Veronica struggles with being venomous to others and the inherent isolation it brings. Betty uncovers family secrets. Archie tries to develop a resilience to palladium. Cheryl tries to get in touch with Heather.
Tropes
- Alchemy Is Magic: Cheryl has Archie read what she calls an Alchemical spell.
- Artistic License – Biology:
- Hal and Alice simply bury the deputy’s body without any way to speed up decomposition. In reality, the scent of decay would have spread all over the house and the body would have eventually been found.
- Once again, the “serial killer gene” is touted as real.
- Calling the Old Man Out: Betty tears into Alice for trying to control her instead of getting her away from Hal, pointing out that it never worked and she still has darkness in her, not to mention that it created more problems than it solved.
- Derailing Love Interests: Reggie is suddenly gunning for Veronica and the casino out of nowhere and has no reaction to finding out she’s possibly sick, just so it narratively ‘makes sense’ for her to want to kiss someone else as ‘meaningful human contact’ and end up kissing the only person who won’t die — Archie.
- Fanservice: Shirtless Archie.
- Fire Is Red: Redheads Cheryl and Archie, having pyrokinetic abilities and being literally forged in fire, respectively.
- Ghost Memory: Archie has a flash of an Alternate Universe version of himself having a verbatim exchange of the conversation he’s having with Jughead.
- Go Through Me: Archie defends Pop's from Pickens.
- Heel–Face Revolving Door: Reggie joins Pickens.
- Massage of Love: Archie and Betty.
- A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Read: Jughead is not enjoying reading Betty’s subconscious.
- Pensieve Flashback: How Jughead experiences Alice and Betty's repressed memories.
- Personality Powers: Even though Veronica got her powers from Pickens, while her friends got them from the explosion, her powers also align with her character: Veronica has always been morally grey and can be ruthless and attack when she wants.
- Veronica notably also inadvertently attacks Reggie when she loses her temper, the person who pointed out that she can’t be alone. Her new powers force her to be alone; to grow.
- Platonic Kissing: Veronica and Archie.
- Plot Hole: Reggie was sad, but calm and mature about his break-up with Veronica, while she was unwilling to deal with the reality he presented. Suddenly, in this episode he’s being petty out of nowhere and is working with the villain.
- Poison Is Evil: Veronica's powers.
- Poisonous Person: Veronica, after being bitten by a black widow spider and absorbing its venom.
- Retcon: Alice knew that Hal was a murderer. This contradicts Season 2 where Alice didn't suspect Hal was the Black Hood and was surprised when he revealed it, and especially Season 1 where she ridiculed the notion that Hal could have killed Jason Blossom.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Veronica gives a narratively unearned one of these to Reggie and makes his nose bleed with her poison.
- The Reveal: Alice has the 'serial killer gene' and suspected Hal might try to cultivate Betty as a serial killer.
- This is why Alice was always controlling of Betty in Betty’s youth, as Alice believed Betty might have ‘darkness’ inside her that needed ‘handling’, furthering Betty’s misconception about herself that something is wrong with her.
- Tonight, Someone Kisses: Veronica and Archie in the trailer. As is often the case with this trope, it’s not what it seems: the kiss is not romantic but platonic, and contrived for this episode only, with Betty being the one to suggest it to cheer Veronica up and demonstrate that Archie is immune to her toxin.
- Transmutation: Cheryl uses her pyrokinesis to change the palladium in Archie's body, which is killing him, to the iron that he is severely lacking.
- Written-In Absence: Unlike Toni and Fangs, Tabitha’s absence is mentioned; she's still in Albany trying to get Pop’s declared a landmark.
