Welcome back all you Riverdale fans! I am flabbergasted by the quality of this week’s episode. Not because Riverdale is incapable of it, “In Memoriam” showed us that it could be done, but because I was not expecting an episode largely composed of characters sitting and talking to a psychiatrist to be so incisive. This was everything I hoped it would have been from the trailer so let’s sit back, relax, and talk about our feelings.
And as always, spoilers ahead.
1. Talk Freudian to Me
The first thing I wondered with Mrs. Burble was whether or not Riverdale was going to shoot itself in the foot by making her some twisted version of a guidance counsellor. It was a fleeting thought but remained on my mind all throughout the episode. Thankfully, she proved to not only be a wonderful addition to the episode but also gave the writers the chance to do some really neat scenes.
She is not a therapist nor is she a traditional media guidance counsellor; she’s a licensed psychologist and is thus able to get at, and put words to, the unseen or unresolved problems of our main cast. Best of all, it is neither condescending nor does any of it feel extremely forced. Some of the revelations were expected, such as Betty & her mom’s conversation, some were more complicated than I expected, such as Veronica’s own tether to her father, while others were far more hidden — Jughead not considering his father in regards to his quest to restore his grandfather’s “legacy.”
My favorite part of all this, though, had to be the way Mrs. Burble would add a swerve to every conversation. Things would begin in typical TV psychiatry fashion, with an antagonistic relationship between the two and her prodding until a breakthrough, but then she would re-frame their current actions to give them better direction.
Cheryl is given the tools to assuage her fears about Julian, be certain that she is being gaslit, and be more comfortable with processing her grief and super fucking messed up family by talking to the imagined voice of her brother, so long as she realizes that it is, indeed, in her head.
Veronica is told that she is obsessed with her father just as he is with her but Mrs. Burble doesn’t turn it on Veronica to say she’s hypocritical, as others might. Instead, she gives her the tools and mindset to make a meaningful break from her father and reclaim her agency.
Finally, Mrs. Burble tore down Jug and his focus on conspiracy theories about the Baxter Brothers books. . .but only in the ways that he had currently been approaching it. The project was not flawed; it was only the method and motivation that was.
Find the proof, do the work, chase the right leads rather than the shadows down the hall.
2. It’s Been. . .One Season Since This Was Needed
While I lament the continued sidelining of the, well, side characters or former “main cast,” like Kevin, Reggie, Toni, and Ethel (poor Ethel,) this episode would not have worked nearly as well as it did if it had to be split between any more characters. It was the kind of focused work on our main cast that I’ve been craving for a long time and was so very cathartic. “In Treatment” was EXACTLY what we needed at this point in the narrative and gave voice to a lot of problems the show hasn’t exactly been great at showing.
And boy, oh boy, did they pick the big elephant in the room to open the episode with. It has been too long since the show actually took Alice Smith neé Cooper to task on her actions. She’s been AWFUL to Betty since the start and only got worse after finding out about Hal and getting in with Edgar. While I’m still not happy with the ending — it was too clean and Alice shouldn’t get off scot free — it shows she took the verbal flaying to heart. It also reveals a bit about Alice that has always kinda been hinted at but never fully codified: she shows love through control because she is afraid that if she doesn’t, Betty will turn out just like her.
Continued belowShe doesn’t love herself because she never felt like she had control of her own life, her own decisions, but never realized that she was doing to Betty what the world did to her. It’s tragic but I feel no sympathy for the character, only catharsis that Betty finally, finally voiced it all. I’m glad the episode positioned us to be with Betty in her righteous indignation, calling out Alice’s bullshit from last season and her continued attempts to pretend it was all good. If anything good came of them screwing that up, it was this scene here.
Same goes for Veronica sticking it to her father by turning down Harvard, saying she’ll destroy his businesses by being better than him and drinking his prized rum. A little heavy handed? Yes. Satisfying? Like an ice cold cola on a hot summer’s day.
3. The Road to Recovery is Long and Twisting
Archie, buddy, you were so close! But, from a narrative perspective, him being unable to give up the “attack with bat, wear black hood/mask” mentality is a far more interesting way to play this. As Mrs. Burble stated, it’s an obsession, an addiction, and it’s liable to get him and his family hurt. But, in Archie’s mind, that’s the only thing he can do to live up to his father’s memory. He feels he has to be proactive and that any other method is only letting people get hurt in the meanwhile.
The hotline was a good idea and, had he seen it out, may have affected lasting change but that does nothing to stop the injustices occurring now. And Archie has never been very good at acting for later.
4. Tapes & Dolls
I took very few notes this week; I was too engrossed in watching these guarded teens have their moments with Mrs. Burble but I did have a thought to spare for the inciting incident of the episode: the tapes. Clearly, these tapes are related to Charles and his ongoing plan to release his lover, Chic, from jail, but. . .why? What’s the point of installing this fear in the townsfolk? I don’t really know and we don’t have enough to speculate yet but I suspect it’s gonna tie back in eventually.
The same is true for Julian’s doll. Who’s the gaslighter? Is it gonna be Charles? Is it gonna be Toni? Maybe Nana Rose? I really have no good theories here, though if it is Toni, I’m gonna flip because that feel super antithetical to who she’s been set-up as. Nana Rose, I can see though.
5. I Saw Him Sheriff, Clear as Night on a New Moon
OK, okay, OK, okay, OK, okay. I have been curious and excited about the “death of Jughead” teasing but this week’s teaser has got me stoked. There are clearly two paths here: Jughead was super murdered after getting too close to DuPont & Stonewall Prep’s secrets or Jughead faked his own death along with the help of Betty, Veronica and Archie in order to lay a trap for these two chucklefucks. I’m leaning heavily towards the latter, though the show clearly wants me to believe it is the former.
Why? Simple: it’s the plot of a detective novel. Hide a detail in plain sight, mislead the audience, all to draw out the real killer. The appearance of Brett & Donna clinches it because, while they’re clearly setting the three of our protagonists up by “identifying the murderers,” the final stinger from the end of season three makes it clear that they know about Jug’s death and, perhaps had something to do with it. They would have no reason to do this and Brett & Donna’s shift-ass presentation thus far instantly brings suspicion to these three actually having killed Jughead.
Therefore, our crew set-up the scene from the previous season to trap Donna & Brett. How? Uh. . .I don’t have that part figured out yet. Why they would stay silent for so long doesn’t quite add up? And it doesn’t explain the very good, i.e. not fake looking, Jughead body from earlier in the season. That could easily be a fake, maybe Jason’s body repurposed, though that’s a stretch. Regardless, if Jug really is dead, then they done goofed with the narration being from a future Jug book. Or I read that wrong.
Continued belowI’m sticking by my theory.
That about does it for now! Did you all love this episode as much as I did? Let me know in the comments and then join me next week for the midseason finale, wherein Betty’s mom goes full knife murderer and that’s all we know. Until then, stay strange Riverdale.
Best Lines of the Night:
1. Mrs. Burble: “Julian’s driving you crazy?”
Cheryl: “Of course! He’s a blossom.”
2. Mrs. Burble: “Three Buccaneers?”
