Luke Perry Explains the Drama Between Riverdale's Parents
While The CW's Riverdale is unquestionably a high school show with Archie, Jughead, Betty, [...]
While The CW's Riverdale is unquestionably a high school show with Archie, Jughead, Betty, Veronica, and the rest of the Archie Comics Riverdale gang at its core, anyone who has watched it has probably noticed that their parents have plenty of drama of their own.
Fred Andrews dated, and was dumped by, Hermione Lodge. Clifford and Penelope Blossom have axes to grind with Hermione as well as Alice Cooper, and Alice doesn't much care for Hermione, either.
All of that promises to blow up on Thursday, in an episode titled "To Riverdale and Back Again," when Fred's estranged wife Mary Andrews returns for a reunion.
"All the parents went to high school together and we were all in the same graduating class, or a year or so apart," Luke Perry told ComicBook.com back in November. "And so we've got all that stuff still cooking from the time we were in high school. I guess what happens is some of these old high school rivalries and things, they never die. They never go away, especially when you all stay in the same little town and you just keep seeing them over and over and over. I'm the kind of guy who, I never think past Riverdale. Fred Andrews is the kind of guy who everything I want, need, or could ever think of is right here in Riverdale for me. To be there with everybody I grew up with, it's the curse and the blessing for me."
Of course, as obvious as it is to most of the audience, Riverdale's teens seem mostly oblivious to the drama going on between their parents. Why's that? Well, Perry told reporters last week that it just feels like how the world really is.
"I grew up in a town of 2,200 people. You can grow up in a place like that and have no idea about 'Oh my god, they really did what?' 'Oh yeah! You never heard about the time he killed him?'" Perry said. "I grew up in a tiny, tiny little town where generations of people went to the same high school, not unlike Riverdale. You can go into the school and see a person's dad and grandfather and it goes all the way back. And yet, invariably, three or four times throughout the year there would just be a scandal. And it would always be somebody finding out something that they didn't know about somebody that we all live with every single day. So that, to me, that's really real. That's so easily explained."
Betty (Lili Reinhart) is slammed overseeing Homecoming and Reunion weekend, but Alice (Madchen Amick) wants her to help with the Jason Blossom investigation. Alice turns to Archie (KJ Apa) and Veronica (Camila Mendes) for help, but when Betty discovers they are working with her mom, she is not happy. After seeing his father FP (guest star Skeet Ulrich) start to clean up his act, Jughead (Cole Sprouse) wonders if it's the right time to give him another chance.
Cheryl (Madelaine Petsch) and Polly (guest star Tiera Skovbye) have both decided to go to Homecoming in Jason's honor, until a revelation waylays their plans. Meanwhile, Fred (Luke Perry) and Mary (guest star Molly Ringwald) attend the Homecoming dance, leaving Fred to possibly reconsider the divorce. Ashleigh Murray and Marisol Nichols also star.
Kevin Sullivan directed the episode written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa.
Riverdale stars KJ Apa as Archie, Cole Sprouse as Jughead, Lili Reinhart as Betty Cooper, Camilla Mendes as Veronica Lodge, and Luke Perry as Archie's father Fred Andrews, among others. The series' showrunner is Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, Archie Entertainment's Chief Creative Officer and the writer of Afterlife With Archie, the publisher's wildly popular zombie series.
MORE: Riverdale Live Recap with Spoilers: Chapter Eight: The Outsiders / Cole Sprouse Talks "Bughead" / Molly Ringwald Comes to Riverdale in "The Lost Weekend" Synopsis / KJ Apa Explains Archie's Relationship With His Mom Played By Molly Ringwald
Riverdale airs Thursday nights at 9 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.
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