slightly silly: riverdale, episode 6: faster, pussycats! kill! kill!

this episode of riverdale was chock full of juicy reveals. number one is that we finally meet polly! i was beginning to wonder if she was a real person, and she is, but whether or not polly is just crazy or her parents are is still up for debate. betty and jughead working together to figure out what was happening to polly has been awesome. it's great to see their friendship, or possibly more than friendship blossom. betty is more interesting when she is not pining after archie. and the fact that she is inextricably linked to the mystery behind jason's murder makes her more interesting.

the best scene in the episode had to be betty and jughead's kiss. the lit nerd in my loves that not only is shakespeare referenced in the one minute scene, but also charlotte perkins gilmore. i can't wait to see where their relationship goes. i know that jughead is supposed to be asexual and that people might be upset about it. but i feel like the show needs to be its own thing too. and it would suck to waste that spark between them. it's also still early days, jughead is still figuring himself out, right? so maybe they aren't endgame. that's okay too. after all, jughead is seriously the best character on this show. he is better than pretty much anyone else.

i mean, i also love veronica, who was trapped in a terrible storyline with the pussycats and archie, and also a terrible storyline with her mom and archie's dad. she needs better material to work with. but i worry that being saddled with a possible love interest like archie will always drag her down. seriously, she actually elevates his scenes. the rest of the time archie is a blithering idiot. his music versus football storyline is so excruciating. and adding some bizarre stage fright and the talent show doesn't make things better. also he's just dumb. and a total manwhore. i want him to be better. more interesting. but maybe being the quitessential all-american dude, a white boy who is the star quarterback, the guy who all the girls want, is always going to make him the dullest part of the show. archie lacks depth. and i'm not sure there will ever be a way to give him any. although perhaps some more information on his mom will give him a deeper backstory.

and sure the music storyline allows josie and the pussycats play a bigger role, and this episode made some significant advances in explaining why josie is the way she is. the pressure she is getting from her parents--the lack of her father's support and her mom's weird stage mom intensity about josie's brand--all let us see what makes josie tick. and we learn her full name is josephine, for josephine baker. and we learn that archie has no idea who josephine baker is or that josie is a common nickname for josephine.

each week the show has given a certain character a reason to shine. i keep hoping we'll get there with archie. but i'm also good with less archie and more everyone else. because they are all super interesting to me.