[creepy music playing]
Gather round, kiddies.
It's time for a ghost story.
A few ghost stories, actually.
The first begins with a conflict as ancient as Cain and Abel.
For as long as the Serpents have existed so too have the Ghoulies.
Over the years, they fought for a myriad of reasons.
[crowd clamoring]
Tonight, they're rumbling because Serpent Princess Sandra
fell in love with the Ghoulie Prince Daniel.
And in a town like Rivervale, that's more than enough reason to spill some blood.
[rock music playing]
♪ Ashes to ashes ♪
♪ We all fall down ♪
Danny!
[dramatic music playing]
And what haunts me...
is that I was aiming to wound, not kill.
I couldn't have possibly known that Darla's son, Danny,
was gonna jump in front of her like that.
But still...
Thanks.
The boy's mother,
Darla Dickenson, have you thought about reaching out to her?
To apologize? [scoffs]
I mean, she's a mother who lost her son, Dr. Whitley.
There's nothing I could say to comfort her.
I know that I wouldn't be able to live anymore
if something bad were to happen to Baby Anthony.
[man on TV] I had a reason for inviting each guest. I wanted...
-Good luck with your writing today. -Thanks.
-Good luck feeding the masses. -[grunts]
-Don't forget to hang up these pictures. -Consider it done.
They share one thing.
-They all need money. -[door opens, then closes]
[thunder rumbling]
[phone rings]
-Mantle Motors. -[Veronica] Hey.
I'm just checking in to see if there's any word on your dad.
It's not so good.
The nurse said he's having a bad day and I shouldn't visit him at the hospital.
You know, Reggie,
it's okay for you to be upset about your dad being sick.
What kills me is that we were doing better.
I just thought we'd have more time.
[dramatic music playing]
Thanks for calling.
-I'll see you when I get home. -Okay.
See you in a bit.
[car engine revving]
Holy crap. Bella.
I had a car exactly like this one back in high school.
Man, the times we had.
She's a beaut, isn't she?
I was hoping I'd get her appraised and sold.
Tell you what I'm gonna do. I'll buy her, double the blue book value.
All cash.
[man chuckles]
[sensual music playing]
Just like old times.
I've missed you, Bellissima.
[engine starts, then revs]
♪ Feel real, feel real ♪
[cell phone ringing]
-Ronnie? -[Veronica] Hey.
Don't mean to be a noodge, but I was getting worried.
Is everything okay?
Yeah, I just got caught doing some paperwork.
I'm about to head out the door now.
No worries, lover. See you soon.
[Jughead] Hey, you.
Hey.
What happened to hanging up the art today?
I'm sorry. I'll do it tomorrow. I promise.
You know what? It's, um...
It's all good.
Okay.
[dramatic music playing]
Okay.
-[plaster crumbles] -Oh, my God.
Jeez, Tabs.
And I thought my walls in New York were paper thin.
Wait, do you feel that?
Yeah.
Feel like there's a draft coming though. I think there's something in there.
On the other side.
[wall crumbling]
[Tabitha] Whoa.
What the hell is this place?
Are these Scotch bottles?
Isn't that what you used to drink?
Yeah, when I could afford it.
Why would this place have been covered up?
I don't know, but I should put my desk here
and turn this into a writing nook. Wouldn't that be cool?
Hey.
Reggie.
I'm sorry. I stink. I'm gonna take a shower.
[thunder rumbling]
[ominous music playing]
[shrieking]
So, Nana, you'll be thrilled.
I was out in the maple groves today and the trees are bursting with sap.
They practically drenched me.
In fact, I infused our brandies with some.
[Rose] Oh.
To Archie.
[Rose] To Archie.
Auntie Cheryl!
Mommy is trying to take Juniper.
What are you talking about? Where is your sister?
She's in the bathroom, splashing, and she won't open the door.
Juniper, open the door.
-[water splashing] -[muffled cries]
[shrieking]
Juniper! Open the door!
[ominous music playing]
Juniper. Juniper!
Come here. Are you okay? Come here. Are you okay?
You're okay. You're okay.
[woman screaming]
Are you thinking about any names?
It's still early days, Kev.
But if it's a boy, Archie.
-Obviously. -And, uh...
if it's a girl, I was thinking maybe Polly would be nice.
Cousin. I need your mother to take the twins for a couple days.
Okay, why?
Because some evil water nymph out of an M. Night Shyamalan movie
is stalking the halls of Thornhill and threatening them.
Will you let Alice know or shall I?
Uh...
Okay, so there is a closet in the original floor plan of this apartment.
Hmm. Isn't that curious?
Miss Gordon, is there something that you're not telling me?
Don't you legally have to disclose any bad things that have happened there?
I did. To your boyfriend.
Okay.
And what exactly did you disclose?
About Sam and Diane.
The young couple who died in the apartment.
I'm sorry. What?
Died there? How?
Murder-suicide.
She killed him, then herself.
It was a very unfortunate situation.
[line ringing]
I'm so sorry, Mr. Schaffer.
This is so unlike--
Reggie?
Where are you?
[Reggie] Hey, Ronnie. Now's not a good time.
I'm at the hospital. There was an emergency with my dad.
[bell rings]
Was that a school bell?
You are so busted, Mantle.
I thought you were having a secret affair.
What is going on, Reggie?
And where did that car come from?
Some Joe Nobody showed up in the lot, wanting to sell her. Can you believe it?
Of course, she's not the OG Bella, but she's the same make and model.
That's right. Bella.
You know, my dad gave me her.
When he handed me those keys, it was maybe the greatest day of my life.
So when she came back to me, I just wanted to...
Relive some happy memories for a change?
I get that.
But why bring her here? Why not The Pembrooke?
To be honest, I needed to do a little fine-tuning.
Give her a little TLC. Get her purring again.
Whatever you need to do, Reggie.
You don't have to sneak around.
And don't forget.
I could use a little TLC every now and again too.
-I can arrange that. -Yeah?
Mm-hm.
In fact...
I have a crazy idea.
-[door opens] -[Jughead] It's cool, right?
I decided to go for a nautical Neil Gaiman theme.
Okay, so you didn't have time to hang up our pictures,
but you did have time to put up a door on your new nook, huh?
Also, why didn't you tell me the truth about this place?
What truth?
About Sam and Diane, the murder-suicide couple?
When you saw the apartment, you fell in love with it.
Also, I know this is gonna sound weird,
but I thought maybe I could write about them.
I've been doing some digging. It's a fascinating story.
He was a painter obsessed with his work.
She bludgeoned him to death and then hung herself.
Why'd she do that?
No one knows for certain.
She just snapped one day.
How completely ghoulish.
I know.
It's an unsettling story.
This is why I didn't wanna tell you.
I'm not upset about something that happened 50 years ago,
as disturbing as it is, Jughead.
I'm upset that you chose to hide something from me.
I should have told you. I'm not gonna do something like that ever again.
-And if you're worried about the ghosts... -I'm not.
And on the plus side...
I'm feeling inspired.
Are you writing again?
No, but getting close.
[knocking on door]
Hey, Toni. Um, I need your help.
Sure, Betty. What's up?
Um, I'm here about a case.
An incident of domestic violence.
Looks like a mother drowned her daughter in a bathtub.
And, Toni, she's a Serpent.
Her name's Lucinda Villa. Her daughter is--
Sandra.
But she's 16.
Drowned how?
Dr. Curdle said that there were bruises on her shoulders,
like someone held her under.
The FBI wants me to charge her mother with murder.
No, I know Lucinda. She'd never hurt her daughter.
Well, she's not talking to me, so maybe she would talk to you?
Okay.
Lucinda, I know you didn't drown your daughter.
You loved her with all your heart.
But you were the only one home when it happened.
Who did this to Sandra?
It was...
La Llorona.
[Betty] La Llorona?
Who or what is La Llorona?
According to the old folk tales,
it's a spirit of vengeance who preys on young children.
She drowns them.
Okay, Toni, I appreciate your help
and I wanna give Lucinda the benefit of the doubt,
but I can't put "spirit of vengeance" on my report.
♪ Whoa, my love ♪
♪ My darling ♪
♪ I've hungered for your touch ♪
[indistinct chatter]
[all cheering]
Dear God, Reggie!
Those are my students.
Okay, that's it. We're done. I've indulged you long enough.
-What about dinner? -We're taking it to go.
Now.
[typewriter clacking]
[ominous music playing]
[clacking continues]
Can you keep it down?
Jughead, can you just please stop for a second?
[hammer thuds]
Jughead.
[Jughead grunts]
How many times have I told you not to leave the toothpaste uncapped?
That wasn't me.
Yet it was uncapped.
I don't know. Maybe it was the ghost you heard banging in the closet.
You know, when you woke me up in the middle of the night?
I don't need any attitude.
Please just put the toothpaste cap back on the tube.
It's common decency.
-Reggie. -[grunts]
I think we should talk about last night.
-It was uncomfortable for me. -What?
You're telling me you've never made out in a car?
Of course I have.
But last time that happened,
Chuck Clayton tried to tarnish my good name,
so maybe that's why canoodling in your stupid car triggered me.
First of all, Bella's not stupid.
Second of all, you've got kinks too.
Like making out on a bed full of dirty $100 bills.
That was in the privacy of our own home.
Not plastered on the leather seats of some stupid ride.
Okay, that's the second time you've called my car stupid.
Veronica,
are you jealous of Bella or something?
[scoffs] Don't be ridiculous.
Fine.
No more car-scapades.
-Great. -[crockery breaks]
♪ My heart keeps sayin' ♪
♪ That I'm a fool ♪
You okay, Tabitha?
That's the third plate you dropped today.
I'm sorry, Grandpa.
I just haven't been sleeping well.
Any reason in particular?
Grandpa, you don't believe in ghosts, do you?
Sure, I do.
This diner was haunted for a while.
By the ghost of a waitress who died in an accident with the deep fryer.
When we opened back up a couple days later,
strange things began to happen.
The jukebox would start playing on its own.
Pots and pans would fall off hooks.
How did you get it to stop?
Remember we had those riots in the 1980s when every window was broken?
Well, after that night, we didn't have another incident.
It was almost as if the racket scared the ghost off.
Guess the dead can be as afraid of us
as we are of them.
[Hermosa] Well, from what you're telling me, it's clear as day, hermanita.
Reggie's going through a quarter-life crisis.
Actually, the timing of a quarter-life crisis does make sense.
Especially considering what's happening with Reggie's dad.
My advice, cut Reggie some slack.
Let him play with his toys. Hell, get him some fuzzy dice.
Maybe you're right, Hermosa.
I mean, it's not like I'm actually jealous of Bella.
[creepy music playing]
[Toni] Hey.
Betty.
I'm just calling to check in on Lucinda.
How's she doing?
She's still sticking to her story about La Llorona.
I know this sounds crazy,
but is there any universe in which she's telling the truth?
I've been doing lots of research.
And ghosts like La Llorona exist in different cultures.
They're spirits of unfettered feral motherhood.
There's different versions of the legend,
but they're always mothers and they always go after children.
I even read one article
where La Llorona can go after an unborn child.
Okay, Toni. That's enough, okay?
I'm sorry, but your friend is going to be charged for murder.
Betty, listen to me.
Something very bad is happening in Rivervale.
I don't think any of our children are safe until it's over.
So it took me all day,
but I finally figured out how to get the ship in the bottle.
Um, were you seriously doing this all day?
Uh, yeah. I kind of got fixated on it.
I thought you were going to be writing. That was our deal.
No, I get it.
This is just my process.
I'm refilling the well of my creative subconscious.
And what about these bottles?
What happened to the Scotch that was in them?
Nothing. I picked those bottles up behind the Whyte Wyrm.
I'm not drinking again. I promise.
I think--
I know I'm ready to start writing again, okay?
Okay.
[thunder crashing]
[ominous music playing]
[typewriter clacking]
God.
Seriously?
[suspenseful music playing]
Tabitha. It worked.
-What did? -My process.
I've been writing all night. The words have just been flying out. Look! Look.
It's a novella.
It's almost finished.
Wow, that's amazing, Jughead.
When can I read it?
Uh, not just yet.
I don't really let anyone read my vomit drafts, like, ever.
But the second I revise it, you'll be the first to read it.
-Okay? -Okay. I can't wait.
[bell rings]
You know what?
This is a nice car.
Reggie Mantle, you lying cad.
[dramatic music playing]
-[grunts] -Oh!
I'm so sorry.
What are you doing with a photo of Miss Soprano?
What? Who's Miss Soprano?
She was our driver's ed teacher.
That is, until the allegations.
Allegations?
Of inappropriate relations between her and some of the boys.
What was her first name again?
Something Italian.
Isabella, if I recall correctly.
Oh, my God.
Keep working. I'll just be a minute, okay?
[ominous music playing]
I know who you are. And I know what you want.
-[alarm ringing] -[shrieks]
[electricity crackling]
Toni! What the hell?
How curious, Miss Cooper.
According to this sonogram,
you are no longer pregnant.
What?
What are you talking about, Dr. Curdle? I was pregnant.
You told me that I was pregnant. I took a test.
Hysterical pregnancies can manifest the same symptoms
and conditions as actual pregnancies.
Perhaps that's what happened here.
Toni, I believe you now.
I think La Llorona is in Rivervale.
I'm gonna try and help Lucinda.
[Toni] Thank you.
But, Betty, did something happen?
I think so, um, but I'll tell you about it later, okay?
There's a hunch I need to pursue. Can we meet up afterwards?
-Absolutely. I'm here. -Okay, I'll call you.
More coffee?
Decaf, please.
You got it.
-Everything okay? -[sighs]
Yes. Just a little on edge.
How are you? How's life with Jughead?
To be frank, I had no idea living with a writer would be so intense.
Oh, yeah.
He could be pretty single-minded when he got in the weeds,
but it was always very exciting to read those early vomit drafts of his, you know?
Jughead let you read his vomit drafts?
Yeah, all the time.
He wanted me to experience his stories in their rawest form, you know?
Yeah, same with me.
[Toni] Janet, what's the occasion?
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I received an anonymous complaint.
I'm here on a wellness check.
-For Baby Anthony. -What?
Somebody thinks I'm not taking care of my baby?
-Janet, you know me. -I do.
But you know, as a social worker, I have to investigate every claim.
I don't even know what to say.
-[baby cooing] -[distant thunder rumbling]
[ominous music playing]
Who called Child Services? Was it Kevin?
I can't disclose that information.
-[baby screaming] -Anthony?
[Toni gasps]
-Sweetie! Oh, it's okay. -[crying]
No. It's okay. It's okay. Mama's got you.
I got your text, Ronnie. What's going on?
Ronnie, why?
Why'd you do this to Bella?
Because I know who "Bella" is.
The real one.
Isabella Soprano, the sick teacher who had inappropriate relationships
-with her students, including you. -What?
I can stomach a lot, Reggie, but I will not allow you to romanticize
an abusive relationship.
She was an adult. And she took advantage of you.
And this--
This sick obsession with your car
is just a continuation of that toxic dynamic.
We never did anything.
She was the one adult I could trust.
The only one I ever told about the abuse that was going on in my home.
She listened to me. She helped me.
[dramatic music playing]
Reggie.
It's just a car.
I just got back from the hospital,
and my dad died 20 minutes ago.
Oh, my God. Reggie.
I'm so, so sorry.
I will always be here for you.
It's just you and me.
As it should be.
Toni, I found something. A pattern, tracing our steps.
So she's following a direct line from Sweetwater River.
First, Thornhill, where Cheryl encountered her.
Then Lucinda's, my house, Rivervale High,
-now... -This apartment.
Where she came after Baby Anthony.
Her target was, and I bet still is, Baby Anthony.
How do you know?
Mother's intuition, I guess?
-[cooing] -Oh.
Fangs, take Baby Anthony to the Whyte Wyrm
and surround him with the Serpents.
I don't think she'll go after him with a crowd around.
Okay. And where are you going?
Cheryl's.
We need to contact that ghost bitch, and she knows how to channel the spirits.
So we'll go to the funeral home tomorrow morning
to finalize arrangements, but...
everything's in order.
Thanks, Ronnie.
I have a surprise for you.
I was gonna wait until things calm down a bit, but...
I think my Reggiekins deserves a pick-me-up.
You'll find that car key fits
into a gorgeous 1969 Camaro SS 4-speed.
Thought you might wanna take it for a spin later.
This is great.
Thanks, Ronnie.
I really appreciate it.
Reggie.
We're gonna be okay, right?
Of course.
Nothing could ever come between us.
[thunder crashing]
Hear ye, hear ye.
These sacred women have gathered here to summon
the entity known as La Llorona
or "The Weeping Woman."
Spirit, your sisters call out to you.
You who have visited this house and the house of Elizabeth Cooper
and the house of Antoinette Topaz.
Spirit, speak to us.
What is thy name?
Spirit, reveal thyself!
-[thunder rumbling] -[all] Spirit, reveal thyself.
Spirit, reveal thyself.
-Spirit, reveal thyself. -[glass breaking]
[thunder crashing]
-[shrieking noise] -[gasps]
[Cheryl] Is that you, spirit?
Who are you? Name thyself.
[speaking through Rose] My name was Martha Mallon.
My employ was as a nurse in the children's ward
of Rivervale's first hospital.
In those early, hungry years, we lost many a babe.
From the pox, from the bitter cold,
from a doctor's careless hands.
The townsfolk blamed me for the loss of their children.
Accused me of being a witch woman,
and they dragged me and my own children
to the Sweetwater River.
Weighed us down with rocks
and threw us in the dark waters.
We drowned...
and I became this cursed thing that I am.
Who summoned you here, spirit? Who called you to this earthly plane?
What's happening?
Don't break the circle or we'll lose contact.
Speak, Martha. Who summoned you here?
We have to stop, Cheryl. She's gonna drown.
Not yet. We need a name.
Speak, Martha! Who summoned you here? Who called you to this plane?
[speaking as Rose] It was Darla Dickenson...
who did so from her son's grave.
-[Rose coughing] -Nana, I'm sorry. Are you all right?
-Forgive me. -Why does that name sound so familiar?
She's the woman whose son I killed.
That's why she's doing this.
Tabitha?
"She doesn't understand me. How could she? She doesn't have an artist's soul."
[Tabitha scoffs]
You broke into my desk? That's a huge breach of privacy.
-And my process. -Oh, right. Right. Your process.
Your process.
You mean, how you sit around all day playing with your toy boats
while I work my ass off, so that you can write a story about a wife
who doesn't understand her husband and then kills her husband
because he leaves the cap off the freaking toothpaste.
-Are you for real? Are you kidding me? -Hey. This story is not about us.
It's about the people who lived here before us, Sam and Diane.
Oh, Sam and Diane. Yeah. Give me a break!
Also, she doesn't kill him because of the toothpaste.
She kills him because he's too obsessed with his work.
I'll tell you why she kills him.
She kills him because she gets sick of supporting him
while he displays a complete disregard for her feelings.
Maybe that's why she brains him with a hammer.
Oh. What's with the Scotch that you're allegedly not drinking?
I'm not. Those are for the ships. I'm going to pour them out.
Oh...
Let me get this straight.
You bought a bunch of Scotch with money that I earned,
so you can pour it down the drain for your boats?
-Well, you know what? Screw your ships! -Goddamn it!
Screw them.
-Tab-- -You know what? Screw your writing too.
-Don't. Please. -Yep!
Don't! Don't! Don't!
Don't! Don't.
How could you? This was a gift from Betty.
[suspenseful music playing]
No.
We're not like them.
We're stronger. We're stronger.
And we made a promise
that we would work through our problems.
And I love you, Jughead.
And I'm...
sorry.
I'm sorry.
Did you say, "I love you"?
Yeah.
I've been wanting to say that for a while.
Yeah. I've been wanting to say it too.
[Tabitha sighs]
I love you.
Was that...?
What? The ghosts leaving?
Are ghosts real now?
I think maybe they are.
And I think maybe...
we scared them away.
[Darla] Finally.
I've been expecting you.
Darla, I'm sorry.
Sorry that Danny was taken away from you.
I'm sorry that I was responsible for his death.
Do you know how many sons I've buried, Toni?
Danny was my last one.
-My little boy. -Darla.
We know you summoned La Llorona.
Now you need to call her off.
[snickers]
You can't call off La Llorona.
Once summoned...
once a child is promised...
there's no stopping her.
At least, not until Anthony's dead...
in her arms.
So that's what you want?
An eye for an eye? My baby's life for your son?
-Yes. -Well, it's not gonna happen.
There's a crew of Serpents surrounding Baby Anthony, guarding him.
Toni...
you're a mother.
Even if there were 50 men standing between you and your baby...
would that stop you?
-No. -Exactly.
Now imagine that primal, maternal force times a hundred.
La Llorona is a storm unlike any you've ever seen.
[door opens]
Oh, my God.
Fangs? Anthony?
[Fangs groans, then coughs]
Fangs!
Hey!
[panting] Where's Anthony?
Where's our son?
[coughs]
She-- She took him.
Where? Where did she take him?
Sweetwater.
-Go. -We need to beat them to the river.
[coughing]
You're kind of quiet.
Understandably.
I guess I'm just...
wondering.
What?
Our fighting, was that the ghosts or...
us?
I don't know. Maybe both.
That was our first real fight.
-We survived. We lived to tell the tale. -Hmph.
I mean, barely. What's our next test gonna be?
Maybe love is just a series of tests. Tests the strength of our relationship.
I know that's bleak, but...
-it's also kind of-- -Kind of sweet?
[tender music playing]
[engine starts]
[La Llarona shrieking]
[Toni] Stop!
You're not taking my baby. He's innocent.
No one is innocent.
You were.
Your children were.
I'm sorry for everything you went through.
But you could show us mercy.
You could spare my son.
[La Llorona] I was called forth.
I can't return without the babe.
What if I could take away the suffering?
For good.
You could give it to me.
[dramatic music playing]
That way you'd be free.
Why would you offer that?
Because I would give up anything for my son.
My life.
But also because I killed another woman's child.
And I should be punished for that.
But it should be me.
Not Baby Anthony.
You've suffered enough, Martha.
Let me take your place.
Promise me you'll take care of him, Betty.
[shrieking]
[thunder cracking]
[in ghostly voice] Protect him, Betty.
And please let him know his mother loved him.
-[baby coos] -[exhales]
Let me ask you something, friends.
Is there a better word for motherhood than sacrifice?
The next time a weeping woman rises from Sweetwater River,
or if you prefer, the River Styx, a different soul will take her path.
A path that both begins and ends in Rivervale.
[theme music playing] s and ends in Rivervale.