After helping Dilton out with a time travel experiment, Archie has a bizarre day that gets worse and worse, in spite of all his efforts to make things work out. What's worse, the day keeps repeating, with only Archie able to remember. After a talk with Dilton, Archie figures out the cause — a thief who took the revamped time travel device has been abusing the "rewind" function. Can Archie stop him before Riverdale is caught in one day forever?
This episode includes examples of the following tropes:
- Camera Obscurer: While Dilton is filming the time experiment, he snaps at Jughead to take off the lens cap.
- Chekhov's Gunman: The Arc Villain, Vinnie Wells, makes an early appearance outside Mr. Weatherbee's office, awaiting punishment after breaking into many students' lockers in search of nacho money.
- Compressed Vice: Jughead suddenly develops a belief in fate and horoscopes.
- Disappointed by the Motive: Archie calls Vinnie an unimaginative, common thief when he finds out that he stole Dilton's chrono field generator to get multiple chances to break into a bank vault.
- Food Slap: No matter what, Archie keeps getting chocolate shake all over his head. In one time loop, Veronica empties a mega chocolate shake onto him. In another, he ends up collateral damage during a fight between Betty and Veronica. In yet another, Pop Tate brings him one after he goes home sick and trips.
- "Groundhog Day" Loop: After Vinnie steals the time device, the day keeps repeating over and over. Archie is the only one who remembers everything due to his previous use of the time belt. When he explains to Dilton and remembers the theft of the chrono field generator in the first loop, Dilton theorizes that the thief is rewinding time. Worse, he theorizes that time could become stuck in a loop if the rewinding continues.
- Innocently Insensitive: Dilton interrupts Archie and Veronica's date without initially realizing. He's too excited by his success with the chrono field generator to notice Veronica at the table.
- Noodle Incident: When Mr. Weatherbee asks to see him in the office, Archie begins trying to talk his way out of an offscreen incident in which he attempted to exorcise the lunch lady's casserole.
- Tempting Fate: When Dilton interrupts his date with Veronica to gush about fixing the time device, Veronica sneers that no one is interested in his invention. Unfortunately, Vinnie is.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Reggie is usually your typical Jerk with a Heart of Gold, but he is mostly the "heart of the gold" part in his one scene in this episode, where after he accidentally hits Archie with a football, he runs up to Archie, apologizes, and asks if he's okay.
- We Will Meet Again: Vinnie vows revenge on Archie and Riverdale as the police officer takes him away.
- You Are Fat: Veronica, furious that Archie asked Betty out, tells Betty that she's been gaining weight.
- You Can't Fight Fate: Jughead lampshades this multiple times. The specific fate entailed involves Archie experiencing a "Groundhog Day" Loop due to time travel shenanigans, and a Running Gag where he gets a milkshake dumped on him. Though after sorting things out, Archie still delivers a lesson with his closing narration.For a while there, I was beginning to believe that Jughead was right, that you really can't fight fate. But when I took charge of the situation, I proved that a bad day is just a bad day, even if you have to repeat it, in a little town called Riverdale.
