The mid-season premiere of Riverdale promised lots of excitement. After a relatively slow episode last week, this one seemed to pick up the pace a bit, and there were some tell-tale moments that will definitely set up some more excitement in the future.
First of all, DARK BETTY IS BACK. This moment has been so anticipated since her first appearance in season one. The circumstances are definitely different — instead of a vigilante in lingerie avenging women who were wronged, she’s a cam girl. But just getting another look at Betty’s (Lili Reinhart) dark side is exciting, and it’ll be interesting to see what Chic’s role in it all will be.
Speaking of darkness, as more is revealed about the Lodge family's business, it seems to keep getting darker. The poker game and the mysterious death of a relative definitely made it obvious that some kind of organized crime is going on, and Veronica seems to know most, if not all, of the ugly details. Her guilt for involving Archie makes it clear she’s well aware of how bad things could get. And if past episodes have taught us anything, it’s that things will inevitably get bad.
Jughead also had another key moment with the Serpents. In a weird way, it was made clear that Jughead’s strong loyalty to the the group is thankfully reciprocated. For a moment, it looked like his newfound family was ready to sell him out for Penny Peabody’s help, which was totally sad in a violent gang kind of way. Of course what he did to Penny was more than a little messed up. But Jughead’s always been an outsider, and it’s easy to want him to keep that sense of belonging, even if the Serpents often seem to bring out the worst in him.
But Bughead shippers rejoice! Betty and Jughead certainly seem to be reunited after that passionate scene that takes place after they uncover the truth about the vandalized statue. Nothing says romance like amateur detective work, right?
And finally, let’s talk about that last scene. Chic looked like trouble from the beginning, but did he really make a killer out of Alice? Or is he the killer himself? The customary Riverdale cliffhanger will make waiting for next week’s episode much more difficult.
