It’s time for the birds and the bees talk in this week’s Riverdale, as couples pair up for Veronica’s make-out party, and some get more or less than they bargained for. Meanwhile, Jughead and Ethel try to find out who’s responsible for the murder of Ethel’s parents.
Keep reading to find out what happened in “Chapter One Hundred and Twenty: Sex Education.”
The Milkman
Following the aftermath of the sock hop, it was found out that Ethel had stumbled upon her parents, who were stabbed multiple times and killed. She claims the milkman, who is 70 years old, killed her parents.
Alice wants to take in Ethel, but Hal doesn’t like the idea, not knowing how Betty would react. Betty, however, offers to make up her sister’s old room for her and comforts Ethel, trying to get more information about what happened.
Dr. Werthers and Principal Featherhead discuss how to continue the week, and they both agree to keep it going as is. In fact, classes are supposed to be having the sex ed. talk this week.
Ethel tells Jughead it wasn’t the milkman or, rather, not that milkman. She’s afraid Sheriff Keller will start to think she did it because of the covers she’s illustrated, the dark ones. One of her drawings included a girl that looked like her shoving two people that looked like her parents into a meat grinder. She was just mad at them. Now she’s afraid Sheriff Keller will misinterpret it. Jughead offers to get the drawing from her house before it’s too late.
After Jughead is successful in finding the drawing at Ethel’s, he comes across a comic book, which is why the Milkman seemed so familiar. In a comic Pep had published, a guy escapes from an insane asylum and dresses up as the town’s milkman, murdering people. Everyone had read it. Jughead hides it, knowing it wouldn’t be good for Ethel to be caught with it.
Sheriff Keller, Principal Featherhead, and Dr. Werthers talk to Jughead after suspecting that he was seen at Ethel’s house. Jughead keeps saying he wasn’t at her house and he isn’t a loner. In fact, he’s going to a party.
Everyone keeps staring at Ethel, and it doesn’t help that she and Jughead are called to the principal’s office. Sheriff Keller tells Jughead that they searched his train car after he left for school, and they found the comic books and drawing stuffed underneath the mattress.
Cheryl’s Suitor
Penelope thinks it’s time Cheryl gets a boyfriend, but she claims she’s too busy. Penelope also wants Julian to help find his sister someone, as she fears her daughter is developing some “unnatural proclivities.”
Following through with his mother’s orders, Julian decides to talk to Archie about possibly going out with his sister after he declined Veronica. Archie says that Cheryl seems standoffish and he hasn’t seen her with a steady boyfriend. Julian mentions she’s mostly had college boyfriends, and something tells him she’d really go for a stud like Archie.
Archie ends up asking out Cheryl, who turns down The Seven Year Itch but brings up the poetry reading at the Dark Room. Since Archie’s been writing some poems himself, he’s all in. Wanting to clear her feelings of Toni following the poetry reading, Cheryl kisses Archie when he takes her home and asks him to walk her to school tomorrow. She cries after closing her door.
The next day at school, the two walk hand-in-hand down the hallway as Veronica watches on.
Beginnings of Choni
Outside the school, Toni invites Cheryl to the Dark Room, where she will be putting on a performance. After Cheryl declines the offer, a biker, Lizzo, wonders why Toni is wasting her time with someone like Cheryl, asking if she really sees a future there. Toni tells Lizzo she’s a territorial high school dropout, but she knows she’s going to the Dark Room anyway.
As Toni’s performing at the Dark Room, Cheryl is taken by her, like they were the only ones in the room. She demands Archie take her home, not wanting to deal with her feelings.
Toni catches up with Cheryl at school, asking her what she thought of the performance. While Cheryl says it was a little too avant-garde for her sensibilities, we all know what she really thought of it. Cheryl makes sure to point out that she and Archie are going steady, and after Toni comments on seeing them parade around the school, Cheryl fires back, not liking that she’s commenting on her relationship like her mother.
Avoidance
Clay also invites someone to the Dark Room, Kevin. Kevin says he’s planning on seeing a movie with Betty, but she might like open mic night. Clay says she won’t regret it … and neither will Kevin.
Kevin later runs into a half-naked Clay in the locker room after just showering and asks him if he’s going to the make-out party. Clay says he’s not because he likes boys and doesn’t think it’s that kind of party. He hopes that Kevin can be discreet since most people don’t know yet, and Kevin tells him he will, patting him on the chest before walking away.
Let’s Talk About Human Sexuality
While grabbing Ethel some more clothes from her house, Betty comes across a Human Sexuality book. She skips to Chapter 6, “Arousal,” and after having a freaky dream sequence featuring ships, jungles, making out, and more, Betty wakes up in a sweat.
Kevin talks to Betty the next day, and the two discuss their favorites from the Dark Room. Kevin, of course, loved Clay’s poem, while Betty couldn’t get over Toni’s performance.
Betty confronts Kevin and tells him that they are going to the make-out party because they are going to do it. And if he really loves her, it’s time he proves it.
Archie asks Betty to look through the sex book so he can brush up before the make-out party. Betty later gives Archie some advice, and it’s a bit awkward. Archie runs out before more can happen.
To Make-Out or Not to Make-Out
Dr. Werthers teaches the class about sex education and reproduction, and the lesson leaves everyone confused. Betty tells the group about the book she found, but Veronica says that if they want to talk about s-e-x, they have to do it. She suggests throwing a make-out party, but not everyone is on board.
“Is that like, an orgy?”
She simplifies that there will be kissing games like Seven Minutes in Heaven and Spin the Bottle. But she warns that nothing will ever be the same again. Veronica and Betty talk in the restroom, and Betty tells her about her problems with Kevin. Veronica suggests being direct with her beau, as she plans on doing the same with Archie, which upsets Cheryl, who was overhearing in one of the stalls.
The make-out party at the Pembrooke commences, and Veronica starts off with a warm-up game before the pairs break off into the various dark corners of the Pembrooke. There’s some innocent (and awkward) kissing, including an intense kiss between Archie and Veronica, where Archie winds up with her gum.
Break Out
After the game, the pairs go off on their own, and Veronica chooses Jughead instead of Julian, who then takes Toni home. Jughead talks to Veronica, not knowing what her plan is, but Veronica assures him that she just needed someone else so she wouldn’t have to be with Julian. She asks him who he’s dating, if he’s not dating Ethel.
“Who has the time for dating? What with all these comics to read and burgers to eat and monster movies to watch?”
The two actually bond over monster movies and hit it off.
Kevin and Betty, meanwhile, are just silently sitting on a bed, but before long, it seems like they’ll take the next step. Unfortunately, Kevin is not as eager as Betty.
“You’re not excited.”
Kevin suggests they just keep kissing for now, but it’s clear that neither of them are feeling it.
Archie and Cheryl, meanwhile, seem to be having problems of their own, as Archie’s afraid to go any further because of the college guys she’s been with. After hearing that he’s been talking to Julian, Cheryl isn’t happy. She’s never been with a college guy or any guy. But she’s quite certain they can figure it out together.
Disaster Party
Betty writes in her diary that the make-out party was a disaster. She wants Kevin to want her, to feel desired, and to feel sexy. Across the street, Archie catches her eye, and she notes something has to change.
Penelope talks to Julian about their plan, and he tells her about Archie. Cheryl shows off a hickey and says Archie “all the way pinned” her. There’s a honk outside, indicating that Archie’s there, and before leaving to go to school, Cheryl tells her mother and brother that he’s a total animal.
Betty shoves the Human Sexuality book at Kevin so he can take a look at it. It’s time for him to start craving. Toni apologizes to Veronica for ducking out so early, but she’s playing the long game, and she won’t say with who yet. Veronica, meanwhile, isn’t ruling out Jughead just yet.
The seventh and final season of Riverdale airs on The CW on Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT. Stay tuned for our continued coverage on the series, including episodic recaps and more!
