Riverdale, Season 1 Episode 9 Review

I’m continuing to love how Riverdale isn’t afraid to crank the crazy and the dramatic tension up to 11 every single week. Everything is pretty much falling apart in town, from the Blossoms’ business and family, to the Coopers and the Andrews, and even Ethel’s poor suicidal dad. I was glad to see that they hadn’t forgotten her as a character; Shannon Purser deserves so much more screentime than she got on “Stranger Things”. (And speaking of that amazing show, was it just me or was the music in Ethel’s scenes seriously riffing on the music from “Stranger Things”?)

This show, especially the crazier aspects of it, are still reminding me of all that I loved about the first 13 perfect episodes of “Glee”. While Riverdale doesn’t involve anyone spontaneously breaking into song, it does share DNA with its musical cousin. That includes whiplash-inducing plotting, extra crazy characters (including full-grown adults who should know better, lol!), and hilarious zingers from designated dispenser of snark. On this show, that tends to be Cheryl Blossom. I just about choked with laughter when she called Jughead a hobo! Also, calling Fred Andrews “DILFY” to his face was a level of ridiculous I hadn’t known I needed in my life. 

Saying too much more about tonight’s plot developments would be more spoiler-y than I like to be, especially given that we got some more clues last night about why Ronnie’s dad is in jail. It was nice to see Jughead and Betty’s big murder board make a comeback, and I adored Kevin’s interactions with Veronica as well. I do also have to give a shoutout to her bathroom scene after hearing about Ethel’s dad. I hadn’t realized that yanking off a string of pearls and having them bounce in slo-mo was as common as it was outside Batman origin stories, but apparently this little bit of cinematic shorthand has its own TV Tropes page!

I really don’t have any idea how they’re going to wrap this all up in only four more episodes this season, but I can absolutely say I’m dying to see each and every one of them. Like Betty’s mom, I’m really itching to see the Blossoms taken down a peg or two, and I really want to know just what Hiram Lodge did to make Clifford Blossom so angry. Can’t wait for next week!