There’s a lot of hype going into this week’s Riverdale musical episode, a tribute to the cult classic movie and hit stage musical, Heathers. Particularly coming off last year’s musical episode, “Chapter Thirty-One: A Night To Remember,” which managed to deftly mix another cult classic musical, “Carrie: The Musical,” with the ongoing plot of the series, this could be a tricky act to repeat.

Good news: oops, they did it again. Tessa Leigh Williams, who co-wrote last year’s musical, and director Maggie Kiley don’t try to repeat the “Carrie” episode beat for beat; this “Heathers” inspired episode is very much its own animal, while also — surprisingly — acting as a sort of sequel to last season’s hour. What works best about the episode is that it dives into the subject matter of Heathers in a smart, modern way, deconstructing the original’s now dicey subject material without losing sight of making sure there is some “big fun” along the way.

Heathers, in case you’re not aware, is about teen suicide. When the movie came out in 1988, the darkly comic subject matter was hot button. Now, it has the potential to be even hotter and more… Buttony? I don’t know. Point being, to get mildly into spoilers the episode hits this issue right in the first scene. How can a place like Riverdale High, which is in the middle of its own suicide epidemic, do a musical about teen suicides?

Thompson, using Kevin Keller (Casey Cott) as her mouthpiece, explains it and tackles this issue head-on, leading to a conclusion that’s incredibly powerful and poignant, particularly if you’ve been watching Riverdale for the past few seasons. The episode is overall more dreamlike and a little less purposefully musical theater than the “Carrie” episode, a surreal experience that may make you wonder what really happened.

With that all in mind, let’s get to some teasin’.

1 Let's Put On A Cho(ni) In case you missed the previous episode, the whole impetus for putting up “Heathers: The Musical” is a nasty break-up between Cheryl Blossom (Madelaine Petsch) and Toni Topaz (Vanessa Morgan) — and yes, they’re actually broken up when the episode opens. Cheryl is reverting to form, playing HBIC Heather Chandler in the show within a show, and everything seems to be fine until Toni joins the production, leading to all out war. Are there dance battles? Sure are. Musical threesomes? You bet. Dream sequences? How very. This musical episode has everything, and a lot of it revolves around Cheryl and Toni’s deteriorating relationship. What makes this episode truly special for fans of the couple, though, is that Williams’ script manages to amp up Cheryl’s quippy anger to nuclear levels, while not losing sight of the tremendous character growth she’s gone through over the past three seasons. On Toni’s side, it’s finally Ms. Topaz’s time to shine, as her emotional journey runs head to head with her former lady love. I’ve written a bit about how Riverdale has been underutilizing Morgan’s pop-ready vocals, so get ready because they’re on full display during one of the stand-out scenes in the episode. By the end of the hour, the fallout from Cheryl and Toni’s break-up is finally settled — one way or another — as is a new take on the term “lipstick lesbian.”

2 Well I Evernever Think you’ve had enough of creepy cult shenanigans this season? Well get ready for Riverdale to double down on them harder than a chicken sandwich where the patties are the bread. Evelyn Evernever (Zoé De Grand Maison) steps out of the shadows and (literally) center stage this episode as both Kevin Keller’s (Casey Cott) co-director, and as part of the cast. As teased in the promo, her motives are murky, and Betty (Lili Reinhart) as usual is on the case to find out what Ms. Evernever really wants. Is she just trying to be friends with the Riverdale High teens? Or is she using “Heathers: The Musical” as a recruitment tool for The Farm? Either way, you’re going to get to see De Grand Maison sing, dance, and prance around in the titular “BIG FUN” shirt, which is straight out of the Heathers movie. Meanwhile, in case you’re wondering why Kevin is stepping away from full-time director duties? That’s because of what I mentioned above: this episode is surprisingly a sequel to last year’s musical episode, and some buried trauma may be making its way to the surface. But in between that trauma, some new, surprising connections may arise…

3 Meet The Heathers The musical numbers are also approached very differently than in the previous episode. The whole hour plays out more like a dream than the “Carrie” episode did — and though there are plenty of rehearsal sequences and a final number set on stage, the action moves fluidly back and forth between show and reality, without time for you to catch your breath. That means for those looking into the Heathers cast list for clues, you may want to look elsewhere. Yes, Betty, Veronica (Camila Mendes) and Cheryl play the titular Heathers; but throughout the episode the musical numbers are passed back and forth, so one moment in the “show” someone might be playing the character of Veronica (as portrayed by Ashleigh Murray’s Josie), and the next Veronica Lodge might be singing one of her numbers. For fans of the musical it might break your brains a little bit, but for fans of Riverdale, it’s a smart, strong choice that allows the episode to focus on the overall character arcs. Tl;dr, the characters in the musical and the characters on Riverdale don’t map as closely as they did for “Carrie,” but that’s okay.

4 Every Arch Has Its Osie Though Archie and Josie have been dating for the past few episodes, turns out they haven’t been as public as we’ve been led to believe. Their relationship reaches a turning point that reverberates throughout the rest of the cast. Sure, everyone dating everyone else and trading partners is classic theater behavior; but it also makes for some serious drama. Regardless of what ultimately happens between the duo, Apa and Murray have two of the best voices in the cast, and their duet late in the episode is another stand-out moment.

5 Hard Times At The Ol' Lodge Veronica is dealing with it this episode. After some shocking news, Ms. Lodge starts to spiral out of control. Not only does she get the “breaking down ballad” portion of the musical that was filled by Alice (Mädchen Amick, who is absent this week) last year, but she takes the opportunity to make some rash decisions that cost her emotionally. It’s been a rough season for Veronica, and though she reaches some conclusions about how to move forward it’s not going to ease up anytime soon.

6 Cole Sprouse Sings! The rumors are true, folks: Jughead Jones is taking the stage, and belting a tune. Cole Sprouse sat out last year’s musical not because he didn’t want to do it, but because it didn’t make sense for Jughead’s character. So what changed? Well, they do find a way of integrating Riverdale’s teen novelist/gang leader into the final number that makes sense, but Sprouse actually sings three times in the episode. The second, in particular, is part of a heartbreaking duet with Betty that stands as one of the most emotionally charged scenes in Riverdale history. And no, it’s not about their relationship being on the rocks: it’s a referendum on the show as a whole, and it redefines a lot of what you might think about both Bughead (a.k.a. Betty and Jughead), and the teens’ take on the town. And in fact if you wanted to extrapolate a bit, without being too blunt about it this episode has a lot to say about the state of violence in high schools in America today. It’s seeded right below the surface, but Thompson manages to make some extremely powerful statements that evolve Heathers‘ message for a new generation — and that all starts with Jughead.

7 Mrs. Jones And Me Don’t think that just because the teens are all singing and dancing that the adults don’t have anything to do, or the overall plot gets pushed to the wayside. This is Riverdale, after all, which means they can tackle everything, all the time! Last episode ended with Betty and Jughead vowing to save the Jones family from the nefarious Gladys Jones (Gina Gershon) and her secret plot to get the town (re)hooked on candy drugs. Between rehearsals and romantic drama, this gets dealt with in a big way this week. And FP (Skeet Ulrich) might get a scrape or two in the process.