Jughead wrote a brief story for the College of Iowa, Mr. Honey tried to cancel all extracurricular actions, and the Riverdale mother and father campaigned to convey promenade again on Riverdale Season 4 Episode 19.
Under, TV Fanatics Becca Newton, Meaghan Frey, and Jasmine Peterson debate Mr. Honey’s secret mushy facet, the invention of a brand new murderous tape, and their ideas of Riverdale Season 4 as a complete.
Jughead created a brief story concerning the group kidnapping and unintentionally killing Mr. Honey. Did you just like the story and the way it progressed?
Becca: I appreciated it as a result of it made the episode enjoyable. This time the meta-humor landed for me.
Plus, it led to one in all Riverdale’s higher character moments—nonetheless rushed and underexplored, but it surely was superb by Riverdale requirements.
Meaghan: I cherished all the things about watching Jughead develop the story. It was twisted, however is not Riverdale all the time somewhat bit twisted?
I additionally actually loved Jughead altering his thoughts about Mr. Honey truly being useless. It was good to see him bear in mind who he was when the present started earlier than he received caught up in Riverdale’s insanity.
The one factor that will cease Mr. Honey is that if we killed him. [Awkward silence] Or, scared him sufficient to depart city. I imply, it could be really easy.
Betty
Jasmine: I assumed it made the episode enjoyable, and I did love how meta it was. I laughed so many occasions all through it.
Considered one of my favourite responsible pleasure films is “Educating Mrs. Tingle,” and I felt just like the brief story inside a narrative paid homage to that. I particularly adored when he concluded that they had been the monsters.
The kids received their mother and father to assist get the promenade reinstated at Riverdale Excessive after they received banned and Mr. Honey canceled the promenade for everybody. Had been the teenagers proper of their transfer or was Mr. Honey justified in his actions?
Becca: Getting the mother and father concerned was the precise option to deal with the state of affairs, however a lot of the teenagers weren’t harmless victims who deserved to have their mother and father bail them out. After Ticklegate, the Appleyard state of affairs, and different incidents, Mr. Honey was inside his rights to ban them.
Canceling promenade for everybody wasn’t honest to those that did not trigger hassle, but it surely’s not like Mr. Honey had quite a lot of choices since Reggie, Archie, and Kevin did not come ahead about pranking him.
Meaghan: It was an excellent transfer for the youngsters to contain the adults as an alternative of continuous to attempt to take issues into their very own palms. I additionally cherished the women doing a badass strut via the halls of Riverdale Excessive.
As Becca stated, although, Mr. Honey was inside his rights to cancel the promenade after the prank. Why did not Veronica simply host her personal promenade at La Bonne Nuit? It might most likely be higher than any promenade the varsity may handle to placed on.
Jasmine: I cherished the scene of them coming in after calling within the Large Weapons.
Mary, Alice, and Hiram particularly had been so prepared to leap in and throw their weight round and wield their energy. Cheryl wheeling in Nana Blossom was the icing on the cake. And the new dad sheriffs.
Mr. Honey had each proper to do what he did.
I cherished Mr. Honey and Kerr Smith on this position. He was being an affordable disciplinarian, and I appreciated that the teenagers’ antagonist was an authority determine having the audacity to carry them accountable and deal with them like teenagers.
Mr. Honey created a tape to drive the varsity to cancel promenade and all extracurricular actions. He claimed this was to guard the scholars. Do you consider him?
Becca: Sure, Mr. Honey is a well-intentioned extremist. His strategies are typically too excessive, and typically well-intentioned extremists are worse than the monsters they battle, however he’s on the facet of the angels.
Archie: Is he okay? Is he alive?
Veronica: No, he’s not. He’s useless.
Jughead: R.I.P. Mr. Honey.
Meaghan: Fully. Mr. Honey is a bit nuts, however he has by no means felt like a liar. He owns who he’s. The nice, the dangerous, and the ugly.
The poor man simply wished to maintain his file as the one principal to not have a pupil die on his watch.
Jasmine: I positively consider him. He sinks to their degree and hits them in methods he is aware of they’re going to perceive. That is what he did right here.
I wasn’t that shocked to seek out out he did a lot for the scholars, together with Jughead.
Mr. Honey left Riverdale Excessive to show at Stonewall Prep. Whereas the group hated Mr. Honey, Ms. Bell defined why she thought he was an awesome principal. Has the revelation of Mr. Honey’s actions modified your opinion about him?
Becca: I have to reward Kerr Smith once more for making Mr. Honey extra attention-grabbing than the character had any proper in being.
My opinion of Mr. Honey didn’t change as a result of I used to be already extra sympathetic to him all through the season than the teenagers had been. He wasn’t all the time proper, and his strategies weren’t all the time proper. (He went over the road with Reggie on Halloween, and I assumed he ought to have defended Betty extra with the quiz present fallout).
Nonetheless, I sided with him many occasions over the season: the Appleyard state of affairs, busting Veronica for being drunk, and Ticklegate.
I feel Mr. Honey is one in all Riverdale’s higher makes an attempt at crafting a morally grey character, however I feel it could have hit the mark extra if we had seen extra of Mr. Honey’s higher qualities as an alternative of being informed about them.
Meaghan: Sure, Becca, I utterly agree that they need to have proven us these good qualities extra as an alternative of laying it out after the very fact.
The children are so fast to see the dangerous in individuals as a result of that’s what life in Riverdale has taught them to do. They could not see that, regardless of how excessive he was, he was simply attempting to be an authority determine.
Cheryl: Poor Ms. Bell, you’ve fallen below the monster’s spell.
Ms. Bell: Do any of you may have any concept what that man has completed for this faculty? This yr alone, he personally organized for six low-income college students to go to high schools on full scholarships.
Jughead: Wait, actually?
Ms. Bell: Additionally, this yr’s common GPA is greater than it’s been in a long time, and extra seniors shall be going to varsity since 1956. Oh, and naturally, no college students have died below his watch.
Jasmine: I all the time loved Mr. Honey as a result of he was a complete temper.
I agree with Becca, although. Kerr Smith made him way more entertaining than he ought to have been. He labored magic and left an impression, which on Riverdale is tough to do.
I do agree that we should always have truly seen extra of his softer facet, although. He was all the time a fairly cranky authority determine who did questionable issues. However I do want we noticed that he genuinely cared about his college students extra.
A brand new VHS tape was found of a masked group (like in Jughead’s story) killing a masked Mr. Honey. What do you assume this implies for the general Voyeur thriller?
Becca: This newest tape has me speculating who else Charles and Stylish recruited for his or her scheme.
Bret, Donna, and Evelyn are speedy suspects. Polly and Penny are prospects.
The suspect pool widens if the recruitment drive is not restricted to individuals who solely affiliate with Betty and Jughead.
Meaghan: I am unsure what it means, however I assumed the scene was implausible and I want we had gotten extra of that vibe all through the season.
Jasmine: That we are able to count on this carrying over into the following season and being delved into extra. I want we had some extra motion on the Stylish and Charles entrance.
I am hoping it is not Bret, Donna, or Evelyn although. I’m over their presence and hope it means new or utterly surprising individuals.
Now that the season’s thriller has had an earlier finish, share your ideas about Riverdale Season 4. Did you prefer it? Did you hate it?
Becca: I ponder if a part of the explanation I’m sympathetic to Mr. Honey is that his relationship with the teenagers mirrors my relationship with Riverdale.
There are issues I actually like about Riverdale, such because the performing and the set design, and I see quite a lot of potential in lots of the tales it needs it to inform. But, I’m indignant and pissed off with the present a lot of the time as a result of the writing doesn’t (and by no means will) match the potential.
I had quite a lot of the identical issues with Riverdale Season Four as I did with earlier seasons: dangerous pacing, wasted characters, wasted storytelling alternatives, issues occurring as a result of the writers wished them to occur and never as a result of it made sense for the character or plotline, weak resolutions, and so forth.
This season had quite a lot of filler, loads stalling, and sequencing points (as a lot as I loved Riverdale Season Four Episode 19, the idea of basing an episode round one in all Jughead’s tales would’ve made extra sense as a part of the Stonewall plot).
But, to attempt to finish issues on a optimistic word, this episode and Riverdale Season 4 Episode 1 are on my record of favourite Riverdale episodes. There have been quite a lot of moments and scenes all through the season I loved, and I appreciated the brand new characters of Mr. Honey, Mr. Chipping, Bret, and Donna.
Meaghan: Riverdale Season Four did not hit the mark for me. The present has but to have the ability to totally seize the magic that Riverdale Season 1 held.
I feel a part of that cause is that the present was extra grounded in actuality again then than it ever has been since. I cherished the place they had been taking the season on the finish with the tapes. I feel that it had the potential to be an unimaginable storyline and that closing scene was downright creepy.
If Riverdale had targeted on this storyline extra within the season, I feel it may have been unimaginable. Jughead’s storyline at Stonewall Prep may have been nice, but it surely simply stored feeling prefer it was falling wanting its potential.
Betty: You’re a copycat, Mr. Honey, and never an excellent one. Utilizing the Voyeur’s M.O. to ramp up your private feud in opposition to me and my pals…
Mr. Honey: Feud? I’ve been attempting to guard you.
Jughead: The one individual we’d like safety from is you, Mr. Honey. You’re deranged.
Mr. Honey: I used to be attempting that can assist you. To organize you for a life outdoors of Riverdale.
Jasmine: Sure, Becca is nailing it! I additionally struggled with the pacing of the present. It is all over
There’s a lot wasted potential right here. There are characters who’re simply wasted, like Toni and Kevin, who apparently have higher materials on Katy Keene.
They leaned approach too onerous into the off-the-wall and zany issues for the sake of it being Riverdale. Some storylines dragged on approach too lengthy or had been redundant, just like the daddy/daughter Lodge conflict and vigilante Archie. Different issues did not get to breathe, like Barchie.
So, it wasn’t my favourite season nor one of the best, but it surely did have good factors too. I appreciated how they dealt with Luke Perry’s loss of life, and to this present day I nonetheless snort uncontrollably on the mere considered Chad Michael Murray in that rocketman go well with.
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Justin Carreiro is a workers author for TV Fanatic. Observe him on Twitter.