Riverdale Season 3: 3 Ups & 2 Downs From ‘The Raid’

Ups...

3. The Return Of Mad Dog

Aside from his on-the-nose name, Mad Dog was a compelling addition to some of the earlier episodes of the season. Ambiguous by his silence when he was first introduced, Archie Andrews' cellmate soon revealed his troubled backstory as the unlikely pair ended up bonding.

However, Warden Norton, Gryphons & Gargoyles and a truckload of Riverdale madness later, and his fate was up in the air for a bit - with him being "dead" for weeks before conveniently resurfacing when the plot needed him to fight Archie. But after helping the 'Red Paladin' escape from juvie, he remained behind bars.

This week, however, Archie returned the favour and used Veronica Lodge's exceptional string-pulling abilities to get him and all of the other young prisoners pardoned before they were shipped off to Hiram's prison. As a result, Mad Dog stuck around Riverdale for a while and, in a bid to protect his own grandmother, he even helped Archie and The Serpents take down the Gargoyles.

After hearing his story, and the impending likelihood of his demise, it was impossible not to root for Mad Dog, so it was incredibly fulfilling to see him given the one thing that he always wanted: freedom. Though his newfound allegiance with the one-dimensional Elio suggests that bad things await (for both him and the show), for now, we can at least smile knowing that he can take back his life.