slightly silly: riverdale, episode twenty-three: the blackboard jungle

so, like i said, somehow i missed when riverdale started back up again. it's been an insane january. and february isn't much better between life and illnesses and work and life. nothing bad, just busy. but all that crazy is what makes riverdale so fun to watch. the ridiculous lives and petty dramas these teenagers are handling are entertaining and angsty and fun.

anyway, this episode opens with more machiavellian manuevers from the lodges. but what they've chosen to do totally works, because having south side high shut down and the few serpents whose names we actually know transfer over to riverdale high is brilliant. it brings jughead into the fold in a way that feels realistic. and it also sets up some decent tension among the different social groups. too often our cast of characters move in and out of each other's orbits with no obvious social drama. so this wrong side of the tracks stuff all up close and personal really works.

veronica is all in on her parents' conspiring and tries to make the transition for the south siders go smoothly but doesn't really have much success with this. it's hard to say how deep she is in with the family business. at times she seems like a mini-me of her scheming parents, at other times it seems like she's their puppet. this dichotomy is probably here to stay.

and then there's archie. who is getting it from all sides this episode. he's got the fbi wanting to work with him. and as he does his digging he learns that nick's attach on cheryl wasn't an isolated event. that he'd actually attacked veronica. archie gets his revenge for that. partly because he's ready to kill nick for touching veronica. but also to help cheryl, who's home life continues to be terrible. and the hush money check they had previously scorned from the sinclairs might actually come in handy.

but even better, is that betty and archie's kiss from last episode is revealed. i like that this wasn't kept as some terrible secret. veronica didn't like hearing about it, but she also didn't make it a huge thing. technically, archie and veronica weren't together. and in spite of the occasional lingering look between archie and betty, the most you ever get from them is that they love each other as friends who have known each other forever. i'm sure the show will keep the possibility of a pairing between them in their back pocket. but right now better and archie are involved in other, bigger things.

while archie is dealing with the fbi, betty is dealing with her long-lost brother. basically polly wants nothing to do with her insane family. she's given birth to her twins and wants nothing to do with anyone at riverdale. so betty searches and finds chic. and she and her mom bring him home under some seriously sketchy circumstances. and then chic is super creepy. and you have to hope that incest doesn't run in the family.