First of all,
Riverdale is a very spooky town. It's reminiscent of the 90's, a classic, timeless small town where everyone's parents went to school together. This is an increasingly important part of the plot. I love the relationships between the teens, but their parents have some uncomfortable history, See below) and everyone knows everyone's business. It could easily be Forks, Washington (
Twilight) or the elusive but about to return)
Twin Peaks, Washington. It's definitely in the pacific northwest because these pasty kids need some sunlight. Even on the sunny July 4th of Jason Blossom's disappearance, a slow fog and chill linger by the river.
It's Jason's mysterious disappearance and eventual murder that kick up unrest in the town. Sheriff Keller is doing his best with his murder board, but he is out of his depth. Somehow teens Betty Cooper and 'Jughead' Jones (why the name?) are lapping him on mystery solving. All-American gal Betty (
Lili Reinhart) has a stake in the matter. Her sister Polly was dumped abruptly by Jason and sent away for a supposed breakdown. Of course, we discover Polly was sent away like it's 1960 because she's pregnant with Jason's child. To briefly unpack this Romeo and Juliet scene, The Coopers are tightly wound investigative journalists (at the last non-online newspaper on earth) and the blossoms are old money rich from their maple syrup company. Back int he days of their great grandparents, Mr. Cooper and Mr. Blossom had a falling out and now they must never be friendly! Meanwhile Mrs. Cooper (
Madchen Amick, formerly of Twin peaks) manipulates Betty, trying to keep her from crossing over to some unknown dark side. We saw flashes when she dressed like a hooker and tried to boil the football captain in a hot tub. Betty just wants everyone to get along, but her Scooby gang hi-jinks have been bringing her closer to danger.
Speaking of danger, Betty's new boyfriend and longtime friend Jughead (
Cole Sprouse) is from the wrong side of the tracks. His dad is an unemployed alcoholic and his mom ran off with his little sister. He spent time living and working at the drive in before it was sold to a mysterious buyer. Now poor Juggy has found some solace. His best pal Archie's dad invited him to crash with them, and Jughead seems to have found stability. His poetic lamenting is a bit much for me, it's goth
Dawson-esque and not at all attractive. I wonder why people are friends with him, but I guess he's there to lend an ear. This week, Betty (the less damaged version of
Joey Potter) threatened Jughead's happiness by throwing a party for his birthday, which was crashed by the whole school. She also invited his dad, and in a very un-
Dawson like matter, they did not come back together and wipe each other's tears away. Another important note about Jughead's dad (
Skeet Ulrich) is that he;s the president of a rough and tumble biker gang, the
Southside Serpents. This might have led to his wife taking off. The serpents are responsible for several unseemly things in town, shaking down people for payments, and possible gay bashing. When the party broke up, Mr. Jones leered at Mrs. Cooper, suggesting they had a thing back in high school. This was too disgusting for words because THEIR KIDS ARE DATING!
Let's get back to the murder at hand. My first guess was that Jason was murdered by his twin sister, Cheryl Blossom (
Madelaine Petsch). Cheryl is the typical rich girl, cheer captain, queen Bee, and resident town insultress. But Cheryl has a soft spot for her twin. She was too attached to him from the first minute. The pair went out or an early morning boat row and he alleged downed trying to pull her glove put of the current. This was a lie. Cheryl (like mean girl Abby on
Dawson) was covering for Jason so he could run away with Polly. His parents are typically cold and distant, but their grandmother supposed Jason and Polly's romance, offering him her engagement ring. But she had no idea about the baby. Polly explained to her sister that she went to Jason and he never showed up, she thought he chickened out. So we're thinking Cheryl is very sweet, helping her brother sneak off with his forbidden love. I (of the dark mistrust) intermediately thought Cheryl was jealous of Polly and murdered Jason so nobody could have him. At the party this week, a dangerous game of truth or dare led Veronica to accuse Cheryl of twincest. I completely agree with this theory, but it seems a bit too obvious when the characters confirm it.
As the new girl in town, Veronica Lodge (
Camila Mendes) has her own secrets. The New Yorker (
Jen Linley much?) in a small town shifts back and forth between rivals and friends with Cheryl, and instantly bonds with Betty. The tow are ironically known as fighting over football star Archie Andrews, but here it seems like their girl-mance is more important. Betty was classically in love with Archie, confessing to him after he kissed veronica at a party. Brokenhearted Betty finally moved on, and Archie seems to be "
totes kewl" with his two best friends dating. Is yesterday's episode, the house party for Jughead's birthday ended with Archie (
KJ Apa's) and Veronica's less than innocent sleepover. This came on the heels of Archie being dumped by Valerie. As much chemistry as the pair have together, their relationship is very icky because their parents used to date, and may be dating again The pair recently started working together and were caught making out several times. This is truly a Riverdale scandal because Mr. Andrews (
Luke Perry) is still married (the estranged wife moved to Chicago) and Mrs. Lodge's husband is in jail for a Madoff-like scene. Then Mrs. Lodge got the movie theater land for the Lodge company (on the D.L) and fired Andrews's construction group to run the demolition. There are at least 10 major laws broken in this business deal. It's possible Jason's death is tied to Mr. Bloom bringing down Hiram 'Daddy' Loge's company, but it's too soon to tell.
Finally, let's discuss Archie, the golden boy of town. He became the new quarterback when Jason Bloom died. Let's hold out horses, I don't think Archie had anything to do with the murder, but he certainly hindered the investigation. Archie was busy banging his music teacher (eww, please teens and teachers should not be having affairs because its icky) in the woods on the morning Jason was shot. It took some time to tease it out, but everyone found out about Archie and Miss Grundy (
Pacey), and Miss Grundy was sent packing. Archie seems despite his misguided love interest, to be a nice kid. I still am a little surprised that all the girls are throwing themselves at him. In the span of a few weeks, it's been Betty, Miss Grundy, Veronica, Miss Grundy again, Valerie and Cheryl. They are all trying to get in his pants. Only one has succeeded, as it looks like Archie and Veronica made out and slept in separate beds. This poor kid is still reeling from his parent's split, but he may soon get some closure. The last moment of the episode ended with Archie's dad coming back from Chicago with his mom, played by Miss
Molly Ringwald.
*The parental relationships are a new level on this show. Usually on a teen drama, there's a few parents and some sort of love triangle or a couple going through a difficult time. Now we're seeing tons of the generation X drama, which I love. I want to see the parents and their relationships and work drama, but it just seems like a toxic level of towncest here. I wrote myself a note that said: This town is full of creepy creeping. The level of rivalries and incest present in the parental generation of the town downright revolting.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2017/03/23/teen-drama-tv-darker-ever/
I love Andrew McCarthy. Maybe it comes from his somewhat aloof but secretly sweet persona in all of those 80's movies, but I have always wanted to know more about his life. Whether it was confessing to Ally Sheedy he was secretly in love with her in St. Elmo's Fire, or charming Molly Ringwald in Pretty in Pink, he seemed like an old soul. What's his story? At the end of the day, McCarthy's story is like many of his era- kicked out of high school, some teen movie era fame, some bad press, some drinking, more adult roles and a turn on Broadway, a few marriages, a stint as a travel writer, a Hollywood comeback story, and finding bliss in directing and booking tv roles in some of the hottest shows, like 13 Reasons Why and The Resident. It's the typical story, right? 
