Entertainment

Refresh Your Memory On That Crazy 'Riverdale' Season 1 Ending Before Season 2 Starts

by Dylan Kickham
CW

We're finally about to jump into a new season of Riverdale, and a huge part of the new story will revolve around the craziness that went down with Cheryl Blossom and her family at their creepy mansion Thornhill. Before getting into the second season of the teen murder mystery, let's go over where we left the Blossom family in Season 1 and the explosive, unexpected finale. Consider this your Riverdale refresher before Season 2 kicks off on Wednesday, Oct. 11.

The Blossom family definitely gave off super creepy vibes for pretty much all of Season 1, although there were moments even early on when you had to feel for Riverdale High's resident mean girl Cheryl Blossom over the sudden death of her twin brother Jason. Still, Cheryl ruled over the social world of high school with an iron fist and a truckload of bright red lipstick, constantly torturing Betty, Veronica, and Jughead while also making some manipulative moves on Archie. But in the end, we found out that Cheryl was definitely not the true evil in the Blossom family.

After Betty, Jughead, Archie, and Veronica spent the whole season trying to discover who killed Jason Blossom, they finally learn that Cheryl's father Clifford Blossom was behind the whole ordeal. The kids find out that Clifford has been secretly dealing drugs in Riverdale for some time, and when Jason found out about how his dad was really making money, he killed his own son and hired F.P. Jones and the Southside Serpents to get rid of the body. When Cheryl learns the truth, she confronts her father about the murder and he commits suicide in the family barn rather than face arrest for his crimes. After seeing her father's dead body, Cheryl follows suit and attempts suicide by falling into the frozen-over Sweetwater River, the same place where her brother's body was dumped. However, Archie dives into the river and rescues Cheryl from her suicide attempt.

This leads to Cheryl, longing for a new start and the destruction of her family's villainous past, setting fire to Thornhill. She douses the mansion in gasoline and drops a lit candle as her mother Penelope Blossom returns from the town's Jubilee celebration. As the two remaining members of the Blossom family rush outside and watch the mansion go up in flames, Penelope devolves into impassioned screams and lashes out at her daughter, while Cheryl calmly smiles at the destruction she's wrought. And that's the last we see of the Blossoms... yeah, it's pretty unsettling.

So where does that leave the Blossom family as we go into Riverdale Season 2, and what should we be looking for when the show returns? Well, with only two Blossoms remaining, we can expect a good deal of contention between Cheryl and her mother Penelope, both of whom had polar opposites reactions to seeing Thornhill go up in flames. Speaking of Thornhill up in flames, it will also be interesting to see what the Blossoms are going to be doing about their living situation now that they're presumably homeless. I guess they might be rich enough to own other properties, but you never know.

And finally, we can expect to see a fully unhinged Cheryl Blossom in this new season, which is an exciting prospect for fans and a scary one for the characters in the show. We already knew Cheryl had no qualms when it came to bullying and blackmail, but apparently now that list includes massive arson. Don't expect to see Cheryl holding back any more in Season 2.

The second season of Riverdale will premiere on the CW on Wednesday, Oct. 11 at 8 p.m. ET.