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‘Riverdale’ Recap: Season 6, Episode 18 “Chapter One Hundred and Thirteen: Biblical”

After a week off, Riverdale is back, and it’s raining biblical plagues, courtesy of Percival. While the gang celebrates Toni and Fangs, they also have to worry about their own safety. Several favorites don’t make it to the end of the episode, but who?

Keep reading to find out what happened in “Chapter One Hundred and Thirteen: Biblical.”

A Celebration

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Toni and Fangs’ wedding day is nearing, and Toni asks Veronica to help organize and facilitate the wedding. Fangs asks Archie to be a groomsman, and after Archie tells Betty, she obliges, needing something fun to do and dress up for after SlaughterCon.

“A wedding would be a good thing for everyone in the town. We need something good to talk about, to celebrate.”

Toni ends up asking Cheryl to officiate the wedding, and while Cheryl did say yes, there are still feelings there. Nevertheless, she will give Toni the best wedding gift ever by killing Percival herself. Meanwhile, Percival brings another plague to the rehearsal dinner’s food. Veronica Lodge, the miracle worker, makes the dinner happen at Pop’s, and everything goes as planned. Veronica even does a number, dedicating it to single girls and acting a bit crazy, enough to worry her friends.

Later on, the wedding goes down without a hitch. Cheryl, in her red Serpents jacket, marries Toni and Fangs, who are more in love than ever, in front of all of their friends. All happy that they finally have something to celebrate.

Something to Fight For

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Veronica and Tabitha catch up, and Tabitha notices how quiet Veronica is acting. Veronica admits that she used to be the She-Wolf of Wall Street, and now she’s a “glorified” party planner in Riverdale with no social life, no lover, nothing. Tabitha tells her she is a lot more than a party planner, and when Veronica sets her mind to something, there’s nothing she can’t do. Veronica just misses sharing her heart with someone.

Tabitha later tells Veronica they are battling a war on all fronts, but it’s just as important for life to continue during wartime.

“Because otherwise, what are we fighting for?”

Veronica tells her she is fighting for Jughead and her family business, Betty and Archie are fighting for each other, and Toni and Fangs are fighting for Baby Anthony. She wonders what she’s fighting for. Tabitha says there’s a reason she stayed in Riverdale.

Following Veronica’s performance at the rehearsal dinner, she and Betty have a good old B+V chat, bringing up the back-to-school dance sophomore year. Veronica thanks Betty for helping her realize what she’s fighting for. Her friends.

At Toni and Fangs’ wedding reception, Veronica asks Tabitha if she can tell her who is endgame: Betty and Archie or her and Archie. Tabitha begins to tell her, saying that it has to stay between the two of them, but something interrupts them…

A Truce

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After getting the news from Percival that he is not Baby Anthony’s biological father, Kevin visits Toni and Fangs to tell them in person that he is no longer fighting for custody. He’s dropping the case. Kevin tells Toni that she is Anthony’s mother and Fangs is his real father. He doesn’t want to cause their Baby Anthony any more distress than he already has. He pleads for forgiveness.

Following the events of the last few days (more on that below), Toni and Fangs invite Kevin to the wedding.

Biblical Horrors

Frogs escaping from the biology lab, swarming flies, and children sent home from school for having lice in their hair were the first signs of Percival’s biblical horrors. Veronica gets a call at the Babylonium that something is wrong with the plumbing, and the same thing was happening everywhere. Blood red water in sinks, drinking fountains, and even Sweetwater River.

Of course, Percival calls Archie demanding he calls off the strike and to let the crew get back to work on his railroad. Archie refuses, and Percival tells him he fails to see the signs. Reptiles and insects are swarming.

“It always starts with God’s lowliest creatures.”

Archie and the girls gather at Pop’s to come up with another plan to defeat Percival. Cheryl suggests they kill him with her pyrokinesis. The group doesn’t seem on board with it, despite clearly having thought about it. Archie brings up the fact that if they kill Percival, the battle between good and evil will already be lost. They need to stay strong, Tabitha says. And Toni and Fangs’ wedding will continue to remind everyone what they are all fighting for. A better tomorrow for their families.

“Percival’s trying to divide the town. Toni and Fangs will help bring it together.”

Cheryl and Heather do a spell to kill Percival, but Percival reverses it before he burns up, throwing the spell onto poor Nana Rose, who is now on fire at Thornhill, screaming Bloody Murder.

Raining Plagues

The gang gathers at Thornhill after hearing about what happened. Nana Rose is alive, but Heather is rubbing a healing salve all over her body. Cheryl mentions that Percival’s powers extend beyond mind control and psychological attacks. They realize that Percival is calling plagues down upon them. Archie suggests they call the strike off. It’s why Percival is bringing the hammer down on them, on everyone. So he can go back to building his ghost train, which would doom them all. Archie says they can build his railway but slowly to give them time to find a more permanent solution. Betty wishes there was someone on the inside they can trust, and Veronica mentions Kevin. Betty figures she can talk to Kevin, hoping he can help.

Betty talks to Kevin, who is clearly remorseful. She tries to get any secrets about Percival, and Kevin brings up a journal he has. Betty asks him to steal it, and he obliges. At the curiosity shop, Percival catches Kevin, but he plays it off that he was looking for him. Percival reassures Kevin and brings him to the front to unpack some items.

At the FBI office, Betty has pictures and a list of biblical plagues, the next one being boils. Percival gets together some action figures, dropping them into boiling water. During a pickup game outside the El Royale, Fangs and the construction crew get boils on their skins. Archie confronts Percival, trying to reason with him. Percival offers Archie a job, and on the condition that he keeps working and a certain threshold is met, the workers’ boils and pain will subside eventually.

Betty reads through a book, getting to the Harlot of Babylon. She gets a flash of TBK talking about Babylon the Great and how Betty is that woman. Another flash of Rivervale.

A Darkness Falls Over Riverdale

Despite Archie working on the railroad and everything seemingly returning to normal post-plagues, a darkness falls over town in the form of an eclipse in the middle of the day. Kevin tells Betty that Percival is getting ready for war, literally, as he received a shipment of weaponry ranging from crossbows to sabers to torture racks. And a stockade for the Harlot of Babylon. Percival apparently wants to put her where she belongs, on display for when the walls come tumbling down.

Betty meets with Percival, bringing up the stockade. She tells her about the flash she saw, and she offers herself to him if it will finally stop the plagues. Percival realizes that Kevin betrayed him. He tells her that while he does want her, he wants Baby Anthony as well. He threatens to call down more plagues if Anthony isn’t handed over. When everyone gathers to figure out what to do, Heather becomes intrigued after hearing about the Harlot’s stockade. Cheryl checks the Maleficarum, reading that the Stockade of Legarius will render any prisoner powerless, including Percival. Veronica suggests a raid, and Cheryl has an idea on how to not be seen by Percival at his shop.

Betty shows up at Percival’s shop with Baby Anthony, willingly handing him over. When Percival checks the baby, it’s a fake, and everyone else turns visible, surrounding Percival, and they capture him. With Percival in the stockade, the sun returned, and the plagues ended.

A Flash of Rivervale

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Jughead has been in the bunker writing nonstop, and Tabitha is impressed, though she might have nightmares about La Llorona now. He tells her he’s been riffing off those voices he’s been hearing in his head. The more he writes, the more the voices subside. Tabitha wonders if he can come out of the bunker for Toni and Fangs’ wedding, but Jughead doesn’t know if he’s ready yet. The voices come back when he goes up there. She understands. She just wants him to get better and to be okay. Jughead thinks he’s finally recovering.

“Then that’s all that matters.”

In the bunker, in the middle of the night, La Llorona comes in and steals Jughead’s story. In the morning, Jughead rummages through his stories, trying to find the ghost story he wrote about La Llorona. He hears eerie whispers in the tunnel, but nothing and no one is there.

As Jughead works on another story, he smells a Pop’s cheeseburger. And there it is, sitting in the tunnel’s entrance, along with fries and a cup of coffee. He knows he shouldn’t touch it or eat it, but he does so anyway with dire consequences.

Jughead wishes he didn’t eat that food, as it all comes back up, and he’s soon lying on the bed in pain. He is later greeted by a version of Cheryl, relieving his pain with a knife in his stomach. Jughead wakes up and finds a knife stuck on a table, another one of his stories likely gone.

Jughead seems to have gone mad, talking to someone in the bunker, but no one answers. A bottle and a note appear at his feet, and he takes out the note, saying, “Keep writing.”

After Jughead pretends to be sleeping, he hears footsteps in the bunker and springs up with a flashlight. He asks the stranger why they’re taking his stories and when he turns around, he shows himself to be Jughead. Rivervale Jughead, perhaps?

The Last Plague

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While in the stockade, Percival starts humming, and locusts come to his aide, likely stirring up one last plague.

Everyone is having a ball at Toni and Fangs’ reception, without a care in the world. The locusts get to work, and Percival is impatient, wanting to get to “the end of it all.” The door to the vault Percival was locked in opens, and he is free.

Percival breaks into Thornhill and finds a very bandaged Nana Rose. He unhooks her oxygen and covers her mouth and nose, and she’s struggling to stay alive until she takes her final breath.

“You are the oldest living first-born child in Riverdale. And so, will be my harbinger for my last plague.”

First Archie, then the newlyweds, then half the people at the reception, and later, Jughead in the bunker. All dead within seconds. All having been the first born in their families. Cheryl, Tabitha, Betty, Veronica, Kevin, Moose, and Heather are the only ones left in the gang. Baby Anthony is still there, which means Percival needs him. Tabitha remembers about Jughead and rushes to the bunker. Heather has a plan, however.

“I believe I know someone who can help us. A necromancer, far beyond my abilities. Her name … is Sabrina.”

Riverdale is off next week but will be back on Sunday, July 10 at 8 p.m. EST on The CW when Sabrina Spellman comes to town! Stay tuned for our continued coverage on the series, including episodic recaps and more!

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