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Okay, so after last week’s episode and discovering that Riverdale‘s episode titles are also movie titles, we tried (and hoped) to find some connection to the movies referenced. Connections have been tenuous at best and this week’s “Body Double” episode bore very little resemblance to the movie of the same name. There was a double, or sorts, but not two different people representing one person. This time it was one person representing two. We’ll get to that in a minute.
At the end of the last episode, we saw Cheryl Blossom utter the words “I’m guilty” before being carted off by Chief Keller, and we picked up this week at that same spot. But … as Cheryl explained she was only guilty of lying about the death of her brother who was just planning to fake his death to get out of Rierdale. But why? Turns out he didn’t die on July 4th, so the mysterious gun shot she heard had nothing to do with Jason’s death. In fact, he died almost a week later according to the autopsy. But that gun shot still comes into play because Archie also confessed to hearing it that morning, corroborating Cheryl’s story and getting him in hot water with Miss Grundy (he told the police he was with his dog that morning working on his music), forcing her to end the tutoring and their relationship.
Despite all the new evidence, Alice Cooper is having a field day dragging the Blossom name through the mud, earning her a deserved punch to the face by Mrs. Blossom, and further alienating Betty who insists she is going to remain friends with Veronica. Meanwhile, Veronica goes on a date with one of Riverdale High’s star football players and gets slut shamed when he posts a photo on social media with a “sticky maple.” We can only imagine what exactly a “sticky maple” is, but whatever it is, five of the team members are in on it, going on a date with one of the girls and then posting the image while keeping score in a ledger.
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After Veronica’s humiliating experience, which she is not going to take lying down, Betty finds more girls willing to come forward about their experience led by Ethel Muggs (Stranger Things‘ Barb herself, Shannon Purser), who reveals the existence of the ledger and its whereabouts. Previously, no one knew about the ledger and Cheryl proclaimed it nothing more than an urban myth because her brother was on the team and he never told her about it. Oh, Cheryl, how terribly wrong you are. The ledger did exist and there was proof that Jason was a part of the group based on his “score” of Betty’s sister Polly. Maybe Alice’s anger towards Jason Blossom isn’t so misguided after all, as he most likely humiliated her to the point that she lost her mind. That revelation has also sent Betty down that same path.
With the school administration refusing to take any of the allegations about the football team seriously, Betty and Veronica cook up a plan to lure Chuck Clayton (Veronica’s shamer) to Ethel’s house for a night of frolickry in the hot tub with Betty. Proving boys will be boys, Chuck accepts the invitation even after the girls confronted him in the boys’ locker room! Chuck is definitely not thinking with his brain. Thinking Ethel is away and being a good friend to Betty, he shows up and find Veronica there to greet him, telling him that she and Betty have decided to stop fighting over boys and start sharing. The Betty comes out in a short black wig and after drugging Chuck to get him to tell the truth — which he does — goes full cray, nearly boiling him to death in the hot tub (while Ethel spies with a very pleased look on her face). Betty … or was it Polly? … even gives Chuck a sticky maple by pouring maple syrup over his head. How Ethel is going to explain why the hot tub smells like breakfast should be interesting.
The whole incident brings down the football team, the coach had to cut Chuck (his son) and the others listed in the ledger, and Betty and Veronica are now solidified in everyone’s minds as B&V. But as Jughead tells un in the voice over, this incident is about to unleash even more unsettling events in Riverdale. Unfortunately, it also made Cheryl see that her brother was not as wonderful as she had believed, even leading her to apologize to Betty for him hurting her sister. But that still leaves the question about the gun shot heard on July 4th, and the gun shot that killed Jason a week later.
Betty and Jughead knew there was another story in the woods that day that no one was talking about — the Adventure Scouts led by Dilton Doiley. Convincing Juggy to join the school paper, Betty sent him on assignment to talk with Dilton. But Dilton wasn’t talking. A sideways glance from one of the scouts gave Jughead reason to question him later at Pop’s, where he revealed Dilton was the one who fired the gun that morning, violating many laws in the process. Dilton seems a bit off-kilter himself, a survivalist trying to prepare himself and his scouts for something bad. When confronted again by Jughead, Dilton was given the option to confess to either the police or to him.
Dilton chose to confess to Jughead and Betty. He admitted to firing the gun, but told them he had a better story, but they had to drop the whole gun thing if they wanted to know. Betty agreed and Dilton revealed he had seen Miss Grundy’s car that morning. With that knowledge now in the open, it’s going to make it practically impossible for Jughead to keep Archie’s little secret, especially with Betty now involved. None of this, however, comes close to solving Jason’s murder but it sure is making Riverdale‘s mysteries all the more enjoyable.
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And what about Archie? He spent most of the episode getting grounded by his dad and sneaking out — twice — first to get some musical assistance from a reluctant Josie and her pussycats (a favor from Cheryl after Archie corroborated her story about the gun shot), and then to sneak into the Taste of Riverdale where the girls would be performing the song they collaborated on. In the end, Archie’s dad, after speaking with Miss Grundy about Archie’s talent, began to convert the garage into a studio for him. And Archie couldn’t stop himself from seeing Miss Grundy again, thanking him for talking to his dad, and asking if they could resume their “music lessons.”
But what of Miss Grundy? The character on the series has been decidedly different from her comic book counterpart, whereas most of the other characters have been pretty similar save for hair color (Kevin Keller) or race (Reggie Mantle, who has had very little to do thus far despite being a major player in the comics). Why is Miss Grundy not the little old lady we all know from the comics? From the looks of things, we’re going to get that answer — or another big question — in the next episode.
What do you think of Riverdale? Is Betty on the verge of losing her mind? Who killed Jason? Will Archie and Miss Grundy be exposed? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
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