Riverdale kicked off season three tonight with a thrilling and substantive premiere that easily topped the season two starter.

Riverdale has been The CW’s most popular drama for a while now, but most fans would agree that much of season two was somewhat disappointing. The premiere, in particular, was slow and had way too many dream sequences. However, the season three premiere proves that Riverdale has returned to form with quality character development and good pacing.

The show will be introducing some occult elements that may prove to be polarizing among fans of the more grounded first two seasons. However, given that Riverdale has always been somewhat ridiculous, there’s definitely room to have some fun with more eccentric storylines. Here’s a look at what went down in the season three opener, “Labor Day.”

Wow… Archie really redeemed himself and then some

Archie has never been my favorite Riverdale character, and I really didn’t like him in season two. Obviously, he was scared after what happened to Fred, but in the long run, Archie ended hurting everyone around him, including Fred.

Yes, Hiram manipulated Archie, but Archie was still responsible for his actions. His work in reuniting the Northsiders and Southsiders at the end of season two was a good start to redeeming himself. In the season three premiere, he took responsibility for actions on a whole other level.

After the jury in his case came back deadlocked and a mistrial was declared, Archie realized his family and friends would be put through hell all over again with a new trial. He pleaded guilty to a lesser sentence the district attorney offered: two years in juvie.

Archie lost my respect pretty early in season two. He earned it back tonight when he admitted that he could’ve gotten someone killed through reckless or maybe even killed someone himself last year. His later pleading guilty proved that’s actually being too hard on himself, but it was admirable. It’ll be interesting to see how long Archie ends up staying in juvie. My bet is he’ll be locked up through episode three at the most.

Hot take: Hiram is actually scared of Veronica

Of course, Hiram was going to seek retribution after Archie stood up to him. It’s pathetic that he’s going after a 16-year-old, but Hiram doesn’t have the self-control to not strike back. What is a little surprising is that Hiram also tried to spite Veronica.

Obviously, he knew getting revenge on Archie would hurt Veronica, but the fact that he also framed Archie because Veronica didn’t stand by his reign of terror… Let’s just say, for someone who never misses an opportunity to show how little he cares about his family, Hiram sure seems to care whether they care about him.

Obviously, Hiram has been uber-controlling in the past, but this time, he wasn’t trying to scare Veronica into submission. He already knew he’d lost her. This time, he was punishing her, which means he views her as a threat, which means…. he’s actually scared of her. And he should be because Veronica will not let this miscarriage of justice go unavenged.

What is the deal with all this occult stuff?

Riverdale left a lot of questions unanswered in the premiere, most notably: what is the deal with the monster, Gargoyle King? At first, it seemed like Riverdale was going the Stranger Things route and introducing a fictional monster from a game, like the Demogorgon, only for it to be proven real.

However, that ritualistic turn at the end suggests Riverdale‘s monster may instead be more akin to Slender Man, a fictional Internet character that stirred up controversy back in 2014. After two young girls tried to murder their friend, they claimed to have done so at the behest of Slender Man in order to become his “proxies.”

This is just the beginning. Thanks for watching #Riverdale! @CWAllAmerican is NEXT on The CW! pic.twitter.com/PoY2EzswEw — Riverdale (@CW_Riverdale) October 11, 2018

Could that be where the Gargoyle King storyline is headed? Jughead found Dilton and Ben seemingly worshipping the monster in the woods, though they were evidently trying to sacrifice themselves rather than someone else.

The other possible occult element from the premiere was Polly’s twins Dagwood and Juniper levitating above a bonfire in the Coopers’ backyard. Was that real or did Betty hallucinate it? Betty collapsed and started seizing right afterward. Was that from stress, shock or does Betty a medical condition we don’t know about?

Riverdale Randomness

Fred is the MVP of the premiere for punching Hiram in the face.

Varchie is the only ship to have had a steamy romance scene in every Riverdale premiere.

When that commercial break cut off Josie, I thought it was a network error or my TV had gone haywire. It was an unnecessarily confusing scene break.

Is that how jury sequestration works? I thought they were supposed to be sequestered during the trial, too.

Betty wearing Jug’s hat is my favorite Bughead scene now.

In reference to that opening voiceover, most internships don’t pay at all, Jughead, so Betty is actually kind of lucky — except for the fact that her internship is working in a law office to defend her best friend against a trumped-up murder charge.

I love Cheryl being the Serpents’ muscle with that bow and arrow!

Why is Archie only an “honorary Serpent” while Betty is an official Serpent? I mean, he did help instigate the conflict between the Northside and Southside, but he also helped fix it.

Why are there Southside Serpents in Canada? Are they everywhere?

Riverdale will return on Wednesday, Oct. 17 at 8:00 p.m. ET on The CW with “Chapter Thirty-Seven.”