'Riverdale' Season 4 Episode 5 gives us a Lodge vs Lodge showdown and latent serial killers in the Cooper household
This review contains spoilers for 'Riverdale' Season 4 Episode 5: 'Witness for the Prosecution'
It has been a bizarre season of 'Riverdale' so far. We saw a villain planning to fly off to god-knows-where in his rocket, a haunted house, and a vigilante. Yet, the series has managed to make sure fans tune in every week to experience new twists it seamlessly adds to its plot. 'Witness for the Prosecution' does just that by giving the world a Lodge vs Lodge showdown, latent serial killers in the Cooper household and a masked vigilante who looks to make Riverdale a scum-free town.
The final minutes of the 'Halloween' episode made fans go bonkers when they saw Jughead's (Cole Sprouse) dead body identified by FP (Skeet Ulrich) and Betty (Lili Reinhart). Switch back to the present, the teen sleuth learns more about his family tree. While we're talking about Betty, the prim and proper golden-hair girl from the comics apparently has the serial killer gene in her. Meanwhile, Archie may not be masquerading around town as Pureheart the Powerful anymore, but he does wear a mask and patrol the streets saving damsels in distress and kids from being errand boys of gang leaders.
'Witness for the Prosecution' gives Camila Mendes' Veronica Lodge that much-needed screentime. The Hermoine (Marisol Nichols) and Hiram (Mark Consuelos) trial finally takes place and the wily Hiram is the man to get away scot-free. He has help and it comes in the form of Hermosa Lodge (Mishel Prada) who is introduced as a daughter probably filled with Hiram's criminal genes (since genes have managed to make their way in the conversation). Despite Ronnie's attempts to collude with Governor Dooley and get her mom free, Hermosa manages to checkmate the younger sister and eventually Hiram announces that he wants to run for Mayor. Guess it's time to call it 'Hiramdale' now.
As far as the flash-forward goes, we may have found our potential suspects and in another twist that's guaranteed to send Twitterati into a tizzy, it's Archie, Betty, and Ronnie who are rounded up by FP. Again, we don't really know if the season really ends with Jug's death or all this is a meticulous plan to bring some mystery criminals to justice. There aren't any further developments on the videotapes, but that storyline is compensated with the writers giving us a glimpse of Jug's family history. His grandpa was an excellent writer and the genes (yes, again) have been inherited by Jug.
Now calling himself Forsythe III, he intends to win the 'Baxter Boys' competition, where he faces stiff competition from his Stone Wall Prep reading roommates. The theme is, 'The Perfect Murder' and the kids must write three chapters and outline the rest.
Feel for Archie here who's trying really hard to follow in his dad's footsteps. For now, it's separate adventures for the core four and not one of them is a sweet, memorable one