History Fridge / Riverdale

* Alice Cooper's desire to be seen as the "perfect" family and "perfect" wife, to the point that Hal tries to rebuff her throwing him out by asking her "what the neighbours will think" makes a ''lot'' more sense when you find out that Alice is [[spoiler: from the South Side and was possibly a Serpent]]. She probably feels like if she slips up, or if her children don't appear perfect, people will automatically blame her [[WrongSideOfTheTracks upbringing]] and discredit her work. It also gives a reason for why she is surprisingly accepting of Jughead, despite her misgivings about boy next door Archie - [[spoiler: she may relate to Jughead's (less extreme, but still present) UptownGirl relationship with Betty, or his inability to find his place among the students who actively look down on people from the South Side, as these are probably things she herself struggled with while dating Hal in high school.]]

* The beginning of episode 8 features a voice-over by Jughead describing the Coopers, as two high school sweethearts who had a wonderful marriage and two beautiful daughters. Beyond the DysfunctionJunction already shown to hammer that things aren't what they seem, astute fans may remember that there are ''three'' Cooper kids in the comics - in addition to Polly, Betty has an older brother, Chic. Well, this is an alternate continuity, so that's why Chic isn't around, right? Well, the end of the episode gives an explanation, crossing over with a bit of FridgeHorror - [[spoiler: Apparently, before Polly, Alice had another pregnancy - and Hal pressured her into getting it aborted. So while the Coopers have only two children now, Alice did become pregnant three times, like in the original comics.]]

* Riverdale's history of maple trading explains the last names Blossom and Cooper as a function of the old tendency of surnames existing to identify occupation - the Blossoms were likely responsible for cultivating the maple trees, while the Coopers produced the barrels the syrup was trafficked in.
** With the reveal that [[spoiler: the maple syrup business was also used for drug smuggling, it makes even more sense because Blossom might have been referring to Poppies, which are used in the making of Heroin, and are also known for their bright red color - the Blossom's signature color]]

* It's a very small thing, but the fact that Jughead chose ''RebelWithoutACause'' as the last film to be screened at the drive-in - at Betty's suggestion - makes more sense when you find out he [[spoiler: has feelings for her]] and likely thought it would make her happy.
** There are three other small hints at this: one is that Jughead was still in a bitter, angry mood, but when Betty suggested the film, he sent her a genuine smile. An arguable one in episode two occurs when Betty turns and sees Archie and Jughead together--Jughead having a sort of dumbstruck expression. The most obvious is probably his alarmed and slightly crestfallen reaction - which was [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness out of character for him]] - in episode five when Betty confirms she's going [[NotADate to meet up]] with Trev to gather information.

* Thornhill, the Blossom family home, is a creepy old mansion and Jughead's narration explicitly states that none of the kids want to go there. Why do so many of the students go there for Cheryl's house party in episode 1? And, for that matter, how on earth did she convince her ultra-controlling parents to let her hold it?
** At that point, everyone including the Blossoms themselves thought that Jason had drowned in an accident and didn't know that he and Cheryl had set up a plan. I'd imagine that everyone went to the party out of pity, and even her parents would allow it since they thought Cheryl was just as shocked with Jason's death as they were.
* Why didn't Hal just ''tell'' Polly [[spoiler:that Jason was her cousin when they started dating]]? It makes sense that he wouldn't want to admit it, but if he'd just told her early on, he could've avoided the very thing he was worried about -- [[spoiler:incestuous pregnancy]].
** Hindsight is 20/20 - Hal was probably embarrassed/bitter enough about it originally that he convinced himself in his mind that he'd been be able to break the two up ''and'' keep the Blossom-Cooper connection under wraps. Remember, manipulating information to control their kids is, like, the Cooper parents' MO. I doubt he thought the Jason-Polly thing would ever escalate to where it did, not if he and Alice were set on getting Polly to leave him. Besides, Riverdale is a small, gossipy town, so (even if the fear was unrealistic) he might've feared that the info would somehow get around to the rest of the town and become a further scandal.

* Miss Grundy's relationship with Archie is squick enough, but her behaviour around other young men is quite creepy itself. There's the implied past she might have had with Jason (which would have happened when he was a year younger than Archie is currently, making it far more horrifying), as well as her checking out other teenage boys as she's [[spoiler:leaving town]]. Combined with this, while her claims about [[spoiler:having been beaten by her ex-husband]] would explain [[spoiler:her name change, her using a fake name]] to apply to a school is also a very common tactic used by serial predators to escape public scrutiny.

** There are two other small hints at this: one is that Jughead was still in a bitter, angry mood, but when Betty suggested the film, he sent her a genuine smile. An arguable one in episode two occurs when Betty turns and sees Archie and Jughead together--Jughead having a sort of dumbstruck expression.

** There are two other small hints at this: onr is that Jughead was still in a bitter, angry mood, but when Betty suggested the film, he sent her a genuine smile. An arguable one in episode two occurs when Betty turns and sees Archie and Jughead together--Jughead having a sort of dumbstruck expression.

* It's a very small thing, but the fact that Jughead chose RebelWithoutACause as the last film to be screened at the drive-in, at Betty's suggestion, makes more sense when you find out he has feelings for her.

Jason Blossom's body was found in the river weeks after his death, and showed no notable signs of decay. However, this makes more sense after episode two where it is revealed that [[spoiler: not only was Jason's body shown to have been frozen for an indeterminate amount of time, but also that he died an entire week after the Fourth of July, when it was assumed he died.]]

!! FridgeHorror: