Happy Thursday TV fans! After watching The CW’s Riverdale season 4 episode 8, I learned that sometimes it’s easier to open up to a stranger about our problems, but when those problems include haunted ghosts, daddy issues, and a hero complex, Mrs. Burble certainly has a lot of work to do. Please note spoilers are ahead if you have not gotten a chance to watch yet.
In last night’s episode, “Chapter Sixty-Five: In Therapy,” The Watcher returns and continues to send creepy VHS tapes to the residents of Riverdale. Meanwhile, our main characters take time to meet with the new counselor, Mrs. Burble, learning quite a bit about themselves in the process.
My top 5 moments from Riverdale season 4 episode 8 are:
5
“Someone needs to step up.”
When Archie meets with Mrs. Burble, he explains that he doesn’t have any interest in going to college, focusing all of his attention on cleaning up the town of Riverdale. Mrs. Burble tries to get Archie to open up about his father and it’s clear that Archie is embracing this hero complex a little too much, as Mrs. Burble warns him about the dangers of becoming a vigilante.
Mrs. Burble suggests that Archie come up with an anonymous hotline so that he can help others without getting directly involved, but as soon as a call comes through, Archie grabs his mask once again, so it doesn’t look like he is ready to step down from his vigilante role anytime soon.
We know that Archie is desperate to fix things and has the tendency to carry the burden for everyone else, but he needs to watch out before he gets himself, or someone he loves, hurt.
4
“I love you most too.”
The Cooper ladies are in desperate need of some therapy, although Alice is now embracing her maiden name. Alice basically crashes Betty’s therapy session, as these two ladies try to air out their issues. Alice says that Betty is a little girl, but once they keep talking, she blurts out that she loves Betty most of all and she doesn’t want to lose her.
At the end of the episode, Alice leaves a check for Betty to make up for taking her college fund and Betty tells her that she loves her most too, which was a sweet moment.
Betty and Alice have been through their fair share of trauma, but I hope this is enough to repair some of the damage between them.
Although next week’s episode looks really frightening with Alice holding a knife, so we’ll have to see how this plays out for Betty and Alice.
3
“Pause…you’re taking my Vixens away?”
Mr. Honey continues to be Cheryl’s nemesis, explaining that she will need to be cleared through a therapy session before he will reconsider giving her back her duties on the cheerleading squad. Cheryl starts out with a guard around her, but actually opens up to Mrs. Burble quite a bit, as we start to realize how much trauma poor Cheryl has actually gone through.
Mrs. Burble tells Cheryl that she is “remarkably resilient” and I have to agree, but Cheryl finally starts to open up about talking to dead Jason and her feelings on Julian, suddenly realizing how crazy this seems.
Mrs. Burble has Cheryl take a test that determines that she does not have shared DNA, which means she actually didn’t consume Julian in the womb.
Cheryl may not be haunted anymore, but she shares Mrs. Burble’s theory with Toni, explaining that perhaps someone is messing with her.
Toni is hilariously catching up on some reading with The Amityville Horror, which certainly seems fitting, but now we have to wonder who is messing with Cheryl?
I can’t imagine that Nana Rose or Toni would do this and Cheryl already chased her relatives out the door, so is it possible that Mr. Honey is up to no good here? Polly? Penelope Blossom?
We’ll have to see how this plays out, but they better watch out. Cheryl Blossom is not someone you want to mess with!
2
“You should try seeing him through your father’s eyes.”
Even though Jughead is at Stonewall Prep, he gets a session with Mrs. Burble when he is waiting for a transcript. Jughead opens up about the mystery and scandal behind the Baxter Brothers, but Mrs. Burble suggests that perhaps he should focus more on his homework rather than this conspiracy theory.
Jughead is very guarded as well, but starts to think twice when Mrs. Burble explains that he should try to see things through FP’s eyes, reminding him how much FP has sacrificed for Jughead to try and do right by him.
This leads to a very nice moment between Jughead and his father, but will Jughead completely abandon his investigation?
Probably not, but at least he is getting back on track with his writing now.
1
“Veronica Luna is no one’s Cordelia!”
A shining moment for Veronica (formerly known as Lodge) Luna, who is beyond excited when she finds out that she received early admission into Harvard, which is her dream school. However, this dream quickly becomes a nightmare when she realizes that her father got involved, now not knowing if she received admission based on her own merit or not.
Veronica has always seen her family as rather Shakespearean, but Mrs. Burble explains that perhaps it really is more of a Greek Tragedy. She talks about Veronica’s relationship with her father being somewhat obsessive, as perhaps Hiram sees a lot of himself in Veronica and Veronica’s drive for business and success stems from her father.
Mrs. Burble explains that the only way Veronica can be free is to “kill her father,” although not with actual murder. Veronica turns down Harvard and stands up to her father, saying that she is going to win in terms of business, so I guess that means she will be making rum now?
Either way, this was a very important moment for Veronica. We have seen her stand up to her father again and again, but it looks like she is finally going to take a stand away from him to find her own purpose and identity. Go V!
Overall, this episode felt slightly transitional, although I think these moments gave us a chance to reflect on each character and their development over the seasons. However, we did get some plot advancing moments, as we still don’t know who The Watcher is and we later discover that in the future, Donna and Bret are the ones who claim that they saw Archie, Betty, and Veronica killing Jughead, so it looks like we still have more to uncover with this mystery.
Stay tuned!
I hope you enjoyed the list and feel free to post your own thoughts and theories on Riverdale in the comments section below. Thank you so much for reading and happy viewing!
Best,
Amy Koto, TV Fanatic Girl
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