We pick up right where last week’s episode of Riverdale left off. Jughead (Cole Sprouse) is pitching his theory of the killer milkman. Sheriff Keller has no interest in reopening the Raybury homicide case though. He also reminds Jughead that Halloween is cancelled for all teens.
Veronica (Camila Mendes) didn’t get the memo, showing up to school the next day as a sexy witch. She is literally the only one in costume. When Veronica questions what’s up, the gang explains the teens aren’t allowed in the streets after sundown on Halloween. Why? A few years back a carload of Riverdale students ran off the road on Halloween and died. Veronica isn’t having it. She loves Halloween and wants to bring it back to Riverdale.
Jughead has lost all trust in milk. He knocks a carton milk out of a student’s hand and warns everyone away from fresh milk. “Drink powdered milk instead!” he exclaims. Jughead ties to connect the Raybury case to Ethel’s parents’ murder. He calls Ethel, who suggests he talk to whoever wrote the original Killer Milkman costume.
Archie (KJ Apa), Betty (Lili Reinhart) and Reggie (Charles Melton) work on Reggie’s car. Well, the boys do. Betty fantasizes about making out with both of them. Her reverie is broken by Archie suggesting they give Reggie a real Halloween. Betty suggests three things: trick or treating, visiting a graveyard and…necking in a haunted house. One track mind Betty.
Veronica hears a noise coming the from the projection room late at night and investigates. She finds her two employees, Clay and Kevin (Casey Cott), necking like it’s a haunted house.
The next day at school, Veronica, Clay and Kevin sell tickets to the ghost show that Veronica is promoting at the Babylonium tomorrow night on Halloween. Wait a minute. That means Veronica showed up in a Halloween costume to school on October 29, but was surprised no one else was dressed up?
Jughead asks Mr. Fieldstone if he remembers who wrote the Killer Milkman story. He doesn’t, but mentions the guy might be at the Pep Comics annual Halloween party.
Toni invites Cheryl to perform with herself, Clay and Kevin at Veronica’s ghost show. Cheryl says she planned to host a Vixens sleepover, but she does seem intrigued.
Uncle Frank warns the team to go out wilding on Halloween, but as soon as the team is in the lockers, he announces the Bulldogs do intend on some Halloween night wilding. Not everyone is down. Fangs is playing The Ghost Show and Reggie wants to stay out of trouble. Julian tells Reggie to grow a pair, and to everyone’s disappointment, Reggie doesn’t slug him.
Alice Cooper stops by the Babylonium to warn Veronica against her Ghost Show. It’s competing against her and Hal’s Halloween TV special. She puts Veronica “on notice,” whatever that means.
Ethel escapes the Sisters of Quiet Mercy and makes her way straight to Jughead’s place. She just needs a place to stay for two months until she’s 18, then the state can’t bring her back to the Sisters. Jughead offers her Raybury’s apartment.
Midge wants to skip the Vixen’s sleepover to attend The Ghost Show, and Cheryl uses it as her excuse to attend The Ghost Show as well.
While getting dressed for Halloween, Archie and Reggie realize that Betty might want to get with one of them tonight. Reggie proposes that if Betty seems interested in one, the other will peel off to give them alone time. Archie readily agrees.
Jughead and Ethel, in a drugstore mask, attend the Pep Comics Halloween Party. It’s a drunken bash, everyone is having a fun time.
To go out trick or treating, Archie, Betty and Reggie need a kid. They recruit Dilton, who doesn’t find it insulting at all. He just wants some time with Betty himself. Oh, Dilton. Trick or treating go well, until Julian Blossom wielding a baseball bat scares pumpkin headed Dilton off. Betty is fine with that; it frees the three of them to go explore a cemetary.
Fangs plays The Ghost Show. It’s a popular event, completely packed with reveling teenagers. Fangs covers Hell by Squirrel Nut Zippers. Jughead finds out who wrote the Killer Milkman story, Ted Sullivan. One problem, Ted is dead by his own hands. The Pep writer who tells him this says the story is allegory to the enemy of America being Americans, not the Red Scare. This shocks Jughead.
In the cemetery, after making wolf calls, Reggie calls himself an alpha to Betty and ugh, Reggie, really? Meanwhile, Archie wanders off to visit his dad’s grave. Archie and Betty reminisce, and hold hands. Reggie interrupts, not to announce he’s leaving, but to ask where’s the haunted house?
Archie, Reggie and Betty visit a house where a murder took place. When Betty steps away, Reggie offers to leave, saying he saw the chemistry between Archie and Betty. Good man, Reggie.
At The Ghost Show, Veronica offers the resurrection of the four dead Riverdale High students. Cue Toni, Clay, Kevin and Cheryl covering Rose Tint My World from Rocky Horror Picture Show, dressed as undead Bulldogs and Vixens. Cheryl and Toni close the song with an onstage kiss. Veronica joins the other four to finish off the night with another Rocky Horror song, Don’t Dream It – Be It. Alice sneaks in and watches.
Walking home, Reggie is pulled up on by Julian and three other Bulldogs all dressed as skeletons, like they’re straight out of The Karate Kid. Julian is no Johnny Lawrence. Reggie doesn’t want trouble, but Julian does. He peer pressures Reggie into joining them. Oh, Reggie…
Archie and Betty kiss in the haunted house when Betty hers the sounds of jangling milk bottles. She breaks off the kiss in a panic, saying she saw a guy dressed as a milkman. They decide to leave, not noticing the fresh milk bottles left on a table.
Kevin and Clay confront Veronica about living at the theater, but she deflects and lies, saying everything is fine is she’s only there while the Pembroke undergoes renovations.
Betty and Archie both say this is the best Halloween of their entire life. They’re about to share a goodnight kiss when Alice descends on them like a banshee, pulling Betty back inside. So much for not being Betty’s mom anymore.
Veronica lights candles for her dead relatives before turning in for the night. She lies in bed clutching a picture of her family from happier, though clearly not too distant, times.
Jughead walks Ethel back to Raybury’s apartment. She invites him in, but he needs to head home to feed hot dog. Uh oh, Ethel isn’t alone in the apartment. The milkman is in there too. The nosy neighbor runs into Jughead, saying she heard the milkman again. Jughead breaks down the door to Raybury’s locked apartment, only to find the Milkman dead on the floor and Ethel holding a bloody knife. Don’t mess with Ethel, Riverdale.
Uncle Frank wakes Archie in the middle of the night. There’s been some kind of accident. A car full of Bulldogs went off the bridge into Sweetwater River on the outskirts of Riverdale. That’s when Archie notices Reggie’s bed still made and empty. Oh no, Reggie!
