S04.E15: Chapter Seventy-Two: To Die For

[Josh371982]

On 3/5/2020 at 9:31 PM, tennisgurl said:

I am shocked, shocked to find out that Jughead isnt actually dead! Shocked I say! Well at least they didnt drag it out for too terribly long, I did love Donna becoming a sort of audience surrogate for a second, yelling at Betty to just admit that they are obviously up to something and that Jughead is alive, and everyone else coming to agree. I still dont know if all of this was really needed just to take down the preppies, and all of the subterfuge is really over the top, even by this shows standards! They were even keeping it up when they were alone, did they think that Donna and Brett were using a bug in their bedroom to listen...actually I can totally see that happening, never mind! At least they seemed to be doing a better job at selling their fake grief this week, last week they all acted like freaking robots with faulty programming.

So are they kind of playing with the idea of Barchie? I can kind of get it, as the Archie/Betty/Veronica love triangle and Archie switching between them is one of the more famous aspects of the comics, but I hate the idea of date swapping between friends, its just so weird and can lead to so many hurt feelings. I mean, even though Archie and Veronica and Jughead and Betty have basically been in different shows until now, they are all still technically best friends, making inter-dating way too complicated. I dont think it will happen this season, but maybe next?

Nana Rose should clearly be a part of every documentary ever. "Its bathed in blood! Blooooood!" Alice's documentary should have been called "tons and tons of murders in a small death trap of a town" as I think its been made clear that this place is built on a particularly gothic hellmouth. I did like seeing the interviews with a bunch of the supporting characters, like of course Reggie is just pissed that Jughead pulled the ultimate prank, and I am amazed that the show remembers that Toni and Jughead used to be close, back when Toni had stuff to do other than be Cheryl's girlfriend. Speaking of Cheryl, of course she wears a veil to Jugheads funeral, and both comforts Betty and sends pics of her and Archie kissing just to start shit. Cheryl is just chaotic neutral like that. 

Archie awkwardly covering his chest when Veronica's sister was checking him out was hilarious. Oh Archie. 

The parents reactions to their kids being accused of murder were all so them. 

Hiram: Stands angrily in a corner saying denying Veronica is involved.

Mary: Keeps telling Archie not to say anything and being full lawyer and protective mom. 

Alice: Tells Betty that she always figured that Betty would black out and beat someone to death one of these days. 

Those scenes also reminded me why I can't stand Alice most of the time 

[rmontro]

On 3/5/2020 at 7:48 PM, HeatLifer said:

Betty and Archie kissed as part of a ruse and oops...did it mean more? None of this was planned or what they wanted or set out to do. This also doesn’t mean either of them are going to leave their relationships. We’re skipping too far ahead into the potential story. 

My guess is that if they insist on following through with this story, Betty and Jughead will break up before anything happens.  That way, even though it will rub some people the wrong way, it will at least be defensible. 

I suppose Archie and Veronica should be broken up also, but for whatever reason I don't see them as being as serious a relationship as Betty and Jughead.  They just have more gravitas, probably because the actors were involved in real life.  

[ruby24]

Given how much Veronica hates Hermosa, I kinda wouldn't be surprised if they turned her into some sort of villain who's not really Hiram's daughter and has been scamming him for years or something. Just to bring Hiram and Veronica closer together, even.

[Maximum Taco]

Gotta say, I like Bret a lot more now that it's confirmed he has a crush on Archie. 

"That guy's built like a freaking SUPERHERO!"

I hope Arch lets him down easy. 

[rmontro]

17 minutes ago, Maximum Taco said:

Gotta say, I like Bret a lot more now that it's confirmed he has a crush on Archie. 

"That guy's built like a freaking SUPERHERO!"

They sure do like to make a lot of comments on Archie's physical attributes.  I don't think I remember anyone saying anything about the girls' figures though.  Seems a bit odd.

[ruby24]

I actually don't think Bret and Donna are bad as straight up villains, but they should have been acting like this all along. Though I don't buy that Donna can physically boss Bret around like that- she's tiny and he's the kind of frat jerk who would totally hit back if a woman slapped him.

[rmontro]

19 hours ago, ruby24 said:

I don't buy that Donna can physically boss Bret around like that- she's tiny and he's the kind of frat jerk who would totally hit back if a woman slapped him.

Maybe, but we don't know what Donna has on him.  She probably has information (and maybe video) that could be damaging to him if released.  Since she's the mastermind, she's supposed to be brilliant and ruthless.

[sweetandsour]

I deleted the episode from my DVR after watching it just once, and I'm not in the mood to pull up the very end through an on-demand service, but Hermosa apparently found out who Donna "really is" or something, yes?

I really hope it's something patently Riverdale-insane, like the Blossom twins really were triplets in the womb, and no, Cheryl never absorbed the third one, but Donna is the third Blossom.  She was obviously the odd one out after Penelope gave birth because Jason and Cheryl had wisps of red hair and Donna was a brunette.  So either Mr. and Mrs. Blossom gave Donna away to someone else, period, or it was part of some business transaction and Donna was considered the anomaly, so they chose her.  (Like if they were trying to secure a deal with another rich couple that couldn't conceive and wanted a baby in return.)  As such, Donna grew up in another family, but still in wealthy ranks, where she ended up at Stonewall, always the schemer and the puppet master because it's in her blood.  (The blood that Riverdale bathes in!)

I haven't gone back to read posts from previous episodes, but yes, it's obvious that Jughead is going to write his Baxter Brothers novel based on this, and it's going to invigorate the franchise and be the best selling installment ever, right?  That's one thing I've missed with Jughead allegedly being dead - shaking my head at his writing excerpts.  I'm probably repeating what others have said, but besides the fictional versions he's already named out loud (Jarhead (omg, so bad) and Bison), everyone else is totally going to be called things like Fred Jr, Luna, Penny Tale (in lieu of Betty), Bart, Dana, Mr. DuFont, etc.

 

[Cranberry]

The name substitutions smack of someone who thinks they're being soooo clever (I remember my friends and I making similar choices in our barely-disguised Mary Sue fiction back in junior high school). The writing we've heard him read out loud hasn't been very good, either! I honestly can't tell if the show's writers want/expect us to believe Jughead's an amazing writer.

[LadyChaos]

I'll be seriously disappointed with the faked death if we don't get flashbacks showing how they did it all.