moment where she tried to keep things civil.
FP and Jughead head down to the coroner’s lab, where Dr. Curdle Jr. informs them that Baby Teeth died from loss of blood, from the pulling of his teeth, which occurred pre-mortem. During the autopsy, Curdle also discovered a matchbook from the Maple Club lodged down Baby Teeth’s throat.
FP face-to-face with Fizzle Rocks junkie
FP and Jughead stop by the Maple Club to questions Penelope regarding the matchbook found in Baby Teeth’s throat. Penelope claims they’re complimentary. She also recalls Baby Teeth stopping by a few nights ago with some friends. Baby Teeth supposedly left the Maple Club alive. Penelope’s girl Rosemary fulfilled his fantasy. A loud commotion is heard from the back room. FP, Jughead, and Penelope decide to investigate. They find a deranged man growling and foaming at the mouth. He lunges at FP with a glass shard, though FP manages to knock him out and apprehend him. After locking him up in the cruiser, Jughead and FP ask if there’s anything that Penelope and Rosemary can tell them about the man. They claim his name is Martin, but everyone uses aliases, and he likes to take Fizzle Rocks to enhance the experience, but this time was different. He started freaking out.
El Royale Boxing Grand Opening report
Given Elio’s refusal to allow Archie in his tournament, Veronica turns to Alice for help. She, along with a news crew head down to Archie’s gym, where she reports on Veronica’s latest business venture as the promoter of the boxing club. Veronica proceeds to promote the facility, including its fighters and staff. Archie then begins reading his lines from cue cards. He offers three free personal training sessions. Lastly, he issues a challenge to Randy Ronson at the Gilded Gloves.
Hal advises Betty to fake a grave stone
Betty visits her father at prison, who informs her that her mother has filed for divorce from him. However, Hal hasn’t signed yet, wondering if Alice is seeing someone. Betty suspects it may be Edgar, who her mother spends most of her time at the Farm with. Betty then informs her father how Edgar has tricked her mother into thinking that she’s seeing Charles, which Hal remarks is impossible because Charles is dead, but Betty doesn’t have any physical proof of that. Hal tells Betty that she doesn’t need a body or ashes. Just a grave.
Veronica flips for venue
Veronica arranges a meeting with Elio at La Bonne Nuit, who’s impressed with Veronica’s efforts and Archie’s challenge to Randy. With this, Elio agrees to allow the El Royale boxers to participate in the Gilded Gloves. However, Archie’s going to have to move up a weight class as Randy’s now fighting in the middle weight division. They flip for the venue. Heads for Archie’s gym and tails for Elio’s gym. The coin lands on heads.
FP and Jughead discuss Kurtz and Fizzle Rocks
FP and Jughead return to the station with Martin and lock him in a cell. They’ll ask him where he got the Fizzle Rocks when he comes down, though Jughead’s pretty certain that Kurtz is behind this. He also wants to ask Martin about Baby Teeth. In the meantime, FP wants to have forensics run a test on the Fizzle Rocks they confiscated.
Toni sits Cheryl down at Thistlehouse and shows her the surveillance footage of her father shooting her brother. Toni explains that she’s only showing this to Cheryl because she needed to be reminded of the truth, that Jason’s dead. However, Cheryl claims that the video is fake. Toni then asks if Cheryl ever hugged Jason while at the Farm, which Cheryl hesitantly claims she has.
Alice and Betty at Charles' alleged grave
Betty visits her mother at the Farm to ask if she’s engaged to Edgar, to which Alice replies that she and Edgar have a deep understanding of each other. Betty then extends her hand, telling her mother that she wants to show her something. Betty takes Alice to what is supposedly Charles’ grave. Betty paid someone to help her track it down, meaning Alice hasn’t been talking to him at he Farm. Charles has been dead and buried for the last five years. Betty and Alice return to the car, where Alice is still unconvinced that Charles is dead. She claims to have spoken to Charles just that morning. With no other option, Betty chloroforms her mother.
At Pop's Chock'lit Shoppe, Veronica serves Archie a large platter of burgers and fries to help get his weight up for the fight. It’s now time for the fighters to weigh in. Veronica, Tom, Mad Dog, and Elio also attend. Randy Ronson weighs in at 159 lbs while Archie weighs in at 154 lbs.
Alice has been handcuffed in the bunker
Alice wakes up in Dilton’s bunker, handcuffed to the bed. Seeing as taking her mother to Charles alleged headstone didn’t work, Betty attempts to remind her of their fond moments from the past, such as her first day at the Register. Alice counters that now she’s a reporter thanks to the Farm. Betty then shows her mother a photo taken during her 8th grade graduation. Alice states that is the past. She’s someone else now. This saddens Betty as she continues her effort to pull her mother back to reality. She reminds her of their old house and how she painted the front door red. Alice retorts that she lived with a murderer in that house. Betty replies that she also raised her and Polly in that house. Alice has endured so much pain she just wants to forget the past, but Betty won’t allow it. Alice then asks Betty to tell her the truth about Charles’ grave, which Betty admits that it wasn’t. Both Betty and Alice start to cry, hoping of nothing else to reason with the other, but to no avail. So, before leaving for school, Betty hands her mother several photo albums and tells her to remember who she is.
River Vixen on G
Betty, Jughead, Archie, and Veronica reconvene in the student lounge, where Betty informs them that she locked her mother in the bunker. Betty reasons that it’s the only place her mother will be safe from the Farm. Betty is determined to follow through with her attempt at deprogramming her mother. The four of them follow a loud, banging sound into the hallway, where they find a Vixen slamming her head repeatedly into the lockers. Foaming at the mouth from G, aka Fizzle Rocks, and blood running down her head, a couple other Vixens restrain her and take her to the infirmary. Jughead then gets a call from his father, who has just picked up another tweaker from Pop’s and asks that Jughead meet him at the station. Coincidentally, both Jughead and FP have recovered a pack of Fizzle Rocks with a large G labeled on the front of the packet.
Jughead concludes that there must’ve been a bad batched released, one that caused Fizzle Rocks psychosis. FP has placed the tweaker from Pop’s in the cell next to Martin, who seems to finally be coming down from his high.
Evelyn tells Toni to stay away from Cheryl
Toni is approached in the girls restroom by Evelyn, who claims that Toni to detracting Cheryl from her studies at the Farm, which Evelyn refuses to allow to happen. Toni states that she loves Cheryl and Cheryl loves her. Evelyn says that the Farm is fulfilling Cheryl in ways that Toni couldn’t imagine, which Toni finds hard to believe.
Mad Dog gives Archie a heads up that Randy is juicing, but not with steroids. Some kind of new powder that he saw Elio give to Ronson. It made him crazy strong. Mad Dog looked into Randy’s eyes and all he saw was rage. Mad Dog fears that Randy may kill Archie in the ring, which is why he has brought Archie drugs to level the playing field. However, Archie is opposed to taking drugs. Mad Dog leaves the drugs with Archie just in case he changes his mind.
Jellybean plays G&G with Ricky
Jellybean plays Gryphons and Gargoyles with Ricky at Pop’s. Jellybean has just lost the game and apparently she’s a new player. She asks if they can play another round. Ricky wonders if her parents will be worried about her being out for so long. However, as Jellybean explains, her parents are often too busy to notice her.
FP and Jughead being their interrogation of Martin. He informs them that the G stands for Gargoyle. Which Gargoyle, Jughead asks. Martin tells them that this time it was Kurtz. Kurtz is both a cook and a dealer, but he’s not the kingpin. And so, FP wants to pay Hiram Lodge a visit, suspecting that he could be back up to his drug pushing ways.
Betty threatens Evelyn
Betty returns to the bunker to find her mother burning the family photos albums. The following day, Evelyn asks Betty if she’s seen Alice, though Betty claims to have no knowledge of her whereabouts. Considering that Alice missed bed check and the fact that Betty was seen entering Alice’s room, Evelyn suspects that Betty has something to do with her disappearance. Still, Betty maintains her innocence. As she walks off, Evelyn reminds her that they have copies of Alice’s and Polly’s tapes. Betty slams Evelyn against the locker. While the Farm may have brainwashed her mother, Betty sees right through them. She warns Evelyn to stop messing with her family and friends. Should Evelyn persist, Betty threatens to kill her.
Toni and Cheryl kiss
Toni asks if Cheryl is headed for a meeting at the Farm, which she is. However, Toni asks that she stay home because she needs Cheryl in every way. Mind, soul, and body. But mostly body, Toni remarks as the two proceed to kiss.
Archie, Fangs, and the rest of the El Royale fighters go on a run through the woods. They stop at Baby Teeth's grave to remember him, as tomorrow they’ll be fighting for him.
The guy that FP arrested at Pop’s has come down from his high and is ready to answer questions. He got the G from Kurtz, though that isn’t his usual dealer. Apparently, Kurtz was aggressive in trying to get the man to buy more than his usual, which sounds like desperation. FP then gets a call from Laura, better known as Rosemary from the Maple Club.
Betty hears her mother's tape
Betty sits in the Blue and Gold listening to her mother’s tape, where Alice states that Betty is often angry and how she’s afraid of Betty. On the tape, Alice goes on to say that she thinks Betty wants to hurt her. She has the same darkness in her that Alice saw in Hal. Hearing this enrages Betty.
FP and Jughead arrive at the Maple Club, where Rosemary and Penelope inform them that some rowdy, rich kids showed up, stirring up trouble. None of them appeared to be on G. They seemed to be there just to kill time as they were supposed to meet someone in the lobby. But the guy never showed. One of the troublemakers got a call, which sounded like a supplier who wanted to reschedule. He said something about a fight and Rosemary found a flyer to the Gilded Gloves fight tournament.
Edgar claims that he's helping Alice
Betty barges into Edgar’s office demanding to know what he did to her mom and how he got her to say such horrible things about Betty on those tapes. Edgar claims that everything Alice said on those tapes were her own words. Betty refuses to allow Edgar to turn this on her, not while Edgar continues to feed her mother lies about Charles. Edgar sees Charles as a wound that needs to be healed. Alice is on a journey and she is making tremendous progress in finding her truest self, but Betty argues that her mother could’ve done that from home, without giving up Betty’s money or her childhood home and everything else. Edgar believes that Alice needs the Farm in order to heal from the pain inflicted upon her. Whether Charles is real or not, he fulfills her in a way that no one else can. So, Edgar asks why in Betty’s mind is that a bad thing. Betty does not answer, simply exiting Edgar’s office.
Betty takes Alice to Evelyn
Betty returns to the bunker, where she places a blindfold over her mother’s head and takes her to Pop’s, where Evelyn awaits their arrival. Evelyn welcomes Alice with open arms and the two share a hug. Before leaving, Betty pleads with Evelyn to take care of her mother. Evelyn replies that that’s all she’s ever wanted to do.
Veronica surprises Archie with a new set of boxing attire. He thanks her for believing in him. No matter what happens, Veronica will always be in his corner. Once she leaves, Fred enters the room, calling into question Archie’s relationship with Veronica, though Archie tells his father that they’re just friends, not that Fred’s convinced.
Toni joins Cheryl, Evelyn, Fangs, and Kevin in the Farm
Cheryl approaches Toni in the girls locker room after being told by Evelyn that she has to make a choice between Jason and Toni. Toni attempts to explain to Cheryl that Jason’s only a ghost, though Cheryl isn’t convinced. And while she admittedly loves Toni, she’s loved Jason her entire life. Toni refuses to allow their relationship to end, asking if there’s anyway Cheryl can be with both her and Jason. Cheryl replies that there’s only one way, and that’s if Toni joins the Farm, which she does, joining Cheryl, Evelyn, Fangs, and Kevin in Riverdale High’s own chapter of the Farm as they walk down the school halls dressed in all white.
Toni has infiltrated the Farm as a double-agent
Toni enters the Blue and Gold as Betty listens to her mother’s tapes. As it turns out, Toni is in cahoots with Betty to infiltrate the Farm. Betty asks Toni if she’s a monster. Toni says that she’s just a daughter who wants her mother back, just like Toni wants Cheryl back.
FP and Jughead spot Kurtz entering an ally as they stakeout the fight. They catch him in the middle of a drug transaction. FP draws his firm arm and demands that Kurtz put his hands up. As FP cuffs him, Jughead tells Kurtz that both he and his drugs are done for good.
Tom preps Archie for his fight
Tom escorts Archie out to the ring for his fight. Fred, Josie, and Veronica watch from the crowd. Josie asks if Veronica’s nervous, but she isn’t in the slightest. Josie then notices Archie’s new robe and trunks. Veronica explains that Archie’s officially sponsored by Pop’s. Randy tells Elio that he’s going to end Archie tonight, but if Elio recalls, Randy said the same thing last time and Archie almost beat him. Elio then gives Ronson some G diluted with water in his bottle as a boost.
Betty visits her father once more. As Hal signs the divorce papers, he asks what caused Betty’s sudden change in heart. She finally realized that it’s time to let her mother go. She needs to heal in whatever way she chooses. Hal then asks if Betty would consider doing him a favor. He wants to come home.
Ronson vs Archie
With the added boost of G to his water, Archie doesn’t fair well against Ronson, who pummels him. The few hits that Archie does manage to land have little effect. Fred, Josie, and Veronica watch from the crowd in fear of Archie’s condition as he takes blow after blow. As the round comes to an end, Archie returns to his corner, where Tom reminds him to stay off the ropes. Archie informs Tom that Ronson is on drugs and that the ref should call the fight. Unfortunately, when Tom attempts to get Ronson disqualified, Elio interjects that the match only ends if Archie forfeits, but Archie refuses to take the lost. With that being said, Tom tells Archie that his only choice is to knock Ronson out in this round. Archie and Ronson go right back to it as they sound the bell to signal the start of the round. Again, Archie finds himself taking hit after hit from Ronson, though he waits for his moment, biding time to find an opening, and when he does, Archie drops Ronson. However, Ronson never gets back up from the punch and a doctor is called to the ring.
Kurtz reveals that they have Jellybean
FP and Jughead interrogate Kurtz at the sheriff station. FP wonders if Kurtz plan was to sale the bad batch of G, get out of town, and dodge a murder charge. Jughead then asks why Baby Teeth was killed. Kurtz explains that Baby Teeth was only the warm-up to the ultimate quest for the Jones. The Gargoyle King demanded that they save the little princess. Jughead and FP instantly realize that he’s talking about Jellybean and demands to know what Kurtz did. He simply replies that she’s been summoned by the King.
Meanwhile, Ricky leads Jellybean through the woods while on a quest. When she questions why they couldn’t continue the game at Pop’s, he tells her it’s because "he" wanted to meet her. He being the Gargoyle King, who appears before Jellybean and Ricky.
Cast[]
Soundtrack[]
- Imperial Teen - Yoo Hoo
- Peter Sivo Band - My Love Lingers On
- Scene: At La Bonne Nuit, Veronica and Elio discuss the Gilded Gloves.
- Haley Heynderickx - Oom Sha La La
- Scene: Veronica brings Archie food to help him meet weight for the fight.
- La traviata, Act III: Addio, del passato - Leyla Gencer, Arturo Basile, RAI Symphony Orchestra, Turin
- Scene: Betty convinces her father to sign the divorce papers, and then he asks her for a favor.
- Klergy - My Temptation
- Scene: Toni attempts to convince Cheryl to choose her over the Farm
Trivia[]
- The episode title comes from Darren Stein's 1999 black comedy film of the same name.
- Randy Ronson is named after Randy Van Ronson, a character from the Archie Comics who contends Katy Keene's love with KO Kelly.
Gallery[]
Promotional Images[]
Screencaps[]
Videos[]
