Riverdale: 10 Biggest Scandals On The Show | Screen Rant
Most shows thrive on scandal to mix things up, and Riverdale runs on a steady stream of shocking events to keep viewers entertained. In fact, Riverdale has so many absurd twists and turns that it's been touted as a show that's so bad, it's funny, but it keeps viewers coming back for more, nonetheless.
Right from season 1, the teens and adults of Riverdale acted in outrageous and improper ways, which is a part of the charm of the show. Teenagers break laws and do strange things, while their parents commit murder and keep troubling family history under wraps for no real reason. It's safe to say that when the Blue & Gold reports scandal, it's really messed up stuff.
Jason Blossom's was the biggest character death on Riverdale — it kickstarted the mysterious stream of crime in the town and got everybody in a flurry over who killed the star athlete who had been a perfect son and student.
In a total twist, the murderer turned out to be none other than Jason's own father, Clifford, who went to great lengths to protect himself and get FP framed for it. The fact that a father could kill his son was distressing, and then Clifford went ahead and killed himself, which made the whole matter even worse.
One of the saddest things for Archie was getting involved with his music teacher, but it was also pretty salacious in a small town like Riverdale. Miss Grundy was clearly somebody who took advantage of young men, but Archie's stubborn claims of being in love with her didn't make things any better.
The entire sordid affair did come to an end with the parental and school authorities' intervention, but Miss Grundy died a painful death at the hands of the Black Hood, putting a terrible cap on the entire saga.
A lot of the time, Cheryl had the ability to be the sweetest, but her troubled upbringing inclined her towards being a mean girl who controlled everything. Penelope had emotionally abused her about her sexuality and her personality but continued to hurt her by doing questionable things like opening a brothel.
She first started inviting men over to their home while Cheryl, a minor, was still around, and then went and opened up her own escort club to entertain men more than she could at home. She also "fell in love" with Hal while he frequented her home, which was disgusting and twisted to another level.
The Blossoms were clearly a troubled lot, but the Coopers had a fair share in the family politics since they were actually related to each other. The reason why Hal and Alice hated Polly's relationship and pregnancy with Jason was because they knew that the two families had split decades ago, but still shared the same genes.
This meant that Polly and Jason were distant cousins who had been dating each other for a while and that their children, Juniper and Dagwood, were actually the product of incest.
A seriously outdated Serpent law stated that a woman's initiation into the gang required her to do a suggestive dance in front of others, which is regressive enough as it is, but even worse when it involves a teenager. Betty, or Dark Betty, decided to show her dedication to Jughead by doing this dance.
The only problem was that it was a very sexual pole dance, where Betty wore lingerie and shimmied in front of grown men and women, which included FP and Alice. Once audiences looked past the cringe, it occurred to them just how indecent the whole situation was.
Cheryl always managed to pull something truly contentious out of her hat, and her obsession with Josie resulted in her doing some questionable things to get her attention. From sending threatening letters to disturbing sketches, Cheryl sent Josie many things and got Chuck framed for it.
The last straw was when Cheryl decided to send Josie a gruesome pig's heart to show her love, which was nothing short of horrifying. It's a mystery that the weird "gift" got forgotten so easily by the students of the school.
Veronica's father had always been on the wrong side of the law, so when he came to Riverdale and ran for positions of power, it was already scandalous that a criminal was running for office, and even succeeding at it.
Hiram steadily sold and burnt bits of the town to fund his own greed and ulterior motives, which included disenfranchising Riverdale so that people would migrate to his township SoDale and make him profits there. The townspeople would regularly fall for his honeyed promises and believe he was doing things for the benefit of the town, but as a convicted criminal, it was obvious what he was trying to do and also getting away with.
One of Riverdale fans' favorite storylines is the Farm, and it is equally shocking. Edgar Evernever managed to create a whole cult in the town, and indoctrinated almost everyone, from Principal Weatherbee to Cheryl and Kevin into it under everyone's noses.
They promised the people that they would be able to talk to their loved ones when in reality the entire gig was a front for illegal organ harvesting that the entire town fell for. It was truly shameful that the Farm was allowed to infiltrate lives to this level.
The fact that FP and Alice had had an illegitimate child and hidden it from the rest of the world was a big family scandal anyway, and when Alice tried to do right and bring Charles back, she got a shady Chic instead.
Chic impersonated Charles long enough to get into the Cooper house, threaten and creep Betty out, and even make Alice kill one of his associates for him. As audiences found out later, the real Charles was alive, a serial killer, and a lover of Chic's. It was pretty much the most amount of drama, ever.
Hiram Lodge may have been dirty, but he was always shown to be a family man. He loved his wife and daughter, which is why it came as a shock that he had another child, a daughter, from an affair that he had with a singer at one of his many clubs.
Hermosa arrived in Riverdale from Miami, a true Lodge child, with business acumen just like her half-sister and father. Hiram also made no bones about her existence, and just asked Veronica to deal with it, which was quite shameful.