Jughead Assists The Police On Next Week’s ‘Riverdale’

“Help me, Jughead Jones. You’re our only hope,” is something no one should have to say, ever — let alone the adults hired to keep Riverdale safe — yet that’s essentially what happened this week with Sheriff Keller (Martin Cummins) going to Jughead (Cole Sprouse) for help with a murder investigation. On the one hand, it looks like Riverdale PD have finally caught on to the fact that Brad Rayberry (Christopher Shyer) was murdered in next week’s trailer, but if they think Jughead is a teen PI on the level of Veronica Mars, they’re in for a rude awakening:

True to the title of this week’s episode, though, “Betty & Veronica Double Digest” mostly dealt with Betty (Lili Reinhart) and Veronica (Camila Mendes), as they both found themselves at odds with their parents. Instead of being proud of Veronica for what she’s accomplished, in light of their mandate that she get a job, Veronica’s parents have decided to cut her off even further so she has to stay at the Babylonium. Now, “has to live at the business she owns as a teenager” isn’t exactly an option most kids have, and Veronica’s privilege definitely shines through in this episode. Veronica’s use of the word “blacklisting,” for example, to describe her situation with the distributors refusing to send prints isn’t exactly equivalent to what artists during the blacklist had to go through, using pseudonyms when possible but often just seeing their careers implode without recourse. The stakes aren’t the same.

As for Betty, other than that she’ll be making her own breakfasts now, it’s unclear yet what the fallout will be from Alice (Mädchen Amick) deciding to disown her. One thing’s for certain: there’s something fishy going on with Betty’s dad (Lochlyn Munro), and while he seemingly can’t be the Milkman (Matty Finochio), since he’s played by another actor, he must be involved in the murders somehow and holding something over Alice’s head to keep her silent.

Some other thoughts on this week’s episode:

• Betty may have bested Dr. Werthers (Malcolm Stewart) in the end, but it took her long enough to realize he was violating doctor-patient confidentially. It should’ve never gotten to the point of Alice confiscating her diaries. Fool me once, shame on you, but fool me twice….
• It’s always interesting to see which pop culture references Riverdale can make and which references the series has to twist, like Tracy True instead of Nancy Drew. Meanwhile, The Crawling Eye is a real horror film, and it was nice to see the show acknowledge William Castle‘s gimmicks instead of Hitchcock’s. Castle, of course, is far from an unknown director amongst horror fans, but Hitchcock’s name arguably garners more recognition.
• While it kind of fits the whole abandoned rich kid scenerio, it is a shame that Hiram (Mark Consuelos) and Hermione (Marisol Nichols) have been absentee parents this season.
• I don’t know why Veronica’s 4D gimmick worked, but nothing about smoke being released into a theater and two guys dressed in monster costumes antagonizing the crowd sounds appealing. Minor point, but the smoke even made it impossible to see what was happening on-screen.

Riverdale airs Wednesdays on The CW.