Each week, Teen Vogue will be taking you on a journey to Riverdale, a quaint little town hiding some very big secrets.
Riverdale’s 10th episode opens with Voiceover Jughead talking about how something like, oh, casual Jason Blossom’s murder can throw a normally controlled Riverdale into chaos. While he theorizes about chaos theory, we see flashes of regular Riverdale life (Vixen practice, gym class) and a wild party with popcorn flying everywhere and shirtless boys wearing horse masks. Again, casual.
But we’ll get to that later. Right now, Fred Andrews is leaving Jughead and Archie alone for the weekend so he can go finalize his divorce. Some vacation. Archie is not too jazzed about it, though, and as he practically begs his dad to try and fix things (especially now that Fred and Hermione Lodge have called it quits), we learn that Archie’s mom moved away two years ago.
Over at the Lodge apartment, Hermione is having an early morning meeting with Hiram’s attorney, Mr. Sowerberry — a nod to a Dickens character that is not at all creepy. Veronica reminds them both that she will not be giving a statement on her father’s behalf, though Mr. S says that she won’t be asked about the business, just her dad’s character. (Nice costume detail: V is now wearing a black choker with a single pearl dangling from the middle.) Ol’ Sowerberry also tells Veronica that it could be problematic for her father if she doesn’t give a statement. V is unmoved, and her resolve turns to confusion once she gets to school and Betty and Archie fill her in on Mr. Blossom possibly being the reason her dad is in jail.
Archie also tells Betty that Jug’s birthday is tomorrow — but Jughead hates his birthday and only ever celebrates by seeing a double feature with Archie (though now Archie thinks that Betty should be Jug’s movie date). Betty gets excited and invites Mr. Jones to the movies, too, but Mr. Jones seconds Archie’s claim that Jug hates his birthday and has never even had a party. If I know Betty, she’s going to A) ignore this and B) not give up.
And I’m right! In the cafeteria, as Archie stares longingly at Val’s table, Betty corrals her friends into throwing a small, “inner circle only” surprise party for Jughead. (Um, Betty, what about what Jughead wants?) Kevin and Veronica are in, though Archie says no. Then, Kevin spots Chuck Clayton (back from his suspension), and when he sits down next to Ethel, Betty shoots out of her seat. Chuck claims he’s apologizing to Ethel, and taunts Betty about her dark side. Betty clenches her fists so hard they bleed again, but returns to her table where Archie agrees to the surprise party once she returns. He even offers up his house, saying it’ll be epic. If the horse masks are there, I’m sure it will be!
After school (or during a free period? The class schedule seems a bit loose at Riverdale High), Betty stalks Mr. Jones at work to invite him to the party, then has a brief chat with her mother (who is the new advisor to the Blue & Gold!) about how much Mrs. Cooper revealed to Mr. Cooper about herself when they were dating. Alice Cooper says she revealed all of herself, and she regrets it because he ended up using some of it against her. She cautions Betty not to trust Jughead with everything.
At the Andrews House of No Parental Guidance, Archie and Jughead make pizza and chat. Jug isn’t super happy that Archie told Betty about his birthday and opens up to his bestie about how his childhood ruined birthdays for him. Things with his family weren’t great, and birthdays would be this one weirdly faux-normal day a year, and it just made Jug feel lonely. He is NOT going to like this surprise party, huh?
Veronica is spending her free time doing research — into her father’s files. She uncovers, and tells her mom about, a spreadsheet detailing hefty monthly payments from Blossom Farms to Lodge Industries that stopped when her dad was arrested…but had been ongoing for 75 years. What if Mr. Blossom had Hiram implicated and arrested to get out of these payments? Mrs. Lodge thinks it could be true, but also thinks that such an accusation could also make it look like Mr. Lodge was involved in Jason Blossom’s death for revenge. She tells V to let it go.
…Which V does not do. At Vixens practice, after she walks in late and snarks with Cheryl a bit, she challenges the HBIC (seriously, it’s on Cheryl’s uniform) to a dance-off for the front-row spot for Homecoming. Veronica wins, and Cheryl is mad — so mad she fires her two minions and then marches into Pop’s to recruit Chuck (whom she acknowledges is The Worst) for a little B-and-V-revenge at Archiekins’s house party.
At Mr. Sowerberry’s office, Veronica continues to disobey her mother by putting forth her theory. Unfortunately, he agrees with her mother’s assessment that the risk of drawing fire re: Jason’s murder is too great to follow this Blossom thread. He also hands Veronica a letter from Hiram, one that basically says “your mom could get in trouble too if you don’t testify and p.s. she’s not as innocent as you think.” Veronica looks troubled, which, of course, is a great way to feel when you’re about to go to a doomed surprise party!
Before the surprise, Betty and Jughead are at the movies, where he asks her about the hot tub night with Chuck (the details of which she keeps to herself). And over at Archie’s, Kevin’s insistence on surprise vigilance is probably giving Ethel a bladder infection and causes everyone to yell “surprise!” too early when Veronica walks in. She immediately starts spilling to Kevin about her foul mood and how her dad is maybe involved in this whole murder thing. Joaquin is there and he definitely overhears her ranting. Hmm. Also, Archie is drunk and the party hasn’t even begun. Uh oh.
Jughead and Betty finally arrive, and the surprise is on. As Betty sings to Jughead…in the creepiest way possible…it’s clear that he’s not super thrilled by this party. Archie and Veronica commiserate over their family drama in the kitchen, and Betty and Jughead interrupt with a tiff about him being upset about the party. Then the party crashers arrive, led by Cheryl and Chuck, with Moose and basically the rest of the school in tow.
As the party rages on, Archie finds Jughead in the garage to blabber on about Val’s arrival (does it mean she wants Archie back?). Jug whines about the party. And then his dad arrives with a present. Which is kind of cute of him! (Hope there’s not a snake in it, though.) Mr. Jones then walks in on Joaquin and Kevin making out and teasing each other about going down to Sweetwater River, is weirdly creepy about the teenagers’s PDA, and then steals Joaquin away for a little chat. When Veronica sees them together, she recognizes Mr. Jones as the Serpent her mom met with at the drive-in, and Kevin tells her that’s Jug’s dad. But no one really questions why Mr. Jones chooses to stay at this party. Upstairs, Mr. Jones quizzes Joaquin on the intel he’s gathered so far, which pretty much amounts to the tidbit Veronica dropped earlier. Mr. Jones dispatches his young gang member to find out more (claiming that the kids know more than Sheriff Keller does — which is true), and as they part ways we see that Mrs. Cooper is watching them from next door! Alice Cooper is kind of delightful when she’s sleuthing.
Elsewhere in the Andrews house, Betty approaches Chuck and asks him to leave, and makes it clear that she’s not sorry he faced consequences for sexually harassing all those girls. He taunts her about Dark Betty some more, so much so that Betty slaps him! He smiles (ugh) and she walks away…and pretty much right into a fight with Jughead. It’s a huge one. He’s unhappy about the party, and unhappy that she doesn’t know, or care, that this is the last thing he’d want. He calls himself a weirdo and claims that he’s never wanted to fit in, and starts ranting about how they’re SO different and are basically never going to work. Betty’s getting increasingly upset as he goes on, especially when he calls her perfect, but the line is crossed when Jughead mentions that once she’s “sick of slumming” or once Archie changes his mind about her, they’ll be over. Yikes.
Meanwhile, a very intoxicated Archie makes a fool of himself with Val — who calls him a hot mess and does not seem to regret breaking up with him, which is fair — and Chuck and Cheryl block Jughead from leaving. They have a game for everyone to play. Cheryl even locks the front door! I mean, anyone could unlock it, but for some reason this works and everyone starts to play: Secrets and Sins. The game involves everyone spilling other people’s secrets and it goes super fast. (Somehow Mr. Jones just watches this all go down, which is…odd.)
Here are the important revelations: Cheryl tells everyone that Mr. Lodge bought the drive-in land (something that makes Jug, his dad, and Joaquin all perk up upon hearing); Veronica implies that Cheryl loved Jason in a “twincest”-y way and that she probably killed him (highly unlikely this will turn out to be true); Dilton Doiley spills the beans about Grundy’s car at the river and everyone does the math to figure out that she and Archie were probably together; and Chuck tells the room about Dark Betty. Jughead then punches Chuck, and Mr. Jones finally puts an end to this twisted scene by throwing Chuck out and ending the party. Whew. Before he can drive off, he tells his son to make up with Betty, and Mrs. Cooper saunters over to say a casual hello. (For the record, I am also shocked that she allowed this party to rage on for so long.) Mr. Jones reveals that Alice Cooper is from the South Side (and was maybe once a Serpent?). There’s clearly some tension between these two.
At Pop’s, Betty and Jughead make up — he admits that the party was a nice gesture, and that he’s afraid of getting hurt. She admits that she should’ve told him about Chuck, and that there’s a darkness inside her that’s sometimes overwhelming. Seems like these two are truckin’ forward for now (much to the chagrin of those who want the show to honor Jughead’s canon asexual identity).
But still, I wonder how Betty will react when she eventually hears that Archie and Veronica are totally making out at this very moment! (After they bemoan their family situations again and discuss what life would be like if they made different decisions, like, for example, not calling your dad during a raging party at your house to tell him not to sign his divorce papers.) The next morning, V wakes up in Archie’s bed — with Archie sleeping on the air bed on the floor, of course — and runs into Jughead as she sneaks out. Jug just smiles and says his lips are sealed. And when Archie wakes up later, Jughead basically tells him the same thing: “I’m never telling anyone anything literally ever.” I believe it.
When Veronica gets home, she asks Smithers about her parents — he’d rather not say whether or not he thinks her father is a good man, but he says that her mom is definitely good. So Veronica decides to give a statement to the lawyer, to protect her mom.
And Betty’s mom? She’s bringing her daughter a hangover cure in bed and also sniffing around for details about F.P. Jones and Joaquin. When Betty lets it slip that Joaquin and Kevin are dating, Mrs. Cooper muses about how it’s too strange of a coincidence that a Serpent would end up dating the Sheriff’s son…
Betty doesn’t seem all that worried about it (though I am — worried about Kevin’s broken heart!), though she does head to the Blue & Gold office…on a weekend…where Veronica shows up with breakfast. Betty giggles and says, “the last time you brought me baked goods was because you kissed Archie.” Veronica just looks slightly uncomfortable and changes the subject. She tells Betty about the deal her dad and Jughead’s dad had concerning the drive-in, and that she wants to help with Betty’s investigation. And when she gets home, there’s a package waiting for her: a new strand of pearls, with a thank you note from daddy dearest.
The episode closes with Archie’s daddy dearest coming home — with Archie’s mom by his side! And Archie’s mom is Molly Ringwald! Hoo boy, this is going to be interesting. See you next week, Riverdale fans.
Related:
- How Riverdale Made Veronica Lodge a 'Reformed Mean Girl'
- Why Riverdale's Lili Reinhart Can Relate to "Dark Betty"
