Riverdale In A Lonely Place

#PollyCooperKilledMyBrother

So tweets Cheryl after her friend Ginger overhears the gang talking in the student lounge about Polly escaping from Sisters of Quiet Mercy. So begins a twist- filled episode which mainly shows us Polly coming back into circulation after the Blossoms try to trick Betty into turning Polly over to them. A lot happened in this one so let's jump right in. Spoilers abound as always. 

There's a lot of Jughead and his dad FP in this one, along with the Polly revelations. Jughead has a pretty distant relationship with his dad, to the point that he's not even staying at home. And it's clear that FP and Fred have a history too, as we learn that they co- owned Andrews Construction together until they had a falling out. FP has a drinking problem of course, and there's that inconvenient gang membership thing too, which we're reminded of when Hermione walks in to find him working with Fred again. No, that won't be awkward. 

I wasn't crazy about the FP revelations to be honest, I'm not that into the character, and Jughead being implicated in Jason Blossom's death caused similar eye- rolling. I love how all these kids hang out together even as their parents are manipulating or being manipulated. It's all interconnected and messy. And awkward, one would think as they're all hanging out? 

Far more interesting to me were the Polly revelations. Alice Cooper gets the better of the Blossoms when she announces that Polly is pregnant with Jason's baby, and won't she please come home? This is shocking to Cheryl, and not for the first time are they not-so-subtly hinting at a little, mm, twincest? Cheryl certainly seems devastated by the news of Polly's pregnancy, and when they meet at the diner she goes to touch her stomach before stopping herself. And again we see a familiar pattern here, of Cheryl going in like a shark before realizing that she's a guppy compared to her own mom. Faced with the reality of what her parents want to do, she breaks with them and warns Polly. The queen bee who does the right thing when the chips are down- that's Cheryl. 

So we're left with Polly taking refuge with Hermione and Veronica. To be honest the idea of Betty, veronica and Cheryl working together against the Blossoms (and let's face it, the Coopers as well) is appealing- are all the parents on this show assholes? And all the FP/ Jughead stuff is vindicated, I suppose, by the reveal at the end and a certain varsity jacket in FP's closet. Is he a killer? 

Random Thoughts

"Honestly, guys, we should just move," says Veronica when they're all sitting around talking about how f'ed up everything is. 

#PollyCooperKilledMyBrother and #NoWhereToHide - imagine being on Cheryl's Twitter feed. Seriously. 

As bad as the Blossoms are, are the Coopers any better? Both of her parents lie to her when they tell Betty that Polly wants to give the baby up- not knowing that Polly told Betty her parents would MAKE her do that. 

"She's ten years old and listens to Pink Floyd on vinyl. I don't think she could get any cooler," says Jughead referring to his sister Jellybean. Seriously, the names???