Riverdale Review: Chapter Seven: In a Lonely Place (Season 1 Episode 7)

Despite being the show’s narrator, we’ve only gotten glimpses of Jughead’s backstory, but Riverdale Season 1 Episode 7, “Chapter Seven: In a Lonely Place,” is an emotional, personal dive into Jughead’s home life.

“Chapter Seven: In a Lonely Place” provides a proper introduction to Jughead’s dad, F.P. Jones, who we briefly met a few episodes ago.

As far as Riverdale parents go, F.P. gets a “Not As Big Of A Jerk As You Could Have Been” award. Alcoholic? Yes. Shady? There’s the whole Southside Serpent thing, the deal with the Lodges, and the whole history with him, Fred Andrews, and the business — so yes, definitely shady.

But he does seem to genuinely care about his son and want to be better for him. It doesn’t seem like he’s lying when he tells Fred he wants Jughead to look at him and “not see a piece of garbage,” and his actions show that.

He turns down Fred’s initial job offer but takes it after Jughead urges him to do so. F.P. could have charged into the sheriff’s office and caused a scene, but Jughead tells him to back off, and he immediately does.

The writers have crafted F.P. in a way that makes him not entirely irredeemable or unforgivable, which makes it easier to understand why Jughead keeps giving him another chance.

Yes, Jughead’s just a teenager, so of course he’s going to give his dad another chance, but with F.P., you empathize with Jughead and understand why he’s spending so much time trying to get F.P. to get his life back on track rather than just cutting him out of his life entirely.

Of course, while the writers created this complicated father-son relationship, Skeet Ulrich and Cole Sprouse bring it to life, and both give wonderful, emotional performances.

When F.P. tells Jughead he’s going to do better so that their family can be together again, you don’t think it’s a lie or a scam or an empty promise from an alcoholic. You’re not yelling “Don’t listen to him, Jughead!” at your TV. You really want to believe him.

There is, however, the matter of Jason Blossom’s letterman jacket — which was last seen in the hidden car that ended up on fire — in F.P.’s closet.

That revelation comes at the very end of the episode, though. The rest of the episode is light on the actual murder case, instead focusing on missing Polly, her complicated relationship with her parents, and the Blossoms renewed interest in her after they find out about her pregnancy.

The Coopers and the Blossoms are both still pretty terrible. Polly is afraid to return home because the Coopers want to force Polly to give her child up for adoption, and Mrs. Blossom questions Cheryl about Polly’s “party girl” past, already scheming to get custody of her grandchild.

Cheryl’s return is a highlight of the B-plot. Her attitude continues to vary wildly depending on her interactions with her parents, but she is a teenager after all, putting up a brave face in front of her peers.

She’s smug at the beginning of the episode — she only reveals to her mom and the sheriff that Polly is missing after her mom agrees to let Cheryl rejoin the cheerleading squad — but she’s empathetic by the end, as she warns Polly and Betty that her parents don’t have the best of intentions.

In the end, Polly ends up going to stay with the Lodges. This development keeps Polly nearby, and it will be interesting to see how this dynamic affects Hermione, Veronica, Betty, and Cheryl moving forward.

Meanwhile, the C-plot involves Veronica acting out in classic teenager fashion by buying things the Lodges can’t really afford and going out clubbing, as all teens on teen dramas do. Given the weight of the other two storylines on this episode, Veronica’s bout of immaturity doesn’t quite fit, but it does thankfully bring an end to her fight with her mom.

Riverdale Season 1 is just past its halfway point with 6 episodes remaining, and the show now heads into a brief hiatus on a high note. Jughead’s story in “Chapter Seven: In a Lonely Place” is one of the show’s best A-plots so far, and this episode leaves no doubt in my mind that Riverdale will continue to deliver when it returns on March 30th.

OTHER THOUGHTS:

• Yeah, keeping a murder board in the school where any teacher or faculty member could find it probably wasn’t Betty and Jughead’s best idea. Still, even though the sheriff has a stretch of a motive for Jughead, how could he look at Jughead’s face during that interrogation and think for one second that he was actually the murderer?
• For the past few episodes, Archie has mostly been wrapped up in his own little world, worrying about Grundy, music and football, so this episode is a nice reminder that, hey, Archie sometimes actually pays attention to his friends’ lives, and he can be a decent friend when he does pay attention.
• Speaking of Archie, Valerie is present at the search for Polly in the woods, but there’s no mention of the two of them being a couple now.
• On the flipside, while neither comes out and says the words “dating” or “boyfriend/girlfriend,” Betty and Jughead are moving forward after their kiss from “Chapter Six: Faster, Pussycats! Kill! Kill!,” and Veronica and Archie both seem to be okay with it.

What did you think of “Chapter Seven: In a Lonely Place”? Share with us in the comments below!

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Riverdale airs Thursdays at 9/8c on the CW.

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