Riverdale season 4, episode 6 review: Hereditary
On Riverdale, Jughead uncovers a scandalous secret that has deadly consequences, Betty interrogates Charles and Hiram tries to reunite his family.
It’s a night of secrets and lies on Riverdale. Betty turns to an old enemy for help when her investigation into Charles turns up nothing. But can her informant be trusted? Can Charles?
Meanwhile, as Jughead works on his Baxter Brothers story in the hopes of becoming the next author, he uncovers damning evidence that the supposed creator of the series didn’t actually write the debut novel. Someone else did, and Jughead knows exactly who.
Elsewhere, Veronica’s family life gets complicated with Hiram out of prison, and Hermione finds herself turning to old habits. Here’s a look at what went down in “Hereditary.”
Charles and Chic are a couple and conspiring against Betty
So… Chic is back, and Charles really is a serial killer, or at least a killer. But Betty doesn’t know that yet. Remember when Chic said he killed Charles in the apartment they shared as kids? Well, Betty goes to see him in prison, and Chic’s story now is that Charles killed a friend of theirs in the apartment while high on Jingle Jangle.
When Betty confronts Charles about it, insisting he hook himself up to a polygraph, Charles claims Chic cheated on him and murdered his one-night-stand in their bed. Charles does admit, though, that he dissolved the body and disposed of the bloody sheets. Furthermore, he acknowledges that he’s been keeping another secret: he’s a recovering addict. Charles then storms off, leaving Betty feeling guilty about invading his privacy and jumping to conclusions.
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Making matters worse, when Betty goes home, Alice reveals that Chic just tipped off the FBI about that drug dealer Dwayne that he murdered in the Coopers’ kitchen back in Season 2, knowing that Alice, Betty and FP all helped dispose of the body and/or clean up the crime scene. FP and Charles go off and “take care of” the body, though, so it’s all good… except that it’s really not.
As the episode nears its end, Charles goes to visit Chic and reveals that their plan is working out perfectly, especially because Betty has no idea they’re still together and doesn’t think Charles is shady anymore. She even apologizes to him for prying and for not accepting him as a member of her family. How soon will Betty realize her instincts were right? We’ll have to wait and see.
Speaking of waiting and see, are FP and Charles ever going to have a one-on-one scene together on-screen?! Like, he’s his dad. How have they not had a conversation yet???
Jughead’s conspiracy theory turns out to be spot-on… and deadly
Thanks to some thorough literary analysis, an old Riverdale High literary magazine and that classic Jughead intuition, our soon-to-be (or, maybe, hopefully, not to be) dearly departed friend discovers that the true creator of the Baxter Brother series was not Francis DuPont but actually DuPont’s classmate, Forsythe, Jug’s grandfather.
Jughead confronts DuPont, who shockingly does not respond well to being called a fraud, so Jug then turns to Mr. Chipping. Mr. Chipping agrees to expose DuPont, feeling morally obligated; but the next day, during class, he apologizes to Jughead for not being able to help and dives through a stain glass window. A horrified Jug runs to the window and screams at his classmates to call an ambulance, but they are completely unfazed by the sudden turn of events (further confirming my theory that they’re all psychopaths).
The episode ends with the reveal of their new teacher: Mr. DuPont. So, how did DuPont drive Mr. Chipping to choose suicide over taking a stand against him? Just how big of a secret is DuPont hiding? Surely, it must go beyond plagiarism if it cost a man his life.
Hermione and Hiram get back together… again
They fight. They hook up. Hiram moves back into the penthouse. They renew their vows.
Hermosa, meanwhile, does some redecorating in the study, hanging a portrait of herself that she says Hiram had commissioned for the “apple of his eye.” And so, the Lodge drama continues.
A fed-up Veronica isn’t having any of it and wants nothing more to do with her family, including Hermione. But how long will she hold out this time?
What did you make of this week’s episode of Riverdale? Are you a fan of Hermosa? Let us know in the comments below!