Riverdale (2016–…): Season 3, Episode 4 - Chapter Thirty-Nine: The Midnight Club - full transcript

Previously on Riverdale...

The first time any of us heard
of Gryphons and Gargoyles

was from your mother.

Ben and Dilton
killed themselves,

all to appease some creature
called the Gargoyle King.

The toxicology report revealed lethal
levels of cyanide in Mr. Doiley's blood.

There's something
dimly familiar about this.

We made a vow in high school.

The secret that we buried
all those years ago.

We made a pact to never revisit that night.

Do you have a rule
book or a player's manual?



Flip for your fate.

- Promise to give me the scripture?
- I promise.

Salute.

Have you been playing the game?

- No.
- Don't lie to me, boy!

I can still see
the blue on your lips.

No one's gonna
play Gryphons and Gargoyles,

but that book may be
our best shot of figuring out

what happened to Dilton and Ben.

All our children.
They're in danger.

Where'd you get this?

It was in my locker.
Same with everyone else.

A deadly mutating virus

had been introduced
to the ecosystem of Riverdale



and it was spreading
like an epidemic.

For every manual confiscated,
two popped up in its place.

And the ever-resourceful students

of Riverdale High
were playing it everywhere.

Why? Because for us,
the game is an escape

from our nightmarish reality.

A fantasy land
at our fingertips.

But for our parents, it was
a death-dealing nightmare.

Two students have
taken their lives.

A third tried.

The common thread
linking these tragedies,

all three victims were playing the game

known as Gryphons and Gargoyles.

Wait, so you are admitting the
game killed Dilton and Ben?

Yes, Mr. Jones.

But where did G&G come from?

Where did Ben and Dilton even get it?

Well, we still don't have many answers.

But from the little that
we do know about it,

the game seems targeted at
impressionable developing minds.

Namely, teens like yourselves.

Um, challenge accepted.

Respect to the dead,

but some among our flock
are shepherds,

not sheep.

The game's quests
and role-playing scenarios

are specifically designed
to foster delusion,

paranoia, and ultimately violence.

As mayor, I'm officially banning
Gryphons and Gargoyles.

Mrs. Burble is gonna be
holding extended office hours

and I've set up
a 24-hour crisis hotline

overseen by Kevin Keller.

FYI, I'm only there
after school.

As a parent, I'm imploring you,

take care of yourselves.

And stay away from this game.

Newsflash, Mom.

Banning something only
makes it more interesting.

Thank you.

And now, this stupid game is literally
all anyone is talking about.

You are not playing,
are you, Vee?

Bee, you don't make
Fibes 20 Under 20

by prancing around the woods
in a deer carcass.

Are you and Jughead playing?

No.

We are still trying to figure
out why my mom and his dad

were so triggered by us
having the manuals.

Hello.

Miss Cooper, this is Dr. Curdle Jr.
Are you alone?

Hi, Dr. Curdle,

yes, have you had any luck?

Per your request, I did some
digging in the morgue archives.

And I found something I think
you'll be interested in.

Dr. Curdle Jr. told me
and Jughead that

the circumstances of Dilton Doiley's
suicide felt oddly familiar to him.

That file is why.

A case from
when his dad was coroner.

I am right in the middle
of my Affirmations meeting...

Trust me, Mom, you're gonna
wanna take a look at this.

Per your Farm "testimony,"

you've clearly played G&G before

and now I have concrete evidence
that when you were my age,

there was another
suspicious death.

Maybe a murder that took place
at Riverdale High

where the corpse had blue lips.

I can keep digging,

or you can just tell me
what you know about G&G.

All right.

Wait, really?

You're right, Betty.

You deserve to know
the whole truth.

If for no other reason,
for your own protection.

It was our junior year.

Phones had cords,
Winona had Johnny,

and everything smelled like Teen Spirit.

The world was
a very different place

and we were
very different people.

Back then, I was Alice Smith.

A bad girl from the wrong side
of the tracks

with enviable hair,

no real friends...

Please help,
please help, please help.

And one huge problem.

Damn it!

Everything okay in there?

God, mind your own business, Hermione,
shouldn't you be in a church?

Oh, crap, girl.

Are you...

It's probably a false positive.
It happens all the time.

Like 3% of the time.

No one's talking to you, Sierra.

Oh, what am I gonna do?

I tried to talk to him

and he blew me off
for some vixen he is screwing.

Ha, classic.

- FP Jones!
- FP Jones?

Well, well, well...

I thought I heard
a party in here.

Hall passes, ladies.

Oh, it's up your ass, Penelope.

Classy as always, Alice Smith.

Just curious.

Were you born with that mouth?

Or is it something Southside mothers
teach their bastard babies?

Wow!

You trashy bitch!

Oh, no!
No, no, no, no.

Hey!

Come on, FP,
it's Bulldog tradition.

Streak, streak,
streak, streak, streak...

My arm's in a cast, Mantle.

Doesn't matter.

Streak, streak, streak!

Come on, Marty,
I'm not doing it.

Streak, streak, streak, streak!

I'll go with you.

Freddie Andrews.

Why? You're not
even on our team.

No, but the baseball team
got me to streak last week

and got me some serious cred
with the ladies, so...

Run fast enough
and all they'll see is a blur.

Streak, streak, streak!

We were invincible.

Or at least, we thought we were.

That little stunt landed FP
and Fred in hot water.

Welcome

to Saturday detention.

Gathered in that classroom,
we were strangers, more than friends.

And none of us
could have guessed that

our lives were about to change forever.

Synced & corrected by MaxPayne
== https://subscene.com ==

It was just supposed
to be one Saturday.

Eight hours.

Six people with seemingly
nothing in common.

The bad girl.

Alice Smith?

The rebellion Catholic.

Hermione Gomez?

The teacher's pet.

Penelope Blossom?

The artist-athlete.

Fred Andrews?

The political animal.

Sierra Samuels?

And the ladies man.

Forsythe Pendleton Jones Jr.?

Forsythe Pendleton Jones Jr.

He was a BMOC,
an all-American athlete.

A stud-muffin as we used to say.

He was different
back then, Betty.

Trying to be something
other than what he was.

But still trouble.

I was as tough as nails,

but around FP, silly putty.

Even in detention, with the
secret growing inside me,

I hated him.

But I wanted him.

Ugh! Okay, okay,
Mom, I get it.

While you're here today,
you will not talk.

You will not play.

You will not move.

I don't even
want you to breathe.

Yes.

What if we have to pee?

You hold it, Miss Samuels.

And at the end of the day, you
will deliver a 1,000-word essay

as to why you are here today.

I will be right down the hall,

in my office all day long.

'Cause I have
nothing better to do.

Dude, can you not?

Dude, can you bite me?

Oh, my God, shh!

Psst! Sierra.

Sit down, we'll get in trouble.

Tommy!

Brought you some sustenance.

- Thank you.
- I love you.

I'll see you tonight, okay?

Okay.

Sierra.

You and Tom Keller?

Guys, we've been going to
the same school since kindergarten.

How do we not know
anything about each other?

We're not friends.

Cliques don't cross-pollinate.

Haven't you seen Heathers?

Well, we've got, uh...
six more hours to kill,

and no one to impress.

How about a round
of Secrets and Sins?

Tommy and I
have been secretly dating

for a few months now.

Why secretly?

Our parents don't want their children
dating someone so... different,

to use their euphemism of choice.

My mom is all up
in my relationships, too.

You know Hiram Lodge?

Ah, yes.

- Dude is ripped.
- And a petty criminal.

He is a self-starter who
provides for his family.

But to my mom, he is a scrub.

"Sangre, sudor, y lagramas,

That's the way
to the American dream, mija."

But what dream?

She cleans hotel rooms
in that stupid Five Seasons

sixteen hours a day.
Hiram's got the right idea.

Get out of Riverdale,
no matter what you have to do.

Yeah, except Riverdale
is not the problem.

Me?
I wanna stay here my whole life.

Is that how long it's gonna take you
to decide between music or baseball?

Our minor league is solid.

And we are close enough to
the city to play music gigs.

This town's got it all.

Could even see myself running
for mayor one day.

Ugh! Nightmare job.

Why not shoot for something bigger?

You can do all those things
in a real metropolis.

Yeah, except look after my dad.

He's sick.

Real sick.

And he took care of me
my whole life.

So now, it's my turn.

Alice, you're up.

What's your deepest,
darkest secret?

- Um...
- Let's skip her.

Alice, just tell them about the time you
lit a dumpster on fire in the Southside.

Why don't you tell them that you
actually live in Sunnyside Trailer Park?

- I thought you lived on Elm street.
- Yeah.

Of course,

because that's what Forsythe
wants you to believe.

You parade around the school
in your varsity jacket

like a Northsider.

Don't kid yourself, you'll
never escape the Southside.

You're gonna end up just like your dad.

Downing six packs in your double wide.

Maybe, but I'm not gonna hit my kid.

Not like my old man hits me.

I told him I didn't wanna
join his gang,

that I wanted to be the first
Jones to go to college.

He didn't like that.

Okay.

Guess that just leaves me.

Fair is fair.

The Blossoms,

they are terrible people.

But Penelope, you're a Blossom.

No, I'm not.

Not really.

I grew up at The Sisters
of Quiet Mercy orphanage.

Oh, my God, Penelope,

that place has, like, violated
every humanitarian code.

When I was eight,

the Blossoms came and asked to
see all the red-headed children.

The next thing I knew,
I was leaving with them.

I was so excited.

I very quickly realized this was
not an altruistic adoption.

I was being groomed

to first be Clifford's sister,

then, eventually
his life companion.

Every second away
from that house,

even today, is a relief.

Why are you still living there?

They're my family.

That's not family, it's basically
incest, it's disgusting.

At least I'm not cleaning up other
people's toilets like your mom!

Well, at least she has class.

She is not stealing child brides
out of orphanages.

Here we go again.

- Hey, stop it!
- Hey!

Congratulations.

You all just upped
your sentence.

From one Saturday detention
to four.

We were angry, of course,

at each other, at ourselves.

But little by little,

hour by hour,

the walls we've hidden behind
all our lives

started breaking down.

As pudding cups
and sandwiches were shared,

the bravado fell away.

And a group of misfits
became unlikely friends.

And then there was that
rainy Saturday afternoon.

The first cold rain
of the season.

- -When I got it into my head

to add the rest of the group's
initials to the windowsill

carved next to mine.

And Hermione decided to break into Mrs.
Krabappel's drawer.

What are you doing?

Yesterday, Mrs. Krabappel
took my game lad

and she locked it up in here,
so I'm getting it back.

That's vandalism.

Yeah!

Holy crap!

Krabappel's been hoarding
our stuff for decades.

Ooh!

And there it was,

Gryphons and Gargoyles.

I have heard of
this game before.

We shouldn't play it, it
doesn't belong to us anyway.

Gryphons and Gargoyles.

Thought this
was an urban legend.

I heard some kids have been
playing it Seaside.

I heard one of them had
a heart attack and died.

In that case, we definitely
have to play it, right?

"An ancient evil, long forgotten
to this world, has awoken.

His name, the Gargoyle King.

Defeat him and receive
the supreme reward."

Okay, but how do we beat him?

It looks like the person
with the manual,

that'd be me,
is the Game Master.

I will guide you through quests

and you complete them until
you ascend to the next level.

But first, pick your characters.

I pick "The Sorceress."

Maybe I can make
all you nerds disappear.

I pick "The Thief."

I've always wanted to be free
of moral reasoning.

Well, as the voice
of the people,

I choose "The Siren."

"Deadeye."

Sick!

Fred, we all know you are
"The Radiant Knight."

"Clinging to the ideals of hope,
justice, and righteousness."

I don't know, it seems kinda...

- Boring.
- Perfect for you.

Now, pay attention.

"Welcome, brave adventurers,
to Eldervair,

realm of
Gryphons and Gargoyles."

Lady Smith, please pick
your quest card.

"Free the souls
of the undead."

You are standing at the top
of Necromancer's Alley.

That's how it begins, Betty.

The maddening obsession,

with the roll of a dice.

You approach a well at the
center of Arcana Maze.

The hedges grow behind you,
sealing off the exit.

I'm gonna toss my Gildite coin.

Please be heads.
Please be heads.

A geyser bursts up depositing The
Scroll of Elders in your hand.

Nicely done, Squire Pendleton.

Is it too late to start
another round?

Not at all.

Might I suggest
we kick things up a notch?

Take the game off the board.

You mean, like, run around school
with Featherhead down the hall?

- He takes a nap after lunch.
- I'm in.

Trust me, you're going to love
it, uh, there is this quest,

"The Wedding Stone,"
that requires pairs.

So, Squire Pendleton.
Madam H.

Sir Fredrick, Lady Smith.

I hid a gemstone from
Thornhill in this building.

First pair to find it and show
it to Sierra, gets to keep it.

Looks like it's just you and
me for a little bit, Sierra.

Shall we pillage the cafeteria?

Why those specific pairings, Penelope?

Did the Gargoyle King
make you do it?

I guess I'm just in the mood
for a little chaos.

How do we know
if we are even close?

We let our love to guide us.

Yeah, or the Gargoyle King.

Hey.

Come on, ready?

Yeah.

Yes!

M'lady.

You know, I've been thinking
of asking you something.

Whoa!

What the hell, Hermione?

You were gonna kiss me.

No.

I wasn't.

This is a role-playing game.

I'm not actually into you, FP.

Alice, are you okay?
You look...

Here, sit down.

Hey, you can talk to me.

Alice, what's up?

I'm...

Lost.

I wake up every morning,
wanting to escape my life

and my mistakes.

And when I'm here,
I do and I'm happy.

And when the game's over,

I'm me again.

God, that sounds pathetic.

No, no.

It doesn't.

So, FP...

What exactly went down
with you and Alice?

Nothing serious.

You know, just messing around,

which she was cool with.

The more we've been playing G&G,
the more I've been thinking,

it could be more, I don't know.

You should talk to her.

For real.

Take a shot.

You're the Deadeye after all.

I love my dad.

I hate seeing him in pain.

Sometimes, I...

I just can't handle it.

But Sir Fredrick
doesn't have a sick dad.

So I pretend that I'm here with you guys.

Then I'm... free again.

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

You and Fred Andrews?

We were lonely, Betty.

We were young, attractive,

in the same room...
It was just once,

a brief flame between two people

that existed in that one moment.

But in the Blue and Gold?

We played for weeks.

Sneaking into school,
late at night,

getting deeper than ever.

And we dubbed ourselves

"The Midnight Club."

We abandoned the board, acting
out our quests and adventures

in the real world,
playing characters.

Some of us became a little
more inseparable than others.

Wait...

What was that?
Do you guys hear that?

Surrender!

- Hermione?
- Hiram?

- Sierra?
- Tommy?

Are you guys playing G&G, too?

We had thought we were special.

Have been for about a week now.

Darryl Doiley found it in the
restricted section of the library.

Relinquish your
Game Master duties.

Make me, heathen.

We joined forces.

Started playing a bigger game.

And then the line between Gryphons
and Gargoyles and real life

became blurred
in a dangerous way.

We found these strange
invitations in our lockers.

"Members of the Midnight Club,

come to the detention room tonight."

"Rise to the challenge."

"And ascend to the next level of the game."

Hell, yeah!

"Eagerly yours,
the Gargoyle King."

Welcome to the Ascension Party.

"Find the chalices.

Flip the Gryphon coin for your fate.

Drink from the chalice,
and meet your destiny.

The successful among you will
ascend to the third level."

Sounds simple enough.

But not much of a party.

So... Why don't we make it one?

What's that, Hiram?

Fizzle rocks.

They're new.
Just hit the streets.

I was pregnant with your
brother, I didn't take any.

But to this day, I wonder
what was in those drugs.

Maybe whatever
turned us into monsters.

Kudos on the whole
Ascension Party thing.

- Very rad.
- Me?

I thought you did all this.

It was set up when I got here.

Or maybe
we've been monsters all along.

Ascension Night was frenzied
from the start.

The festivities began with an
impromptu concert by the Fred Heads.

That night, our dark
doppelgangers were released.

And we all went
a little bit insane.

High on fizzle rocks

and the very game itself.

Principal Featherhead must
have learned of our trespassing

and was investigating.

God help me, Betty,
I could have said something,

stopped him.

I could have prevented
what came next.

But instead, I just left.

I spent the night
calling the Midnight Club.

No one picked up.

They must have been caught,

or expelled,

maybe even arrested.

I went to Principal
Featherhead's office,

maybe to confess, but...

Hi, is Principal Featherhead in?

Not yet.

He should be in later if you
want to make an appointment.

Are you okay, Alice?

Do you want to see the nurse?

No.

Hermione!

Thank God!

I've got this bad feeling...

Were things okay last night?

You didn't hear?

I knew it.

What happened?

FP was supposed to tell you.

Tell me what?

Fred's dad,

he died,

while we were at
the Ascension Party last night.

Fred found him when he got home.

By the time
Mr. Andrews' funeral came around

a few days later,

Principal Featherhead had been
declared officially missing.

And we were all waiting
for the other shoe to drop.

It was
a beautiful service, Fred.

I should have
been there when he...

You have to stop beating yourself up, man.

There's nothing you could have done.
He was sick.

And he died alone.

Because I was high,

running around school like
an idiot with you guys.

Fred.

Look, between this
and Featherhead going MIA,

we're all a little on edge.

I saw him that night
at the school.

During the Ascension Party,
I saw Featherhead,

and the next morning,
he was gone.

Did anyone else run into him?

Should we tell someone?

You didn't see anything.

- Penelope.
- Nobody did.

Do you want the finger pointed at us
because we happened to be doped up

and trespassing on the same
night Featherhead disappeared?

We don't know what, if
anything, happened to him,

and no one else knows
we were there.

So we keep our mouths shut.

Agreed?

Agreed?

The rumors spread like wildfire.

Everyone had a theory about what
happened to Principal Featherhead.

But no one had guessed
the gruesome truth,

that Mr. Featherhead had been
right under our noses,

and by the next week,
it was impossible

to ignore the flies and the smell.

There was a blue liquid in the
chalices when I saw them.

Featherhead's corpse
had blue lips.

And the police said
he had poison in his system.

What did you guys do to him?

What do you mean,
what did we do?

You were there too, Alice.

And you are the only one
that actually saw him.

Yeah, because you guys were tripping.

And who was even wearing that insane
Gargoyle King costume anyway?

What are you talking about?

We were all in our normal outfits.

And the chalices were empty.

Lady Smith doth protest
a little too much, methinks.

Yeah.

Pretty convenient that you
left early.

Why don't you tell us what
you did to Featherhead?

This is ridiculous.

Fred,

you are the radiant knight,
you always do the right thing.

You'll go to the cops with me, right?

We're not telling the cops!

Why suddenly such a rule breaker, Penelope?

Because you killed him?

And how would I have killed him?

With our magic chalices?

Yeah.

The goblets were full when I
went into the bathroom, okay?

Maybe you poisoned them when
you were setting up the quest.

Except for I didn't set up the quest.

Neither did Darryl.

We were just as in the dark
as the rest of you.

Guys, the chalices were just sitting there.

Any one of us could have drank from them.

So whoever invited us
to Ascension Party

was trying to kill one or more of us.

Well, then, we have
to destroy the game,

so that it can't be
traced back to us.

The manuals.

We just have to destroy the manuals,
we can scatter everything else.

I was outnumbered.

At least, that's what I tell myself now.

I'll handle the dice.

Left in a Monopoly box,

forgotten among
the other mismatched pieces.

I've got the chalices.

Nestled among other
cups and the trophy case.

I'll dispose of
the library manual.

Thrown in Sweetwater River.

And I'll burn our copy.

Right, everyone spit,
we're making a pact.

From this moment on, no one talks
about Gryphons and Gargoyles.

It's a secret,

forever,

to the grave.

To the grave.

After playing G&G,
it was a return to reality.

We went our separate ways

and burdened by our guilt,
became different people.

The wannabe rock star sold his
guitar and began breaking rocks

at his family business.

The Catholic school girl went
against her mother's wishes

and began a lifetime
of compromises.

Where did you get it?

Don't you worry about that,

mi amor.

Romeo and Juliet
took their curtain call.

Maybe when we're older,

things will be different.

I'll wait for you, Sierra.

I hope you'll do the same.

The Game Master became the pawn.

I wanna live in Thornhill
forever and ever, Clifford.

The world outside is...
It's too dangerous.

The high school MVP
became a greaser gang member.

The biker girl traded
her leathers for a big lie.

Hey there, Hal Cooper.

Any chance you're free
for a malt at Pop's?

And when the Midnight Club
passed each other in the halls,

we didn't so much as smile.

We'd become strangers again.

Okay.

But, wait,
if Principal Featherhead died

because he drank
from a poisoned chalice,

then who poisoned the cups?

I don't know.

His death was ruled a suicide
under suspicious circumstances,

and we never spoke about it

because we knew it must have been
a member of the Midnight Club.

The unthinkable.

One of us was a murderer.

But how did they know
that Featherhead would show up

and that he would
drink from the cups?

That's what's so terrifying.

The killer couldn't have known.

Which meant whoever poisoned
those cups meant for one of us

to drink it at the end of the quest.

So, Featherhead was
an unintentional casualty.

I'm sorry, Mom.

But if we are gonna figure out how
to stop what's happening now,

I have a lot more questions.

Elizabeth.

When you play the game,

the more you talk about it,

the more you think of it,

the more at risk you are.

Mortal risk.

But from what?

People on the outside?
The Game Masters?

And on the inside, the players.

The game, it gives you
permission to hurt or kill,

themselves, their enemies,

their friends.

Ben, Dilton, Ethel, they all willingly
drank the Fresh-Aid drainer chalice quest.

But was it murder or suicide?

In the end, it's just death, Betty.

Please promise me
you won't investigate it.

You know I can't do that, Mom.

Someone from your club
used the game

to murder Featherhead.

Now my classmates are dying.

And the whole school
is playing the game.

I saw a creature in the woods.

I think the same one you saw
at the school.

The Gargoyle King.

What if it's the same person
from the Midnight Club?

Then and now?

I know you're scared, Mom.

But we can't be silent anymore.

You see where that's gotten us.

Just please, swear to me...

Swear to me that
you won't play it.

I won't play the game,
I promise.

Okay, well...

A good detective always
vets her sources.

Hiding in plain sight the whole time.

Juggy? Jug?

You won't believe the story
my mom told me last night.

Jug.

What are you doing?

Betty.

It's all making sense,
all of this is becoming clear.

The game, the Gargoyle King,

I'm a Level Three,

but it's only a matter of time
until I ascend...

And I get to beat him.

Synced & corrected by MaxPayne
== https://subscene.com ==