Jason Blossom’s murder takes center stage following the discovery of his body at the end of the series premiere of “Riverdale.”
Archie (KJ Apa) is so distraught about having been unwittingly present at the scene of the crime that he can’t sleep, exacerbated by the fact that Betty (Lili Reinhart) won’t let him spill his guts to her — something she would have before she confessed her feelings for him and he rejected her last week. Oops.
Instead, Archie ends up at the house of Ms. Grundy (Sarah Habel) in the middle of the night, where she once again convinces him that they can’t tell anyone without revealing their summer affair – she could get fired, he could get expelled, etc. At least one person in this sordid relationship has an ounce of conscience left, as Archie continues to be guilt-ridden over keeping quiet.
As Ms. Grundy gets shadier and lays the seduction on thicker in order to get Archie to keep quiet, Jughead (Cole Sprouse) catches them together and finally gives Archie an outlet to vent about his tenuous situation, as well as become a voice for the audience: This woman is clearly only looking out for herself by messing with Archie’s head.
Finally, Archie’s conscience prevails, and he tells Ms. Grundy he’s going to tell the truth no matter what.
Meanwhile, Cheryl’s (Madeleine Petsch) “twintuition” tells her that the murderer is likely someone they all know, which sounds an awful like foreshadowing to the eventual reveal.
In fact, she already has a suspect in mind: Betty’s sister Polly, who’s been institutionalized after a traumatic breakup with Jason Blossom himself. Pretending to happily go along with an afternoon girl-date Betty invites her on to spite Veronica (Camila Mendes), Cheryl unleashes on Betty in her overly pink and girly bedroom, but the resident Nice Girl turns the tables on her, telling her, quite convincingly, to “get out of my house before I kill you.”
Betty and Veronica are on the outs following Veronica’s makeout session with Archie last week, but when she drops a truth bomb on Betty, that she is not the reason Archie doesn’t like her, Betty is forced to come to terms with a universal teenage rite of passage: unrequited love.
As Betty and Veronica reconcile and get back on the train to being best friends forever, they make a vow: To never let a boy come between them again. Even the inevitable appearance of Archie right then and there can’t taint the moment, but the revelations to come certainly cast a shadow over everything once again.
As Cheryl confesses “I’m guilty” without specifying for what exactly and is led out by police, Jughead’s voiceover once again drops new information on Jason’s murder: The popular football player didn’t die on July 4th, when Archie and Ms. Grundy heard a gunshot during their early morning riverside tryst – but over a week later.
“Riverdale” airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on The CW.