The first half of Riverdale’s second season has come to an end. Now the waiting game begins as the show will be off the air until Jan. 17.
A fictional TV town that could definitely benefit from some time off to just relax and not worry about masked potential serial killers is Riverdale. And that is exactly what is happening as Riverdale is taking the next month off before returning with the back half of its second season in January.
Season 2 has only aired nine episodes so far, but the show has burned through a lot of plot. The premiere seemed to set up the downward spiral of Archie Andrews. And until the fourth episode, that was a major storyline. Archie briefly became a gun-wielding, Southside Serpent threatening vigilante and leader of the Red Circle. Their goal was to rid Riverdale of the Black Hood who shot Fred and killed one of season1’s most problematic storylines, Ms. Grundy.
But after a big fight in the rain with the Serpents, Archie realized becoming a vigilante was not a good plan. Thus, Archie faded back into the background of Riverdale and his main role was being a supportive friend to Jughead and Betty in their storylines.
Jughead and Betty’s storylines were the main focus of season 2 so far. Jughead went on a journey from reluctantly leaving Riverdale High to being a proud member of the Southside Serpents. As for Betty, she was the only person the Black Hood ever spoke to. She, along with the rest of the core four, eventually figured out that the Black Hood was the school janitor, a character only introduced in episode 7.
And that is how the show wrapped up its big first half mystery. When the show returns in January, it will be moving on to other storylines. A one-minute extended trailer gives a glimpse of what is to come in the second half of the season.
Full-fledged Serpent Jughead is coming back to Riverdale High, as Southside High is closing. This should make for many awkward encounters between the now broken up Jughead and Betty. Especially considering that the midseason finale set up that Betty is in love with Archie again.
But Archie is back with Veronica after their ever so brief split. Hiram is not happy about this, and it looks like he will make it his mission to make Archie’s life terrible. Seeing as the audience never got to hear all of the Lodge family secrets in the midseason finale, that will likely play a big role in the second half of the season as Hiram becomes more of a villain.
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Finally, there will be some much anticipated Cooper family drama. Chic, the son Alice had as a teenager, is set to make his debut when Riverdale returns. The big mystery now will be if Chic is Hank’s son or F.P.’s.
Riverdale returns on Wednesday, Jan. 17 at 8 p.m. ET on The CW. For viewers outside of the U.S., new episodes will return to Netflix every Thursday starting on Jan. 18.