Let’s face it with Riverdale this season.  We have no idea where they are going?  We’ve moved to 1955.  We’ve seen some things that are happening out of sequence with the history of the United States.  We’ve been told that the Riverdale gang must bend toward justice.  To me, this means right the wrongs of the era they’re in and all that has gone before in their lives.  The problem is this.  Are we aware of all the wrongs?

So what wrongs have been heading to being bent at this time.  I’d put down the Civil Rights era (which was mid to late 60s).  The LGBTQ+ moves forward with Kevin and Clay (still happening).  The acceptance of Reggie from a mixed family has come into play (and we didn’t know that it even existed).  Then we’ve got the milk man and the question is something wrong with the milk (I’m guessing it is Clyde Blossom is behind it).

While the Riverdale teens seem to get it, we don’t see any “growth” in the adults.  Mary didn’t need to change much because she wasn’t involved in the crazy stories of seasons one to six.  She always had sense.  Fred seems to be accepting but can he accept Julian driving off the bridge.  Tom hasn’t accepted Kevin being gay and doesn’t speak to him.  Alice is still following cults in hope of glory.  To me, she’s going to be the hardest “nut” to crack.  Let’s face it though.  She followed a cultist and the devil so what more can we expect.  Let’s also not forget that for some reason she doesn’t want to discuss sex with Betty and walked away from her daughter.  Hiram, well, that’s still in the wait to see category.

Which brings me to the curse of Bailey’s Comet.  Percival Pickens sent that to Riverdale but he’s being punished.  The question then is:  Did he exist in Riverdale in 1955?  My thought is no.  Does he have any residual power on what Bailey’s Comet caused?  On that we will have to wait and see.

Okay:   I’m just going to put this here.  Remember how Percy controlled everything with threats and underhanded dealings.  Well, I’m seeing Clyde Blossom in this role more and more.  He even carries the “evil look” that the devil and Percy had.  He thinks that he can control everything.

Tonight’s Reveal

The real reveal of tonight’s show is what started when Jughead and Ethel meet with the Pep editor with a new suggestion about the “milk man” comic.  They make it a mail man doing the crime. Well, the editor liked it and gives them the go ahead.  The editor then states the obvious.  “The Storm is coming.”  They can either take a stand or bury their head in the sand.  Jughead and Ethel want to stand against the storm and the editor is also willing to do this.  Later, in the ending, Jughead (as narrator) talks about the brotherhood of Reggie and Archie who will now have to stand “as brothers” against the coming storm.  I feel as we move forward, we will see the gang and friends standing against Clyde, Sheriff Kline and others.

Actual Movement and Clues

Now to the movement.  Let’s start with the Blossom family.  No change here except for Cheryl who has been making the movement forward while we learn of her family.  She wants to stay with Julian but gets threatened by Clyde with “something worse than Julian’s fate” if she doesn’t go to the Pep Rally.  At the Pep Rally, she introduces Archie who realizes that Cheryl isn’t okay.  It’s before the game is played that Julian comes out of the coma and he seems to be a different person.  Can they both work together and against Clyde?

Let’s move to the rest of the Blossom family.  Remember.  I mentioned that Clyde was reminding me more and more of Crypto from Rivervale.  Riverdale is setting him up to be the “bringer” of the storm.  He wants to replace Reggie with K. O. Kelly (the Katy Keene boyfriend from the spin-off).  Cheryl overhears the plot and runs to Archie who tells the team.  The team have a meeting with Clyde and threaten to walk if he doesn’t allow Reggie to play for the rest of the season.  Once again, the teens are moving toward justice while being threatened by Clyde with consequences (the storm again).

Let’s now move to Ethel.  Just a minor movement here.  After Tom doesn’t press charges with her killing the milk man, Alice once again opens her home to Ethel (a slow movement by Alice). Of course, she didn’t have much choice as Mary was listening.  The next morning, Alice treats Ethel like a beloved daughter and Betty as a unwanted guest.  Once again, no movement forward on Alice’s part.  At school, the principal and counsellor are happy that Ethel has proven her sanity by protecting herself from the drifter.  Both Jughead and Ethel question them on where they heard this, and it came from Kline.  I’ve already mentioned the Pep meeting and won’t go into that again here.  Kline has not bent toward justice and neither has the counsellor.  Featherhead thought may be changing as he looked surprised at what the counsellor said.  More on Ethel at the end.

Now on to Betty and Veronica.  This does get interesting as they decide to move in together at the Pembroke and Betty picks the lock.  Look, I read Trixie Belden (which Betty read) and Nancy Drew.  Neither one taught me how to pick a lock.  These two have developed into a true friendship.  With Kevin and Clay, they have a slumber party (with alcohol).  Interesting that this is the first time that alcohol has come into such play with all four having to hide their eyes behind sunglasses.

Mary is proving to be the real force of good in the show now.  It is she who gets to the bottom of Betty and Veronica’s living arrangement after they went shopping at the story.  She goes to the Pembroke and stops the two from experimenting with a lesbian relationship.  Mary also is the one who lectures Alice and Hermione about their relationships with their daughters.  This brings Betty back home asnd Alice acknowledging her as a daughter and Ronnie getting Pembroke’s key back.

We can’t forget Archie and Reggie.  It was Reggie who saved the team’s lives as Julian drove into the river.  Reggie dove into the river and dragged all to shore.  He and Archie decide to make a pact that they’re going to win the season.  When Cheryl tells Archie about her father’s plan to bring in K. O. Kelly, Archie decides to leave the team if Reggie is forced to go.   His loyalty to Reggie and what Reggie did makes the team agree with Archie.  They stand together at the heckling of the prep school.  They face Clyde as a team.  Archie and Reggie enter the gym together as co-captains at the start of the game (which they win).  Reggie and Archie are now a brothers (which they never have been before so moving toward justice here).  While Archie feels like an imposter, it is Reggie who said it would take both of them to win.  Archie even gives Reggie his father’s “captain’s” patch after the game which Reggie promises to return.  So here is the teens once again bending toward justice as they stand together.

Okay!  We see Reggie, Archie, Betty and Veronica realizing that it takes more than one person to make a change.  I see them as the guiding force.  We have Clay and Kevin with Cheryl and Toni expressing the LGBTQ story and going to have to take a stand.  All of these are moving forward with the need for justice for people.  Jughead is being set up for the voices of reason (I think).  Mary is the “mother figure” and seems to be the only real “safe” parent on the show although Frank has made progress (he’s become the Fred character). 

The villains are becoming more clear as the storm approaches.  Clyde knows of it so he is very much like Percival Pickens last year.  The guidance counsellor at the high school seems to make sure the “evil” plan and storm are not visible to the students.  Alice is still following the “promise” of what the storm will bring to her.  She’s still in cult mode. 

So that leaves Ethel, the English teacher and the editor of Pep Comics.  The Pep Comics editor gave us the indication of the storm coming (why am I thinking of Stephen King’s Storm of the Century?).  Ethel has an unusual role.  I realize that she’s the tie that connects Riverdale, Rivervale and the three Jugheads.  Will her role become more complicated.  Is she like Mary the force of good that offers guidance to those who seek justice?  Was she sent from the angel of Pop’s (Tabitha) as a helper?

One more thing to the viewers:  Did you notice these two key items.  When Clyde made his threats, there was darkness and a storm.  While the game was played out with a united front and town, there was bright light of goodness and perfection.  And how does all this complete the “bending toward justice.”  Maybe I will see more answers next week.