Changing It Up

So I've decided to end this blog and start a new one with more of a general focus on pop culture. I've enjoyed writing this blog, but I just needed more freedom to write different kinds of posts and I felt the best way to get that freedom was to start over entirely. So thanks for reading, those of you who read this blog. If you want to follow over to my new blog No Original Thoughts, you can do so here. Thanks for coming on this ride with me. I hope to see you on the other side.

Kenny Sage

Jane The Virgin Meets Destiny in Chapter Sixty-Four

-This week in titles: Jane The Ordained.

-Wow. By Jane The Virgin standards, this was a pretty calm finale. I mean, yes there was a surprise pregnancy reveal, a wedding that threatened to turn into disaster every step of the way, multiple storms literal and figurative, another significant bus ride, a dangerous new alliance, secrets revealed, building romance, a big break-up, the life of one regular character threatened, the livelihood of another taken away and the arrival of a new (to us) love interest, but none of that really matches the emotional devastation of Mateo being kidnapped right after birth in season 1 or Rose shooting Michael in season 2. I'll certainly be curious about what happens next in season 4, but I definitely won't be an anxious as I was in the days leading up to the season 2 and 3 (especially 3) premieres. Which is a good thing. "Jane" already delivered the big gut-punch of the season back when Michael was killed at the mid-point. Had yet another season ended with some cataclysmic thing happening to Jane, it would've been too much to take. Instead we got an ending that was surprisingly hopeful (for the Villanueva's and Rogelio at least) and sets the stage for all kinds of possibilities going into season 4. It was a fitting end to a strong season of this wonderful show. So let's break down some of these developments a bit.

-Is there such a thing as destiny? Are people meant to come into each other's lives? Is love something that's meant to be? At the beginning of the series, Jane Villanueva would've answered "yes" to every one of these questions. She was a true romantic with a future that was all planned out and right in front of her. Even when she was accidentally inseminated and reconnected with a man she had a meaningful connection with one night years ago, it all seemed like destiny falling into place, and when she went to the altar with Michael after a long time apart, it felt inevitable, like it was supposed to happen. Over the course of the season though, as Jane lost Michael and grew older, her romanticism faded and she started to question the idea that things were "meant to be". Life isn't that easy. So when Jane tries to plan the wedding ceremony of her parents and tries to put into words why they're meant to be, nothing she comes up with feels right. She loves her parents and believes they have a true love so why can't she put it into words? Aren't they of all people meant to be? This question is where Chapter Sixty-Four does something surprising. It has Jane decide that no, Xiomara and Rogelio aren't meant to be. Instead, as the episode piles up obstacles and problems that threaten to derail the wedding entirely, it shows how Xo and Ro choose to be together, in the face of countless obstacles and three seasons worth of turbulence, they chose each other. It's not true love because it's meant to be, it's true love because they chose not to give up. It's a powerful idea for the show to explore and it does so masterfully, turning all the contrivances building throughout the episode that conspire to ruin the wedding from a tired old TV staple (You can probably count the number of TV weddings that go off without a hitch on one hand) into something more masterful, a sign of two people in love refusing to let anything stand in their way even when nature itself seemed aligned against them.

-I'll admit that I was a bit worried that something might ultimately end the engagement between Xo and Ro. So many times on "Jane", couples seem to be on the right track only to suddenly get pulled apart in less than an episode (For example, Rafael and Petra, who got together last episode and fell apart almost right away. We'll get to that). Xo and Ro have also had so many up and downs that it's hard to keep track of how many times they broke up and got back together. And yeah, they were solid now that Rogelio had reneged on his plans to have a kid of his own, but when Darci shows up heavily pregnant from the unprotected hate sex she and Rogelio had when they were together, it seemed quite possible that Rogelio and Xo would put their relationship on hold while they figured this out. Because it felt like the wedding might not happen though, that made it all the sweeter when Xo realizes that she's not going to walk away from Rogelio and does want to marry him after all.

-I was a bit disappointed that the idea of Rogelio wanting another kid had essentially been waved away because it made much of his season 3 arc and everything he went through with Darci into a way to stall for time until he changed his mind and got back with Xo as everyone knew he should. I should have had more faith in the "Jane" writers though. Darci being pregnant is a great way to show that Rogelio's quest to have a child does matter and will be affecting his life for a long time to come. It also means we get more Justina Machado, which is always a good thing.

-All the disasters and crises cause Xo and Ro to have a more intimate ceremony, which was at least partly because on a practical level the show probably couldn't pull off the kind of star-filled extravaganza a Rogelio wedding would demand. It works very well on a story level though, reinforcing that even with a ceremony with just their family, Rafael, Petra, and some random guests taking shelter from the storm, even with a muddied-dress and minimal lighting, as long as these two are together, they're still having their fairy tale wedding.

-The narrator mentioning that Xiomara looked beautiful to the people who loved her most was a wonderful callback to when Michael was trying stand-up and his set was well-received by the people who loved him most. Also with the way the narrator added an "including me" and the immediate shot of Mateo afterwards, I'm now pretty convinced that the narrator is a future Mateo who's written books about his mother's life.

-In an episode full of heart-warming tear-jerking moments, Alba yelling her heartfelt speech about how much she loves Xo and how proud of her she is so Xo wouldn't cry and ruin her make-up almost takes the cake. To be fair though, a letter from Michael written before he married Jane, explaining why he and her are meant to be is pretty damn hard to top.

-Though Jane The Virgin is a big fan of flashbacks, since Michael died, the show has refrained from using Brett Dier up until now. This is probably a wise choice. People needed time to adjust to the new status quo and having him pop up constantly in flashbacks would have been like rubbing salt in the wound, especially because you're immediately reminded of how charming and likeable Brett Dier is in the role. Tonight uses him well though as Jane's reverend informs her about a letter Michael wrote her before they got married that explained how he felt about her. This allows us to see flashbacks of Michael and Jane at their peak, about to be married and move into a home of their own, trading goofy banter and just being in love. Of course Jane would become fixated on trying to find this letter. Who wouldn't want to read new words from a loved one who was gone? It also ties into her story well and the episode's exploration of the idea of destiny. Jane wants to find this letter because it's a lost love letter from her dead husband, but also because if she could reconnect with her great love for a moment, then she might be able to use this letter as inspiration for the wedding ceremony. If she were to find this letter right before the ceremony, wouldn't that be meant to be? Ultimately she doesn't find the letter before the ceremony but the time she spends looking for it causes a series of events that lead her to the inspiration she needs on the bus.

-Fateful bus rides are one of those recurring motifs that "Jane" likes to work in at least once every season. Jane was on the bus the day she fainted and learned she was pregnant. She was on the bus when her water broke. She took the bus to her wedding. She takes the bus to her parent's wedding and this is where she sees an ad for upcoming book releases that includes a certain little book called Falling Snow by Jane Villaneuva. All of Jane's hard work and effort have paid off and the show uses this to have her come to her realization about what to say at Xo and Ro's wedding. Raf thinks seeing her name up there must feel meant to be but it doesn't feel meant to be for her because it wasn't easy. "Meant to be" implies something had to be easy but it took a lot of pain and strife and effort and hard choices to get this book published. The satisfaction Jane gets from seeing her name was the result of a choice she made to not give up and that leads her to realize exactly what she needs to say at the ceremony. It's a clever way to tie Jane's arc this year to the arc of her parents and the comparison feels totally natural. It's also a good way to have Jane realize that she no longer believes in destiny, right up until the ending when fate steps in (We'll get to that in a minute).

-With all the pressure Jane's under this episode and the spectre of Michael hanging over things, Jane's new-found feelings for Rafael are underplayed as she tries to ignore them. Unfortunately Petra picks up on them and becomes convinced that Rafael would still pick Jane over her if it came to it, which combined with a newly free Chuck trying to win her back winds up ending Petra and Rafael before they could really begin. It's a frustrating moment because even though Petra is right to be concerned that Jane has feelings for Rafael and her reaction is in-character, it also feels forced, like something thrown into the episode to manufacture maximum drama. Add in that intimate hug between Raf and Jane as they laugh off Petra's insistence that the two have feels for each other and the fact that Rafael's feelings for Jane are being kept ambiguous and it feels like the show is positioning things for a love triangle where everyone is on equal footing, which is less interesting than if Jane has to hide her feelings while Raf dates Petra. Of course, the episode kind of realizes this and has Petra off to get Raf back before she's waylaid, while Jane's ultimate decision to tell Rafael about her feelings also gets waylaid. Hopefully the show reverses this Raf/Petra break-up early on into season 4 because this feels like an unnecessary regression.

-OK, let's talk about that ending. So during the wedding reception, Petra and Rafael's assistant gives her the letter Michael had written, which she received from the previous owner of the house where Michael had stashed the letter who the current owners had contacted after Jane went there looking. It's a beautiful letter, designed to assure the Team Michael diehards that Jane and Michael truly were meant to be, give Jane permission to move on with Michael's "never doubt that I want you to be happy", and also make a strong case in favour of destiny. Sure Jane and Michael chose to be together, but they had only met at all because Michael stopped for a burger on his way back from a shift he wasn't supposed to be working and chose to answer a noise complaint. He made a bunch of random choices based on events that he had no way of controlling and he met the love of his life because of it. That's destiny. Meanwhile the series of choices that led to Jane getting the letter at all (Jane's choice to look for the letter, and check the old house, leading to the current owner's choice to contact the previous owner who had chosen to take that letter)  has brought her back to Adam, her first great love.

-As far as season-ending twists go, this is a strong one and a welcome wrench into the road to Jane and Rafael getting back together. Adam was hinted at several episodes back and the references to Jane falling in love and breaking up with him in the flashbacks meant his appearance wasn't really a surprise. Having him be in possession of the letter though was a definite surprise and a great way to tie up the episode's look into destiny. Jane and Adam sure seemed destined to cross paths again, but are they meant to be? We'll have to wait until next season to find out, but I'm excited to learn more about this previously unknown chapter in Jane's life.

-Jane's first love being named Adam (the first man) is a great biblical allusion. Bravo whoever came up with that name for the character.

-In crime plot news, Scott's killer is finally revealed and it turns out to be Eileen. Not Rose pretending to be Eileen, but the actual Eileen who Rose had paid to leave the country under threat of death. A drunken Scott saw her and fearing that he would say something to give her away, Eileen kills him and flees. It'd be an underwhelming conclusion to a mystery that ran out of steam a few episodes back if not for the fantastic use of The Midnight Runner's Come On Eileen, which scores the whole flashback sequence. It's now obvious that naming Rose's new identity Eileen was solely so they could use that song for this specific scene and that's wonderful.

-With Rose finally behind the bars, the show finds a surprising new antagonist when Luisa finds out that Rafael lied about his cancer coming back. As I mentioned last week, Luisa's arc this season has been about her trying not to choose between her girlfriend and her family. Last week she picked her family, and now risks losing the love of her life because of it. Luisa and Rafael have always had a strained relationship due to Luisa's addiction issues and general "trainwreck" status but Rafael has always felt a loyalty to her until he found out the truth about "Eileen". Justin Baldoni and Yara Martinez have always had terrific sibling chemistry that made it easy to care about their relationship so watching that relationship be completely destroyed over the course of a single scene as Rafael pours out all his pent-up frustration and resentment is hard to watch. It feels earned though, the natural culmination of everything that's happened between these two this season and it leads to exciting story possibilities going forward. It also leads to a fantastic use of the heartglow as the warm love that Luisa feels for her brother turns into black hatred. Luisa has been a character that the show has often struggled to use in a meaningful way, but her personal connections to the characters (Rafael in particular) and the sympathy that Martinez's performance generates should make her into a compelling antagonist for the next little while.

-I predicted that Luisa would use the clause in Emilio's will against Rafael to make him lose everything. I had forgotten however that Luisa didn't know that part of the "Rafael is adopted" saga. Enter Anezka. When Rafael's discarded (for good reasons) sister meets Petra's discarded (for good reasons) sister, I gasped in delight even before the #TwistedSisters hashtag popped up. It's just such a natural character pairing. Both of these characters love their siblings, but have inflicted a lot of hurt onto them while being hurt by them. Of course they would team up. Suddenly Scott fixing the will addendum all those episodes back becomes more than a misdirect about why he was killed and Luisa's vast knowledge about how alcohol works comes in handy to help make Anezka realize that Petra had drugged her the night "Scott" broke up with her. So Anezka steals Rafael's phone and lures a "wanting to get back together" Petra to a secluded spot where she's waiting with a gun. Luisa kicks Rafael out of the Marbella and officially takes control. It leaves both Rafael and Petra in a very uncertain place to end the season. Rafael has been defined by his wealth and privilege for so long, it'll be interesting to see how he reacts to losing it and how he'll fight back against Luisa. Meanwhile it seems unlikely that Petra will die or be replaced again, there's still a lot of damage that Anezka could do. I suspect she'll have Petra sign away her shares of the Marbella to her or Luisa. Whatever happens I'm excited to see where this all goes.

-Well that's it for Jane The Virgin season 3. This continues to be one of my favourite shows on TV and I'm going to miss it a lot while it's gone. October can't come soon enough.

Jane The Virgin Goes Full Fairy Tale in Chapter Sixty-Three

-So I've been dropping the ball on doing these "Jane" recaps the past couple weeks, but I'm hoping to pick that ball back up and finish the season strong.

-This Week in Titles: Jane the Maid of Honor

-One of the core themes of these Post-Michael episodes of "Jane" have been how Jane's views about love and romance has changed after all she's been through and that's a big part of Chapter Sixty-Three. Jane used to be an idealistic girl who was a strong believer in the idea of the fairy tale romance and it's "happily ever after". It's a big part of why she ultimately chose to wait until marriage before having sex. Now that she's had her fairy tale romance abruptly end though, she's lost that belief in "happily ever after" and doesn't take to fairy tales the way she used to (Her changing the ending of Cinderella to be more realistic about the struggles any lasting relationship faces, in addition to giving Cinderella a fulfilling job outside the monarchy is a total Jane move). The Jane of season 1 would've never been able to throw herself into a casual relationship like season 3 Jane. Jane's a bit more cynical now and her romanticism has faded. It hasn't vanished though and Chapter Sixty-Three has Jane trying to make a fairy tale romance come true for her parents, while starting to open again to it happening for herself.

-The theme for tonight's episode is (obviously) Fairy Tales, which allows for a lot of fun visual moments throughout, from the storybook recreation of Rafael and Petra's first season "romance" to Jane's constantly growing nose whenever she's lying through her teeth. It also allows for a lot of good narrative moments as fairy tales are universal enough that it's easy to filter everything through a fairy tale context.

-"Jane" has done an excellent job establishing what a strong bond Jane has with her parents, especially her mother, so when she throws herself into planning their "fairy tale" wedding after the original planners quit because they feel Xo is too old for "fairy tale", it's a totally in-character move for her. She loves her parents and would do anything to make them happy, even if it means running herself ragged trying to plan an extravagant wedding in a very short time-frame. Of course Jane's single-mindedness has it's consequences and her decision to put off ending her relationship with Fabian so she can get access to his horse trainer and stable of white horses winds up backfiring spectacularly.

-I missed writing about the episodes that compose the bulk of Jane's fling with Fabian but I've been very impressed with Francisco San Martin's performance. He takes what could have been a one-note meathead and imbues him with just enough substance that he's believable as a human being even if he's a fairly shallow one. So when Rogelio accidentally lets it slip that Jane was planning to break up with him, his retaliation is understandable, even if it's also immature and petty. We know that he was more invested in this relationship than Jane was so his genuine hurt keeps him sympathetic right up until he calls Jane a slut. Even then, he starts to regain sympathy when Jane assures him that he didn't mean nothing to her. He loses it again when he tries to punch Rogelio in the face, but it's a testament to San Martin that you still can't totally hate the guy. If this is the last we see of Fabian (And I hope it isn't), it's a fitting send-off for him.

-Xo being mad at Rogelio for missing all their appointments didn't really work for me as a source of drama. Yes, it's completely fair for her to be disappointed that she didn't get to do all this stuff with him and him escalating the stand-off with Fabian was unnecessary, but it feels like she's letting Jane off the hook too easy for her role in starting the whole mess by lying to Fabian. It did lead to the episode's best scene though, so I guess it's not all bad.

-Gina Rodriguez and Andrea Navedo have probably the best mother-daughter chemistry on television. The dynamic between Jane and Xo always feels believable and lived in. So it's nice that the episode found time for an extended sequence of them just getting drunk and talking through all their frustrations (Rodriguez and Navedo also do terrific "drunk" acting). It's a nice sweet scene as they talk about just wanting to see each other get their "fairy tale" romance. It also allows for the episode to address the "Michael" of it all a bit more naturally than if it had come up earlier in the episode. You can really feel the love pour through and it makes the sudden appearance of Rogelio (after a priority check text from Jane) with his carriage ride all the better. the scene also does a really good job establishing Jane's headspace as being back in romantic mode (albeit a very wasted romantic mode), which is important for the episode's next best scene (Of which I'll discuss more shortly).

-Jane's going to be officiating her parent's wedding, which is fitting (She is the perfect middle ground between a priest and Ricky Martin after all) and should also be very sweet.

-Rogelio brushes off the possible impact of walking off set to be with Xo because she's more important. It's a sweet moment, but now I'm anxious that Rogelio is going to get fired over this. Though if he did get fired, maybe that would lead to them finally doing "The Passions of Steve" in season 4. It always felt weird that that never amounted to anything beyond an excuse to keep Rogelio in his reality show for a bit longer.

-Of course the other significant thing Jane is dealing with this week is Petra and Rafael considering getting back together. The show has done a really good job getting us to root for Rafael and Petra (something that would've been unthinkable back in season 1) by making Rafael's renewed affection for his ex-wife feel like a natural and organic development for him. At the same time, it doesn't forget the significant baggage between these two characters. It took a long time for Petra to get over Rafael and she did some terrible things during that time. She's right to be wary and Jane's right to initially tell her not to get back with Rafael. By having their history up close and personal throughout the episode, it also makes the climatic scene where a very drunk Jane simultaneously advises Raf and Petra right into each other's arms all the more powerful. These two have been through a lot of bad, but it doesn't mean it's not worth trying again. That they're willing to do so is worth rooting for.

-Jane's initial objections to the idea of Rafael and Petra have a more selfish, yet understandable motive behind them too, one even Jane doesn't understand until later on. Jane's afraid that if Rafael and Petra are together, her and Mateo will be forgotten, like paupers in a fairy tale desperate for attention from the royal family. It's an irrational fear and Jane knows this, but it doesn't keep her from feeling hesitant. Of course once Rafael assures drunk Jane that he loves her and would never forget her or Mateo, that opens up a whole new set of worms.

-The other thing that makes Jane reuniting Rafael and Petra an emotionally effective moment is that it happens right as Jane is finding her romantic feelings for Rafael emerging. Now, I've expressed hesitation before about the show going back to the Jane/Rafael romance well, but I always knew we'd get back there eventually and this is a really smart way to handle it. For one, Rafael being with Petra again means we're still a ways away from Jane and Rafael actually being a couple again should they go that way (Unless Raf and Petra immediately break up in the finale, which is a plausible possibility.). For another, Jane is in a very vulnerable place when these feelings re-emerge, and all of her feelings are heightened. Her feelings for Rafael might not actually be romantic feelings, but after all the love talk with Xo, she's just reading them that way. At the very least, she doesn't seem to trust these feelings, which is why her pushing Rafael and Petra together has a tinge of desperation to it. Of course, it's also clear that this topic will be explored more in the finale, so I'm willing to wait to see where it goes before passing judgement. I trust Jennie Snyder Urman and her writers though, so I'm sure wherever Jane's new feelings for Rafael go, they'll be handled carefully and respectfully for all of us Team Michael people still with the show.

-Mentioning Raf's past with cancer in the recap is a necessary evil. It's brought up so infrequently that it does warrant a reminder, but the moment it's mentioned, you're tipping off the audience that it's going to be a significant plot point. "Jane" handled it well though, letting the fake-out with Raf telling Luisa his cancer had come back play out just long enough before revealing it as a ploy to lure Luisa back to town.

-Luisa's entire arc this season has been about her trying not to choose between her family and her great love, who has hurt her family over and over again. Having Rose masquerade as Eileen and trying to forget all that murder stuff ever happened was a very destructive move, but it fits in with what we know about Elisa. Of course it all comes crashing down tonight as Rafael uses his history with cancer to lure Luisa and Eileen back into the open, a move that's one of the more underhanded things Raf has done, but justifiable considering all Rose has done. So Luisa picks her family over her love once and now she stands to lose that love and her family, considering that Rafael's lie is sure to snap the last strand of connection between the two. It's a story that would be more effective if Luisa had been more integral to the season rather than a distraction we drop in on every several episodes or so but it still works here.

-Just when I thought "Jane" had run out of stories for Rose, she's finally captured and unmasked by the police. Hopefully she stays in police custody for a while. Rose on the run has been done to death at this point. Rose being put on trial for everything she's done over the course of the show so far? That could be an interesting crime arc for the show, especially since Jane has never really had the opportunity to confront Rose for kidnapping her son or for being directly responsible for Michael's death. Whatever happens, I hope Rose isn't broken out at the end of the season. At this point they're just prolonging her arc for no reason.

-Having that paper with the drawing of the woman Chuck met with turn out to be Eileen was a bit disappointing, if only because it made that entire cliffhanger cheap. That being said, I don't think she killed Scott. It seems too obvious to have her be the killer again and this whole plot has been leaning really hard on misdirects. So who killed Scott then? I'm going to think outside the box and guess Jorge, because we don't know for sure that Chuck was the "J.P." that the cops were so interested in, and we don't know Jorge's last name. It'd also be an easy way to add some much needed emotional stakes back into this story that has lost a lot of steam the longer it's been dragged out.

-What are the odds that an angry Luisa is going to reveal the truth about Rafael being adopted and not a legal heir to Emilio's fortune to the public in retaliation for his lying to her? Pretty good, I'd say, especially because the secret of his adoption is still a significant Chekov's Gun just waiting to go off.

-Rogelio explaining the wedding is happening next week for TV schedule reasons followed by a big bumper for next week's finale might be the best 4th-wall breaking joke "Jane" has done all season, though the Honey Bunches of Oats product placement comes close.

-Jane reflexively punching Fabian when he takes a swing at Rogelio and breaking his nose was a great pay-off to all that boxing that she's been doing.

-Next week: It's the season finale and Xo and Rogelio are finally getting married! Hopefully! This show loves throwing last-minute curveballs at these two and the promo seems to tease a huge curveball (I won't spoil what it actually is here. Just avoid promos for the finale if you can.).

Riverdale Chapter Thirteen: The Sweet Hereafter

-It happened guys. It actually happened. After a season of build-up and waiting, Jughead Jones finally ate a burger visibly on camera! Finally this feels like an Archie show! Talk about fan service! I'm surprised they didn't try to milk that moment for all it's worth but putting it in slo-mo while Reunited played or something like that. Anyways that was probably the most important thing that happened in the episode so we can probably wrap up this review now. Great season everyone! Just kidding. We're gonna talk about the rest of the episode too.

-Partway through The Sweet Hereafter, I had a revelation about this first season of Riverdale: this has all been a prologue for the real story they've been wanting to tell. This first season has been about a small, picture-perfect town with dark secrets behind it that a murder threatens to bring to the surface. While a group of teens try to get to the truth, no matter the cost, the rest of the town has essentially tried to ignore the murder and move past it, hoping that the whole thing would just go away. But the whole thing didn't go away and solving the death of Jason Blossom has only revealed just how dark, corrupt, and dangerous Riverdale is, no matter how much the mayor and her ilk try to ignore it or blame it on scapegoats. With our heroes established, their relationships in interesting places, and the stakes finally clear, the stage is now set for an explosive second season about the town trying to salvage it's soul at all costs. It's a risky move doing a whole season of TV that's basically set-up for the next season and few are able to pull it off, but Riverdale, with it's bold reimagining of comic book icons, anchored with strong performances, sharp wit, and a healthy dose of weirdness accomplishes it, making for a strong season that (mostly) never felt like we were waiting for the good stuff.

-I was a bit underwhelmed by the obvious reveal of Cliff Blossom as the killer last week but as the consequences of that reveal and the newly exposed drug syrup empire seep out this week, it becomes clear that this was 100% the best decision for the purposes of the story, which makes me like the reveal more and more. On an micro, episode-by-episode level Riverdale could be a bit of a mess, but I have a feel that the big picture, seasonal arc stuff is going to hold up well on a rewatch because of how structurally sound it all is.

-Another thing I realized during The Sweet Hereafter is that Archie's uselessness and disconnectedness from the murder mystery all season long has essentially been his arc for the season (Well, his arc for the season that wasn't about his music). Apart from his love of music, Archie's defining character trait is his love for his friends and family. All season long Archie has had to watch them suffer and deal with all this stuff and feel helpless about the whole thing. In The Sweet Hereafter, he decides to try and take action, first by the sweet, yet completely useless gesture of writing a song for his friends, and then by the actually impressive move of punching through a frozen pond to save Cheryl's life (Hey, buff Archie wound up having a story purpose!). It's a nice culmination for the character's journey this season and between this and the ending (more on that part in a bit), I'm actually interested to find out what's going to happen to Archie next season, which is more than I could say an episode ago.

-Alright, so I'm not trying to diminish from Archie heroically saving Cheryl's life, which was easily the strongest moment the character has had all season. That being said, why did he not alternate hands once the one he was using started heavily bleeding?! I get doing this single-handedly is more dramatic and probably more interesting on a visual level, but it feels like Archie breaking his hand (Which KJ Apa actually did while shooting that scene.) could have been easily avoided. Again, not taking away from what he did but I did find myself shouting "Alternate hands, you goon!" at my TV during that scene.

-Of all the characters on Riverdale, the one who has changed the most over the course of the season is Betty, going from a frustrated, reserved girl under the thumb of her mother to the confident, fierce young woman we saw tonight, willing to do whatever it took to make sure the truth about what happened wasn't ignored, even if it meant retaliation (Also, the pigs blood message and hanging voodoo doll seemed really hardcore for high school cruelty). I've been singing Lili Reinhart's praises all season long for how well she captures the core of Betty and she capped off a season of great performances in fine form tonight.

-Another thing I was impressed with in this episode of Riverdale: how well they pulled off the cliche "Hero gives big speech forcing everyone to confront unpleasant truths that the speech was supposed to help them avoid" scene. Every beat of it was predictable, down to the spontaneous standing ovation from everyone except the mayor yet it worked like gangbusters as the natural culmination to Betty's arc for the season. Again, I credit Reinhart who poured a lot of passion into every word of that speech, elevating what could've been a half-hearted summation of the season's themes into something special.

-So apparently the reason Riverdale was dancing around the word abortion a few weeks ago in reference to something Hal did to Alice was because they were actually talking about an adoption. Turns out Betty has a secret older brother out in the world somewhere. It's a surprising twist rooted in Archie history (Betty has two seldom-seen siblings in the comics) and it'll be interesting to see how they deal with this information going before. After all, if you introduce the idea of a secret brother, the laws of storytelling demand that you pay that off at some point.

-The most ridiculous sequence in the episode has to be the parts set at Southside High, where a newly transferred Jughead finds himself surrounded by a bunch of neighborhood toughs who look like rejected extras from Grease. There's a misdirect where it looks like the kids are going to beat him up or something but then he wins them over off-camera, probably by flashing the irresistible Cole Sprouse smolder.

-If you had asked me around the midpoint of the season how I expected Jughead's story to resolve, I would not have guessed him joining up with the Serpents, but the finale does a really good job showing how this is the natural conclusion to his arc for this year. Jughead's biggest desire all season was to have a proper home and a family to belong to. That's why he had gotten so hopeful about F.P. turning his life around, even though the chances of F.P. becoming a proper caretaker were slim. Now he's about to lose his father for a long time and has found himself being essentially ostracized and banished by the town he's stuck in. Yes he still has Betty and his friends, and the scene of him and Betty exchanging "I Love Yous" is incredibly sweet (I'm officially onboard with Bughead as a pairing now). Still, when the Serpents show up offering him family and a place to belong, it makes total sense that he'd put on that jacket. Jughead has found a way to feel closer to his father, but with Betty's fears of a distance growing between them and judging on that look she has as he puts on the jacket, season 2 could be putting Jughead at risk of losing the family he really needs. It's a compelling story for the character and I'm excited to see how it unfolds.

-I hope this isn't the last we see of Skeet Ulrich. He's added a lot of depth to what could've been a one-note character and he elevates the work of everyone around him with his performance.

-So... Cheryl is taking this whole thing pretty well. All season long Madelaine Petsch has played Cheryl as someone who's barely stable, just one push away from being sent completely over the edge. So it makes sense that finding out her father had killed her brother and learning that essentially everything she knew about her family was a lie would lead her to attempt to kill herself, especially with her mother basically saying that's what they should do. Madelaine Petsch is terrific playing this broken, desolate version of Cheryl and there's genuine tension in her scenes leading up to the moment where she falls through the ice. Of course a vision of zombified Jason seems to confirm to her that no, she doesn't want to die like this and by the end of the episode she's ready to embark on a new path, by burning down Thornhill. It's a stunning sequence that sets up a promising new status quo for Cheryl and Penelope as they find themselves needing to redefine who they are.

-So Hermione has just gotten more and more shady this season as she's fallen back under Hiram's sway. Her zero sympathy when she walks in on a clearly distraught Cheryl and the lengths she goes to to try and get Fred to sell his part of the drive-in land continue this pattern but I'm going to give her the benefit of the doubt that she's trying to get Fred to sell for his protection because she still cares about him. I guess it'll all come down to her reaction about him being shot next season. Meanwhile Veronica has fully turned against both of her parents, setting the stage for an interesting power-struggle going into season 2.

-The most impressive thing about the first season of Riverdale might be how the most famous love triangle of all time never materializes after those first couple episodes. Betty and Jughead get involved while Archie is romancing Val and then Archie just moves onto Veronica. They feint towards Archie being jealous of Jughead and Betty or Betty not being OK with Archie and Veronica but everyone seems pretty content with how things have ended up by episode's end.

-OK, that ending. Last episode I talked at length about Archie's disconnect from the central mystery of the season and expressed a desire that he be more connected in season 2. Well, looks like I'm getting what I wished for. Fred getting shot in what Jughead assures us was a "not random act of violence" is a great way to set up a second season that should be considerably more personal to our hero whether or not Fred dies (I'm assuming he'll live but exit interviews from showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa have compared this moment to both Batman and Spider-Man's origins so they could easily kill Fred). Again, one of Archie's only character traits is his love for his family and now his worst nightmare has happened right in front of him It's a moment that comes by surprise (Though Fred's talk about not knowing or feeling safe in this town anymore and his refusal to sell his part of the drive-in land does alert us that something will probably happen to him) and is effectively harrowing. Where the disappearance and murder of Jason Blossom felt stylized and surreal, this feels very grounded. It's easy to see how this could potentially tear the town apart, as Jughead promises in his closing narration.

-A lesser show would've made us wait all summer to find out who had been shot, but Riverdale is smart enough to know it's more emotionally effective to know it was Fred (Like anyone would believe that Archie had been shot anyways) and that final shot of Archie holding his gravely injured father is an effectively devastating note to end the season on.

-This Week in Hot Archie: Archie and Veronica had a network-friendly sex scene y'all! There's something you wouldn't see in an Archie comic.

-Archie's music is still bland and forgettable, in case you were curious on if I've come around on it yet.

-So Clifford was using his Maple Syrup empire as a front to smuggle in Heroin from Montreal. Hiram tried to sabotage Fred's construction site with friends from Montreal several episodes back. That tells me two things: 1. Montreal is apparently the epicenter of crime in the Riverdale universe. 2. There's a strong chance that the Hiram is connected to Clifford's drug business. After all, we never found out why the Blossoms were paying money to the Lodges.

-F.P. Jones is definitely reading a Sabrina The Teenage Witch comic in prison. Foreshadowing perhaps or just a fun Easter egg? Guess we'll find out in season 2.

-The whole "Northside vs Southside" thing is very reminiscent of the class war in Veronica Mars, which is not a bad thing. If you're gonna get inspiration from somewhere, Veronica Mars is a great place to start.

-If there's a benefit to Jughead joining up with the Southside Serpents, it's that we finally get the introduction of Hot Dog, Jughead's beloved dog from the comics. He seems to be the gang's pet, but I'm hoping this will lead to an origin story about how Jughead becomes Hot Dog's owner.

-I'm going to have to doublecheck this but that last shot of Archie holding Fred's body feels like an homage to Archie's death in Life With Archie 36.

-While she was off having zero screentime despite having series regular status, Josie dyed much of her hair blue. I'm sure there's a story behind that involving her awful father or something. Let's hope for more screen time and meaningful stories for Josie and the Pussycats next year!

-Murder Not Random Act of Violence Theory Corner: Alright, we officially got a new mystery to try and solve: Who was behind the shooting of Fred Andrews? The easy money is on Hiram being behind shooting Fred and the fact that they went with a pretty straightforward mystery this first year backs this up. On the other hand, maybe season 2 is when they go with a left-field solution for the mystery and I'm still convinced that Mayor McCoy is up to something (Look how pissed off she is after Betty's speech), and although Jughead's ominous narration doesn't always pay off (Remember when losing half the football team was supposed to have consequences and the only thing that ever came from that was Chuck crashing a party and being a creep?), the promise of the darkness winning in Riverdale implies a deeper level of conspiracy to the event than one shady businessman.

-And that's it for season 1 of Riverdale. I was deeply skeptical about this show before it initially aired but was won over almost immediately by it's self-aware charm, fun twists on the Archie mythos, and strong character work, particularly with the female characters. I'm not sure that I would describe Riverdale as a "good" show in terms of quality, but in terms of pure enjoyment, it's a fantastic show and that's what really matters here. Anyways thanks for reading my recaps, whether you did it every week or just for one or two. Hope to see you back in this space next season!

The Superstore Season Finale Tears Down A Lot When A Tornado Strikes

-It began with a throwaway line in the second episode about going for the eye of the storm in a tornado. Then there was a reference to the store getting an 'F' in tornado preparedness and it being like a house of cards. Then a reference to it being 8 years since the last tornado drill. All season long the show had been throwing in references to how unprepared Cloud Nine would be in a tornado until finally a tornado struck last night. It's a brilliant pay-off for a joke we didn't realize was being set up (Unless you happened to see the episode title in advance), and it's only one part of a terrific finale of Superstore that brings a lot of things full-circle before ending on a comically bleak note that leaves a lot of things up in the air (Good thing we know season 3 is coming).

-Before we get to the Tornado though, there's a lot of fun to be had with Glenn trying to figure out who to lay off in a story somewhat reminiscent of The Office's Halloween, but with more jobs on the line. Justin Spitzer, Mark McKinney, and all the Superstore writers have done a great job making Glenn a very different kind of boss from Michael Scott, but if there's one massive similarity the two have, it's their inability to be the bad guy who makes unpopular decisions. That leads to Glenn being more Michael-esque than normal in this episode, but while still making choices that only Glenn would make. Like him trying to rank all the employees on a scale from 1 to 10 and immediately trying to expand the scale to 11 when he refuses to bump Elias down to a 9. Or how he tries to sell his plan of making everyone vote on who they should fire as doing something together as a family. Or how he keeps wishing for divine intervention to avoid firing people. All of these jokes work better than they would have if this storyline had come earlier in the store's run because of how well we've gotten to know Glenn and how his mind works.

-I've been praising the "Meeting Room" scenes of Superstore all season and Tornado finds a great way to fit one in, as Glenn attempts to make everyone decide who should get fired for him. It's a ridiculous scene, and like all of the best meeting scenes, it finds room for great little character moments amidst the escalating chaos. From Jonah contemplating the difference between Democracy and Mob Rule to Sandra joining everyone in writing her name down as someone to be fired to Glenn's sudden exit from the room when he attempts to just make a run for it, it gives the episode an opportunity to really load in the laughs before the more serious Tornado material hits.

-The thing I like about the lay-off plot is that when the time comes to actually fire people, the show doesn't bother pretending any of our series regulars are in danger of losing their jobs but it doesn't just pick people we've never met before either. Marcus has become one of the more prominent supporting players this year, and Justine and Cody are both recognizable faces who have gotten a fair amount of screentime. Even if some of the lay-offs get undone by the tornado (Which will almost definitely happen), it doesn't take away from the fact that Glenn was able to pull it together and do what he had to do, even if it meant losing people that he (and we) like.

-Mateo making alliances to save his job based on increasingly tenuous connections (We start with Asian/Polynesian and LGBT then move down to Dave Matthews fans and Catholic) that he has no intention of actually following through on is the perfect little Mateo plot, that makes use of the cutthroat side of the character's ambitiousness in a way we haven't seen much of this season. Of course the reason we haven't seen much of it becomes clear when an angry Cody confronts Mateo and tells him that nobody loves him and he'll die alone. There was someone who loved Mateo and who brought out a softer side of him but Mateo pushed him away and now he's back to his base instincts. Mateo's phone call to Jeff telling him that he does love him is a rare vulnerable moment from the character and a powerful capper to Mateo's arc for the season. Here's hoping those two crazy kids can find their way back to each other next year.

-The show does a really good job building to the Tornado all episode, starting with the constant rain, going to the severe weather warnings on a TV that a customer switches the channels away from to the eventual alarm and everyone's confusion about what's actually going on or what to do. Comedy can be tough to do with something as life-threatening as a tornado so the episode holds off from it for as long as possible, allowing the lay-off plot to come to an end and then throwing in a good amount of jokes as everyone braces for it (The return of the customer who obsesses over the most pointless aspects of the product he's trying to buy is a welcome touch. He won't let a thing like a lockdown keep him from figuring out what "2 for 1" razors means when each package already has two razors). Then when the tornado actually comes, it's played mostly straight with a few jokes, but also several scenes of the store being destroyed to bring home how terrifying this all is. A natural disaster is hitting the store and it genuinely feels like it, which is quite a feat for a half hour comedy to pull off.

-So like The Office, Superstore's 2nd season features a big kiss between the two romantic leads. The circumstances and context for the kiss though couldn't be more different. Jim and Pam's kiss is the final capper to a season's worth of pining, increasingly flirtatious banter and pent-up feelings finally spilling out when it becomes clear that things can't continue the way they had been. Jonah and Amy's relationship is different. There hasn't been pining or open talks about their feelings, only the awkwardness that came from the moments where they had to confront the idea that they might have feelings that they shouldn't have. Their kiss comes from a moment of crisis, huddled up with the diarrhea medication after Jonah rescues Amy from falling debris. It's motivated by impulses that the two of them have never been willing to admit were there. That makes the kiss feel much more natural and organic than if they had tried to act like there had been a cohesive Will They/Won't They going on all season. With Amy returning to her family after the storm though, her marriage potentially saved by surviving death, the pieces are in place for Jonah to experience a more traditional "pining for Amy" arc next year. If Superstore chooses to go that route, that is. They're usually more afraid than that.

-Garrett and Dina's undefined sleeping together reaches a head this week as Garrett becomes increasingly flustered by the fact that Dina doesn't seem to value Garrett above any of the other employees to the point where she would flip a coin to decide whether to give the last safety helmet to Garrett or a new employee who she just met. Any time we get to peek past Garrett's "Too cool to care" shell is always a good time and his growing frustration, culminating with him admitting that there may be an emotional component to him sleeping with Dina is hilarious from start to finish. The "Glad you're not dead." "Likewise." exchange the two share at the end is also the perfect mixture of funny and oddly sweet.

-Sandra choosing to leave Carol to potentially die (She doesn't) after an episode worth of Carol calling Sandra a slut for "stealing" Carol's boyfriend Jerry and lying to Jerry that Sandra gave over ten men in the store Herpes is a very dark moment for that character, but Kaliko Kauahi makes the moment work. Hopefully we get more of an exploration of Sandra and Carol's working relationship in season 3 because that look the characters share after the tornado suggests there's a lot of material to unpack there.

-Season 2 begins on a store without it's employees. It ends on the employees without their store. That's masterful storytelling right there.

-Justin Spitzer talked to Variety about the show's second season, the kiss, and why they decided to have a tornado destroy the store in the first place (It involves Universal Studios). It's a good read.

-Best Interstitial: Tie between The Final Countdown playing as customers wait in line in the darkened locked-down store and the fireman trying to rescue a mannequin in the aftermath.

-This week in Mark McKinney is a treasure: Glenn's befuddled and bewildered reaction when the tornado stops seconds after he prays to Allah. If this is setting up a "Glenn has a crisis of faith" storyline in season 3, I'm all for it and if not, it's still incredibly funny.

-We're introduced to Alisha, a new associate who got invited to Cheyenne's wedding over Marcus (They were keeping it small), gets appropriately pissed when Jonah casually calls her sexy, and wins the coin toss for Dina's spare helmet.

-The way Mateo slides away from Marcus after Marcus attempts to evoke the alliance is masterfully done.

-In one of many little pay-offs to jokes set up throughout the season, Cheyenne finds the "green hair-thingy" she lost back in Black Friday amidst the debris of the tornado.

-"Oh shit". So Brett finally speaks. I don't know if the show would actually kill off Brett but if they do choose to not bring him back next year then what a way to go.

-Of course a billboard falls through another one of Glenn's cars. Of course. I think that's now the 4th car of his that's been stolen/wrecked over the course of the show. Wonder how many he'll lose next year.

-Jonah inviting Mateo and Marcus to go get a beer and Marcus' elated reaction to said invite was a very funny pay-off to a year of no one wanting to hang out or do anything with Marcus, despite his best efforts to be part of the gang. Here's hoping at least some of those lay-offs get reversed in season 3 because it would sting to lose Jon Barinholtz from the cast.

-"You're not a slut Justine, stop trying to seem interesting". Here's hoping boring old Justine makes the cut for season 3 too.

-"So do we have to come into work tomorrow?" And with that line from Garrett, we're officially done Superstore's second season. This has become one of my favourite shows on television and I really enjoyed seeing it come into it's own this year. So at this point all that's left to say is bring on season 3!

Riverdale: Chapter Twelve: Anatomy of a Murder

-Wow. I'm not sure where to start. Spoiler warning I guess if you're one of those people who read reviews before watching the episode because some major stuff goes down that you'll want to see with your own eyes before you read about it.

-OK, let's get to the big, shocking reveal of the episode. The one that had me shouting at my television. You know what I'm talking about. The reveal that Grandfather Blossom and Great-Grandfather Cooper weren't just business partners, they were brothers, making Jason and Polly related, making the baby (or babies) that Polly is having a product of incest ("Pure Blossom" as Penelope puts it). Yes, turns out there was actually a good reason for Jason and Polly's romance to be forbidden and for Hal to be so vehemently opposed to the whole thing. It's the best kind of twist, one that seems to come completely out of nowhere but makes total sense in retrospect, providing new context to certain key moments throughout the season. It's also one hell of a crazy reveal and I'm impressed with the Riverdale creative team for being willing actually have their characters commit that societal taboo. Yes, neither party knew they were committing incest, and yes people on TV (mainly sitcoms) have accidentally dated their cousins before but those stories don't typically end in a pregnancy. It'll be interesting to see how the show deals with this storyline going forward into the second season as a baby/babies will make this plot point impossible to sweep under the rug Ms. Grundy-style.

-OK, I've gotten the incest talk out of my system. For now. Let's get to what everyone else wants to talk about: what the Andrews family was up to in this episode. OK, no one wants to talk about this but we're doing it anyways. Some of it will tie into the Killer reveal eventually, I swear. It's been a running joke all season how Archie never has anything to do with solving the murder mystery but with Anatomy of a Murder focused squarely on answering the question of who killed Jason Blossom, it really shines a spotlight on just how disconnected Archie and his family are from the mystery. Jughead, Betty, Veronica, and Cheryl are all tied up in the mystery with the fates of their families on the line and everything they do is clearly motivated and understandable. Archie is just along for the ride really, wanting to help out his friends like he's been trying all season. And I'll give him this, Archie is at his best when he's allowed to be part of the ensemble and he had a couple smart moments last night, but it's telling that if you remove the top-billed main character from the action entirely last night, nothing about the plot changes. Archie's not a bad character, he just doesn't have any stakes in the action beyond his good Samaritan nature. I would like to see this change in season 2, as long as music and football are barely involved in whatever the big genre plot is.

-Even if there was no plot value to anything Archie did last night and Molly Ringwald was only there to say lawyer things and wrap up the "Will Archie move to Chicago" question (He won't.), there was thematic value to Fred and Archie this episode as Fred grows increasingly frustrated with Archie looking into the murder. Fred loves his son and wants to protect him. That's his priority, just like protecting Jughead is F.P.'s priority, protecting Veronica is Hermione's priority, and protecting Betty and Polly is Alice and Hal's priority (To an extent in the case of Hal). A major theme of Riverdale is how the kids relate to their parents and how for all their flaws and poor parenting decisions, those parents will always look out for their kids. It was true in the comics and it's still true here. We can see these protective instincts on display all over Anatomy of a Murder and it makes it all the more powerful when that notion of parents protecting their children is shattered by the bullet Cliff Blossom puts in the head of his son, the ultimate subversion of the Archie mythos.

-OK, we can talk about the killer now. So when it came to setting up the murder mystery, Riverdale had two choices: 1. Do an overly convoluted mystery with all kinds of crazy twists and turns and red herrings until we got to a conclusion that came out of left field and probably doesn't hold up under scrutiny but would fit with the generally campy tone of the show. 2. Do a more straight-forward murder mystery with a smaller suspect pool that is pretty easy to piece together and has less chances for cheap thrills (Give or take an incest reveal), but allows for more introspection and character moments. To Riverdale's credit, they picked the second choice, which led to a mystery that wasn't as thrilling or wild as it initially seemed it could be but will probably make for a more satisfying viewing experience when seen as a whole (Unless the "Why?" of it all totally falls apart). Is it disappointing when obvious villain Clifford Blossom turns out to be the killer instead of someone totally unexpected like Mayor McCoy, Principal Weatherbee or Dilton Doiley? Yes, but it's also more compelling to have a father kill his son in cold blood because of how personal that is. The emotional impact more than overshadows the lack of surprise in the solution.

-So the misdirect with showing us the reactions to the murder video before letting us watch the video is a cheap move designed to stretch things out to their breaking point and make us think the killer is someone the characters are attached to. But the reactions themselves still make sense when you know who the killer is because tears and looks of horror are exactly the appropriate reaction to watching a video of someone being murdered, especially when you know both the victim and the killer (I assume Veronica who never met Jason was also crying tears of relief about her father not being involved). Strong acting all around from everyone "watching" that tape.

-Credit where credits due. The Riverdale creative team could've easily made random thug Mustang the actual killer of Jason, acting on Clifford's orders but they chose to have Clifford pull the trigger himself which is a much more powerful creative choice.

-I was also satisfied by the way all the pieces of the mystery, from Hal stealing the sheriff's files to F.P. keeping the jacket around as "insurance" to why the body was frozen at all paid off in ways that made sense and enriched the story (Like how we can figure out that F.P. didn't kill Jason beyond the planted gun because we know he didn't steal the murder board from Sheriff Keller's house). That's good storytelling.

-Anatomy of a Murder devotes pretty much all of it's run-time to solving the mystery that's been taking up so much of the season but it also finds time to pay off some character storylines that have been building throughout the season. Most satisfying is watching Betty finally complete her transformation from the repressed and barely holding it together girl that we met at the start of the series to the crime-solving badass she officially became tonight. From not backing down when Penelope threatens her to figuring out where to find the flash drive that has the footage of Jason's murder, Lili Reinhart plays Betty with more confidence and power then she's had all season and it's a great look on her. I'm excited to see where the character goes from here.

-Veronica's growing distrust of her father has been fascinating to watch play out over the past few episodes and it comes to a head here as she becomes convinced that he's responsible for Jason's murder and becomes obsessed with trying to prove it. Veronica is basically a force of nature this episode and the moment when she learns that her father was not responsible for Jason's death is incredibly powerful. Veronica had built her father up as a monster when he wasn't one and now she has to figure out how to process this going forward, especially because Hiram is coming home. Man, I'm excited to finally have Hiram Lodge on this show.

-Kevin's usually pretty savvy about things but his romance with Joaquin has turned him into Archie apparently because he spends this week shocked to discover that his gang member boyfriend has been involved in illegal activity. He doesn't even find out that Joaquin was dating him to keep tabs on the investigation. Kevin, I love you but clueless is not a good look on you. Here's hoping that with Joaquin put on a bus, you'll get more compelling material next season.

-The stuff with F.P and Jughead is also excellent, as it typically is. Skeet Ulrich has done a terrific job with F.P., taking what could've been a one-note thug and imbuing him with a genuine love for his son and desire to be a better person that makes you understand why Jughead refuses to give up on his dad, even after all the ways F.P. has let him down.

-Acting highlights this week include Cole Sprouse's defeated reaction after his mother rejects his plans to go to Toledo, his even more defeated reaction after his dad pushes him away at the police station, Lili Reinhart's WTF face when Archie suggests bringing in the parents, Madchen Amick's take-down of the Blossoms, Madelaine Petsch's dead inside near-catatonic state after she learns what her father has done and Camila Mendes conflicted reaction to learning her father is coming home, even though she knows he didn't have Jason killed.

-I'll tell you, that ending with the police discovering Cliff dead of an apparent suicide was a real "Cliff hanger".

-Based on the contents of those Maple Syrup barrels at Cliff's feet and the fact that it's yet to be explained how Cliff is connected to the Serpents, it looks like Jason's murder may have been due to drugs after all. I guess we'll find out next week but I had predicted this weeks ago so I'm calling this a win (Though to be honest the prediction was fairly vague.).

-So I get why Jughead is yelling at Sheriff Keller at the end for not letting his father go on an emotional level, but it still seems weird that Jughead doesn't understand why his father who helped cover up a murder and did a lot of illegal things in the process has to stay in jail. Did Jughead honestly not see that coming?

-With all that happened this episode, all that tension from the gang breaking Jughead's trust last episode gets pretty speedily resolved. Which is fine, but if you're going to end an episode with the characters at odds only to smooth it all over within the first ten minutes of the next episode, did you really need to end the episode with everyone at odds in the first place? Probably not.

-Joaquin gets on a bus heading to San Junipero in a really cool Easter egg for fans of Black Mirror. If you've never seen Black Mirror, I recommend hopping on Netflix and watching San Junipero (You'll find it in Season 3) immediately because it's an amazing episode of Television. Also Black Mirror is an Episodic Anthology show so you don't have to watch any other episode of the show to get what's going on.

-Murder Theory Corner: Call me crazy, but I'm starting to think that Cliff Blossom might have something to do with this. On a real note, what are the odds that Cheryl (with an assist from Penelope) killed Cliff out of revenge for what he did to Jason?

Riverdale: Chapter 11: To Riverdale And Back Again

-I finally get the purpose of having Jughead's narration be a novel that he's writing in-show about the events of the show. It's so they can do meta scenes like the one tonight where they talk about the novel while also talking about the show but they're not actually talking about the show. Clever (Yes, this is sarcasm.). There is something I like about that scene though. Jughead tells F.P. that he's less interested in "whodunnit" than he is about the idea of Riverdale being a good or a bad place and F.P. suggests that it can be both. That's Riverdale in a nutshell. It's giving us the world of Archie we've always known and it's also adding a lot of darkness and edge into that world but one doesn't negate the other. The good and bad in Riverdale exist side-by-side, making for a much more interesting show than if it had just picked one or the other.

-The "F.P. and Jughead discuss the book scene" also provides a fascinating glimpse into Jughead's worldview, showing us that no matter how wise beyond his years he seems, in the end he's a kid who still has a "black/white" sense of viewing the world. Few things are purely good and few things are purely bad, as the character of F.P. and his arc of "criminal trying to get his life and family back together" illustrate, but Jughead has a hard time seeing things that way. It's why when he discovers Archie and Veronica's betrayal at the end, he's equally mad at Betty even though her offense is nowhere near as bad. It's why Jason's death and all the complexities and deceptions it's revealed has rattled him so. Jughead is on course to learn that the world isn't all black and white, and hopefully he'll learn that sooner rather than later.

-After a couple weeks of relatively good and sympathetic behaviour, Alice is back up to her old tricks this week. Would you believe that Betty inviting her mother to join the school newspaper that she revived solely to get away from her mother turned out to be a bad idea? Honestly Betty is right to be mad at Archie and Veronica for going behind her back to investigate things while she was busy but she also needs to be mad at herself for allowing her mother into the school newspaper in the first place.

-Hiram is getting out of prison in time for season 2 (Where he'll be a series regular played by Mark Consuelos, unless Consuelos' other show Pitch gets a second season) and Veronica is not happy. Camila Mendes has been playing Veronica's growing disillusionment with the man who recently blackmailed her very well these past few episodes and she's especially good at keeping Veronica sympathetic tonight as she reaches her low point here, going behind Betty and Jughead's backs to help Alice investigate F.P., convinced that he murdered Jason on her father's orders. When Jughead brought up how he doesn't really consider Veronica a friend in the last episode, what seemed like a clever observation on how those two really don't interact outside of a group context turns out to be a plot point here as Veronica doesn't have the loyalty to Jughead that Archie and Betty do. So when the opportunity to learn the truth about her father comes up, of course she's going to take it. She's so obsessed with the idea that her father could be involved in this that she almost gets her and Archie caught during their break-in session because she can't believe there's nothing there. It's an interesting turn for the character in line with how comic Veronica would behave and Mendes does a great job selling it.

-Okay, let's get real. Archie claims he was helping Veronica investigate F.P. because he was worried about Jughead but we all know the real reason. He just wanted to finally be involved with the murder investigation after a whole season of being at most, Murder Mystery-Adjacent. And if he also got some action because of that, all the better. This episode does a really good job though at showing how Archie's biggest character trait, his need to help and protect his friends is also his biggest character flaw. Archie ultimately agrees to investigate F.P. because he doesn't want Jughead to get hurt by his dad again, even though he knows he's breaking Jughead's trust by doing this. He doesn't trust Jughead to handle the information. He just decides what's best for Jughead and does it no matter the consequence. That's called being a bad friend Arch.

-You know it's a great episode of Riverdale when there's an awkward dinner scene and we get a great one this week when Alice invites F.P and Jughead to dinner so she can interrogate F.P. while Archie and Veronica are off breaking into his trailer. Betty has been learning some tricks from Alice though and invites her father to dinner to throw Alice off. This leads to a fantastic scene where Mädchen Amick, Lochlyn Munroe and Skeet Ulrich passive aggressively insult each other and throw veiled references to Alice's abortion around that's uncomfortable to watch but impossible to look away from.

-Seriously though, did Jughead really not pick up on the fact that Alice clearly suspects F.P. of being up to something during that dinner? She wasn't even hiding it! Why did he need Betty to tell him what he could see with his own eyes?

-Cole Sprouse does a terrific job as Jughead every week but he really takes it up a notch this week. We know all that kid wants is to have his family back together and to have that dream finally start to become a reality (Even if it means moving to Toledo) only to have it snatched away at the same time his closest friends (and Veronica) betray him is devastating, made even more devastating by the way Sprouse makes us feel what Jughead is feeling every step of the way.

-So I know I rag on Jughead's narration almost as much as I rag on Archie's music (the best joke of the night for me was easily the scene where Betty and Jughead finally have a reaction about Archie's music that isn't "It's uniformly great!") and I know that I literally started this review ragging on his narration but because we've spent all season accustomed to some kind of narration to close out the episode (Though not always), the total lack of it once Jughead disappears after homecoming added greatly to the emotional impact of him leaving.

-Archie and Veronica breaking into F.P.'s trailer was bad but if they didn't do it, they wouldn't have realized he was being framed later. So what they did was bad AND good. Duality. Sometimes it's cool to break and enter.

-Meanwhile Cheryl apparently forgot that she's supposed to be holding a grudge against Polly (Based on the fact that an episode literally ended with Cheryl crossing out Polly's face on a picture) and the two of them are out campaigning to be the co-queens of homecoming. Of course this is all just pretense for them to have a reason to stumble upon the ring Jason was going to give to Polly hiding among Penelope's things. The elder Blossoms are such obvious villains that it seemed to eliminate them as killer candidates but this episode makes a strong case for them to have done it. Sure Jason denouncing them and returning the ring seems believable and them drugging Polly to calm her down is perfectly in character but finally giving Cheryl the validation and approval that she's always craved? Telling her she should be running the company one day despite everything they said about her a couple episodes back? They are hiding something for sure. Luckily, Cheryl isn't an idiot and she's holding onto that ring nice and tight (Also I know they were trying to appease Cheryl but the fact that they took her story about disposing of the ring at face value seemed out of character for them, considering how distrustful and paranoid they are.).

-Molly Ringwald is still around and she's a delight as Mary, fitting into the world of Riverdale perfectly whether she's trying to get Archie to go to Chicago, bantering with Fred, or not buying into Alice's mindgames for a second. More of her please!

-Mary thinks Archie will be safe living in Chicago? That seems a bit too farfetched, even for Riverdale.

-The scene where Fred enters the dance with both Hermione and Mary at his side was a very funny recreation of when Archie did the same thing with Betty and Veronica during the first episode. Like father, like son.

-I enjoyed Archie and Veronica's performance of Kids in America, even if Archie's guitar seemed totally unnecessary but it's telling that Archie couldn't come up with his own upbeat, danceable song. Expand your range Archie. You won't get far without it.

-Also we're totally getting The Archies in season 2 whether we want them or not, right?

-Murder Theory Corner: I'll be honest. I'm impressed with how straightforward Riverdale has kept it's big murder mystery. There isn't dozens of suspects or reasons why Jason Blossom could have been murdered and everything seems to come back to the Coopers and the Blossoms or the Blossoms and the Lodges. The show means it when it says they don't care about the "whodunnit" aspect. So I'm comfortable with buying into the idea that Penelope or Cliff Blossom killed Jason. In case the show does want to surprise us with the big reveal though, let's have Hermione Lodge as a back-up guess. And as a real outlier theory, let's speculate that Jason was killed because he was trying to rip off drugs from the Southside Serpents by Mayor McCoy, who secretly has the Serpents under her thumb and uses their profits for her own end (It won't be this, but better safe than sorry).