Riverdale’s 75th Annual Variety Show is on as Betty and Jughead make a shocking breakthrough in the Jason Blossom Murder Case. Songs, Dysfunctional Families and Mayham. So… you know… Riverdale.
1.Parents Are Bad
Seriously. They are. I know we had the Blossom’s last week and they set the Gold Standard of “Holy Fucking Shit, Really?”, but Alice Cooper is sure making envious looks at that prestigious crown. Considering what she did to Polly and just the sneering contempt she seems to have for everyone is just so grating. Betty’s dad, even with his hatred of the Blossoms, doesn’t come off anywhere near as bad as her. Then you have the (admittedly cute) relationship between Fred Andrews and Hermione Lodge developing, Josie McCoy’s parents getting a bit more development, Parents are just plain terrible.
2. Archie Is Bad Too
Oh Archiekins. Listen, the dichotomy between his budding singing talent and all the murder and intrigue is fascinating in a campy way and I am liking his interactions more and more with Val, but maaaaaaaaaaan Archie you were a dick to Veronica in this episode. Veronica tries to help you and then you go with such a double cross? Wow, Dude. At the end of this episode, he makes the realization that he has to get on that stage by himself with the phrase “I was born alone. And I’ll die alone.” Yeah. Summed up my feelings on you this week.
3. The Show of Awkward Dinners
So we get to see a bit more of Josie McCoy outside of her being the lead of the Band that Val’s in. We also get a firmer reminder that she is the daughter of the Mayor who put image above nearly everything. The less-than-normal family life allows for some real nice bonding moments between Josie and Veronica even with their (and Archie’s) parents all having some gripes with one another on some level.
4. More Kissey
Okay, there were two big kisses that happened this episode. I already alluded to one, as Archie and Val have a nice cute one at the end. But let’s talk about the other one, the one between Betty and Jughead.
Oh Boy.
There is a lot of contention with CW not going with making Jughead asexual like in the comics and even his actor, Cole Sprouse, wants to actually play Jughead as such. Nicole Brinkley wrote a good article for Book Riot on the subject. And I am firmly in the camp of “Keep Jughead Ace,” even though I really do like the chemistry between Betty and Jughead on this show. I have to say, the way the do this kiss and considering the context around it, they can still make it work if it’s a more long term exploration for Jughead. They’re going to have to be very careful with how they handle it, but it is doable.
5. The Plot Thickens
So, I was fully expecting the twist to be that “Polly” was just a split personality of Betty, but no that’s not the case. Polly Cooper is very real and she meets with her sister in this episode and we have a bigger reveal involving her and Jason Blossom. More and more threads are beginning to tighten as we are about to hit the mid-season. The reveal with Polly is… let’s face it… Soap Opera as All Hell, but this is Riverdale. It loves its tropes and it loves them well!
