In this week’s episode of Riverdale, Jughead tries to save his home away from home (and actual home) while Betty and Veronica try to prove to Archie that Ms. Grundy is bad news. Hermione Lodge is up to her own shadiness in the wings and Kevin may have found someone special. Written by Michael Grassi and directed by Mark Piznarski, here is what went down in “Chapter Four: The Last Picture Show”.
DRIVE-IN ME CRAZY | Jughead (Cole Sprouse) takes a break from writing his novel to mourn the closing of his favorite haunt, the Twilight Drive-In Theater. He organizes the final movie night and tries to get the whole town to come out for it. In a last ditch effort to save the drive-in, he tries to track down the anonymous buyer who plans to level the lot but the mayor’s lips are sealed. He even tries to convince Fred Andrews (Luke Perry) to stall on the demolition of the one place that always felt home to him but Fred can’t blow that big of a contract for him or his guys. Almost everyone turns up for the final show – friends, frenemies, and old flames alike. Even the Southside Serpents turn up (even if it seems only to cause mischief and make noise). The next morning, Jughead takes one final look at the place that was not just his home away from home, but actual home until this moment. He tags the outside, hoping someone, someday will look back and wonder who they were, and turns to leave. Before he does, one of the Southside Serpents comes up to him and asks him where he is planning on going. As an added twist, this particular Southside Serpent is none other than his father.
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NANCY DREWS | After learning that Ms. Grundy (Sarah Habel) was also at the river’s edge on July Fourth and what that implies about Archie (K.J. Apa), Betty (Lili Reinhart) struggles with what to do with that information. When Grundy joins Archie and his dad for dinner at Pop’s after her concert, Betty snaps and pulls Archie outside to talk while Kevin (Casey Cott), Jughead, and Veronica (Camila Mendes) watch from inside. Veronica’s curiosity gets the better of her and she joins them outside just in time to hear Betty confront Archie with what she knows. The two of them are both shocked that he would risk so much for a relationship with his music teacher. That night, Betty google-stalks Grundy and then follows up with Grundy herself under the pretense of a Teacher Spotlight interview series. She finds out that not only did Geraldine Grundy not exist until a few years ago, she also did the same independent study she is doing with Archie with Jason Blossom the year before. She presents her findings to Archie and Veronica but he is not convinced and tells her to leave it alone. Because they are good friends who care about him, Betty and Veronica break into Grundy’s car while she is on a ‘date’ with Archie. They find a driver’s license for a Jennifer Gibson and a gun inside a locked box. They show it to Archie when he comes home and he is finally a little perturbed about it all but still defends Grundy. He goes to her and asks her about it and she tells him that she escaped an abusive marriage by changing her name and running until she ended up here. Archie tells Betty about it and while she acknowledges that what she went through is horrible, it doesn’t make what she is doing with Archie okay. Betty’s mom (Mädchen Amick) finds the gun while putting her laundry away (up your hiding game, Nancy Drew) and drags it, Betty, and Archie’s dad to the school where they find Archie in the process of breaking it off with Grundy after giving her a wildly expensive gift. In an attempt to protect Archie, Betty tells her mother that if she tells anyone, Betty will tell the whole town that she made it all up and broke into Grundy’s car. The fear of everyone thinking that Betty snapped just like her sister has Mrs. Cooper agreeing that she will keep quiet as long as Grundy quits her job and leaves town immediately to which Mr. Andrews agrees as well. Archie and his dad drive home where his dad holds him and tells him that this wasn’t his fault. Grundy packs up her car to leave town but not before giving two more high school boys the seduction eyes.
SOUTHSIDE SERPENTS | Cheryl (Madelaine Petsch) spots Hermione Lodge (Marisol Nichols) having a heated discussion behind Pop’s diner with one of the Southside Serpents and takes a picture to use to taunt Veronica. Not knowing anything about these so-called Serpents, Veronica gets the low down from Kevin about how they are a biker gang from the wrong side of town. When she asks her mom about it, Hermione just brushes it off as an inconsequential conversation that shouldn’t worry Veronica. Later, Hermione shows up at the mayor’s office with a bag of cash on behalf of her husband to finalize the deal for the lot of land the drive-in is currently on. She goes to the drive-in with Fred Andrews so as to not raise any suspicion but sneaks off to meet the same Serpent once there. Veronica sees her and follows them where she overhears her mother give the Serpent a bag of cash and tell him that he will be dealing with her, not her husband, for the foreseeable future. Kevin is distracted by another Serpent for a completely different reason and this may be the start of some star-crossed lovers. At home, Veronica confronts her mother and she comes clean about the fact that Mr. Lodge paid the Serpents to bring down the property value of the land so that he could swoop in and get it for cheap.
OTHER THOUGHTS:
• I would like a side flashback series of little Betty pouring over Nancy Drew and learning how to pick locks and break into cars.
• Drive-ins were huge where I grew up and were a monthly event. The cheesier the movie, the better.
• Shout out to the real Ms. Grundy who died several years previous and made me nostalgic for the comic version of the teacher.
So what did you think? What’s your favorite drive-in movie? Is this really the last we’re seeing of Grundy? Where will Jughead go now? Let us know your theories in the comments below!
Riverdale airs Thursdays at 9pm on The CW!