Pep Talk: Riverdale, Episode 110, "The Lost Weekend"

I'm used to seeing Archie Andrews with red hair. I'm used to seeing him drive a red car.

But I never thought I'd see him with a red Solo cup.

But that's just how things roll in RIVERDALE, the edgy, angsty version of the classic comics characters where everybody is broken, everyone has a secret, and the best people are the ones who live in the morally lighter gray areas than others.

At issue this week is Jughead's birthday party. The thing is, Jug (COLE SPROUSE) doesn't like celebrating his birthday. He really doesn't like celebrating it. So when Betty (LILI REINHART) decides she's going to throw him a party, Archie (KJ APA) tries his best to talk her out of it. But Betty is headstrong and won't be denied, so Archie volunteers his house -- which is going to be empty this weekend, because his dad (LUKE PERRY) is out of town to finalize divorce papers with his mom! So, yeah, Archie is at the top of his angst game right now.

To ramp up the tension, however, because that's what RIVERDALE does each week, we find that Chuck Clayton (JORDAN CALLOWAY) is back in school after his suspension for leading a sexual harassment campaign. And he hasn't forgotten how Veronica (CAMILA MENDES) and Betty brought him down -- or the dark side of Betty he saw that night.

Cheryl Blossom (MADELAINE PETSCH), still smarting from Archie not becoming her boyfriend last week, and from losing the respect of the Riverdale Vixens to Veronica in a stripper pole competition dance off, decides to unleash chaos. Knowing about Jughead's party, she pairs up with Chuck Clayton, and together they bring most of the student body to what was supposed to just be a small handful of friends. The beer flows freely, and while the party continues Jughead just tries to get away, confronting Betty about how this was for her anyway, not him, and that he's not one of her projects. It appears this could be the end of #Bughead -- and that may still be in the cards, but not tonight.

Jughead is prevented from leaving, however, by Chuck and Cheryl, because Cheryl hasn't started playing the party games yet: Secrets and Sins. It's an adult variation on Truth or Dare, designed to get everyone's secrets out in the open. Cheryl starts by piling in on Veronica and her family problems, exacerbated this week by Hiram Lodge subtly threatening Veronica's mother, Hermione (MARISOL NICHOLS) if Veronica doesn't provide character testimony on his behalf. But Veronica isn't having it, and unwinds a whole sordid string of catty verbal assaults on Cheryl, culminating in a cutting accusation of twincest between Cheryl and her murdered brother, Jason Blossom. Dilton Doiley (MAJOR CURDA), whose portrayed as a survivalist sociopath in this incarnation, loves the game and gets into it himself, providing the information about having seen Miss Grundy's car the night of Jason's murder, and Archie as well, allowing Cheryl to put together the pieces in front of everyone that Archie was having an affair with Miss Grundy.

The game comes to a halt, however, when Chuck Clayton divulges all the details of Betty believing she was her sister, Polly, the night she nearly drowned him in the jacuzzi. Seeing Betty upset, Jug launches into him, and it's up to FP Jones (SKEET ULRICH), Jughead's dad (whom Betty invited) to break up the fight and send everyone packing.

The evening/morning wraps up with Betty and Jughead still good, having a talk at Pop's diner. Oh, and Veronica Lodge gets into a kissing session with Archie and then wakes up in his bed. Yeah, I thought that might get your attention.

And the woman that Fred Andrews went to finalize his divorce with? He brings her home. Everybody, meet Mary Andrews (MOLLY RINGWALD). Hey, we haven't seen Jughead's mom, yet -- what's Shannon Dougherty up to these days?