We Need To Unpack This Mystery About Jughead's Past On Riverdale

Jughead’s life hasn’t been easy. As if growing up in a biker gang and almost getting murdered by a secret society wasn’t bad enough, the tortured writer is now seemingly being haunted by mothmen and aliens. It’s not clear how real these supernatural terrors are, but Riverdale’s midseason premiere dropped a bombshell that may finally unlock Season 5’s big mystery. Now, all eyes are on Jessica and Jughead’s New York past on Riverdale, because it sounds like that’s the source of all this mayhem.

Spoiler alert: This post contains spoilers for Riverdale Season 5, Episode 11, “Strange Bedfellows.” Once again, Jughead’s story is taking a very weird turn this season... and that’s saying something considering his friends are dealing with stolen gemstones, prison breaks, and a creepy ministry that worships Cheryl’s dead brother. Before Season 5’s midseason break, Jughead mysteriously disappeared after downing some psychedelic maple mushrooms, and in the new episode, fans saw where that trip took him. Jughead relived an impactful moment from his childhood, bonding with a man named Doc who took care of him when he was living on Sketch Alley without a home. After saving Doc from getting beat up, Jughead realized that something traumatic happened to him during his last seven years in New York City, but he can’t remember what it was. Intent on finding out the truth, Jughead set out to return to New York, unknowingly hitching a ride with the truck that’s been responsible for all the disappearances in Riverdale.

While the truck is still a big question mark, the even bigger mystery is what happened to Jughead in New York. There’s no way of knowing for sure just yet, but a primary suspect in the mystery is Jughead’s ex-girlfriend, Jessica.

We only got a glimpse of Jessica at the beginning of the season. She’s a fellow writer who grew fed up with Jughead’s antics, leading to their angry breakup. When Jughead was looking for psychedelics to help him write his manuscript, it was Jessica who sent him the maple mushrooms. She became even more suspicious in the midseason premiere, after arriving in Riverdale to help Betty and Tabitha search for Jughead. Rather than trying to find her ex, though, she seemed dead-set on grabbing his manuscript. She even went so far as to drug Betty and Tabitha in order to snatch it away from them.

So, why is Jessica so intent on taking Jughead’s novel? She told Betty she wanted it simply to read through it and ensure her ex didn’t reveal any details about their life in New York together. Hm, it sounds like something went down between them that she really does not want to get out. That’s probably also the traumatic event Jughead is trying to remember, meaning the event must have something to do with Jessica. Since Jessica returned to New York with Jughead’s novel, and Jughead is heading there too (albeit on a killer truck), it looks like the truth will come out soon enough.

New episodes of Riverdale Season 5 air Wednesday nights at 8 p.m. ET on The CW.