Riverdale Season 4 Returns after Midseason Finale: What are These Crazy Seniors Up To?
So you know those shows where you’ve been watching them for a while and it seemed like a good idea at first, but the show has been sort of declining and you’re just stuck with it. Yea, me too. Many shows have done that to me where I was into it at first and then it sort of turned wonky, but I continue to watch because I at least want to know how it ends. Riverdale has now been added to this list. I was not one initially into Riverdale, but so many of my co-workers were talking about it so I finally turned on Netflix and gave season 1 a try.
Oh, and I was hooked. I binged the entire first season in one day and I never really been that kind of show binger. Since then I have stayed with the show, but feel the writers have really put us in a lot of WTF moments in these later seasons. Season 4 has been no different, but I will say it has been a little bit more interesting than the earlier seasons. With the return of season 4 after its mid-season break, I wanted to recap on what has happened so far and my predictions going forward.
Our Riverdale teens are finally seniors even though we barely see them participate in any normal school functions or classes anymore. Either way, they have finally made it and all have been dealing with their own personal demons. With the passing of Archie’s father, Archie is continuing his behavior of being some sort of superhero vigilante whose duty is to protect Riverdale at all costs. Archie that is cute and all and kudos for trying to make your dad proud, but do you think maybe you can take a little break and take Veronica out to dinner or something. I mean honestly, you have Veronica dealing with her dad, Archie dealing with gangs, and then they see each other get in bed, and afterward tell each other oh you know same old same old just fighting crime and a crime lord. They need to have some fun other than heading straight to the sheets.
Then we have Veronica’s demons which are pretty much still going back and forth with her dad thinking she hates him but is still trying to be a Lodge and entertain him. Seriously though her dad is a sick man. I mean why would any grown man play so many games with his daughter and try to power over her so she doesn’t succeed. It is beyond me unless it’s his sick little way of pushing her to be better and do more. I don’t know for sure, but even though I’m pretty sure the therapist told Veronica to stop obsessing over her dad, Veronica doesn’t seem to know when to quit. She is now trying to take him over in the world of alcohol and even turned down Harvard because she knew he wanted her to go there. Girl, it’s Harvard! You don’t turn down Harvard because of Daddy issues; you turn down Harvard when you’ve also been accepted to Princeton, Columbia, and Yale. Not sure if either one of them is smart at this point.
On the other side of things, we have missed Betty Cooper, sweet sweet Betty or you would think. Betty is definitely dealing with the worst inner demons in that she is basically battling herself. For a while now, we have seen Betty struggle with the idea that she might be evil just like her father; maybe she is a serial killer as well. Everyone around her finds this so crazy because Betty has always been a strong, clever, heroic, sweet girl who protects her friends. That hasn’t stopped the fact she keeps finding more pieces of herself which all lead to being a dark person. Her storyline in general is a strange one because we as an audience are to believe she is dark by having serial killer genes. Somehow her genetics are programmed to make her killer, I mean that is a very bizarre storyline for the girl next door. With her dark side being thrown out there, more and more have tried to use it against her as the farm, but more specifically now Evelyn.
Evelyn created some sort of hypnosis trick to use on those closest to Betty to try and kill Betty. Betty being the clever one that she is figured out Evelyn’s tricks and tried to use them to defeat herself. By the end of it, she thought she was able to remove or “kill” Dark Betty within the inside of her. Oh but Betty, now we saw you do a little something crazy to your supposed love.
This brings us to our next leading man, my favorite, Jughead Jones. Jughead was pretty much the reason why I was able to binge the first season like I did, but now something might happen to our fearless Serpent King. Which by the way, are the Serpents even a thing anymore? Anyways the most interesting part of this new season is these moments in the future where we see Jughead’s closest friends being the cause of his death. Yes, Jughead is supposedly dead. From the beginning though, I have pretty much-called shenanigans on the whole ordeal.
Jughead has left Riverdale High to go to an elite prep school and focus on his writing. He has even won a contest where he is the new author for a continuing book series which leads me to believe his death is a story. I believe he is faking his own death for a book and creating the ultimate mystery. I have to admit with each scene the writers keep throwing at us, it is getting harder to believe Jughead is not dead, but I’m sticking to my guns. With the way shots of the future scenes are and how storytelling they look, I believe it’s all in Jughead’s mind. I could be totally off though; you never know with Riverdale. The only other thing I could think of is Jughead is faking his death to get away from those snobby prep school freaks who might also be trying to kill them. I’m not sure, but I know I do not trust them one little bit. I mean they’re in some sort of secret society now. How many weird little cult freaks are we going to get in this series?
Last, but not least, I did not want to leave out Choni because they fight enough for screen time. Cheryl and Toni have been dealing with their own little mysteries inside Thistle House specifically being haunted by a creepy doll who is supposedly Cheryl’s unborn triplet. Cheryl’s Nana Rose made Cheryl believe she had another brother named Julian who was unborn because she overtook him in the womb. So now the doll would not disappear and continue to haunt Cheryl and Toni while numerous Cheryl family members tried to come in uninvited and rule Cheryl out. Thanks to Cheryl and Toni not backing down attitude, it wasn’t long for them to be rid of the uninvited guests. Cheryl was going to find out the truth of the shenanigans which of course her mother ended up being behind all of it. Now Cheryl has her mother in her clutches and Toni is still kind of just there. Still not sure when we will ever get more storyline for Toni, but at least we still have her; where is Sweet Pea?
With all of these crazy mysteries and inner struggles, I think Riverdale might have finally caught my interest back. I am very curious to see what is going on with Jughead and his new school because all in all, it is a very fishy situation. Plus if Betty really did what she did and is darker than we all believed, I will be shook. As much as I would hate Jughead to die, it would be really brave of the writers to twist a story so much and give us what we never thought to expect. I’m not sure they have those kinds of guts though and I’m sticking with my theory Jughead is just fine. On a side note, wouldn’t it be so annoying if, by the end of this show, Jughead made all of this up for books and never actually knew Betty, Archie, or Veronica. That would be pretty crazy, but also a huge cop-out. Just going to have to wait and find out.
What do you think is happening with Jughead? Will the core four finally spend more time together? Is Veronica going to lose to her dad? Who really is Betty anymore? Let me know in the comments below your thoughts for the new season and be sure to like, share, and subscribe to get notified of new posts. All you have to do is enter your email on my home page and you’re all set. Also be sure to follow Bombshell’s social media pages on Facebook (@bombshellgamingandstyle), Twitter (@bombgame_style), and Instagram (@bombshellgamingstyle). Until next time my Bombshells, Bye!
