Riverdale 2.3 The Watcher in the Woods

Holy crap you guys, Riverdale has finally given Kevin a story! An actual story that will need multiple episodes to be resolved! There’s a killer on the loose and very few people in Riverdale seem to actually care. Let’s dive in!

• We pickup where we left off from last week, but from a different view. Kevin jogs in the dark foggy woods, cruising for other guys. He finds one that looks a little too much like him IMO, but they proceed to make out until, Kevin here’s the gunshot.
  
• His boy toy runs off, but Kevin finds Moose and Midge, who is unscated because Moose shielded her.
• Luckily and somehow, Moose survives multiple shots and Archie tries to tell everyone that shooting is connected to his father’s shooting and Grundy’s murder but no one seems to believe him, because death is so common??? (While there’s no proof, in Riverdale alone, they’ve had three attempted murders all by gun, just saying)
  
• Our girl B knows there must be more to Kevin’s story than he is telling and pries from info, a conversation that Cheryl totally eavesdrops on and I love it!
  
• I also love the fact that she eavesdrops again, unnoticed, but then confronts B about it.
  
• Cheryl believes Kevin, who has grown into his looks, still sees himself as the pudgy teen that he allegedly was before and knows he has very little options romantic wise.
• Then we get the best scene of the night! Kevin visits Moose in the hospital and Moose totally still interest in Kevin! Kevin opens up to Moose in a sweet moment that is cut way too short. More please! Moose is at least bi, but seems more interested in Kevin than Midge.
  
• Kevin’s story ends in an almost terrifying way. After being warned about cruising the woods, with a killer on the loose, Kevin has second thoughts about hopping in a car with a total stranger.
  
• He returns home, where his father, Sheriff Keller is ready to have open dialogue about his son’s lifestyle.
  
• While Kevin made the right decision, he is not happy with B about ratting him out to his father and is totally giving B the cold shoulder. To be continues . . .
  
• The other major story was Archie creating the Red Circle, first as more of a neighborhood patrol for Riverale High, but thanks to Hiram’s pushing, Archie went full militia.
  
• Lucky for us, Archie and Reggie saved Ethel from being Barbed . .  .
  
• Finally, like Juggy, we met Toni Topez, who seems cool and will make a good BFF for Juggy in this new school.
  
• Juggy first rebukes the serpents, so he can continue to be a lone wolf.
• After a beating from the Ghoulies (who are responsible for Jingle Jangle, now known as JJ- thank you Toni), Juggy essentially joins the Serpents.
  
  
  
  
• He also reopens the Red and Black, the school newspapers because in the Riverdale Universe, all school papers are just named with colors. B pops in for a visit and meets Toni and we’re teased with a potential love triangle when the two girls buy him similar gifts.
  

*****Extra Tidbits*****

• The killer sent a letter to Alice for publish, with proof in the form Fred’s wallet and Grundy’s glasses, taking credit for all of the crimes, and yet Sherriff Keller seems skeptical.
  
• Even with the letter published, all of the kids are running around, at night, in the woods, on deserted roads, crossing town borders and everyone wonders how the killer is targeting people . . . They’re practically walking up to him, unarmed and alone in the middle of nowhere! At least Polly had the common sense to leave!
• First Hermoine preaches V should trust Hiram. This week, she preaches for her daughter not to trust him . . .
  
• LOL Cheryl's favorite Betty seems to be dark Betty too!
  
• Also, I’m totally back on the Kevin and Moose train!

This was a good episode. I love the tease of who will the Black Hood kill next, and despite the illogical situations, it’s fun to worry about minor characters like Kevin, Ethel and Moose. Until next week, stay #RiverdaleStrong!

1. Veronica and the creepy jealousy Hermione has of her and Hiram

2. Archie’s posse of meatheads

3. Everyone’s uncanny determination to take things into their own hands

These are the three things I want to discuss from last night’s episode of Riverdale. I’ll start with the Lodge family.

Hermione is getting weird, man. I’m not saying I’m so annoyed with the character that I want her gone, no; I want her there forever and I am going to need her to be this crazy and mean.

So apparently, in the past, there were rules against going in Hiram’s study. His office where he conducts business is off limits to the entire Lodge family, except for Hiram, and I can only imagine Smithers because I doubt Hiram cleans that room. Or maybe he does. I don’t know and it doesn’t matter, I’m straying from the topic.

See this pout Ronnie is demonstrating? That’s because she’s upset about being denied access to the study. NO ONE goes in there and Hermione seems to be incredibly protective of that room as well, but I think her protection comes from her own insecurities. If Hiram won’t even allow his incredibly loyal wife in, then why would he let anyone else in?

I can’t consistently feel the same thing for Hermione. Last week I was sure she was pure evil and the peanut butter to Hiram’s jelly, but this week I’m not so sure. We already know that Hiram wrote that threatening letter to Hermione while in prison, but then she covered for him and they held hands an entire episode and I it distracted me and I was back to thinking they were a team. Now, this week, Hiram invites Archie over for a family dinner and Hermione warns Veronica that her father might have other intentions for this little shindig.

But then we witness Hiram threaten Hermione because he overheard her warning their daughter. HERMIONE! What do you know?! What aren’t you telling us? There is more here, people. Mrs. Lodge isn’t as terrible as we think, I think. I think later on in the season we will seem some redeeming qualities in Hermione.

Moving on to Archie’s posse of meatheads.

Archie has no patience for a police investigation. Proper channels and bureaucracy do not interest Archie and he is finding this murderer, the hood, on his own time. And while he claims they aren't vigilantes, they are just a patrol group, he patrols with weapons so I am pretty sure he will act if he sees The Hood. I’m sure Reggie was his first recruit.

Reggie was super excited at their first Red Circle meeting. Reggie was also Archie’s partner in crime the night he saved Barb.

Why is Barb wandering the streets at night? Did she learn nothing from her time in Hawkins? But she’s safe now as Ethel, they didn’t kill her. Because the Riverdale police station is grossly understaffed, Archie and Reggie are patrolling the streets and they saved Ethel from presumably The Hood, so don’t worry Riverdale, Archie and the Meatheads got your backs.

Calling them meatheads is probably mean, but look at them.

They are fit, though. Nice arms and stuff. Is it hot in here? But what is Archie thinking? Actually I should probably give him more credit than I do because it was the Archie and the gang that solved last season’s murder, as Archie pointed out, so maybe he knows what he’s doing?

Archie and his new Red Circle friends aren’t the only ones overstepping their boundaries in this town. Alice, as usual, is passionately using her outlet to get the news out to the people, and The Hood knows it. He dropped a little present in the Cooper mailbox. He left her with a letter declaring he shot Fred Andrews, killed Grundy, and shot the lovers in the park. He says Riverdale is full of hypocrites and criminals, and he wants Alice to print his letter in the paper. I guess he thinks he’s most worthy of judging everyone there and handing them their death sentences. The Hood is a maniac.

Alice agrees with me and she wants to publish his letter, but the mayor and sheriff do not. I can see their points. They think it will cause a stir and people will panic, but they should know better than to try and persuade Alice. Alice does what Alice wants to do. And she did.

You know, I’m starting to feel the sheriff’s frustrations. He is only ever trying to solve cases, but the meddling kids and their parents are always getting in his way and tampering with his evidence. It explains why this is his one constant expression…

But printing the letter in the local paper comes back to bite Alice in the ass, she just doesn’t know it yet. Polly read it and it did panic her because she’s an “unwed pregnant teenager carrying her cousin’s babies” and that’s about as scandalous as they come. While Polly’s self awareness made me laugh, I’m glad she’s leaving. I still don’t like her and I still don’t know why. I’m sorry, Polly. I hope you find what you’re looking for, wherever you go, but remember, Grundy wasn’t living in Riverdale and The Hood still killed her.

So what will happen next?! I can’t really say, but I’m sure it will be juicy!

Riverdale 2.2 Chapter 15 Night Hawkes

• Riverdale does not fail to deliver in the second episode of the second season! NuReggie’s side job is revealed, Hiram and Hermoine continue to be the sketchiest couple of all time, the Blackhood strikes again and more!
• The episode begins as we are shown Pop’s has been vandalized and because of the shooting, Riverdale peeps are afraid to eat there. I’m not certain how much time has passed, but Pop’s is now in danger of closing.
  
• Archie has become obsessed with trying to find the shooter, so much so that he hasn’t been sleeping in his bed . . . or at all it seems. We know this because Betty’s been trying to reenact Taylor Swift’s you belong with me video and he hasn’t been there.
  
  
• Archie has no time for anyone’s concern, but pays a visit to NuReggie who is this season, the resident drug dealer. NuReggie mentions the newest and hottest drug of Riverdale: Jingle Jangle!
  
• Archie’s day becomes worse with the announcement of of Grundy’s death, which he just can’t handle, but he does hypothesize that the killer aka Blackhood, is targeting people he loves. Maybe, Archie, maybe . . .
  
  
  
• Archie turns to Alice for details about Grundy’s death and we learn that she was killed with a bow, most likely the one that Archie gave her.
• Out other major stories this episode was Betty’s campaign to save Pop’s from closing down, Juggy’s campaign to save FP from a life time in jail and Veronica’s disdain of her parents.
  
• When all else was failing to save Pop’s and FP, Betty turned to the one person who could help her save both. Enter Cheryl Blossom, who has taken Vixens back as her own and now lives in the Enchanted Forest Thistle House. Betty wants the Vixens to help out at Pop’s and for the remaining Blossom women to testify on FP’s behalf, asking the court for leniency because the forgive him. Of course Cheryl isn’t having any of that, but the traits of Dark Betty re-emerge and Betty blackmails our favorite resident Kool-Aid hair colored Queen to get both things she wants or she’d release the tape of Clifford shooting Jason!
  
• Speaking of shady decisions, Juggy continues to fall in deeper with the Serpents by seeking advice from Serpent lawyer, Penny Peabody!
  
• LOL J/K
  
• FP flips once he learns this and advises Juggy to never, ever talk to her again!
• Finally, the campaign to save Pop’s is underway. Alice, circa season 1 Crazy pants want it to fail and is delighted to get the scoop on NuReggie delivering Jingle Jangle to half the town. The Lodges show up and win V’s trust back with a sizable donation to Pop’s, that was secretly their way of purchasing it! Sketchy, sketchy . . .
  
• Betty also got her way when she advertised a free Josie and the Pussycat’s performance, much to Josie’s shagrin. They performed Val-less, with Cheryl stepping in and sang Kelise’s Milkshake.
  
• Archie received a gun from Dilton Doyly for “protection”
  
• And then at the very end, we see Moose and his tomboyish looking female companion parked in the woods, enjoying some Jingle Jangle freshly scored from NuReggie, when they hear a noise and in typical horror movie fashion, instead of driving away, the sat and pondered what it could be. The Blackhood emerges from the dark and fires a gun into the car!!! End! Moose :(
  

Extra Tidbits!

• Josie joined the Vixens and expects to be the star! She’s going to be sorely disappointed!
  
  
• Mayor McCoy was happy to see Betty and disgusted to see Juggy!
• Hermoine lied about the note V received last season from Hiram threatening herself and all I want is for those 2 be the next Blackhood victims!
  
• I’m also pretty sure Smither’s was fired or floating down Sweetwater River
• The look on Kevin’s face when Veronica called Hiram Daddy was one of my favorite things about this episode. I’m also still waiting for him to get a story!
  
• Maybe Kevin and Mosse will-oh wait . . . Le Sigh I want Moose to survive!

It appears there’s a serial killer on the loose and the story Riverdale is weaving is keeping me on the edge of my seat? Who is the Blackhood? When will the Blackhood strike again? Who’s next? I can’t wait! Until next time, stay RiverdaleStrong!!!

I think Archie may be getting in over his head. I think this episode showed us how Betty and Jughead tried to take matters into their hands and solve their problems, and by the end of it they had both bitten off a bit more than they could chew. Now Archie is trying really hard to find his dad’s shooter, Miss Grundy’s killer, and I am really interested in seeing how this works out for him.

It’s always nice to see dark Betty and we definitely got to see her this Wednesday. She spent much of the episode trying to save Pops from being closed since everyone is afraid to eat there now that Fred Andrews almost lost his life in the happy little chocolate shop. She organized a gathering at Pop’s to include the River Vixens and other supporters from the town to come out and listen to Josie’s band while enjoying a meal. The Lodge’s were there and in the last few minutes of the episode we find out that they actually bought the chocolate shop from Pop Tate, and in exchange for his silence on the deal they make him manager. I anticipate a huge falling out between Veronica and her parents when she finds out they did this.

We already know there is tension between the recently released prisoner, Mr. Lodge and his daughter Veronica. Riverdale has changed V and she does not trust her parents anymore. Much of this episode we saw her struggling with the idea of trying to rebuild her relationship with them. During one scene we see Veronica asking Jughead for advice on how to deal with Hiram and Hermione. These two characters don’t always have a reason to interact, so seeing them be able to in this episode was nice.  At this point I think all of the kids of Riverdale should be able to bond over their horrendous childhoods and terrible parents.

As bad as the Riverdale parents are, Jughead really wants to help his dad out. He was desperate to find a way to keep him from serving several years in prison. FP was offered a plea deal, but Jug wasn’t happy with it. After brainstorming and initially proposing an idea to literally break his father out of his cell, a serpent sends Jughead to someone that might be able to help FP out. It’s a lady serpent that is also a lawyer. She offers her legal counsel to the young man in exchange for him owing her a favor. Yikes.

Lady Serpent Lawyer’s advice was to get the Blossom’s to publicly and in court forgive FP for his involvement in disposing of Jason’s body. Betty and Jug reach out to Cheryl and Momma Blossom to ask if they will participate in this act. They have a pleasant little tea party in the middle of the night where mother and daughter turn Bughead down. They should have known the Blossom’s wouldn’t respond to them in such a civil and mature atmosphere. The Blossoms practically invented blackmail and corruption and any other kinds of shady shit you can think of. It takes dark Betty to get Cheryl to come around.

Dark Betty stops Cheryl at her locker to threaten her. If Cheryl doesn’t forgive FP, Betty releases the video of Pappa Blossom shooting his son in the head. Whoa! Cheryl gives Betty what she wants. FP is now on his way to freedom. We’ll see how that plays out.

After we watched the kids of Riverdale take serious matters into their own hands for 40 something minutes, we saw almost all of it come back to nip them in the bum too. Sure, Betty got the support she wanted for Pop Tate’s shop so that it wouldn’t be closed, but she also unintentionally got the Lodges so deeply involved that they now own it and Alice warns her that the serpents now have their hooks sunk into the north side of their region. Riverdale is now infected with gangsters. Sure, Jughead got the court to reevaluate his dad’s sentence, but it cost him a favor to Lady Serpent Lawyer and it seems her price is high. Juggy might be in a world of trouble with that one.

Archie doesn’t really know what has been going on with his friends, and I don’t think he realizes that he may be making the same mistakes as them. Archie sits up all night paranoid and tired guarding his home, waiting on the hooded killer. He traded in his baseball bat for a gun, which he couldn’t have obtained legally, and I don’t think he knows what he’s doing.

See you next week!

Riverdale 2.1 A Kiss Before Dying

Welcome back loyal readers! Just a reminder Shane Lee's review is blue and Syd's is pink!

Holy Archikens! Riverdale did not hold back in it’s second season premiere, picking right back up where we left off, embracing it’s darker side and starting off with another murder mystery!

• “Our story continues,” Juggy narrates as we open with Archie, who does not yet have his license, drives his father to the hospital. It’s hard to forget that Archie and friends are only suppose to be 14-15 years old.
  
• Flash-forward to graduation day Archie, B & V and NuReggie posing for a pic in their cap and gowns complete with a Molly Ringwald cameo! This was a happy moment for Fred, until Archie’s friends reminded him that he didn’t live to see this day!
  
  
• Archie decides to call his his friends, beginning with the most important one- not his girlfriend, lol, but his best friend/neighbor Betty who was having a frank conversation with her mother about how and she and Juggy almost did it. And Alice was like
  
• So, everyone arrives at Riverdale General, which has not seen a grant of any kind since the 50’s, to support Archie and while Fred Flash-Forwarded again; this time, Archie takes over the construction business so their dead relatives can take Fred away.
  
• While Juggy used his Southside Serpent friends to help find the shooter, Veronica convinces Archie to go home and change, but Archie is insistent on walking Hotdog first, in his bloody shirt . . .
  
• Then V decides that the best thing she can do for Archie is to give him shower sexy time.
  
• To which Archie immediately becomes a douche afterwards, when he discovers Fred’s wallet is missing, but V continues to be his shoulder to cry on. Archie is then called in to do a line up, which goes unsuccessfully while V let’s Hermoine know that her innocent act isn’t fooling her.
  

  
• Meanwhile, Kevin played by Casey Cott, who was bumped to series regular, but got no more screen time then he did in season one comforted Betty, then saw this heavenly sight.
  
• Cheryl gives an obviously fake story about why her mom is in the hospital, attempting to save her from the Thorn Hill fire.
• Fred has another Flash-Forward where Archie is preparing to as V the big question, but then pop comes along and ruins it by reminding him that he will never see this day.
  
• #Bughead goes to Pop’s to try to find the missing wallet with no luck. So, Juggy does what anyone would do in a diner that’s just been robbed, has lunch- not just any lunch but a hamburger!
  
• We next see Cheryl threatening her “mommy” to keep quiet about the fire, or she will tell everyone what really happened with Clifford in the barn . . .
  
• All episode long, it’s been hinted that Archie was hiding something about the shooting and he confess to V and #Bughead that he froze in fear, and closed his eyes until the shooter left.
  
• Then Archie finds Cheryl smooching Fred’s forehead, returning the favor of Archie saving her last season. She is confident Fred will pull through.
  
• Fred has one final, creepy flash-forward, that is Archie and V’s wedding, complete with dead friends Jason and Clifford Blossom!
  
• Fred wakes up after having taking the bullet in his flash-forward for Archie, vowing he came back to protect his son. Archie makes the same vow to protect him.
  
• Veronica arrives home to find her father has arrived and Hermoine is all like, now you’re getting to get it.
  
• Before the episode ends, we visit Greendale, the neighboring town to Riverdale, where see Grundy! She hasn’t changed her old ways and continues to go after younger boys. That’s okay though, the Black Hood strikes again, this time successfully killing his target, Ms. Grundy.
  
  
  
  

*Extra Tidbits*

• Two things happened happened last night from my season 2 wish list! The show went way darker and Grundy returned! Also, Juggy's bile helmet has the crown on it!
  
• I really dislike when TV shows bring characters back only to kill them. NOTE I am not condoning Grundy’s predatory lifestyle, but she could have served up so much more drama.
• It’s obvious the Black Hood is going after people in Archie’s life.
• Can the Black Hood get Hermione next? Seriously, her change of attitude is so annoying.
• I am still sad that Josie and the Pussy Cats still seem like nothing more than one line background characters but it is only episode one and hopefully there is more to come.
  

That was a great episode and it set up a killer new story (wink, wink), plenty of mystery and may have finally embraced it’s darker tones! I can’t wait for next week, until then, stay #RiverdaleStrong!

If the “Angel of Death” killed Ms. Grundy, a sexual predator preying on young high school boys, is it OK? Is that justice? These are the questions we should be asking, people. We should also ask why Grundy. Why would the man that attempted to kill Fred Andrews be interested in killing Geraldine Grundy? This is the question we were left with after Riverdale’s season two premiere.

They are back! I was super impressed with Chapter 14 of our beloved drama, but I’m always impressed with Riverdale. The last time we saw these characters, Fred Andrews had been shot at Pop Tate’s and Archie was left holding his father, dying in his arms. In A Kiss Before Dying, we join Archie as he’s flying to the hospital with the wounded victim in the passenger seat by his side.

I’m really sorry that Fred had to get shot, but this is exactly the kind of thing Archie needed to become the character I want him to be. Season one Archie was not my favorite character. He came across as pretty shallow to me, and self obsessed at times, but can I really blame him? He is young. He isn’t super mature. His personality fell a little flat for me last season and the most compelling stories involving him revolved around his love life and which girl he was pretending to like that week. I’m not above it, I like petty drama, but this tragedy should make Archie a more interesting character. It’s already starting to show. Remember when he was walking his dog with Veronica? He reveals to her how he talked his dad into getting the dog by promising to take care of it. Raise your hand if you’ve made that promise to a parent before. Anyway, he has this incredibly self aware moment where he admits that he didn’t really keep that promise. It’s a really great moment where he acknowledges some of his faults and he seems genuinely sorry about what he has realized. This is the kind of maturity that Archie needed. Speaking of maturity, Archie and Veronica’s relationship seems to be growing in a grown-up kind of way.

OK, so before this episode I would have told you there were two kinds of couples on Riverdale. There is Bughead, the true love story just waiting to happen, and there is Ronnie and Archie, the relationship born out of lust. But now? After seeing this episode I’m starting to see the love between V and Arch. Veronica put a lot of time and effort into Archie after finding out about his father. Betty originally encouraged her and got the ball rolling by volunteering V to take Archie home to shower and change his blood covered clothes. But a tired and frustrated Archie eventually tried to kick Veronica out of his house so that he could be alone. Veronica refused to leave him and shortly after you knew Archie appreciated that greatly. You could argue that Veronica is so invested in making Archie feel better right now because she feels guilty about what happened to Fred. There is a theory that Fred wasn’t a victim of robbery, instead this was a deliberate hit with murder as the intent, and the top suspect in that case would be Hiram Lodge, Veronica’s dad. But I choose to believe it’s love. Anyone else? Shane? Shane, I really need to know how you feel about this because I know you hate this couple. Please tell me asap how this episode made you feel about Veronchie. Varchie? Aronica? What do people call them?

So it is looking like this crime committed against Mr. Andrews was attempted murder. Archie suspects this pretty much from the moment it happened but he doesn’t tell the sheriff. He does express his concerns to Jughead, Betty, and Veronica in a private meeting. Jughead promises to ask the Southside Serpents what they know, if anything, about what happened. Betty spent most of this episode worrying about Jug and his new friends. She’s a bit judgemental but she seems justified because a lot of her concerns seem to be validated towards the end of the episode. I don’t think Jughead is cautious enough with the Serpents at first. I think he’s confident that his dad has good in him, so maybe he tries to see the good in the Serpents. I mean, they offer protection to their members and a brotherhood type atmosphere, but I don’t think Jug weighs in their crimes enough. When he asked them to look into Fred’s case to see if a Serpent was involved, he did not expect them to bring an innocent man to his dad’s trailer (Jug’s current home) to beat him to a pulp. Their reason for doing it was to show their loyalty to FP and Jughead, but it’s not OK. Judging by Jug’s reaction he doesn’t think it’s OK either. I think Jughead really wants to find a group of people to call home, and I think we will see him struggle with that this season. Or I hope.

Cheryl needs an actual house to call home because she burnt hers down. We know she set fire to Thornhill in the finale, but we did not know her mother suffered 3rd degree burns from the blaze. The last time we saw the two Blossoms they were standing safely outside of the house. How did Mrs. Blossom get back in? And what exactly happened to her? And what actually happened in the barn with Pappa Blossom? Cheryl leads us to believe that it may not have been suicide. His wife possibly had something to do with his death.

I think Cheryl thinks she is some kind of God now. I think burning Thornhill to the ground really empowered her. She is not letting Penelope call the shots anymore, instead she makes it very clear to her that if she breathes, it is because Cheryl gives her air. Her words (Cheryl’s) not mine. And then Archie walks in on Cheryl kissing Fred on the forehead. She tells Archie she gave him the kiss of life and assures him that his father will now be OK. So Fred’s survival is credited to Cheryl Blossom and kiss of life, the doctors and nurses had nothing to do with it. That is how I imagine Cheryl sees it in her mind. She is so over-the-top, crazy, and ridiculous. It is really great! I seriously love it. Knowing how off her rocker she is, I can’t wait to find out how her mother got burns all over her body. I also wonder how far Cheryl is willing to take this with her mom. I’ll be honest, Penelope should fear for her life right now.

Who else in Riverdale should be fearing for their lives right now? Hiram Lodge is back and that dude is shady as hell. But Fred’s shooter is also still on the loose and he’s currently on the other side of Sweetwater River killing Grundy, a former Riverdale resident. There is a connection and we must try to figure it out! Feel free to comment your thoughts in the section below!