The CW has released a synopsis for ‘Chapter One Hundred Thirty-Two: Miss Teen Riverdale”, the fifteenth episode of Riverdale‘s seventh and final season and from the sound of things, a beauty pageant is about to get very ugly. The episode is scheduled to air on Wednesday, July 19th. Per the synopsis, the annual pageant is taking place and while each of the ladies are entering, the powers that be only want certain ladies to be involved so when Ethel is excluded, the others take matters into their own hands. You can check out the official synopsis for yourself below.
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“AND THE WINNER IS… — It’s time for the town’s annual Miss Teen Riverdale pageant and Betty (Lili Reinhart), Veronica (Camila Mendes), Cheryl (Madelaine Petsch) and Toni (Vanessa Morgan) each have their own reasons for entering. However, when Alice (Mädchen Amick) doesn’t allow Ethel (guest star Shannon Purser) to enter the pageant, the girls band together to make sure she has a fighting chance. KJ Apa, Cole Sprouse, Casey Cott, Charles Melton, and Drew Ray Tanner also star. Michael Goi directed the episode written by Aaron Allen & Chrissy Maroon.”
The Dark Side of “Good Wholesome Values” is a Key Component of Riverdale Season 7
The idea of darkness and injustice just below the shiny, All-American, wholesome veneer is a major element of Riverdale‘s seventh and final season. Thus far we’ve seen racial injustice, sexism, book burning, anti-gay sentiment, and other moral panics thus far this season — all things that existed in the 1950s. Exploring these topics is something that showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa spoke with ComicBook.com about earlier this season when discussing the season premiere’s addressing of the murder of Emmett Till.
“When we first started talking about the 1950s, I think the biggest conversations that we had in the writers room and that I had with various cast members were, and you yourself had even talked about, was is this going to be an idealized whitewashed 1950s where everyone was accepted and where it was okay to be gay, and it was the same being a black teenager as it was being a Caucasian teenager? And very quickly it was sort of like, ‘No, that’s not right, because that’s not true.’ And that’s just not the struggle that people were going through at the time,” he said. “And if you remember, in our season finale at the end of season six, when Archie and Jughead went back in time after the comet, which was so long ago, Archie comes downstairs and his mother says, ‘Something terrible happened. James Dean died.’ And James Dean represented a certain kind of American youth, like handsome movie star, and it was a national tragedy.”
He continued, “And when we were researching the 1950s, and specifically 1955, it was within weeks of James Dean’s death, it was the trial of Emmett Till’s murderers who of course were acquitted and set free. And it felt to us in the writers … when we were talking about it, wow, two different tragedies, two very different teenagers, covered completely different by the media, meaning completely different things. And it felt like a way to immediately dive into the thematics that we wanted to explore is by telling what we hoped was a meaningful sensitive story about Riverdale High being recently integrated, and what the black characters at Riverdale High would be feeling on the other side of that verdict coming down. Of course. And that felt like it was around that time period. And we talked about it a lot in the rooms, and Tabitha Tate, who is a character who’s always … and Toni Topaz, who has always … they’ve always been proud and political, and I don’t want to say social justice warriors, but they’ve always been concerned with those themes. It felt like it would be strange for them not to be talking about that and to have an episode where everyone’s just talking about James Dean. It felt that in our world if Riverdale High had recently integrated and this had happened, these are the kinds of conversations that some of our characters would have and that all of our characters should be having.”
Will Riverdale Return to the Present Before Series’ End?
With the 1950s setting this season of Riverdale technically reflecting them being in an alternative timeline following the events of Season 6, fans have wondered if the series will end with them returning to the present day, something Aguirre-Sacasa has previously suggested. Unfortunately, series star Mädchen Amick recently cast some doubt on that — sort of.
“I don’t know if I should answer,” Amick told Decider when asked about the setting. “No, we don’t get out of the 1950s. So, I guess maybe that is a big spoiler. I will say you do experience the characters in different… dimensions, that you get to see a lot of closures that are outside of the 1950s. I can tease it that way. I think that’s saying enough.”
Amick’s answer is interesting on a few levels. Riverdale showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa has previously said that the final season won’t be entirely set in the 1950s and in a sense, Amick’s response could be suggesting that — she does mention “dimensions” that are outside of the 1950s, which would arguably cover that. But it is also possible that things have changed since Aguirre-Sacasa made that comment. The series only wrapped filming on the final season last week.
Riverdale airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on The CW. “Chapter One Hundred Thirty-Two: Miss Teen Riverdale” airs July 19th.
