Tonight’s Riverdale provided plenty of bombshells, although they only tangentially concerned the murder of Jason Blossom. The main focus of drama and intrigue surrounded the relationship between Archie Andrews (KJ Apa) and Geraldine Grundy (Sarah Habel), as well as Hermione Lodge’s (Marisol Nichols) shady dealings with the South Side Serpents.
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Nevertheless, Jason’s murder still looms over the show as a whole. And after this week’s episode, a few new suspects can be added to the list, and one major one has departed the show – at least for now.
In the next few slides, we examine the leading theories as to who the murderer could be. Are there any suspects we might have missed? Let us know in the comments!
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Riverdale airs Thursday nights at 9 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.
The Coopers
As this episode showed, the Cooper family will go to great lengths to protect their childrenย from people they see as a harm. In particular, Alice’s controlling grasp over Betty came to a head this week, with the motherย seeking to uncover Archie’s scandalous relationship and steer her away from the boy.
As Betty revealed, part of why Alice was so eager to slander Archie was because of his similarities to Jason. Alice seems to feel that Jason and Polly’sย relationship lead to her eldest daughter having a mental breakdown, something she didn’t want to happen to Betty. This, combined with Alice’s overall volatility, and the fact that she owns the town newspaper, still makes her a likely candidate for Jason’s murder.
Polly, as we’ve previously discussed, still remains suspicious as well. And with her being set to appear on the show in the near future, fans can expect to find out way more about her connection to Jason, and possibly his subsequent death. But as of right now, the most shady member of the Cooper family is definitely Alice.
Miss Grundy
This week, we saw perhaps one of the most suspicious characters in the world of Riverdale depart from the show – at least, for now.
Geraldine Grundy was revealed to really be named Jennifer Gibson, a Minnesotan woman who changed her name and moved in order to escape an abusive ex-husband. This painted the previously-shadyย music teacher in an entirely new light, as Archie and company believed her story (as, by the way,ย should be the societal norm for abuse victims).
While this does explain away items like Grundy’s fake ID and gun in her lockbox, it only does so to a certain extent. As Betty suggested at the end of the episode, there’s a chance that Grundy could still be dangerous.
While we know that Grundy did not fire the gunshot that was heard on July 4th, she is still connected to Jason and his murder.
As Grundy was being interviewed by Betty, Grundy revealed that she had done an independent study program with Jason in the previous semester. It’s unclear if she means that literally, or if she’s referring to it in a way similar to her romantic relationship with Archie. If the second guess ends up being true, that could only further implicate Grundy in the world of the show.
Knowing that Grundy went to great lengths to escape her abusive husband, and how much she appreciates Archie for being nice to her, could she have had a romantic relationship with Jason that went sour? We already know that Jason approached relationships somewhat flippantly, if his dynamic with Polly was any indication. There is a chance that Grundy could have seen Jason as a threat, and taken matters into her own hands to take care of that threat.
With Grundy now off of the show, it’s unclear what further revelations we will get about her and Jason’s dynamic. But as the Lodge family has proved,ย people can always be sucked back into the world of Riverdale.
Penelope Blossom
The first of several new suspects for the week isย Penelope Blossom – Cheryl and Jason’s mother. The womanย has definitely been shady in the past, but her role in the show has basically functioned as a grieving mother.ย
While Penelope was only seen briefly in tonight’s episode, her appearance was very telling. As Sheriff Keller visited homes throughout Riverdale, questioning various families about Jason’s murder, they all appeared to be relatively distraught. When Keller traveled to the Blossom family residence, however, the mood seemed to change.ย
As you can see in the picture above, Cheryl and her dad seem focused on what Keller is saying, while Penelope calmly focused on her gardening. And while doing so, she almost had a smile on her face.
This switch in personality could be very telling. Penelope previously appearing incredibly volatile at the mere mention of Jason’s murder, even slapping Alice for bringing it up at a community event.
While we don’t know the full extent of what Penelope’s motivations would be – whether it’s a matter of garnering attention, or putting a disobedient child in place – she’s definitely worth keeping an eye on in future episodes.
Hiram Lodge
While Hiram still remains one of the unseen characters on the show, his presence is beginning to be felt even more in the town. While the patriarch of the Lodge family is currently in jail for fraud charges, tonight’s episode showed his increasing reach in the town.
Not only has he been having his wife, Hermione, carry out business deals on his behalf, but it was revealed that Hiram has paid off both the mayor of Riverdale and its biggest gang, the South Side Serpents. Both parties have since repaid the favor, helping Lodge Industries secure the land that houses the failing drive-in theater.
When Veronica discovered this, Hermione informed her daughter that Hiram has a wide network, even from the confines of prison. While it’s unclear exactly how long Hiram has been in prison, and whether or not he was incarcerated around July 4th weekend, this proves that either way, he could have had a hand in Jason’s murder.
In addition, Hermione claimed that Hiram is doing what he’s doing because he wants to help bring the ‘old Riverdale’ into a new era. With the Blossom family appearing to have reigned supreme in the town for generations, if Hermione’s comment about Penelope’s high school ways is any indication, killing their popular teenage son would certainly make an impact.
At this point, even if Hiram isn’t directly involved with Jason’s murder, don’t be surprised if he’s the one pulling the strings. As this episode shows, he has several characters under his thumb. Which brings us to…
F.P. Jones
As was revealed in the end of this week’s episode, the mysterious South Side Serpent having clandestine meetings with Hermione is none other than Jughead’s dad.ย
While F.P. still remains a relatively mysterious character,ย there is a chance he could connect to Jason’s murder. As we’ve discussed, Hiram Lodge has been employing the South Side Serpents to help make changes to the town of Riverdale.
While this has primarily consisted of trashing the town drive-in theater, in order to make the land cheaper for Hiram to purchase, these tasks could easily extend into more devious territory. As we pointed out on the previous slide, killing Jason – the star quarterback son of the reigning family in town – is enough to turn Riverdaleย upside down, something that Hiram and Hermione both seem to want.
Could F.P. want it too? That’s not entirely clear. If anything, he seemed equally as sad at the fact that the drive-in was being torn down, but that could just be because of its sentimental value with his family. But with his mysterious past – including stealing supplies when he worked for Fred Andrews’ construction company – it’s easy to suspect him of being involved with the events surrounding Jason’s murder. And, as the recently released synopsisย for the show’s seventh episode revealed, those elements of F.P’s past will soon be further explored.
