Riverdale, who hasn’t heard about this show? It’s a trending topic on all social medias and every time I open Facebook or Twitter I see a new test or theory from Buzzfeed regarding this show. If you live under a rock and have no idea what I’m talking about Riverdale is a TV show with the characters based off the Archie Comics but with a suspense theme. During Season 1 we saw the characters solve the death of Jason Blossom and we found out that Riverdale is a wild town and some families have a really dark past. Because of these dark histories a serial killer is “cleaning” the town from all kind of sinners by killing them, so while season 2 is focused on finding who is this serial killer I am here to talk about the latest episode that aired this past Wednesday November 8th.
The 18th episode is called “When a Stranger Talks”, and during this episode we see someone from Veronicas past come to Riverdale in order to sign a deal with Veronica’s father. When I first heard about a new character from Veronicas “mean girl” times I was kind of excited to finally see her past that is talked about so much, but rarely shown. This new character is Nick Saint Claire. The episode revolves around Betty receiving messages from the killer, Jughead trying to maintain peace between the north and south side ot Riverdale and Veronica reconnecting with her wild past. When Nick Saint Claire arrives to the town he is immediately flirting with Veronica even if Archie is there (cero chill), he finds out she is part of Josie and the Pussycats and throws them a party in his hotel room with the main cast,except Jug,where they drink a lot and have some “jingle jangle”. During the party Betty has a conflict with Veronica that interrupts the party and after this I though that was the biggest thing we would see in this episode but boy was I wrong. After the party Nick and Veronica are catching up and Nick begins to force Veronica into having sex. Veronica is offended because Nick knows she is with Archie, but Nick being Nick doesn’t care and tries to manipulate her by telling her that she needed to show him a good time by daddy’s orders, Nick knowing that he can break off the deal between his dad and Veronicas dad he tells her “I’d be thinking of ways you might start showing me more appreciation,if you need help I can suggest a few…” and proceeds to grab her hair, to which Veronica responds with a slap on his face.
After this incident they both meet up at the open house hosted by Veronica’s parents and he apologizes to her by excusing himself on an abuse of substances, then Cheryl comes to scene and they start talking. Now a very important detail I had not mentioned before was that Cheryl was clearly interested in Nick, with this in mind if he wanted to have sex with the he could’ve just asked and Cheryl would probably agree to it, but no this did not happen. Nick wanted to show that he had the power of the situation and show his dominance as a male, so he throws drugs into Cheryl’s drink to later sexually assault her. When Josie and the Pussycats along with Veronica are performing in the open house, Josie and Veronica notice how Cheryl,who is basically unconscious and can barely walk, is walking out of the party with Nick. They take matter into their hands and thankfully get to Nicks hotel room on time. They find Cheryl in bed unconscious and Nick ready to undress, but Veronica runs and screams “get off her” while punching him in the face. Josie runs to see how Cheryl is doing while Veronica, Valerie and Melody star kicking and beating up Nick. After this scene we see Cheryl, Josie and Veronica with Betty and Archie in the same room talking about what happened. Archie says “where the hell is he” to which Cheryl replies ” You can put your cape away Archie, the Pussycats already saved me”
So why is this episode so important? Because it shows us so girl power, it shows us how things can happen so quickly and most importantly is shows us that we have to take care of each other. Josie, Veronica, Valerie and Melody not only saved Cheryl from something terrible but they also took care of it. They didn’t need a man to come save them or someone to make Nick pay, they did it all by themselves showing that girls aren’t weak and that they had each others back. This power was so powerful to see because there are few times in which we can see this happen. This makes girls feel empowered and it is important to have this shown more. We need to create a culture in which girls can see that they can defend themselves and that they have a support system behind them. Thank you Riverdale for this powerful and emotive scene that was beautiful written and performed.