'Riverdale' Season 2, Episode 8 'House of the Devil' Recap: Relationship Drama and Snake Skins [SPOILERS]

The Blackhood continues to target sinners in Riverdale, but he was not the first Devil to grace the town. “Riverdale” Season 2, episode 8, titled “House of the Devil,” has Archie (KJ Apa) and Veronica (Camila Mendes) investigating a decade old murder. Meanwhile, Jughead (Cole Sprouse) and Betty (Lili Reinhart) are planning a party for the release and retirement of FP Jones (Skeet Ulrich). The writers of the show are also subtly doing a fan service for any Alice Cooper (Mädchen Amick) and FP shippers out there, and it looks like they are building up to a storyline involving the two Riverdale parents. But for now, the primary focus is their children and their crumbling relationships.

FP is Back From Prison, Goodbye Serpents

The Snake charmer knows how to work her magic because FP Jones is a free man! Jughead is thrilled to have his old man back in the Serpents. Even Alice joins the welcome wagon asking if jail made FP sexually frustrated (that’s a pretty warm welcome). It was a surprise to find out that FP wants nothing to do with the Southside gang. He tells his son, Betty, and Alice about how he is ready to move on with his life. Not only is he a free man but also a reformed citizen. He’s going to alcoholic’s anonymous meetings and even picked up a job at Pop’s. FP Jones is ready to shed off his snakeskin. Betty and Jughead then host a retirement party for FP.

Meanwhile, his son Jughead cannot shed off the snakeskin quite yet. He still owes a debt to the Snake charmer who can quickly bring FP in and out of jail—especially when she threatened to bring Betty into the situation. The lines Jughead had to cross to free his father has serious consequences. He decides to keep it from both Betty and FP believing he can solve it on his own. What Jughead doesn’t realize is that Betty’s trying to fit into his Serpent world.

A murder house among us

While Betty and Jughead focus on FP’s retirement party, they gave their Black Hood investigation to Archie and Veronica. Reluctant at first, they agree to do a little bit of detective work. The first thing they had to find out was about the Riverdale Reaper. A man who killed a family of four in their home decades ago. It came as a surprise to everyone when they found out that Riverdale has a murder house, the same place Black Hood told Betty to visit a few episodes ago. It has some significance to the Black Hood—or he could be the Reaper himself. But that would make him around 60 if you do the math, which rules out the theory the Riverdale Reaper and the Black Hood are the same people.

Archie and Veronica track down the daughter of the sheriff who worked on the Riverdale Reaper case. She refers to the old house of the killings as the Devil’s house. As the two visit the place, we see flashbacks of the night everyone was murdered based on the article Archie got from Jughead. The Reaper shot the family one by one with a shotgun. Everything seemed the same from the reports until Veronica notices a set of initials carved on a door frame. And a family picture confirms it wasn’t a family of four but five.
The two then try to track down the fifth child—Joseph Svenson. They confront him about the Reaper and Svenson tells them justice has already happened. Svenson, along with a few other men killed the Reaper years ago. Veronica is sure Svenson is the Black Hood, but Archie tells her he isn’t because he has seen the Black Hood’s eyes. Svenson doesn’t fit the bill, so that’s another name crossed off the suspect list.

Love and loss in Riverdale

Now it’s time to celebrate FP’s retirement. Even Alice joins in the festivities in full on Serpent leather get up and also drinking a few shots. But not everyone is enjoying the night. Despite working on the case together, Veronica and Archie still have a few issues to fix. At the beginning of the episode, we saw an inside look into their relationship. Which was like any hormonal teens relationship, nothing but PDA and sex. It was all fun and skin until Archie told Veronica he loved her. Unfortunately for him, Veronica isn’t ready to hear the “L” word yet. Archie isn’t good with timing and decides a karaoke would help them sort their feelings. Well, it didn’t, as their rendition of “Mad World” lead Veronica to walk out in tears.

Betty decides to continue the song for them, though she’s not quite herself. She still wants an in with the Serpents. To do so, she has to dance like a snake. While singing the song, Betty starts to strip her clothes off to the dismay of both her mother and Jughead. It leads to a fight between the lovebirds. Betty can’t join the serpents for her safety, especially when FP decided to rejoin the Serpents as a way to repay the debt of his son. FP tells Jughead he is disappointed his son did the one thing FP asked him not to do. Now he has to stay in the Serpents to fix what Jughead did. It also means Jughead has to quit the serpents. Angry and disappointed himself, Jughead breaks things off with Betty.
Many hearts were broken this week on Riverdale. The episode ends with Archie and Betty staring at each other. Could the end of their relationships be a start of theirs?
“Riverdale” continues next Wednesday with “Silent Night, Deadly Night,” 8/7c on The CW.