It’s Thanksgiving time on Riverdale, and you know what that means: someone is going to murder… A whole plate of pie and a turkey! But also probably get murdered. Maybe.

Regardless, this week’s episode, “Chapter Sixty-Four: The Ice Storm” is the perfect treat before the holiday proper, an hour written by veteran Riverdale scribe Arabella Anderson and directed by Alex Pillai that finds the perfect mix of everything fans love about the series. Are there romantic moments a-plenty? Sure are. A cornucopia of weird, noir mysteries? Yep. An extra helping of new characters with absolutely ridiculous names? You know it.

What makes it work, though, is anchoring the hour in the couples we love, something the show has pushed away from a bit the past few weeks. For those who aren’t quite caught up, Archie Andrews (KJ Apa) has been running a community center in his father’s honor (actor Luke Perry and the character he played, Fred Andrews, passed away earlier this year), while his lady-love Veronica Lodge (Camila Mendes) has been dealing with the discovery of a new half-sister (Mishel Prada), as well as her crime boss father Hiram (Mark Consuelos) and recently freed from prison mother Hermione (Marisol Nichols).

Meanwhile, Betty Cooper (Lili Reinhart) has been doing some investigations of her own (which don’t seemingly play into this episode at all), while her boyfriend Jughead Jones (Cole Sprouse) is attending a mysterious school called Stonewall Prep. There, he’s tangled with the richer students in his writing class, Bret Weston Wallis (Sean Depner) and Donna Sweett (Sarah Desjardins), and last episode was shocked to watch as his teacher Mr. Chipping (Sam Witwer) dived head-first out a window.

Let’s not forget about Cheryl Blossom (Madelaine Petsch) and Toni Topaz (Vanessa Morgan) who are living in a gothic mansion with the dead body of Cheryl’s brother Jason, a doll that may be haunted by her other brother, Julian, who Cheryl ate in the womb, and now another body. That would be Cheryl’s Uncle Bedford (Alex Zahara), who — along with his wife, Aunt Cricket (Arabella Bushnell) — has been trying to steal Cheryl’s maple syrup business, attacked her, and got conked on the head by Toni.

Last, and certainly not least are the parents of Riverdale, specifically Alice Cooper (Mädchen Amick) and FP Jones (Skeet Ulrich). The pair used to hook up in high school, even accidentally conceived a child together, but have been blasted apart by circumstance for decades, always narrowly missing each other. Finally, the crack news reporter and Riverdale’s sheriff — and former gang leader — are living under one roof. Together. The way it was always meant to be.

That’s the table-setting, let’s get to the meal — or at least some appetizers, before the main course when Riverdale airs tonight at 8/7c on The CW.

1 Falice 'Shippers, Your Time Has Come Is there a Riverdale ‘ship that has been more patient than Falice (a.k.a., FP and Alice)? Maybe Burdle ‘shippers (Dr. Curdle Jr. and the bear that killed Archie), but it’s not that close. Well folks, this week your ‘ship has finally come in, and you truly love to see it. There may be no bigger Falice ‘shippers on Earth than Amick and Ulrich, and they are having the time of their lives this week. Yes, they kiss on screen. Yes, they are being domestic at home. Yes, FP casually strokes his thumb on Alice’s shoulder while they’re sitting next to each other, talking to other people, almost absent-mindedly like it was the most natural thing in the world, like they were meant to be together since the very start and (*begins breathing into paper bag to calm down*). That all said, their story is more than smoochin’ and touchin’, it’s also about how they work together as a couple now. It’s glorious to behold, and it was worth the wait.

2 I Want My Choni Poofs Meanwhile, things are continuing to be extremely weird over at the Blossom residence. Though Toni recently killed a man, this doesn’t seem to be a big deal in the span of things (I mean, this is Riverdale) — and Cheryl has much bigger fish to fry this episode. It all manages to somehow get even darker, but Anderson’s script finally finds the right balance for this storyline, mixing the gothic horror elements with moments of real sweetness between Toni and Cheryl. There are still some big questions that need to be answered about Ms. Blossom’s overall mental state, but for once the haunting of Thistlehouse is laced with some classic Choni style cuteness.

3 An Andrews Thanksgiving More than any individual episode since the Season 4 premiere, “In Memoriam,” Fred Andrews’s — and therefore Luke Perry’s — presence is felt throughout this episode. It makes sense, since Thanksgiving is a time for family. And as it did with the premiere, this idea pushes both Riverdale and Archie to be better, and do better. Though things end up predictably crime-ridden — that’ll happen when you have a Thanksgiving in Sketch Alley, the location of Archie’s community center — there’s a real weight, emotion, and even occasionally sense of fun to the storyline. Plus, get ready for Mary Andrews (Molly Ringwald) to get involved in the regular Riverdale craziness in a big way.

4 Hiram On Life He might be out of jail, but Hiram Lodge is very much back to his old tricks this episode, including a surprising move that happens before the episode has even really started. Ultimately, though, his bad behavior may come back to haunt him in a big way, leading to a confrontation with an unexpected adversary. What can we say, family — and friends — tend to get a little drunk and fight on Thanksgiving, right?

5 Veronican't Even Though Veronica is mostly around to support her man Archie this week, she does pull several baller moves, including one that continues her violent streak from when she set a serial killer on fire back on Halloween night. I don’t know where this Veronica came from, but she’s proving to be a stronger fighter than Archie.