Riverdale Review – The Return of the Pussycats (5×15)

TV’s greatest villain got his origin story tonight… and it was, as expected, dark, twisted, and a little harrowing.

On Riverdale Season 5 Episode 12, we finally tapped into what led to Hiram Lodge becoming the most feared man in town. 

Hiram might be all mighty and powerful now, but that wasn’t always the case.

Jaime’s origin story (his real name isn’t Hiram) starts in New York assisting his father with his shoe-shining business.

A wealthy suit informs them about palladium in Riverdale, which motivates Jaime’s father, Javier, to move there in hopes of digging it up.

When his plans hit a snag following an accident at the mines, he gives up his quest and revives his shoe-shining business outside of Pops. 

At this point, we begin to understand what motivated young Jaime to become someone different, and eventually, to pursue the palladium his father long searched for. 

Jaime doesn’t enjoy being looked down on by the upper class and jumps at the opportunity to make some extra cash by running deals for Vito, a gangster in town. 

The rise of Hiram Lodge — a name young Hermione helped him pick — is largely fueled by Vito. 

He admires the boss for being able to make a lot of money with little effort, he proves his loyalty by not selling him out when he gets arrested, and he eventually, gets promoted to collector. 

While Hiram definitely seems to enjoy the finer things in life, he’s also getting the extra cash to help out his family. 

However, when he tries to officially change his name from Jaime Luna to Hiram Lodge, some of the guys in class, including Reggie’s father, Marty Mantle, give him a hard time. 

The moment is crucial for explaining why there’s so much animosity between Hiram and Marty in the present day.

When Hiram shakes him and some of the other jocks down after school, it leads to a tense fight with his father that serves as a turning point in Hiram’s life. 

A lot of words were said that they wish they could take back, including “being your son is embarrassing,” which were the last words Hiram ever spoke to his father. Throughout the conversation, he also belittled his father for not being able to provide for the family. 

It’s a truly heartbreaking scene as you realize that Hiram’s father was only trying to keep food on the table by doing honest work. 

After their argument, Javier pays Vito a visit and demands that he leave Hiram alone. When Vito pushes back, Javier threatens to go to the police. 

At this point, it’s very clear that Javier was naive about the whole situation, which is unfortunate. Dealing with shady and terrible men his whole life should have made him more aware of the dangers of threatening a mob boss. And while he knew Vito was a bad man, but he didn’t know just how bad he was since he always saw the good in people. 

In trying to save his son, he was gunned down right in front of Pops.

Can you believe how much Pop has seen in his lifetime?

What happens next is yet another turning point for Hiram as it leads to the point of no return. 

Vito shows up at Javier’s funeral and basically confesses to ordering the hit on his father. Shortly after, Hiram kills all of Vito’s men as payback. 

It’s a deeply powerful scene that shows just how far Hiram was willing to go to avenge his father. 

And since then, that’s all he’s been trying to do. 

I like Hiram as a villain, but he’s a terrible man. This doesn’t make me like him anymore, but it does explain why he is the way that he is and why he does the things that he does. 

His quest for palladium is all about doing what his father was never able to do. 

It’s unclear why he has to destroy Riverdale in the process, but well, it’s not surprising as destruction seems to follow him around wherever he goes. 

After Hiram’s murder spree, Vito was never seen in town ever again, but in the present day, Hermosa was able to track him down to a nursing home where Hiram paid him a little visit and put a bullet in his head. 

Hiram is known to keep a grudge, but this was dark even for him. 

Now, while I’m sure that was satisfying to finally make your father’s murderer pay, but could he not have done it in a way that was more subtle?

In the present day, Hiram’s past also reminded him of what was happening with Marty and Reggie. Marty paid Hiram a visit beginning him to leave his son alone, and while Hiram initially told him to get out, he cut ties with Reggie because he didn’t want history to repeat itself. 

He couldn’t change the past and how his relationship with his father ended, but he could save another father-and-son from making the same mistakes he did. 

It was big of Hiram, however, Marty and Reggie’s relationship is slightly different since Marty used to beat his son. Abuse is never okay, and I’m a bit disappointed that the series made it seem as though Reggie needed to forgive his dad and work with him side-by-side. After everything he’s been through, it was his prerogative to walk away from his father and all the pain he’s caused him.

Hiram regretted how his relationship with his father went down, but that doesn’t mean Reggie would’ve regretted his decision. 

Though, I am glad Reggie drew a line and told his father that he needed to trust him more. Reggie’s skilled and has good instincts. 

The fact that Hiram said he would give up anything to have some more time with his dad proves why he’s constantly searching for more and more. 

Hiram has never let up on Riverdale because he’ll never be happy as he can’t have the one thing he always wanted. 

Becoming the big man on campus cost Hiram a lot, including his father, his wife, and his daughter.

He informs Hermosa that he hopes he can get them back once he digs up the palladium under the Blossom estate. 

Good luck with that.

Now that Penelope has opened up her own church, I doubt she’s letting anyone dig on her land. 

Is there a redemption arc for Hiram Lodge in our near future?

Other Riverdale Musings

• How awesome is it that Mark Conseulos got to act opposite of his son, Michael Consuelos, who played young Hiram on the episode. 
• While I’m sure it was all fun to film, can you imagine how intense it had to be to film the fight scene between Hiram and Jaime considering Mark and Michael are actually father and son?
• It’s always fun to see the core cast play the young versions of their parents.
• I truly appreciate the shirtless scenes of Mark. Keep ’em coming. 
• It also makes sense why Hiram was so upset when Veronica changed her name to Luna as the name reminds him of weakness.
• The more I hear Jughead narrating the episodes, the more I think this is all part of one of his stories. What if none of this is real?
• The connection to New York would’ve been cool if Katy Keene was still airing since last we saw, Hiram returned to his hometown to torment Jorge and the rest of the residents!
• It was cool to see the beginning of Hiram and Hermione’s relationship, especially how she pushed him aside since he wasn’t good enough at first because he was the son of a “lowly shoe shiner.”
• I love that we got to see Hermione on The Real Housewives. Despite everything we learned about Hiram, she would be a fool to come back to him again!

The episode strayed from the typical formula, but it worked. It was well constructed, well written, and quite a blast getting to see what shaped Hiram into the devious man he is now.