Posted in: Recent Updates, TV | Tagged: archie, betty, Cheryl, jason, jughead, luke perry, riverdale, veronica

Hitchcock Blonde: Riverdale episode 4

Oh. Where to begin.

Everyone is suspicious of everyone. Jughead and Betty confront Archie (K.J. Apa) about his relationship to Ms. Grundy, and Archie more or less admits to wanting to be with her. Lili Reinhart's Betty gets a little zealous and investigates Grundy, finding out the real Ms. Grundy has been dead for 7 years, which then leads her to break into this Grundy's car, finding her license and a gun. When Archie is presented with this information he does confront Grundy, who breaks down telling him her husband used to beat her so she had to run away.

From what we've seen of Grundy however, she is probably lying. She gives no explanation as to why she assumed someone's identity, and we even see her eyeing up other young men as well. She will be a huge part in the series, if only to serve as a means to drive the drama in the story.

Jughead meanwhile is on a one man quest to save the towns only drive-in theater. He is unusually passionate about the drive-in, blaming it on it being it's his only job. I won't give away the ending, but Jughead's back story is pretty tragic. We know his dad is in a biker gang, but where is his sister Jellybean and his mom? This will obviously come out as the series progresses, and I'm glad we get a little more to Cole Sprouse's Jughead. It's a little concerning that his family has strayed so wildly from the comics (classic and reboot), but I understand needing to change characters for the sake of drama and story, so making Jughead homeless with family issues works here for me. As for being Archie's best friend; it's weird that no one else has connected the dots to him being homeless either. Are these kids just so wrapped up in themselves to notice? The only person (other than Jughead) who seems to be paying attention to anything else is Veronica.

Veronica (Camila Mendes) has been wonderful in this show. She is much kinder than in her comic counterpart and seems to really want to do the right thing by everyone. It could just be because she's brand new, but her intentions seem genuine. I like that she's assumed the role of Betty as well, with Veronica still intact. Betty is also amazing in her own regard, and I can't wait to see her snap on her mother. I have a theory that Alice Cooper killed Jason, but it's anyone's guess at this point.

This episode is excellent. It's a much needed change from episode 3 which seemed a little flat to me. Watching Fred Andrews come more into his own with standing up for his son was wonderful. Fred was always a little hot headed with Archie in the comics, but we knew he loved his son.

Luke Perry is doing a terrific job of portraying such an integral part of Archie's life. He should be everyone's dad. His calm clap back to Alice Cooper about his son was perfect. You could see that Fred was even developing a crush on Ms. Grundy, but when he finds out she's taking advantage of his son he steps up instead of letting his hormones drive him, something Archie hasn't figured out yet.

Again, this show is great. I can't wait to see where it goes.

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