This episode of Riverdale, titled “Chapter Eight: The Outsiders,” provides more clues into who killed Jason. With Forsyth giving Jason drugs to sell and hiding Jason’s jacket, and Alice talking about what she’s capable of, they’re both big suspects. Alice, meanwhile, takes a step closer to reuniting with Polly. But will Polly choose the Coopers or the Blossoms? And Fred’s business gets into some serious trouble.
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Can Fred Save the Business?
Jughead has been staying at Archie and Fred’s house on Riverdale, and Fred’s about to break ground at the drive-in, which is a little awkward for Jughead since he used to live there.
The problem? One of Fred’s workers says Mr. Blossom has a big project that guarantees two years work, so he and the crew have to pull out of Fred’s project. Archie later overhears Fred begging people to work for him, and he tells Archie that the business has been in trouble for a while.
So Fred goes to confront Mr. Blossom. He explains that the drive-in land used to belong to the Blossom family. He was trying to buy it back, but the mysterious buyer bought it first. He’s going to halt construction until the mysterious buyer — who we know is Mr. Lodge — gives up. Fred tells Hermione the problem. She, of course, doesn’t reveal who the mysterious buyer is.
Luckily, they have a solution! Archie and his friends show up to work for Fred as his crew. It’s pretty cute. Later, though, Moose realizes he forgot his phone at the site. He goes back to see some guys destroying the equipment, so they beat him up! They leave a message: as longs as they keep working, they’re going to keep coming back.
Who Attacked Fred’s Equipment?
The sheriff comes over, and they debate whether the Blossoms or the Serpents attacked. They both have their reasons: the Blossoms want the land and the Serpents got kicked off the land. The sheriff isn’t too helpful.
Archie’s furious and later tells Val that he has to do something and storms out. He finds the group at Pop’s and tells Jughead that he and Moose are tracking the Southside Serpents. Betty says the Serpents are dangerous drug dealers, and Jughead’s pretty hesitant and defensive. Of course, we know his dad’s a Southside Serpent, but they don’t. He refuses to go with Archie, and Archie gets super pissed.
Archie, Moose, Kevin and the Serpent that Kevin’s hooking up with go to a bar that the Southside Serpents hang out in. Moose says one of the guys looks familiar, so Archie confronts him, and they get into a fight until Jughead’s dad, Forsyth, breaks it up.
Archie and Forsyth talk alone, and Archie accuses him of trying to get payback against his dad, but Fred shows up, and Frosyth reveals that he called him the second that Archie walked into the bar. Frosyth blames Fred for him turning to the Serpents when he lost his job, but he denies that his gang wrecked the equipment. He even offers to investigate who did it. While they talk, though, Archie disappears.
Will Polly Choose the Coopers or The Blossoms?
Riverdale finally reveals the backstory of Polly and Jason’s romance. They had a secret relationship, were pressured to break up when they were caught, Polly got pregnant, they got back together, they secretly got engaged and they planned to run away.
Polly talks to the sheriff about their plan to run away. Jason decided to sell drugs one time because they needed money. He was working with the Southside Serpents. But his car went down in flames, along with everything Polly had of Jason, including her ring.
Back at school, Betty and the gang talk about how Polly and Betty’s parents want Polly but not the baby, while the Blossoms want the baby and not Polly. She can’t win. Veronica suggests that she and her mom throw Polly a baby shower, though. They can invite her parents, so the healing can begin.
Suddenly, Alice shows up and pulls Betty and Veronica aside. The sheriff told Alice that Polly’s been staying with Veronica and her mom, but Betty tells her to be loving and supportive and go to the baby shower or stay away.
Polly’s hesitant about the baby shower. She wants her mom there, but she doesn’t want to fight. The problem? She also wants Mrs. Blossom there so she can prove that she’ll be a good mother. Hermione pulls Veronica aside and says it’s a terrible idea to have the Coopers and Blossoms over, which is obvious. Plus, the Blossoms want the drive-in’s land, so she’s been avoiding them. Veronica begs Hermione to convince Alice to come, though.
So Hermione meets Alice at Pop’s. Alice wants her daughter back and her family back together, but Polly’s a teenager and the baby’s father has been murdered. She can’t raise a child like that. “Mothers do it every day. We do it,” Hermione says. She tells Alice to help her daughter or she’ll regret it. Later, Polly tells Betty that she wants her to be the baby’s Godmother.
Finally, it’s time for the baby shower. And Alice does show up! It’s a pretty emotional reunion. Suddenly, though, the Blossoms show up and Cheryl kind of, sort of, jokes that she wants to be the Godmother. Mrs. Blossom also apologizes to Polly and says she was wrong. Can it be? A gathering without any drama? I’m not buying it.
Cheryl’s grandmother does some ritual and reveals that Polly’s pregnant with twins: a boy and a girl. Then Polly opens gifts. Her mom gives Polly her old nightlight, which she saved all these years. But Archie shows up to the baby shower in the middle of everything and announces that Jughead’s dad is a Serpent.
The Blossoms then invite Polly to stay with them and say she and the baby will want for nothing. Of course, that sets Alice off, and they go at each other. Polly gets super emotional and says that Jason died because of their hate. Of course, a simple baby shower couldn’t go right.
Alice apologizes to Polly after the baby shower, but Polly points out that Mrs. Blossom didn’t send her away; Alice did. She was alone in the home she was sent to, and Jason died. Alice begs her to come home and swears that she won’t feel that way again. Her dad will just have to get over it. But then Polly asks if her dad would make another “appointment” for her. Alice has no idea that he wanted her to get an abortion.
So Alice confronts her husband about the abortion. “So you did to Polly exactly what you did to me,” she says. What? He argues that Alice wasn’t ready and neither was Polly. Now Polly’s life is ruined. Alice says Polly’s moving back, but he refuses to raise a child with Blossom blood. So Alice kicks him out! She says to get out before she does something she regrets, and by now he knows what she’s capable of. Oh my god. What does she mean? Did she kill Jason?
Betty tells Polly that Alice kicked their dad out, and she can come home now. But in the end, Polly goes to the Blossoms’ house. Why? Betty and Alice are devastated. Mrs. Blossom assures Polly that she’ll be safe there. But is she really?
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Did Forsyth Have Anything to Do with Jason’s Death?
Archie comes home and tells Fred that he wants to pull his weight around here. Fred says he tried to build stuff his whole life. He tried to build a family, but that didn’t work out. He tried to build Archie a safe life, and the jury’s still out on that. He pours concrete. He’s a builder. That’s who he is. Archie says he thinks it would be cool if he had a kid who didn’t want to be a musician but wanted to build things. This was their legacy.
Betty, meanwhile, finally talks to Jughead about his dad. He never told her that his dad was a Serpent because he was ashamed, but she tells him she wants to know everything about him if they’re going to be together. Still, they need to talk to Forsyth because he could know something about Jason.
Betty and Jughead ask Forsyth about Jason’s deal with the Serpents. Forsyth admits to it, but he never told the cops about it. They know about it now, though, so they’ll probably come talk to him. The Serpents figured that Jason stole the drugs until the body was found. Jughead flat-out asks if Forsyth had anything to do with Jason’s death, but he says he’s not a killer. Jughead believes him, and Betty believes Jughead. Of course, we know Forsyth has Jason’s jacket.
Jughead then tells Archie that he didn’t tell Archie about his dad because he was afraid his dad had something to do with these crimes. And at the end of the day, he’s his dad. Archie says Jughead can talk to him, though. They’re brothers.
Back at Forsyth’s house, he tells the kid who brought Archie and his friends to the bar to hide Jason’s jacket to keep getting close to Kevin. The Serpent seems a little uncomfortable, though, because Kevin actually likes him.
The next day, Forsyth and his friends show up to Fred’s site and offer to work for him. Fred agrees. Then Forsyth talks to Hermione and reveals he learned that her husband found out about her relationship with Fred and sent those guys to destroy the equipment.
So who ratted Hermione out? And what did you think of the rest of the episode? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
Riverdale season 1 airs Thursdays at 9/8c on The CW. Like BuddyTV’s Facebook page.
(Image courtesy of The CW)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
