Did Riverdale’s eerie Scream reference just reveal the Gargoyle King’s identity?

Riverdale tips its hat to Scream and provides multiple hints that a certain character could be the Gargoyle King. Who’s the new suspect?

When Riverdale drops subtle clues, you need to listen, and oh boy did fans need to listen during the latest energetic hour of the Gargoyle King mystery. Archie’s escape leads to harrowing details that even Veronica can’t fix with a last-ditch effort to clear his name.

And while Betty continues to bark up the Midnight Club’s tree, she receives an impromptu house call from the menacing tree-like figure, and one seeming allusion to Scream could have been much more than nostalgic fan service. Betty better brush up on those rules of survival.

Let’s dig into the five most shocking moments from the latest jaw-dropping episode of Riverdale. (Warning: It’s about to get real spoilery in here.)

1. Betty’s summit with the Midnight Club tanks.

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The previous episode’s cliffhanger left Jughead coming face to face with the Gargoyle King once again, but this time he reports to Betty that he saw more than one. He calls the group a gang, though a cult might be a more appropriate term. After finding out that the late Warden Norton was the RROTC officer at Riverdale High during the Midnight Club’s tenure, Betty confronts the notorious club.

She learns from Penelope Blossom that Darryl Doiley allegedly poisoned the chalice, but Darryl’s dead and can’t confirm. However, FP mentions having seen the Gargoyle King, too, and his lack of elaboration raises all the red flags.

2. The Gargoyle King channels Ghostface.

Betty continues to chase the story, first freeing Jughead from FP’s handcuffing, then speaking with Penelope Blossom about Darryl Doiley’s death and Mr. Keller about the cover up. When Betty confronts her mother about reporting on the cover up, things get weird. The power goes out and there’s a knock on the door.

A shadowy figure moves outside the house and when they turn around, the Gargoyle King stands in their living room. In Betty’s room, a gravestone bearing Betty and Alice’s name lies on Betty’s bed. But that’s just the beginning.

From the moment Alice placed the Jiffy Pop on the stove, the Scream vibes came in like a wrecking ball. But when FP materialized in Betty’s room through the window, it was like looking at Billy Loomis all over again, thanks to Skeet Ulrich paying his killer character homage through FP. The look FP shoots Betty was chilling.

Combined with Hiram’s pointed accusation about FP to Jughead, FP’s starting to look really good as the latest Riverdale dad gone bad. Maybe the allusion was a coincidence or the hint was too heavy handed to be true, but we might have our King.

3. Veronica pulls a fast one on her parents.

After having some bunker sex with Archie, Veronica regains inspiration to exonerate him of the supposed crimes that got him into this mess. Veronica swipes the case files from Archie’s home and watches Sheriff Minnetta’s interrogation tapes of the Shadow Lake boys. Being the intuitive queen she is, V realizes 10 minutes have been deleted from the questioning.

She then hacks into her mother’s computer at town hall, where she finds exactly what she’s looking for but ends up behind bars. However, she one-ups Hiram by aligning with Attorney McCoy and clearing Archie’s name.

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4. The Sisters of Quiet Mercy are back.

In the preview for this week’s episode, I outright asked what happened to The Farm. Well, they’re back in a big way. Not only did the group of the Gargoyle King’s disciples Jughead spotted in the woods trigger a Farm alarm, but Evelyn Evernever made an appearance and Alice is ditching home for The Farm. There’s a connection and we’re slowly but surely getting to it (that is, unless The Farm has more to do with the second half of the season).

In the meantime, Alice hauls Betty off to the Sisters of Quiet Mercy, where she sees nothing but the Gargoyle King paintings. Once again, Quiet Mercy proves to be an actual hellmouth.

5. Archie says goodbye to Veronica.

Ol’ Archibald’s got a lot on the burners this week, and he might have made the first smart decision since the series began — though the jury’s still out. As it turns out, the symbol branded on Archie’s side meant “sacrifice,” which called for his death.

Since he survived, Archie tries to track down the Shadow Lake boys, but he doesn’t reach them before Sheriff Minnetta’s gunshots do. Rather than sitting around watching the blood pile up on his hands (debatable) and waiting for Hiram to finally strike, Archie leaves town and Veronica heartbroken. But where are he and Jughead headed?

Odds & Ends:

• There are so many moving parts that Josie’s seizure (as well as Betty’s and Ethel’s) seems to be small potatoes compared to everything else going on. But, like… Can we talk about it? Can someone address the strange health crisis sweeping Riverdale’s youth?
• We have to take everything this show does with a few grains of pink Himalayan salt, but what are the legalities of a sheriff interrogating students in class? Disbelief un-suspended.
• Also, is there anyone in this town that isn’t corrupt? Forgive me for leaping to this cliched conclusion, but why would anybody willingly live there? Mary Andrews has the right idea.
• Do you buy into the FP theory? What would his motive be? And if Riverdale does make another dad the Big Bad, what is the series trying to say about fathers, three seasons in a row? Someone turn on “Daddy Issues” by Demi Lovato.

What did you think of the latest episode? Let us know in the comments!

Riverdale airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on The CW.