The Riverdale season starts back up this week with Riverdale High celebrating their “Spirit Week.” This year, thanks to Munroe, the mighty Bulldogs are heading to the state finals where they will go up against the Stonewall Stallions. Principal Honey, at Riverdale High, has asked our beloved Betty Cooper to cover the championship game with a positive story.
Beyond spirit week, Jughead Jones is at the beck and call of his writing teacher, Mr. DuPont, now that he has been named the next ghost writer for the Baxter Brothers books series. Mr. DuPont feels the need to pull some string for Juggie and has swung him an interview at Yale. If you recall, Betty did not get into Yale, so this could be a touchy subject for the two love birds.
Vixen territory
Meanwhile, Principal Holden Honey is still burning bridges with Cheryl. The new cheer coach, Miss Appleyard, is in town- and when I say that she and Cheryl are like oil and water, that’s really not doing the situation any justice. Is anyone else amused that Cheryl’s last name is Blossom and the last name of the new coach is Appleyard. Bahahaha!
Anyway, Appleyard and Blossom do not see eye to eye on what a cheer squad should be doing. And we all know how much Cheryl likes to be bossed around. When Cheryl attempts a peace offering of mini muffins, the coach tells her to spend less time baking and more time in the weight room. Yikes!
It’s no surprise then to see Cheryl and her Vixen crew in Principal Honey’s office reporting that they will be going on strike. A cheerleading strike during Spirit Week, it’s a catastrophe of epic proportions. He retaliates by banning the girls from prom if they do not cheer at the game. Ooooo boy, I can’t wait to see what Cheryl does next!
Last football game of the season
The championship game is the last game of the season for many of the players, but for Archie and the rest of the senior crew, it’s also the last game for Riverdale High. A recruiter from Notre Dame is coming to the game just to see Munroe play, and it’s a big deal. With Betty writing an article, you have to wonder how it will turn out. She tends to write on the dramatic side- so when Reggie mentions that Stonefield Prep, their opponent, sucks because they play dirty…I’m sure her gears get whirling. Reggie tells Betty that every team that Stonewall has played ended up with horrible injuries.
Cue Betty interviewing the Stonewall Prep football captain, Bret. Yes, that’s right, Jughead’s classmate. She starts off the interview by immediately saying she heard that his team plays dirty, that they play to hurt. His response is to inform her that a football game is not a knitting circle. He calls it “social Darwinism in uniforms” before then likening the sport to the ancient concept of gladiators from Roman days.
Shortly after Bret leaves Betty pondering, we see Jughead opening a gift with the infamous Quill and Skull stamp on it. It seems the cultish group has bought Juggie a new laptop. Even after he specifically told Bret that he preferred his old one.
Bounty hunters
As Betty continues to investigate the Stonewall Stallions, she finds out that not only does their team pay off the referees during games, but also pays the players. Apparently, he puts up a bounty on certain methods of attack, and the bigger the injury, the bigger the bounty. No wonder Bret spoke about football so callously.
Then as Munroe leaves the youth center, we see people dressed in rabbit masks. Creepy-ass rabbit masks like we saw Bret use at Stonewall Prep. Before Archie and Reggie can run out to help, because Munroe didn’t scream soon enough, the masked rabbits have hit him in the leg with a golf club. I guess they felt he was a threat too large to even let out onto the field for the big game.
I have no doubt that Betty will eventually take down Stonewall Prep, even if it means taking Jughead down, too. Poor Juggie.
Secrets and skulls
The last part of Jughead’s Quill and Skulls initiation is for him to share a dark secret, with the knowledge that it will be recorded. He says that when he was little he used to sleep under a bridge in town. He was homeless, and he had a friend named Doc who would stay up at night while he slept, trying to protect him from junkies. Jughead said that he didn’t move, he didn’t say anything, he just watched as a group of drunk men beat the life out of Doc one night. He said that is his biggest secret and his biggest shame.
Veronica dons a blonde wig to try and catch Bret off guard and make him confess to hurting Munroe. This is so season one, episode three, when the girls got revenge on the football team for taking advantage of the girls. Remember the whole sticky maple thing? So gross.Â
Storylines I’m questioning
Archie asks his Uncle Frank to stay in Riverdale and help out around town. This means that Archie and Frank need to let his Mom know that he is in town. She tells Archie that the minute Frank has to do some hard work that he will bolt. Interesting. I’m sure we’ll find out more about this back story down the line. To be honest, though, it’s kind of boring for me. Especially if Uncle Frank ends up becoming a pill pusher, I mean that is so anti-Fred Andrews.
I still want to know who is watching houses and leaving video tapes on people’s doorsteps. WHAT THE HECK!? Why are we not hearing more about that!?
Luna Rum
How is it that Veronica is making rum? She’s in high school, isn’t she? Is no one else wondering about this? I daresay it’s a lunacy for a teenager to be making and selling rum. Am I the only one who questions this storyline?
Anyway, we all knew that Veronica’s Dad was going to shut her down. What I didn’t see coming was her partnering with Cheryl. Maple syrup rum doesn’t sound half bad.Â
And there we have it, friends. Drama, drama.
Watch again when the show comes back next Wednesday on The CW, or tune back in on The Painted Lines for our recap.
