It was hard to get emotionally invested in Hiram’s funeral on Riverdale Season 6 Episode 7, or any storyline for that matter, as it was plagued with the question of whether or not what we were watching was actually reality.
The series has introduced multiverses, and in this universe, with Archie, Betty, and now Jughead, displaying supernatural powers, which leads me to believe that this isn’t the Riverdale we all know and love.
Even by Riverdale standards, the things that are happening are extreme.
In addition to the weird vibe that I’m getting from Percival Pickens (who is he? Why do I think he’s responsible?), the promo for the upcoming episode seems to confirm the theory that this is still an alternate reality, which means that in the real reality, whichever one that may be, Hiram is likely still alive and kicking.
And for Veronica, that’s probably a good thing.
For starters, Betty, Archie, and Jughead would never stand up Veronica for her father’s funeral. Their journey’s were always so connected, and even though their paths divulged pretty drastically after the time jump, a funeral would be one of those moments that brings everyone back into each other’s orbits… no matter what.
But mostly, Veronica has too much love for her father that she wasn’t entirely aware of until he was gone for good.
All the competition, the bickering, the fighting — it was always love masked as hate.
She wasn’t prepared to deal with the fallout of a world without Hiram Lodge’s wrath. Her very existence orbited her fathers. She was fueled by him, or rather, by opposing him.
Though it’s an interesting direction for her character to explore who she is without Hiram in her shadow and how she moves forward, I oddly don’t think Riverdale is a better place without Hiram.
He has done his fair share of villainous things, but in a way, he always motivated everyone in that town to be just a little better in order to beat him.
Veronica’s speech, however, was perfection, and impeccably captured the nature of her complex relationship with her father.
She hated to love him, and she loved to hate him. But the recurring emotion was always love.
Her mother and Abuelita came to town for the wedding. Hermione Lodge wasn’t even phased by her husband’s death, but she was concerned about getting the best footage for her reality series. Once a housewife, always a housewife.
There was a sweet and emotional moment between Hermione and Veronica, but it was surface-level at best, which is kind of how their relationship has always been.
Veronica told her mother that she had ordered the hit on her father, and there wasn’t a surprise about it, but she couldn’t bring herself to tell Abuelita as the guilt was consuming her.
However, abuelita’s godson, Heraldo, who Veronica somehow never met, totally knew and even saved her when the Russian hitman returned to carry out a hit on Veronica likely at the hands of Hermosa.
Hermosa also didn’t attend the funeral, and again, regardless of what transpired between them, I feel like she would’ve attended the funeral regardless since she loved her papa so much.
I’m skeptical of Heraldo as the series wouldn’t introduce a new member of the Lodge family if he didn’t have a larger role to play, but I guess we’ll see where the storyline leads.
Riverdale loves its serial killers, but I have to admit that TBK is less than impressive.
What’s the connection between Betty and some random man named Dennis who took a job working at Archie’s construction sight?
Why is this guy obsessed with Betty? I guess serial killers are usually random people, but based on the show’s history, I was expecting it to be more of a personal connection.
You know, a long lost uncle or something since the serial killer gene runs in the family!
TBK found an in into Betty and Archie’s life, so he knew all about their newfound powers, and he absolutely knew the moment that they were diminished.
Archie’s kryptonite seemed to be palladium, so he handed that to him right before he knocked him out and took him upstairs for a proper decapitating. Honestly, sometimes this show pushes its own gruesome boundaries.
Thankfully, the hero of the day was Bingo, who remembered his dog fighting commands and lunged at TBK in order to save Archie.
I don’t know why no one attempted to take down the TBK once he took the fall and let him get away instead. Seems pretty reckless, but back to Bingo — what a good boy!
The actor playing Bingo could’ve sold the anger and violence a bit more — he was all too cute and cuddly to be a serial killing machine.
But now that the TBK has escaped, Betty wants to leave town so that she no longer makes her loved ones a target again. It’s backwards considering all that has happened while she has been in town, and it seems like she’d be more useful keeping everyone safe from her hometown.
At the very least, maybe she could help explain these on-again, off-again powers that they are experiencing post explosion.
Archie’s indestructibility seemed to wane off, and Betty couldn’t sense TBK’s dangerous aura, but Jughead finally got some powers of his own… and hearing Tabitha’s inner thoughts isn’t ideal.
Jughead’s storyline was the only one grounding the ridiculous nature of the show.
His journey to accepting his deafness and learning to live with it was actually very interesting as its a reality for so many people.
Every part of his life was affected by his inability to hear, and Tabitha was a constant throughout it all. I know there are some really dedicated Bughead shippers here, but Tabitha is the real deal. She never left her man’s side, she attempted to help him through it by bringing in Daniel, and she supported him the whole way through.
And naturally, she was terrified when Jughead “heard” exactly what she was thinking.
How will this affect their relationship? Is it a superpower that only pertains to her or can Jughead hear everyone’s thoughts? Because that might genuinely become more annoying than it is helpful.
Cheryl Blossom is no more as her body has been inhabited by Abigail Blossom, who is out to reclaim the town of Riverdale as her own.
But before she sets her sights on Riverdale, Abigail is determined to win over her Thomasina, who is actually Cheryl’s ex Toni Topaz.
Fangs, Toni’s boyfriend, is definitely in the danger zone as Abigail swore to kill anyone who gets in her way of reclaiming her true love.
Plus, she has it out for Fangs as he’s the descendant of Fenn, who killed Thomasina.
I do think it’s important that someone really hones in on the fact that Toni and Thomasina are not the same person though.
Toni has so much on her plate with teaching, running the Whyte Worm, being a head of the Serpent’s, and raising baby Anthony — she doesn’t need to deal with a crazy ancestor either. There’s a possibility her true love will be able to get through to Cheryl. Wouldn’t it be sweet if Toni was the one to save Chery in the end?
For now, it definitely looks as though Brittania is her only hope of surviving and swapping back into her body. The poor girl recognized just how insane Nana Rose was when she informed her that she did the spell to essentially bring Abigail’s soul into Cheryl’s body.
Maybe now that she has been banished into lockup, she’ll be eager to help Britannia undo the mess she made.
What did you think of the episode? Are you enjoying the direction that the series is headed? Do you think we’re still in the wrong reality?