As the police continue to investigate Jason’s death, so do Betty and Jughead for the school paper. Archie also corroborates Cheryl’s story about a gunshot, though she has even more information about Jason’s disappearance to give. Meanwhile, after a date with a popular football player, Veronica finds herself the subject of a very public slut shaming, and she sets out to get him back.
The truth about Jason’s near drowning
This episode doesn’t get us significantly closer to how Jason ended up dead, but what we do know, courtesy of Cheryl after her being taken for questioning at the end of last week’s episode, is that her brother wanted to run away from home. She agreed to fake a tragic accident with him so that he could disappear, and she left him on the other side of the river.
That’s all we really get, though -- in addition to an explanation for that mysterious gunshot, which was just an Adventure Scout teaching kids to shoot. With just one tiny piece of the puzzle being revealed every week, it’s going to be a long time before we know the truth about who killed Jason.
Greendale gets a mention
On the other side of the river? That would be the town of Greendale. That name might ring a bell for comic book fans as it’s the home of Sabrina of the teenage witch claim to fame. The possibility has been floated that Sabrina could make her “Riverdale” debut at some point this season, and fans have already theorized that she could get her own spin-off. Of course, that depends on “Riverdale” getting a few more eyeballs in the audience, as its ratings haven’t been as high as expected.
Betty breaks some rules
When Veronica discovers that a single date with football captain Chuck earns her a “sticky maple” label, she’s not exactly pleased, to put it mildly. When classmates try to write it off as a “Riverdale” thing, she balks at it, and decides she’s done playing by the rules.
Betty, usually the good girl who never wants to get in trouble, takes the initiative on Veronica’s behalf, asking around, to find that several girls in school have had lies made up about them by the football team and have earned points based on those lies.
Betty decides that it isn’t just enough for Veronica to get vengeance, especially once she discovers that her sister is in the book where the boys keep their stats. She wants vengeance for all of the girls in the book and justice for what was done to them. What follows is the two of them teaming up with Ethel Muggs, a comic book character making her debut this week, to take Chuck down.
Betty takes the vengeance a step too far as slips into her older sister’s skin, taking out her anger at Jason Blossom on him.
She’s clearly got some issues she needs to deal with when it comes to her sister and her parents, but she’s not getting the chance to do it, despite Veronica trying to get her to open up.
Archie and the Pussycats
When Ms. Grundy puts the breaks on Archie’s tutoring sessions, he turns to Cheryl to get him an in with Josie and the Pussycats. He just wants to work on music with someone who understands music, which is all well and good, but as he learns when Josie snaps at him, the Pussycats have led very different lives than he has.
What’s unfortunate here is that we still don’t get to know Josie anymore than her quick clapback at Archie. In fact, Archie gets to save the day and help with lyrics on their songs instead of learning from the experience of sitting in on their practice session, only really furthering Josie’s point that the girls have to claw their way into doorways that are already open to a Caucasian male.
I wish the show would take the bigger leap with them.
The verdict and what’s next
With more of a focus on Betty and Veronica’s friendship, I loved this episode. With Chuck being a complete idiot who believed Betty’s attempt to seduce him, though, less so. This one was a mixed bag.
3 out of 5 stars.
Next week, Ms. Grundy comes under suspicion in "The Last Picture Show."