SPOILERS! It's too difficult for me to avoid spoilers, so be mindful of that fact before you read the rest of this blog post!
Last week's episode ended with Betty learning that Ms. Grundy had been out at the site of Jason Blossom's disappearance back on July 4th. She already knew that Archie had been out there. After some initial sleuthing, she realizes that the two are dating each other -- and that's not a good thing considering that Ms. Grundy is a teacher!
She does some more digging and discovers that Ms. Grundy didn't appear to exist until a year ago. No Facebook account. No LinkedIn account. Nothing. The only reference that she can find to Geraldine Grundy is an old lady to passed away a few years ago!
Betty and Veronica end up breaking into Ms. Grundy's car to find evidence of foul play -- and they do! They discover a driver's license that indicates that Ms. Grundy is actually somebody named Jennifer Gibson. They also find a gun in her car! The spill the beans to Archie who eventually learns that "Ms. Grundy" was in an abusive marriage, which led to her going into hiding and assuming a new name. Archie forgives Jennifer/Ms. Grundy for the deception, but begins wondering if there's much of a future to this relationship.
Meanwhile, Jughead is trying to rally his friends to help save the Twilight Drive-In. This is a city-owned drive-in theater that has fallen into disrepair. We learn that Jughead works there and that he has fond memories of going to the drive-in with his family when he was younger. Mayor McCoy has been offered a huge buy-out from an anonymous backer and she's all to ready to cut ties with the gang-ridden drive-in theater. That said, Jughead manages to draw in a huge crowd to the drive-in for its final night.
Meanwhile, Veronica realizes that something is up with her mother. First, Cheryl notices that Mrs. Lodge was interacting with one of the Southside Serpents -- Riverdale's local motorcycle gang. She later sees her mom with the Serpent at the drive-in, exchanging a bag-full of money. We later learn that the Lodges are the anonymous buyers of the Twilight Drive-In. They've been paying the Southside Serpents to cause trouble there and to bring down the property values. They have plans for that chunk of land -- we just don't what yet!
Meanwhile, Kevin finds a kindred spirit with Joaquin, one of the Southside Serpents. Which is awkward because Kevin's dad is the local sheriff!! I always thought that Kevin should go after the bad boys in his own comic book. This match-up is everything I ever wanted for Riverdale's gay boy!
Lastly, Betty's mom stumbles across Betty's diary (and Grundy's gun) and learns about the affair. She grabs Fred Andrews and confronts Archie and Grundy -- mid-break-up -- and threatens Grundy with jail time. Turns out that she's less concerned about saving Riverdale's youth than dashing Archie's golden boy reputation. Betty threatens to reveal that she broke into Grundy's car. Mrs. Cooper backs down and Grundy promises to leave town first thing in the morning -- leaving behind a broken-hearted Archie. (But I'm pretty sure that we haven't seen the end of Grundy!)
Lastly, we learn at the end of the episode that the head of the Southside Serpents is Jughead's father. We also learn that Juggy is essentially homeless and has been sleeping on a cot inside the Twilight Drive-In. He wanders off at the end of the episode in search of a new place to lay his head.
Jellybean Jones got two mentions in this episode. She played a key role in his fond memories of going to the drive-in as a child. We later saw a picture of Little Jughead and sister Jellybean amongst his possessions. What cute kids! Sadly, I'm sure that their back-story isn't as cute.
Lastly, I noticed in Betty's father is being playing by actor Lochlyn Munro. I've had a crush on this actor since first seeing him in "Dead Man on Campus back in the 90s. So handsome...
Check out this episode on the CW website and watch this program. It is so good! As always, new episodes of "Riverdale" air every Thursday night at 8:00 PM CST.