So it's come to this: The end of Dial M For Maple. Though Riverdale's fifth season returns this week from its extended hiatus, our humble podcast has reached a point where it's no longer sustainable for us to keep going on a weekly basis. We've

Maple Mushroom Psychedelia: Recapping “The Pincushion Man” (Chapter 86)

Apr 2nd, 2021 54m 11s

Is it the maple mushrooms talking, or was that an especially trippy episode of Riverdale? Though it feels like season five’s post-time jump plots were just heating up, the show sends us off on hiatus with “The Pincushion Man,” one hell of a mid

We Need To Talk About Kevin: Recapping “Destroyer” (Chapter 85)

Mar 26th, 2021 50m 57s

Between a long-awaited emotional arc for Kevin Keller and a surprise “Stupid Love” performance by Cheryl Blossom and the River Vixens, it seems this episode of Riverdale was hoping to give they gays everything they want. Unfortunately, “Destroy

‘Ships Sailing In The Night: Recapping “Lock And Key” (Chapter 84)

Mar 19th, 2021 53m 28s

Are key parties still a thing? They are in Riverdale, or at least in Cheryl Blossom’s twisted imagination, where she’s concocted a plan to throw Toni, Kevin, and Fangs’ modern family into chaos. But when she invites this semi-estranged group of

The Mothman Cometh: Recapping “Fire In The Sky” (Chapter 83)

Mar 12th, 2021 44m 33s

The Mothman cometh! Well, eventually. But until then, Riverdale seems to be spinning its wheels in “Fire In The Sky,” an episode largely muddled in busy work with just enough teases of the paranormal to leave us intrigued. Archie’s on another c

Far From The Shallow Now: Recapping “Back To School” (Chapter 82)

Feb 26th, 2021 53m 44s

Now that our (former) teen heroes of Riverdale are settled back into their lives in the (former) Town With Pep, the show’s fifth season begins to set the table for the mysteries to come. There are skeevy truckers, estranged husbands, mothmen al

Damnit, Miss Crouton!: Recapping “Homecoming” (Chapter 81)

Feb 19th, 2021 44m 58s

If you thought Riverdale’s seven-year time jump meant the end of high school drama, you were dead wrong. But, as this week’s episode “Homecoming” proves, that’s not such a bad thing. The CW series dives into—with gleeful abandon—the messy world

Afterlife With Toni: Recapping “Purgatorio” (Chapter 80)

Feb 11th, 2021 43m 14s

So much and yet so little has changed in a week—er, seven years in Riverdale time. After tying up the loose ends of high school and season four, the drama finally makes its highly anticipated time jump in “Purgatorio,” catching us up on the adu

Time Of Your Life: Recapping “Graduation” (Chapter 79)

Feb 4th, 2021 38m 19s

As the Riverdale teens go on, they remember all the times they had together. But as their lives change, come whatever, will they still be friends forever? That’s the dark cloud of a question that hangs over the back half of “Graduation,” the ep

Spill The Jellybeans: Recapping “The Preppy Murders” (Chapter 78)

Jan 28th, 2021 37m 43s

Riverdale really seems to be wiping the slate clean ahead of graduation day and its long-awaited time jump, unmasking auteurs and unseating tyrannical businessmen in one fell swoop of an episode. Indeed, season five’s second entry, “The Preppy

The Auteur Theory: Recapping “Climax” (Chapter 77)

Jan 21st, 2021 44m 6s

After an abbreviated fourth season and an extended hiatus, Riverdale finally returns to wrap up senior year—but it’s not all proms and graduation-day promenades. In typical Riverdale fashion, the teens still have a major mystery to solve before

Bonus

Return Of The Moose: A Chat With Riverdale's Cody Kearsley

Dec 17th, 2020 25m 29s

With just a little over a month to go until Riverdale's delayed 5th season, Dial M For Maple returns for a bonus episode to say, "Hey! Remember us?" It's been a long, stressful year, and 2021 is already looking up thanks—in small part—to a retu

Art Imitates Death: Recapping “Killing Mr. Honey” (Chapter 76)

May 8th, 2020 49m 26s

And so we close another chapter of Riverdale. The early episodes seem so long ago—that lovely tribute to Luke Perry, Julian the porcelain doll, Chad Michael Murray on a rocket—and, yet, there’s no denying the fact that season four wrapped thing

Ponytail Playmate: Recapping “Lynchian” (Chapter 76)

May 1st, 2020 50m 12s

And, just like that, we’ve reached the home stretch of Riverdale’s fourth season! With the COVID-19 pandemic halting production across the board, the show’s planned final three episodes have been shunted off to TV purgatory, and we’ve found our

Hedwig Snatched: Recapping “Wicked Little Town” (Chapter 74)

Apr 17th, 2020 46m 59s

Did you just say, “wig”? Well, someone in the Riverdale Hair & Makeup Department sure did, again and again and again! That’s right, it’s the most glorious time of the year: Riverdale’s spring musical episode, a tradition started back in season

Quaran-Keene: Catching Up With The Archie-Verse’s Katy Keene

Apr 2nd, 2020 48m 10s

Since Riverdale put a bow on the mystery of Jughead’s faux murder and went on a mini-hiatus, the whole world has changed. And while the situation is dark (like, “Riverdale dark”—remember when the town went under quarantine?), it’s important to

Solving Riverdale’s Whydunnit: Recapping “The Locked Room” (Chapter 73)

Mar 12th, 2020 51m 2s

Riverdale’s modus operandi seems to be, “when one mystery closes, another mystery opens,” so it’s all-together shocking—and wholly satisfying—that its latest episode finally put a bow on the season-long mystery of Jughead’s fake death. “The Loc

No Time To Die: Recapping “How To Get Away With Murder” (Chapter 71)

Feb 29th, 2020 49m 42s

After a week away, Riverdale picks up right where it left off, the gang reeling from Jughead’s (apparent) demise (apparently) at the hands of his own girlfriend, Betty Cooper. But “How To Get Away With Murder” leaves little time to grieve their

Et Tu, Betty?: Recapping “The Ides Of March” (Chapter 70)

Feb 13th, 2020 50m 55s

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Positively Tickled: Recapping “Quiz Show” (Chapter 68)

Jan 31st, 2020 55m 58s

We never imagined we’d be walking away from Riverdale’s big “Quiz Show”wanting to talk about tickling fetish videos, but here we are! Though this week’s episode throws a few curveballs at the audience, none were quite as wild and unexpected as

It’s A Cheer-ocracy: Recapping “Varsity Blues” (Chapter 67)

Jan 24th, 2020 54m 1s

It’s January, and football season is over for most high schools, but not Riverdale, which kicks off 2020 with “the big game” against the Stonewall Stallions. The rivalry brings season four back into focus after the holiday break, and thankfully

Tangerine, Tangerine, Ta...: Recapping “Tangerine” (Chapter 66)

Dec 14th, 2019 1h 3m

In its final episode of 2019—and the decade, for that matter—Riverdale forgoes another seasonally-appropriate holiday episode and instead delivers a midseason finale largely concerned with moving on. The big theme of “Tangerine” seems to be set

How Does That Make You Feel?: Recapping “In Treatment” (Chapter 65)

Dec 6th, 2019 48m 35s

If this week’s Riverdale seems familiar to longtime listeners of Dial M For Maple, that may be because we pitched an episode just like this on our podcast last season. After nearly four years of serial killers, diabolical family members, cults,

A Tale Of Four Thanksgivings: Recapping “The Ice Storm” (Chapter 64)

Nov 21st, 2019 55m 39s

Is Riverdale becoming one of those shows where its holiday episodes are its best? After a spooky Halloween outing this season, the series serves up another winner with its Thanksgiving cornucopia, “The Ice Storm.” Our podcast Dial M For Maple p

Let The Chippings Fall Where They May: Recapping “Hereditary” (Chapter 63)

Nov 14th, 2019 57m 38s

Our Riverdale podcast Dial M For Maple returns from its bye week to discuss the rapidly escalating drama of the show’s latest outing, “Hereditary.” Hosts Marah and Cameron recap an episode that once again spreads its heroes to the wind, leaving