Katy Keene Review: Chapter Twelve: Chain of Fools (Season 1 Episode 12)

One step forward, two steps back.

Katy Keene Season 1 Episode 12, “Chapter Twelve: Chain of Fools,” attempts to take a long-overdue look into the inner workings of a major character, and ends up stunting itself from moving forward properly.

It’s not that a Pepper centric episode isn’t necessary — it absolutely is. It’s just unfortunate Katy Keene waits for twelve entire episodes to get there. Twelve episodes is quite a bit of content to push through before getting answers about one of the show’s four main characters, and it has caused a drastic imbalance between the core four.

Jorge, Josie, and even Katy have established their identities by now, allowing the series to build complex worlds around them as individuals. All three have intriguing storylines, are dealing with interesting conflicts, and are ultimately being pushed forward as characters. 

Keene has done none of this for Pepper Smith (or should we say, Rosemary Woodhouse). Therefore the attempt to play catch up feels overtly rushed and at times, even shallow.

“Chapter Twelve: Chain of Fools” doesn’t fail on all fronts — the reveal of Pepper’s origin story and the introduction of her father certainly pulls at the heartstrings, even if it’s too little too late in the larger scope of things. 

If a show wants its audience to rally behind a character, it has to take the time necessary in developing them, otherwise, there’s no stock taken in that character’s success or failure.

Katy Keene has done so little to showcase who Pepper Smith truly is that the bits served up during this episode come up far too short, and her repercussions hold little to no emotional weight. 

Instead of feeling bad for Pepper, you just feel she’s getting what she deserves. 

Things are only made worse by revealing Pepper has been directly betraying the three characters we have learned to adore, and watching them fall prey to her schemes only adds to the distaste for her storyline.

Actions have consequences — and stealing, conning, and lying to your friends are not admirable qualities. Motive certainly matters, and Pepper clearly does care about her friends, but it doesn’t excuse her from the immeasurable amount of deceit she’s accomplished during those first twelve episodes.

Flawed characters are almost always more interesting, but it’s important to find a delicate balance between them making mistakes and crossing lines they can’t come back from. Pepper hasn’t quite crossed that line, but she’s certainly in its general vicinity. From here, Keene needs to start growing Pepper into the person her friends thought she was. 

While the show grants Pepper forgiveness from her friends far too quickly, the choice of narrative does line up with Katy Keene’s tone and underlying message: friendship above all else.

This series wouldn’t be a warm hug if it pitted the core four characters against each other for longer than an episode or two.

At least we finally have answers as to who Pepper truly is, and if nothing else, her storyline does end up making some of the other characters even more likable.

Katy is learning to finally say “no” where “no” is needed, and holds nothing back when blindsided by Pepper’s (and Guy’s) deceptions. A stern and heartbroken Katy is startling but unbelievably satisfying; her refusal to take the blame for any of Pepper’s missteps does not go unnoticed.

Lucy Hale is truly outstanding this episode — it’s as if the more emotion Katy Keene allows Hale’s character to feel, the more she uses it as an opportunity to showcase how talented of an actor she is.

It’s also a solid episode for Josie, who has found a life where she can be herself, and her character is given enough focus for Ashleigh Murray to mold Josie into someone incredibly relatable. 

Josie’s fierce edge has carried over from Riverdale — she still knows who exactly who she is; she’s just added a layer of compassion, making her a much more dynamic character than ever before.

Josie is consistently a bright spot of the series and continues to get better with each passing episode. 

“Chapter Twelve: Chain of Fools” does have its moments of brightly colored warmth and triumph, it’s just not quite enough to make it worthy of a penultimate episode.

Instead, it reads as a disappointing regression from a string of absolutely stellar stories the series has been able to deliver recently. 

What did you think of this episode of Katy Keene? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Katy Keene airs Thursdays at 8/7c on The CW. 

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