This week’s episode of Riverdale is about to get spooky! Following Archie’s “generous” sacrifice, the Town of Rivervale is trying to get back to normal. However, when the ghost La Llorona makes her way to the town and starts terrorizing children, the gang tries to come up with a way to stop her. And one resident makes the ultimate sacrifice. Meanwhile, an old story could put Jughead and Tabitha’s relationship in jeopardy.

Keep reading to find out what happened in part 2 of the “Rivervale” event, “Chapter Ninety-Seven: Ghost Stories.”

“Gather around, kiddies. It’s time for a ghost story.”

West Side Story

This first story begins in a way that sounds very similar to beloved musical West Side Story and involves Rivervale’s two rival gangs, the Serpents and the Ghoulies. Serpent Princess Sandra fell in love with Ghoulie Prince Daniel. It’s an all out turf war between the two gangs and it comes to a head when Toni tries throwing a knife at a Ghoulie, Darla, and accidentally hits her son, Danny, killing him.

Three months have passed and Toni is still haunted by that night. Her therapist wonders if she’s ever thought about reaching out to Darla to apologize. She’s a mother who lost her son, Toni says. There’s nothing she can say to comfort her. Toni doesn’t know how she would live if something bad were to happen to Baby Anthony. (I get that Anthony is a baby, but I’m starting to be convinced that that is his first name because they only say Baby Anthony.)

A Tale of Two Couples

This next story involves Jughead and Tabitha. While Tabitha is working her butt off at Pop’s, Jughead is chilling at home, saying he’ll put up pictures when he doesn’t and slowly working up the courage to continue writing.

Tabitha comes home from Pop’s and seeing that none of the art was put up, decides to do it herself. She hammers a hole in the wall on accident and there’s a draft coming through. She and Jughead get through and find a secret room filled with Scotch bottles with boats in them. Jughead thinks the room could be a great little writing nook for himself.

Tabitha meets with the real estate agent, Miss Gordon, who admits she disclosed to Jughead about a couple who previously lived there, Sam and Diane. They were a young couple who died in the apartment. Murder suicide. She killed him, then herself.

She comes clean to Jughead about Sam and Diane and Jughead admits he didn’t want to say anything because she fell in love with the place. And he thought he could write about them. Sam was a painter obsessed with his work and Diane bludgeoned him to death with a hammer, then hung herself. Tabitha is more upset that he chose to hide something from her rather than a story from 50 years ago. Jughead confesses he’s feeling inspired and he’s close to writing again.

Restless Nights

At night, Tabitha wakes up to Jughead furiously typing away at his typewriter and he is entranced. She tries to get his attention but he doesn’t listen. Tabitha picks up a hammer and when she hits Jughead with it, she wakes up, Jughead beside her on the bed.

Pop Tate tells Tabitha his own ghost story of the ghost of a waitress who haunted the diner years ago. She died in a deep fryer accident. Strange things started happening when they opened. They got rid of it by being loud.

Jughead is fixated on ships and Scotch battles, rather than writing. Tabitha is worried that he’s drinking again but Jughead assures her he isn’t.

In the morning, Tabitha finds a hammer in the refrigerator and finds Jughead in his writing nook. He tells her he’s been writing all night and the words have just been flying out.

The Climax

Jughead comes home with more Scotch bottles only to find Tabitha with his vomit draft that she got from his desk. Tabitha isn’t too happy with the story but Jughead tells her it’s not about them. It’s about the people who lived there before them, Sam and Diane. She kills him because he’s too obsessed with his work.

“I’ll tell you why she kills him. She kills him because she gets sick of supporting him while he displays a complete disregard for her feelings. Maybe that’s why she brains him with a hammer.”

Tabitha also notices the Scotch bottles despite Jughead telling her he’s not drinking. He tells her that it’s for the boats; he’s going to dump them out. She’s not so happy that he bought a bunch of Scotch with money she earned so he could just pour it down the drain for his “stupid boats.” This sets Tabitha off. She starts breaking all of the bottles, and she grabs Jughead’s typewriter and throws it down. Tabitha takes the hammer and sees Diane in the mirror, realizing what she’s doing. She drops the hammer and kneels down by Jughead. They made a promise they’d work through their problems. She loves him, and she’s been wanting to say it for a while. Jughead says it back.

A wind blows and closes the door. Sam and Diane have left, because Tabitha and Jughead scared them away. Later, the two board up the nook after getting through their first real fight. They survived and lived to tell the tale. What’s their next test going to be?

“Maybe love is just a series of tests, test the strength of our relationship.”

La Llorona

The folklore of La Llorona, who wanders the waters mourning her children, has come to Rivervale. And it starts when Dagwood runs up to Auntie Cheryl, telling her that “Mommy is trying to take Juniper.” She’s in the bathroom, splashing, and she won’t open the door. Cheryl tries to get Juniper to open the door, who is being held down in the tub by La Llorona, and when she hears her struggling and water flooding the floors, she uses her key and opens it. She successfully gets to Juniper just in time.

Cheryl finds Betty at school and tells her she needs Alice to take the twins for a couple of days. Why?

“Because some evil water nymph out of an M. Night Shyamalan movie is stalking the halls of Thornhill and threatening them.”

Betty meets with Toni about an incident of domestic violence. A mother drowned her daughter in a bathtub. Lucinda Villa, a Serpent, who also happens to be the mother of Sandra. Dr. Curdle said there were bruises on her shoulder, like someone held her under. The FBI wants her to charge her mother with murder. Toni knows Lucinda, and she’d never hurt her daughter. Betty’s hoping she would talk to her.

Toni meets with Lucinda, who admits it was La Llorona. A spirit of vengeance who preys on young children. She drowns them. Toni believes Lucinda, and later warns Betty that something bad is happening in Rivervale, and they need to stop it before it goes after all their children.

A Grimacing Truth

That night, La Llorona comes into Betty’s room while she’s sleeping and places her hand on her stomach. When Betty awakens, La Llorona is gone and there’s a handprint on Betty’s pajama top.

Toni tries confronting La Llorona in school and she turns on the fire alarm but she disappears. Betty, meanwhile, meets with Dr. Curdle and he tells her she is no longer pregnant. It’s possible it was a hysterical pregnancy. Betty later calls Toni and tells her she believes her. She thinks La Llorona is in Rivervale. She’s going to try and help Lucinda.

A social worker, Janet, shows up at Toni’s place to do a wellness check after receiving an anonymous complaint. Baby Anthony is chilling in his crib when La Llorona comes in and gets closer to him. Toni and Janet hear him crying and find him on the ground.

The Contact

Betty meets up with Toni and Fangs, bringing with her a map of Rivervale. She’s figured out a pattern with La Llorona as she’s been retracing her steps. She’s following a direct line from Sweetwater River. Toni’s sure her target was and is Baby Anthony. She picks him up and gives him to Fangs, asking him to take him to the Whyte Wyrm where he’s surrounded by the Serpents. Meanwhile she will be at Cheryl’s so she can contact that “ghost bitch.”

Cheryl, Betty, Toni, and Nana Rose sit around a table, calling out to the spirit. La Llorona takes over Nana Rose. Her real name is Martha and she was a nurse in the children’s ward of Rivervale’s first hospital. Many children died from various reasons and the townsfolk blamed her for the loss of their children, accused her of being a witch woman. And they dragged her and her own children to the Sweetwater River, weighed them down with rocks, and threw them in the dark waters. They drowned and she became this cursed thing that she is. But who summoned her? Darla Dickenson, who did so from her son’s grave.

Toni and Betty find Darla at Danny’s grave and Toni apologizes for everything. Betty confronts Darla about La Llorona and Darla tells her one cannot call off La Llorona.

“Once summoned, once a child is promised, there’s no stopping her.”

At least, not until Baby Anthony’s dead in her arms. Toni realizes that La Llorona has her son. She and Betty rush to the Whyte Wyrm to find all the Serpents unconscious and Fangs seriously injured. They’re at Sweetwater River.

A Desperate Mother

Toni and Betty get to Sweetwater River and find Martha with Baby Anthony. She tells them that no one is innocent. She was, Toni says. Her children were. Toni begs for Baby Anthony and figures she could end her suffering. She could take her place. Toni would give up anything for her son, her life. But also because she killed another woman’s child and she should be punished for that. It should be her, not Baby Anthony.

Martha gives Baby Anthony to Toni, and Toni gives him to Betty. Martha goes through Toni and she officially becomes La Llorona. She tells Betty to protect him and to tell him that his mother loved him. She walks off into Sweetwater River.

What Else Happened?

There were just too many stories to be told so here’s what else happened in this week’s Riverdale!

• After sacrificing her baby daddy, Betty is doing surprisingly well. She already has names picked out for her unborn child. If it’s a boy, Archie, and if it’s a girl, Polly. And that did not last long…
• Tabitha almost kills Jughead over a toothpaste cap.
• Veronica is jealous of Reggie’s car.
• Tabitha drinks out of a milk carton that has a missing ad on it of Archie.
• It’s found out Reggie named his car after a teacher he was seeing when he was a student.

That officially makes it two Rivervale residents that have either sacrificed their lives or been sacrificed. Just what else will happen following these ghostly tales? Riverdale airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET/8 p.m. CT on The CW! Check out photos from next week’s episode here.