Welcome back all you Riverdale fans. This week we have the return of fan favorite Barbara, er, I mean, Ethel Muggs. OK, maybe she’s just my favorite of the third-tier characters but I missed her and all the rest of the side characters that float in and out of this season. Plus, she plays a pretty hefty role this week. Alright, enough gab. Let’s see what Thornhill, Lodge Industries, and Chic the Charlatan have in store for us. And, as always, some spoilers are ahead.
1. Body of Evidence
I have ragged on the way the writers have failed to properly establish Mrs. Cooper’s unwavering loyalty to Chic for a few weeks now. While it doesn’t get any better this week, they did take one small step towards actually establishing why she’s got blinders on. It’s a stupid reason and one that only sort of fits her character as a double-checking skeptic. We have seen her repeatedly clash with her daughters over their decisions and neither of them have killed someone.
For multiple episodes she’s discounted her daughter’s concerns and now, finally, we learn that Mrs. Cooper is conflicted about Chic. Where was this five episodes ago? Where were the questions after he killed someone? I keep coming back to this but that plot point has hung over this show for too long without ramifications for Mrs. Cooper. Betty keeps feeling it but not Mrs. Cooper. Maybe that’ll change next week.
2. In Cold Blood
I knew it was too good to be true. I knew the cliffhanger reveal that Chic didn’t have a drop of blossom blood in him wasn’t going to lead to anything substantial. You know why? Because with Chic, nothing substantial happens. He’s there to be an antagonist to make Betty’s life parallel her mother’s and, and I’m just spit balling here, to give Betty a reason to believe Cheryl at her slumber party. Still, this got Betty to channel her, euch, darkness into something genuinely creepy and dark not just cam girl Betty.
Let’s see where this goes and maybe one day we’ll find out what was up with Chic. Unless the show kills him off first which could very well be a possibility.
3. The Yellow Wallpaper
Cheryl, my god, your character has had the most changes since season one and they are the only ones that feel even remotely natural. Going from the privileged, old-money gothic pure antagonist of season one to the privileged, old-money gothic complicated main cast member of season two, Cheryl has stayed interesting and her plots getting ever creepier. I think I enjoy her stories the best because they’re the most like season one and the first half of this season.
They’re creepy, they have a mystery behind them and they’re drenched in that gothic atmosphere. We don’t get that from Jughead’s crusade or Archie’s constant moral compromising or Betty dealing with Chic. Not every plot thread has to be the same or have the same elements, true, but by sacrificing the thrill of horror and mystery in favor of attempted commentary on corporate greed, union breakers, and gentrification with a mobster genre flair, the show lost a bit of its essence. That’s not to say these are things that cannot coexist nor that they aren’t topics that shouldn’t be tackled but that by changing the tone, something was lost and they haven’t filled that hole well enough.
However, with Cheryl’s story, that hole is somewhat filled. We have a conspiratorial uncle and mother who wish to kill her and her grandmother off in order to fully inherit the money and estate of Thornhill. That’s something straight out of an old mystery novel. Then, when they fail to kill her grandmother, her mother ships her off to what I presume to be the convent that Polly was originally sent to. If this was the original plan, who knows. What matters is that this is the only story I’m actually invested in and I want to see Cheryl get through this safely so she can set fire to Thornhill with her mother in it…again.
4. A Room of One’s Own
And then we have the other part of Cheryl’s story, the one that I initially was afraid would be just a ruse on Cheryl’s part. Thankfully I was wrong but at the same time I’m wary. Not about Cheryl’s character but about the writers’ ability to handle the topic of the horrors of conversion therapy and Cheryl’s sexuality. Kevin wasn’t handled with great care, feeling like the stock gay best friend trope for much of early season one and while he’s come a long way, he’s been shuffled to the background, only showing up to move the plot along or to film for the CW’s Twitter cross-promotion. Every other hot button issue or social commentary hasn’t been handled with the greatest of subtlety either.
Continued belowIf they do this right, though, this will make for some effective drama and horror. If not, it will come off as exploitative and in poor taste. It all comes down to the writing and Cheryl’s acting. I have more faith in the latter than the former.
5. The Family
Other than Cheryl’s narrative, Veronica’s took the most turns this week. In fact, I’d say that if the show wasn’t trying to pull itself apart by jumping between so many plots, she would be our focus character this week. Hiram Lodge’s machinations have finally begun to take their toll on Veronica and we get confirmation for something we probably should have had episodes ago – that Veronica wanted to try to change her parents. She didn’t want to use them and she wasn’t trying to get her father’s approval. At least, that wasn’t her primary motivation. This is good and forces her to confront the people her parents are not the people she wants them to be.
It’s real stakes and makes the dramatic irony even greater now that Archie is so indebted to Hiram. Veronica has escaped the pit while Archie is being dragged under, at first willingly, now not so much.
Spare Thoughts
Poor Smithers. I thought he was back but alas twas not meant to be.
That’s it for me this week. What did you all think? What’d I miss? Are y’all tired of me talking about Chic and his incessant presence week by week? Let me know in the comments and I will see you all next week for the return of the body and hopefully the resolution to at least one of these plots.
