WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Season 5, Episode 6 of Riverdale, "Chapter Eighty-Two: Back to School," which aired Wednesday on The CW.
In Riverdale's fifth season, Archie, Jughead, Betty and Veronica all graduated and left their town behind for seven years. During that time, they grew up to become adults, and now, they finally return to help save Riverdale from Hiram Lodge's grasp. During their absence, the town has gone through some drastic changes. But one thing that hasn't changed is that Riverdale is still home to creepy, unsettling mysteries and dangerous killers. Indeed, after the time jump, the series has already introduced two twisted menaces in the Trash Bag Killer and the shadowy truck driver murderer.
And now, with the series' latest episode, Riverdale introduces yet another mystery. Only this time, it may or may not involve aliens.
In "Chapter Eighty-Two: Back to School," Jughead begins working two jobs. He's become a teacher along with the rest of his friends and he's also working as a waiter at Pop's diner, which is now under the new management of Pop Tate's daughter, Tabitha. In his free time, Jughead has been writing his new novel, which will once again be based on Riverdale. To get more material on the people who live in town, Jughead starts by interviewing Tabitha. Later, she points him in the direction of a man who lives on the edge of town -- a man who has a story that could prove incredibly interesting for his novel.
Jughead travels to the man's junkyard-like home where he is greeted by unsettling statues of winged creatures made of scrap metal and spare parts. Old Man Dreyfus welcomes Jughead into his home and tells him all about the mystery of the Mothmen.
The old man explains that several decades ago, he and his friends started working in a Riverdale mine. He claims that every night, his coworkers were taken one by one. They were each only missing for a day, but they all told the same story: they were taken by what they came to call the Mothmen.
While Old Man Dreyfus claims his friends were abducted by aliens, Jughead isn't exactly ready to believe him. He asks him why he's never heard about this before. Dreyfus advises Jughead to find old newspaper articles about the Mothmen.
The next day, Jughead goes through a bit of research and discovers that all of Dreyfus' coworkers that claimed they were abducted by aliens are dead. In fact, they all died of cancer, which may not be a coincidence at all. He posits a theory that perhaps they could have all been exposed to the same radiation aboard a theoretical spaceship -- even if he realizes how ridiculous that sounds.
Right now, there are no answers about the Mothmen. Riverdale has just introduced this brand new mystery for Jughead to sink his teeth into, and his research will most assuredly unearth another secret chapter on the history of Riverdale. Do aliens exist on the CW series? Not yet. But that could all change as the season progresses.
Riverdale stars K.J. Apa as Archie Andrews, Lili Reinhart as Betty Cooper, Camila Mendes as Veronica Lodge, Cole Sprouse as Jughead Jones, Madelaine Petsch as Cheryl Blossom, Casey Cott as Kevin Keller, Mark Consuelos as Hiram Lodge, Charles Melton as Reggie Mantle, Vanessa Morgan as Toni Topaz, Mädchen Amick as Alice Cooper and Erinn Westbrook as Tabitha Tate. New episodes of Season 5 air Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.