Riverdale Recap: Betty Cooper Honestly Scares Me
Warning: Spoilers for Riverdale season 2, episode 2, "Nighthawks," are ahead.
You know the Chekhov's gun principle - which says that if there's a gun in the first act, it must be fired by the third? Well, Archie's got a gun, and the way he drives, I don't want to see what happens when he shoots it. The big takeaways from the episode are that Archie is suffering from some form of PTSD and asking random students for drugs and guns, Betty Cooper is a “stone cold bitch” who singlehandedly saved Pop’s diner and FP Jones, and Hiram and Hermione Lodge are cartoon mobsters who secretly bought the Chocklit Shoppe and totally lied about it to Veronica.
Generally, "Nighthawks" is your quintessential set-up episode. The Riverdale writers laid brick after brick of foreshadowing and character development, under the guise of a campy retro diner party featuring a pretty solid "Milkshake" cover by Josie and the Pussycats (ft. Cheryl).
But here are some of the more subtle (and sometimes bonkers) details about episode 2 that will definitely be important going forward.
Pop's closing is totally implausible.
Someone spray-painted "Death Diner" on the side of Pop's Chocklit Shoppe, so suddenly it's closing? I'm sorry, this is literally the only place anyone eats in this town. Where else do they have to go? Plus, seeing Jughead in that uniform gave me feelings I'm not sure I'm comfortable with.
The way Veronica talks to her parents is ridiculous.
"How about never, dad? Is never good for you?" V savagely says to her father when he asks when they can talk. I'm sorry, but what? If I spoke to my parents like that, I would be shipped off to boarding school so fast.Not to mention she uses the word "daddy" in public a total of five times in this episode (Cheryl is up to two).
Josie is a vixen now, apparently?
So far, all she's done is say, "I'm a Vixen," and demand to always be put in the front on her first day, but I'm already here for this. What a delightful way to start integrating this supposedly main character into the fabric of the gang. Also, line of the day goes to Cheryl (let's be honest, it will probably always go to Cheryl). When Betty asks for the Vixens to help her save Pop's diner from closing, she lets loose: "I did not emerge from the frozen depths of Sweetwater River, nor the flames of Thornhill, to allow my Vixens to sling milkshakes at some death-cursed diner.”
The "crazy one" is always right.
Every single person is telling Archie Andrews that Miss Grundy's killer is not the person who shot Fred Andrews. But I didn't have to see it with my own eyes to know that it's Archie who is right. On TV, if one person has a theory that everyone else shuts down immediately, you can almost guarantee they are right. Don't listen to them, Archiekins!
Penny Peabody is bad news.
When the Serpents send Jughead to "the snake charmer" for help with his dad's case, you can tell right away this is not going to be a freebie. Penny, a Serpent herself, tells him that he can get FP out of his jam if he gets the Blossoms to testify on his behalf. I'm not sure how this is such a huge favor, considering Jughead is the one who has to do the legwork. Like, she didn't really do anything? Also, how does a sentence go from 20 years to time served because of "forgiveness"? Anyway, not sure if it's going to be worth it for Jug, if the way FP flips out when he discovers his son went to her for help is anything to go by. Our baby Serpent might be in some trouble.
Everyone but Archie has accused their parents of murder.
The core four have some serious trust issues. Besides Archie, the entire crew is convinced their parents are homicidal psychopaths. (And you know how I feel about that.) Remember: Betty, Veronica, and Jughead all accused their fathers of murdering Jason in season one. And this episode marks the second time Veronica has confronted her parents for ordering the hit on Fred Andrews in two episodes. Family counseling, anyone? Also, who besides me knew right away that Hermione was covering for Hiram by pretending she wrote that threatening letter from season one?
Mrs Cooper lied to the mortician.
Now, this one you might have missed. After Mrs Cooper "consults her ghoulish friend" in the morgue about Miss Grundy's cause of death, he asks her if she knew the victim. She says no, but how can we forget last season, when Alice ran Grundy out of town? This only adds fuel to the most viable killer theory so far: that Betty's father shot Fred and maybe Alice is helping to cover it up.
Reggie Mantle has a death wish.
When delivering the Jingle Jangle (sigh) to Archie, Reggie (now played by Charles Melton) breaks into the Andrews home in - yes, really - a black hood like the killer was wearing. So it's no surprise when Archie attacks him, thinking it really is the killer. What did you expect, Reggie, you psycho? But he does come in second for line of the week: "Only a dumbass lunatic takes a baseball bat to a gun fight." You might want to look in the mirror, bub.
OMG, they shot Moose.
Remember Moose, the footballer Kevin secretly hooked up with in season 1? Well, he and the girl he had in his car are the killer's latest victims. Yes, a character named Moose is getting more action than you.
Betty Cooper has always been "Dark Betty."
To get Cheryl to testify on behalf of FP, Betty threatens the head Vixen with the tape of her brother's murder: "One click and the darkest chapter of your family’s twisted psycho drama becomes a viral sensation." And when Cheryl's testimony doesn't seem like it's working on the stand, one quirk of Betty's brow had the Blossom scrambling to come up with another way to save FP. Did she really overhear her father threatening the Southside Serpent? It almost doesn't matter.
In showing Betty and Archie's descent into fear and madness, Riverdale is doing an incredible job at subverting the concept of the girl/boy-next-door. The truth is, Betty never needed a wig to go to the "dark." To be quite honest, Betty scares me and she should scare you too.
[editoriallinks id='374dca75-495c-4c82-be29-4e3e0b1d3cec'][/editoriallinks]
You Might Also Like