In the latest ‘Riverdale’ recap, Archie’s secret starts slipping out as Betty and Veronica begin digging into Miss Grundy’s past…
By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer
Everybody’s keeping secrets in Riverdale.
Archie Andrews has been having an illicit affair with his music teacher Miss Grundy for months, right under the noses of his friends and family, but their secret was finally exposed this week after too many prying eyes became privy to what was really going on in those private lessons.
Hermoine Lodge has a secret about her real reason for returning home to Riverdale and contact with her husband Hiram Lodge, who was sentenced to prison for embezzlement and fraud. Hermoine has secretly been orchestrating a land deal since the day she arrived in town but it’s not long before her daughter Veronica starts asking questions.
And finally Jughead Jones — the town’s narrator — might have the most hearbreaking secret of all because he spends most of this week’s episode trying to save the last drive-in theater left in operation in Riverdale but his real reason behind salvaging the place isn’t revealed until the very end along with a closer look at his family tree.
With that said, let’s recap the latest episode of ‘Riverdale’ titled ‘Chapter Four: The Last Picture Show’…
Here’s To You Mrs. Robinson
Following last week’s revelation that Miss Grundy’s car was spotted at Sweetwater River on the morning of Jason Blossom’s disappearance, it doesn’t take long for Betty, Veronica and the others to begin piecing together that she wasn’t there alone. That same morning, Archie Andrews was there “working on his music” but Jughead knows that he was really there with his music teacher reliving “The Graduate” in 2017.
To make the situation even more awkward, Archie and his dad attend a concert where Miss Grundy is playing and afterwards Fred Andrews insists that she go to dinner with them. Of course because Pop’s Chock-Lit Shoppe is clearly the only restaurant in town, that’s where they end up, which is the same place where Betty, Veronica, Jughead and Kevin are chowing down as well.
After spotting Archie with Miss Grundy, Betty can’t help herself but to confront her best friend about what she suspects is happening.
Outside, Archie essentially confesses before Betty can even really accuse him of anything and by that time Veronica has ventured outside and heard the whole thing as well. Now both Betty and Veronica know that sweet, boy next door Archie has been getting it on with his music teacher for a whole summer.
Archie begs them to keep things a secret, but this is too juicy for Veronica to forget and Betty can’t possibly believe that Miss Grundy doesn’t have some sort of ulterior motive.
The next day at school, Betty conducts a terribly invasive interview with Miss Grundy under the guise of a story for her paper. Betty discovers that Miss Grundy has given private lessons to students prior to Archie including her star pupil from a year ago, Jason Blossom.
Betty’s search continues on the internet but strangely there’s nothing attached to Geraldine Grundy except for the information that pops up a year ago when she first showed up in Riverdale and a woman sharing the same name that died seven years ago. Betty tries to convince Archie that there’s more to Miss Grundy than she’s letting on, but he doesn’t want to hear her accusations.
That night Betty and Veronica wander over to Miss Grundy’s house and break into her car looking for information. Little do they know that Archie is inside her house enjoying a night alone with Miss Grundy but outside Betty and Veronica are discovering this music teacher is more than meets the eye.
In a lockbox in the back of her car, Betty finds an ID with Miss Grundy’s photo and the name ‘Jennifer Gibson’. To make matters even more bizarre, the lockbox also contains a gun.
Snake in the Grass
Since returning to Riverdale, Hermoine Lodge has gone from the princess of Park Avenue to a milkshake slinging waitress as Pop’s — a far cry from her former life in New York City. But when Cheryl Blossom busts Hermoine arguing with a member of the Southside Serpents — a notoriously rough biker gang in Riverdale — she can’t wait to rat that news to Veronica.
When Veronica confronts her mother about it, Hermoine plays it off as an old friend from high school who tried to get a little too friendly and she had to put him in her place.
Meanwhile, the last drive-in theater in Riverdale is closing and that doesn’t sit well with Jughead Jones. Not only does he work there but he believes this theater is one of the last connections from the Riverdale of old to the new sprawling town that’s beginning to develop.
Jughead goes to visit the mayor, but she brushes him off — especially considering the land that the theater sits on is about to sell for a lucrative price to a private buyer. Jughead then asks Fred Andrews to delay demolition now that his construction company won the bid to tear down the theater. Fred tells Jughead he can’t do anything about it because if he doesn’t tear it down, someone else will and his company could use the business.
Jughead then mentions how Fred has now managed to tear down two Joneses in recent years by taking the theater away from him and while firing his father from a construction job at his company. Fred reminds Jughead that his dad was busted stealing materials from a job site, and by the end of the episode we finally meet Mr. Jones for the first time.
With the clock running out on the drive-in, Jughead proposes one final movie night where he will show “Rebel Without a Cause” as everyone in town comes to attend and say goodbye to their favorite makeout spot growing up.
Betty, Veronica and Kevin are joined by Cheryl Blossom, who just sort of invites herself to the party. Kevin ends up leaving to get popcorn but really just wants to get away from all the kissing happening in all the cars around him while he’s still miserable and alone.Thankfully by the end of the night, Kevin ends up locking lips with a Southside Serpent named Joaquin. Remember, Kevin is the sheriff’s son and the Southside Serpents are considered bad news around town so this relationship should get rather interesting.
Meanwhile, Hermoine went to the movies with her old friend Fred Andrews, but has to split on him after receiving a text message. She exits the truck to meet with that same Southside Serpent (played by Skeet Ulrich) before handing him a stack of cash. This time, Veronica spots her mother’s transaction and knows that there’s a lot more to this story than Hermoine is letting on.
Back at home, Veronica confronts her mother and that’s when Hermoine tells her the truth. Earlier in the day, Hermoine showed up at the mayor’s office with a bag of cash — that same bag of cash she found in their apartment on the day they showed up in Riverdale — and it turns out that was used to purchase the drive-in and the land it sat on. Hiram Lodge has been the secret buyer this entire time and he’s still orchestrating things from prison.
It turns out, Hiram agreed to pay the Southside Serpents to drive down the value of the land where the theater sat so he could purchase it at a premium price. Whatever he has planned for this plot of land, Hermoine believes it will put the Lodge family back on track to expense accounts at the finest stores and dinner every night at a five star restaurant.
The End of Innocence
When Betty finally confronts Archie with what she found out about Miss Grundy, he finally realizes that he really doesn’t know that much about the woman he claims to love. So later that night, Archie hits her with the question point blank — who is Jennifer Gibson?
According to Miss Grundy, she was in an abusive relationship with a drunk, who would routinely beat her so savagely that she would end up in a hospital and then he would claim no memory the next day before apologizing for whatever he may have done. The repeated abuse finally forced her to leave her husband and Jennifer Gibson left Minnesota and found a new home in Riverdale under the name Miss Grundy, where she has been the music teacher for the past year.
That driver’s license is the last remnant of her old life and that gun is just in case her ex-husband ever finds her.
Of course, Archie falls for it immediately and comforts Miss Grundy but something tells me her story is a little too convenient for what this too-hot-for-teacher might be hiding.
While all of this has been happening, Alice Cooper is still plotting to keep her daughter away from Archie all together. She even visits Archie’s dad and tells him to keep his son away from Betty. Back at home, Alice is putting away Betty’s laundry when she finds a revolver hidden in one of her drawers. It seems Betty didn’t just find Miss Grundy’s gun — she took it!
Alice then makes a mad dash for Betty’s diary to find out what she’s been doing or what she’s talking about and that’s when she discovers the notes about Archie’s affair with Miss Grundy. Of course, Betty has been keeping notes this entire time.
Back at school the next day, Archie gives Miss Grundy a gift — a very expensive bow for her cello — but then suggests that they cut off the music lessons because this entire situation is getting a little too close for comfort, especially considering how much trouble she might find if people discover their secret.
Too late!
Alice shows up with Betty and Fred Andrews in tow and confronts them both about what’s been happening. Alice is ready to put Miss Grundy behind bars while Archie is doing everything to stop them from hurting her after he made this choice as much as she did. Betty finally speaks up and tells her mother that if she tries to put Miss Grundy in jail for this than she will confess to breaking into her car, stealing her gun and possibly breaking down just like her dear sister Polly.
The threat works and Alice backs off — so long as Miss Grundy quits working at the school and leaves town immediately. She agrees and promises to be out of Riverdale by the next day. Archie is heartbroken, but his dad consoles him as best he can given the circumstances surrounding this dangerous love affair.
Betty apologizes profusely for her part in this whole mess and Archie forgives her because he knows she only had his best interests at heart. The next morning, a scandalous looking Miss Grundy gets in her car while making eyes at a couple of Riverdale jocks walking by. There’s no telling if Miss Grundy had anything to do with Jason Blossom’s murder, but there’s definitely more to her story than she’s letting on and it’s not likely she’s gone from Riverdale for good.
Broken Home
Following a night out at the movies, Kevin and his sheriff father return home to find their door ajar. Inside they find that Sheriff Keller’s office has been ransacked including his ‘True Detective’ like wall that he had built while investigating Jason Blossom’s murder.
And finally back at the drive-in theater, Jughead packs up the last of his things, including some photos and personal belongings. As we spot the bed in the back of the projection room it’s clear this is where Jughead has been living and now it makes it even clearer why he didn’t want this drive-in to be demolished.
Outside the theater, Jughead leaves his mark one last time by spray painting ‘Jughead Jones was here’ on the wall before running into that same Southside Serpent who took the money from Hermoine Lodge.
They engage in some back and forth conversation before the Serpent asks Jughead where he’s going to live now that the theater is being torn down. Jughead responds by saying “I’ll figure it out, dad”.
Yep, the Southside Serpent is actually FP Jones — Jughead’s dad.
SOUNDTRACK
“Waves” by Dean Lewis
“Riverdale” returns with a brand new episode next Tuesday night at 9pm ET on the CW
https://youtu.be/TvjaJN0jfzQ
