‘Riverdale’ Recap: Introducing, The Dark Side Of Betty Cooper

Plus, what exactly what Cheryl guilty of? It may surprise you.

Let’s start with the theme of this week’s episode: Girl. Power. Veronica landed a date with Chuck Clayton, Mr. Popular at Riverdale, which seemed all chummy until he posted to Instagram that she got a “sticky maple” from him. Betty was determined to put a stop to that, so she started asking around — apparently Chuck and his friends were harassing a ton of girls, including Ethel (Shannon Purser!). She revealed that the guys on the team actually have a “playbook” where they kept score.

Cheryl refused to believe it since her beloved brother was the co-captain of the football team with Chuck — but she couldn’t deny it any longer after they found the playbook with Polly’s name next to Jason’s. They could bring it to the principal, or get even. So a brand new Betty — black wig, lace bra-wearing Betty, teamed up with Veronica to seduce him.

No Slut Shaming Allowed

After they forced him to admit that all he and Veronica did was make out, Betty went a little far; she put muscle relaxers in his drink, handcuffed him to the hot tub, then Betty turned up the heat literally. She called him Jason, and made him apologize to Polly. Even Veronica was pretty shocked and when she asked her about it the next day, she didn’t even remember calling him Jason, and didn’t see it as a big deal. She also published the exposé in the paper, getting half of the football team cut from the team. According to Jughead’s voiceover, that cutting would “have terrible consequences in the weeks to come.”

Yes, this time Shannon Purser got #JusticeForEthel (hey, at least there’s some sort of Justice for her!), and Betty got to give Polly the justice she deserved. Along with Cheryl, they burned the playbook.

‘Riverdale’: Photos From Season 1

As for Cheryl, we found out what she was guilty of was lying about what happened on July Fourth, since he actually wasn’t dead until the 11th. However, the last time she saw him was on the Fourth — Jason actually made a plan to stage his death to disappear, and said he’d call her a week later when he got settled. Cheryl also told the police she heard a gunshot, so Archie came forward and told them he heard one too.

Cheryl then did a favor for Archie, getting Josie to let him to sit in on their rehearsals — since Grundy cut off his rehearsals. He helped them write a song they performed at the town’s event, which he had to sneak out to see. There, he saw his dad talking to Miss Grundy; she told Fred that his son was very talented and pretty much convinced him he was serious about music. Betty’s mom also finally got the slap she deserved at the event — from Cheryl and Jason’s mother.

Betty on the other hand, tried to solve Jason’s murder by enlisting Jughead to join the school paper so that together, they could figure out what really happened. So when Jug started looking into the Dilton Doiley, the head of the boy scouts who was also at the lake that day, he found out that he actually fired the gun. However, Dilton told Betty and Jug that he had a better story for them: Miss Grundy was at the lake that day. So, it wouldn’t be long until Betty put the pieces together.

My killer theory of the week: Miss Grundy. Again.

HollywoodLifers, do you think Miss Grundy could have killed Jason?