#i know a lot of you here *prefer* bughead

[fallout-mars]

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[raymondebidochonlifechoices]

Are you confident Bughead will be endgame on this show? That’s literally the last strand I’ve been holding onto, but the thread is weakening. I really can’t believe that they would take this ship, their absolute most popular and loved one, and just end it like this forever. I am so angry with the writing!!

Hey there, anon! It is unbelievable, isn’t it?

What a tricky question you ask! confidence + prediction + the Riverdale writers ... As Jughead would say: yikes!

The thing with these writers is that they use a lot of words without knowing their meaning. “Endgame” is one of them. “New” is another. “Exciting”. “Darkness”™. “Adult stories”. “The message”…

Dangling the bughead “endgame” carrot at the end of one or two seasons of no bughead or -worse- of b*rchie and j*bitha f.e. is not an endgame. The general definition of endgame -outside of chess- is: the last stage of a process. If the process (i.e. the season’s content) isn’t about bughead, then bughead coming together at the very end is not an endgame, it's a peripeteia i.e. a sudden or unexpected reversal of circumstances.

In shipping, endgame is a couple that will inevitably end together (for ever and ever and ever). In order for something to be inevitable, you have to create that sentiment, you have to build the couple up.

There’s an article about the misappropriation of the word “endagame” that I find particularly funny, as it starts by mentioning Riverdale!

Anyway, this is a long-winded way to say that, yes, I do believe that the show will end with bughead and varchie as their main canon couples. It’s just that, like you, I’m so very tired with these story lines. There is satisfaction to be had at the notion of endgame but a seasonful of investigative bughead would be infinitely preferable. For me (and I can only speak of myself) the journey is more important than the destination -even if for the simple reason that -in TV show time- it lasts longer!

Why do I think bughead is still … that word? Everything’s under the cut, so as not to clutter your dash!

1. A lot of people have been theorising that what happened in 5x18 was not the original plot. I agree.

Let’s start with 5x18 varchie.

Their break up came completely out of left field. Its unexpectedness is reminiscent of 4x17. I make fun of how s5 is a reboot of s1+s2’s leftover ideas, so another copy-paste shouldn’t feel out of place, and yet … really? Another repetition? To what end? If the season’s goal was not varchie, b*rchie was already there waiting at the beginning of the time jump! Why abandon that plot? In terms of romantic varchie time, that was extremely limited, since after their kiss in 5x7, Veronica’s divorce kept them apart until 5x17 … Why have Archie being extremely jealous of Chad, Veronica getting involved in all of Archie’s schemes (firefighters, bulldogs), Archie getting involved in Ronnie’s (rescuing daddykins) or Veronica telling her father she chooses Archie over him in 5x17? Also, for those who remember, there was this by the-writer-who-shall-not-be-named.

The reason of the break up is as ludicrous as Veronica moving into Archie’s childhood bedroom (with its effing slanted roof!) on the premise that long term the Andrews’ residence has more room! (By the way, I don’t know what surprised me more: that Veronica thought that Archie and uncle Frank would know who Ina Garten is or that Jughead didn’t.) Why is Veronica astounded by Archie’s involvement in the same activities he has been involved in all through the season?! For f***’s sake, she’s the one that gifted him the fire truck!

Ok. Now let’s give 5x18 j*bitha a try.

For me, 5x18 could either have gone bugheadwards or j*bithawards. J*bitha had some heartfelt talks, a hand touch, a hallucination and a kiss. Bughead had one unfinished heartfelt talk (the only one in the whole season for Betty), two shoulder touches, two hallucinations and Jughead attempting to reconnect with Betty (without specifying what his intent was, it's true).

While I do think that j*bitha is a ship that has been adequately teased, the way they were explored in 5x18 was … not underwhelming exactly (after all, they’re not my ship, so I didn’t have any expectations about them) but … maybe lukewarm is the word? They had but minimal dialogue, only enough to establish that Tabitha’s parents were in town. Then a song where Tabitha initially rejects Jughead, although she had been supportive before. Then another song, where the lyrics were heavily altered and didn’t make much sense anyway (we hadn’t been properly introduced to the Tates) but where the original lyrics were very compatible with Bughead’s history and state of being as of 5x17. The kisses were ok, I have no problem with the actors’ chemistry. But -and this is strictly a personal opinion- Jughead’s flirting scenes (not the make-out ones, you perverts!) with Cora were better and so was the j*bitha kiss in 5x10. For the 5x18 j*bitha to flow, more dialogue and more flirting was necessary (always a persona opinion). So, no, I don’t think j*bitha were supposed to sing what they sang in 5x18.

Production for s5 wrapped up one week after the official announcement of the 5 special episodes for Riverdale and The Flash: “we expect it will take us until Fall 2022 to get back to a regular schedule” was the official quote. Re-organising the cw’s overall schedule didn’t happen overnight. Yes, more likely than not, the writers knew about the specifics of s6a before shooting 5x18-5x19 and had time to re-write them.

2. The couples spoilers for s6 do not make sense plot-wise.

If the end-goal for 5x19-6x1 had been b*rchie, j*bitha and v*ggie all along, these were pairs already happening (except from v*ggie) at the beginning of the time-jump. As for v*ggie, last time we saw them, Veronica pulled a face when she heard that he had had (still has?) an affair with Hermosa. And what about Nana Rose?! (ok, that was a joke! ... or was it? 👀)

The majority of both the fans and the general audience are bugvarchie shippers. Teasing b*rchie and j*bitha as a means of maintaining the viewers’ interest in a will they/won’t they way, only works if the audience finally gets what they want. In this season. Not the next one! There is so much trolling one can take after all. In the space of 1.5 year (4x17-5x19) b*rchie will have been teased ... THREE times (and still lacking build-up)!

I cannot myself see b*rchie, j*bitha and v*ggie as endgame couples. For the audience to invest in them after 4 years of bugvarchie, the writers have to a) give j*bitha an absolutely incredible development that will surpass bughead and the cinematography to go with it (good luck with that) and b) undo Archie’s character (highly unlikely) and/or give Betty a lobotomy (at which point a lot of people will quit en masse, because Archie as The One All The Girls Want just doesn't resonate with the majority).

I have no idea if s6a is an AU or not. But if it’s not, no one will be left to watch 6b.

Can I guarantee a bughead endgame? Of course not. I have no idea how the minds of the Riverdale writers work. But I do think that Jughead and Betty getting back together is more than wishful thinking.

Fervently shipping Jughead/Betty, Jughead/his book and Betty/therapy, sincerely yours, @raymondebidochonlifechoices

I hope you have fun with the Riverdale universe regardless, dear anon. Riverdale has given us one of the most beautiful getting-together stories in s1 and lots and lots of beautiful canon bughead afterwards. Here's to many more! Much love to you!

[solo-23]

I'd debated about whether or not to post this because it's definitely a rant and there is definitely a lot of negativity, but I need to vent after last night's episode (with some leftover issues from earlier this season, too). If Betty is your favorite and you don't like to read anything negative about her, you will not like this post.

1. The way the voicemail has been blown completely out of proportion by the writers, reviewers, and some shippers is ridiculous. We keep hearing about how it was terrible, emotionally abusive, toxic, and something that Jughead definitely needed to apologize for, but nothing he said was actually out of line. There is absolutely nothing in that voicemail that Betty should have been surprised about, let alone treating it like it somehow turns her into the victim in the fall of Bughead.

It's not surprising that Jughead has now apologized twice for the voicemail, even if he doesn't actually remember all of it, because he knows that it hurt Betty. He can also probably guess what he said because he knows what he feels and how it can be exaggerated when he's feeling depressed or under the influence of drugs and alcohol. Generally if you actually admit what you're thinking or feeling when you know it would hurt someone, you feel bad about it. It doesn't matter if it's true or not, or if you're under the influence. A good person apologizes if they know they hurt someone. Jughead is a good person.

Just a note here, I've seen other people saying that Betty's actions while high should be excused just like people have said Jughead's voicemail should be excused because he was under the influence. Being under the influence DOES NOT excuse the voicemail.

The fact that Betty cheated on Jughead, did continue to sneak around with Archie while debating whether or not she wanted to "officially" pursue him, hid the whole affair until Jughead actually caught on and she had to make up a direct lie to his face or confess, never actually explained anything to Jughead (things like she was the one who stopped the affair, she wanted to stay with Jughead, etc.) even after he asked if they could talk about it, stood him up at Pop's a year later, and then stood him up again at the book release party justify Jughead's voicemail. And he has apologized for it twice.

2. That is why it was so intensely frustrating for Betty to just brush off his apology (again) and then turn the conversation to her, but without actually apologizing for anything. When Jughead mentioned not really being able to remember the voicemail, she could have brought up what bothered her in it so (a) he would know and (b) they could actually discuss the issues, which could have led into Betty actually explaining what happened with the cheating, including how the affair ended, and she could have apologized for that. It still wouldn't have been fully satisfying because Betty never apologizes first for her actions, but it would've been better than nothing. She also could have apologized for standing him up, although at least she explained why she didn't make it to the book release party.

3. However, she still didn't admit to or apologize for giving away Jughead's manuscript. The entire reason Jughead relapsed into drinking and almost plagiarized Cora is because Betty gave Jessica his manuscript. No, Betty does not get credit for "saving" Jughead because she was present when he got a phone call from Samm and admitted that he wasn't the author. She's the reason he was in that position in the first place. Yes, she had been drugged. Yes, Tabitha was present and didn't stop her. No, neither of those things excuse it. It also doesn't excuse her from sharing the voicemail with Tabitha and Jessica.

Why not? She and Tabitha were still shown as functional when all of this happened. Jessica admitted that she drugged them to try to get the manuscript. They were both capable of thinking and arguing. Betty chose to give the manuscript to Jessica. It wasn't until afterward that Betty and Tabitha started being really impacted by the drugs. Jughead's manuscript wasn't Betty's (or Tabitha's) to give away and doing so completely screwed Jughead over.

There are some questions here--did he switch over to his typewriter and that's why there was no backup? did he forget to save a copy on his laptop? did his laptop crash or get lost? who knows, but in the story it doesn't matter. There was one copy and Betty gave it away, placing Jughead in the position of losing his agent or plagiarizing another author.

Also, for playing the voicemail, Jessica had just brought the drugged fries to the table. No one is shown as having felt the effects of the drugs until Tabitha made a comment about being warm after the voicemail is over. Betty had been reluctant to help from the beginning, before Tabitha mentioned the "don't be a Betty" line, and made fairly rude comments about Jughead throughout the episode. I don't think she needs to apologize to Jughead for sharing it, but I also thought that playing the victim and having some people blame it on "being high" was ridiculous.

4. You cannot convince me that Betty cares about Jughead in the slightest when he was telling her he was an alcoholic and he's trying to get better and he's clearly drinking alcohol right in front of her and her response is "I'm an addict, too. I'm addicted to serial killers." She's struggling, yes, and it's good that she's opening up, but if she cared about Jughead at all an appropriate response here would be "So, why are you drinking?" or "are you okay?" Show some sort of concern for someone who is relapsing in front of your face. Jughead does it for Betty when he suggests she should take a break, even though he's in a moral quandary caused by Betty, depressed, and drunk.

Also, no, chasing serial killers is not an addiction in the same way as drugs or alcohol and it's insulting to say they're the same. Chasing serial killers could be described as a compulsion for Betty, or a hyperfixation, but it's not the same. It's difficult, but you can choose to not follow a compulsion without experiencing the often severe physical side effects experienced by actual addicts. I'm glad Betty recognized that she has a problem, but no, that is not an addiction.

5. The entire conversation is extremely awkward. It's clear that it isn't what Jughead had in mind, but his life that he had just been starting to get back together fell apart. He sank to new (or at least different) lows. Betty seemed like she wanted to leave as soon as she got there (understandable given how awkward it was, even secondhand) and disappeared once Jughead was distracted by a phone call. It's understandable, but disappointing. The part that was really frustrating, though, was that after talking to Jughead about how unhealthy her serial killer obsession is and how she's worried about her mom, she still goes out. Alice was passed out on the couch, which Betty paused to acknowledge. That should have been a turning point for Betty and it just wasn't. Screw these writers.

6. I loved that Tabitha and Jughead had mutual apologies, discussed their issues, and genuinely seemed to care about each other. I also loved that Jughead still cares and worries about Betty (frustrating as it is when it seems unreciprocated) because it's so true to Jughead's character.

7. It is absolutely fine and understandable if Betty has moved on from Jughead. She seemed to believe that if he found out about the cheating in their senior year, it would be the end of their relationship. She started shutting him out and trying to move on the next day.

However, as a Jughead fan, it's intensely annoying to see him still struggling with the lack of closure and continuing to have feelings for Betty after all of that. I would have preferred to see either both of them move on, then rediscover each other later (or not, depending on where the show is going), or have Betty be the one who still clearly has feelings for Jughead and have her regret blowing up the relationship.

8. Overall, I hate a lot of what the writers have done this season. I don't particularly like any of the backstories for the characters during the time jump, I don't like each character following a separate plot line(s), the lack of interaction between characters, and how disjointed everything feels.

The mothman plot was interesting, but seems destined for a disappointing end. There have been a lot of missed opportunities to bring storylines together (Jughead went missing while Archie was looking for escaped prisoners, he could have found Jughead; Jughead hitchhiked with a random trucker, even without the trucker attacking him he could have seen clues or found Polly; Sweet Pea or Fangs could have seen Betty playing hooker and organized an intervention instead of having the weird cult plot line; I'm sure there's more). Maybe it'll be better with a binge watch, but I'm having trouble maintaining interest in the final three episodes, let alone rewatching this mess of a season.

BONUS: I was relieved that the Bughead talk did not go with my worst case scenario. Based on the possible B/A return, I was a little bit worried that Jughead would apologize for the voicemail and remember what he said, then talk about how he always knew Betty had feelings for Archie. Betty, who said she'd been "wanting this since high school," would then nod along and say she was sorry for hurting him, but acknowledge those feelings. Then Jughead would ask why they never acted on those feelings after the breakup, Betty would talk about the FWB, and Jughead would go full B/A cheerleader and tell her to give it a chance (like the Pacey and Joey chat about Dawson at Mitch's funeral in Dawson's Creek). I was dreading that possibility and I'm so glad the show didn't go there. I'm sorry if I've given anyone nightmares.

[thetaoofbetty]

Oh not on here I'm talking about on ig when cw or ras post

i know what you meant, doll. that was my point tho. i don’t use either of those sites so i don’t know what people get up to when they’re not on tumblr. it’s fandom, it’s fluid and mostly meaningless outside of what it means to us personally. 

a lot of people like multiple ships but prefer one overall. i’ve started nancy drew and like all of the main characters, a rarity for me tbh. i’m not invested in any one ship right now, i’m just enjoying the storyline and the character evolutions. 

i can’t speak for other bugheads but i know i’m absolutely petty enough not to like a pic for a ship i don’t like, ha. but i don’t speak for all bugheads so, hey, who knows why they do what they do? 

[edgarsabandonedrocketship]

Ho Ho Ho, Merry Christmas! Santa here. I’ve been getting ready for the holiday and I’m here just in time for my big day. I love your user name! You clearly have an eye on what’s good. Lucky for us, I believe we were paired together perfectly! I know you mentioned that you like angst and the darker side of things—any favorite tropes with that? Do you have any a Christmas feel or an all around anytime feel? Any Betty, Jughead, or Bughead favorite traits? And most of all… how has your holiday season been going? 🎄🎄🎄 Your Bughead Secret Santa

Hi there! My holiday season has been really nice—pretty mellow, which is how i like it. I hope yours has also been whichever way you prefer.

I do enjoy temporary angst and the darker side of things can be a lot of fun (I especially like dark humor). As far as tropes, I always like the investigative duo. I also enjoy it when Betty's the tougher/meaner one, lol, or when they're both on a similar level, but still inherently "them" (I have no idea if that makes sense). I like it when they get a little unhinged (e.g. Betty and her chainsaw, Jughead with his G&G obsession). The only thing I really don't like is FBI/Cop Betty (I wouldn't like this career path for Jug either).

As for season/holiday feel, I'd enjoy either. There's a lot of fan content with snow right now, so if you want to go in the opposite direction (e.g. heat wave), by all means do (it doesn't snow where I live and I don't want it to start, haha).

Anyway, I hope I've given you some things to work with, but I'm pretty much open to anything.

[thepointoftheneedle]

BUGHEAD APPRECIATION WEEK: day three - favourite trope

I am a very simple creature so my favourite trope is the coffee shop AU.  I’ve written the little thing below the cut to celebrate it and as a thank you to the kind folks who have mentioned one of my stories this week. It honestly means such a lot! 

Betty tied the apron and stood attentively behind her shift manager, Kevin, as he showed her the idiosyncrasies and foibles of the huge Fracino espresso machine.  She was pleased to have got the job and wanted to present herself as an uncomplicatedly good hire.  The coffee shop was a five minute walk from her apartment and she liked the ambiance.  She’d been a regular since she began her research degree, stopping in often on her way to class in the morning.  It would give her a break from the solitude and intensity of her thesis and it would force her to interact with people, she needed the human contact.   After her initiation into the sacred rites of the machine Kevin gave her a laminated recipe card, took a seat on the other side of the counter and called out orders to her as she practiced. 

“Tall latte, three shots,” presented no problem and she even managed the leaf design in the foam with a reasonable degree of skill.  Kevin had clearly given his own order as a first trial because he took the drink from her hand and sipped it as he continued to put her through her paces.

“Medium cap, extra wet, rice,” was next, followed by “Flat white with legs.”  She turned out the orders competently although the difference between them was negligible. He tested her listening skills and her ability not to laugh at an order with the "Grande, bone dry, five-shot ristretto, extra-whip, two-raw-sugars cappuccino” and the "Trenti iced coffee, 12 pumps vanilla, 12 pumps hazelnut, 12 pumps caramel, 5 pumps skinny mocha, a splash of soy, ice, double-blended.” When he asked what she would suggest to up sell that customer she suggested a shot of insulin, which made the only client in the place bark out a laugh.  Kevin raised an eyebrow and she pointed at the millionaire shortcake instead and he nodded his approval.

“Ok, now for the real caffeine heads you need to get the serious drinks just right every time.” He had her draw a straight doppio, a ristretto, a lungo, a red eye and a black eye and lined them up along the counter.  As she served the last Kevin looked over his shoulder at the lone customer.  “You want any of these before they go down the drain, Hemingway?”

The guy looked up from his laptop and nodded, shuffling over and gathering up all of them in two journeys and returning them to his booth like a squirrel gathering acorns to tide him through winter.  “Thanks Kevin,” he muttered as he secured the last of his spoils.

“Don’t thank me, Betty here made them. I only worry that all that caffeine will stop your heart. An ambulance outside will do nothing for our reputation,” Kevin replied.

“I have a high tolerance.  For caffeine if nothing else.  And thanks Betty.  Nice to meet you.” He looked at her as he spoke and she was surprised by his eyes.  They were a striking blue green, not the brown she would have expected with his dark hair.  His eyelashes were unexpectedly long too, sweeping almost up to his brow line.  Now that he wasn’t hunched over the keyboard she saw that he was handsome in a poetic, sensitive, romantic kind of way.  He looked out of his time somehow, more suited to doublet and hose and rhyming couplets or drinking absinthe with Rimbaud.  But here he was, drinking free, cold coffee in Greenwich Village.  

“He’s a fixture and fitting, aren’t you Jones?”

“You’re my Café de Flore Kevin.  I’ll dedicate the book to your hospitality,” he smiled.  Betty liked the smile.

Over the next few weeks she exchanged a nod of greeting with Jones almost every day.  He was generally in his booth when she arrived at four and left around seven, gathering up his laptop and a tall Americano to go, as if he hadn’t already risked his sanity with the amount of caffeine he’d consumed.  “That’s quite a coffee habit,” she observed as he ordered another cup of drip coffee one afternoon.  

“I’m a machine for turning coffee into prose, got to fuel the engine,” he quipped with a smirk. It was clearly a line he used a lot.

The next day as he collected his to-go brew she asked him if it stopped him from sleeping and he explained that he worked nights.  “This’ll keep me going til four tomorrow morning.  It’s good to be able to hate your job with the required degree of enthusiasm.” He was funny in a dry, self deprecating way that she enjoyed.

She started to try to sneak him extras with his coffee, offering cookies and chocolate stirrers. He turned them down.  “I just like coffee with my coffee.”

“If you drink anymore you’ll start twitching.”

“No, I know my limit.  I stop when I start being able to see noises and hear smells.”

She began to tease him about the consistency of his ordering.  “Hey Jones, give me a challenge.  Order something milky with complicated syrups and whipped cream.”

“Coffee should be black as hell, strong as death and sweet as love,” he replied.  “That’s not mine by the way.  It’s a proverb from Turkey or somewhere.”

“But you don’t use sugar.”

“No, I replace the love with bitterness,” he laughed, returning to his seat with his usual drip coffee.

The next day she suggested a cortado.  “Come on Jones, let a little light into that darkness.”  He grinned and accepted a macchiato.  “Today a dab of foamed milk, tomorrow a vanilla latte with whipped cream.  You’ll find you can live without pure intravenous caffeine.”

“I can live without it but all the folks who remain unharmed because I am well caffeinated really don’t want me to skimp.  Anyway if you wean me off caffeine you’ll slash the profit margin of this place,” he smiled. “Not that I’m here solely for the coffee.”

She began to look forward to the jokes, to his familiar presence, to looking over at his long fingers dancing over the keys as he typed.  There were moments when she found herself imagining them moving over her skin that way, flushing and tightening her ponytail in confusion as if he’d be able to read her thoughts.

One afternoon she found him slumped in the booth, his head against the seat back, snoring softly.  She let him sleep until ten to seven before holding his Americano under his nose.  He blinked his magnificent eyes as he awakened and then shook his head to disperse the sleep.  She’d like to see that a lot more often, preferably from the adjacent pillow. “Thanks Betty, not enough coffee today and Jones without coffee is like… something without something…sorry, too sleepy for bon mots.”

 Betty learned that he was doing his MFA at the New School, supporting himself by working nights as a porter at Bellevue.  “Takes too long to travel all the way back to Yonkers between class and work so I hide out here and write.  Besides I live with a singer/songwriter so it gets sort of noisy at home.” Betty hid her disappointment.  Of course he had a girlfriend.  

“A musician.  Would I know her work?” she asked, twisting the knife masochistically.

“Him.  No, I doubt it.” He paused and then looked at her a little shyly through his untidy, dark curls.   “He’s playing downtown at the weekend and I’ve got a night off. You should come.” Betty reproached herself for her heteronormativity and smiled weakly.  She really didn’t want to see Jones and his boyfriend together.

“Oh I’ve got … stuff this weekend.  But thanks though.  I’m sure he’ll be great.”  

Jones flushed and looked at his feet. “I’m sorry if that was inappropriate.  You don’t come to work to get hit on.  Sorry,”

“Oh, no I didn’t think you were asking me on a date.  To your boyfriend’s gig?  That’d be weird.  Oh unless…Oh, I mean, weird was rude.  It’s totally your business but I’m not…like, I’m pretty strait-laced I guess.  But you do you…or whoever.  Sorry.”  Jones was actually laughing now.

“Archie’s my roommate not my boyfriend.  I wasn’t inviting you to a threesome.  I was asking you on a date.  If you’re busy or you’d rather I got lost just say so.”

The gig was the most fun she’d had since she moved to the city.  When he leaned in for a kiss her heart thumped like she’d just drunk ten shots of espresso. After the encore she put her hand on Jughead’s arm and looked into his eyes.  “Would you like to come to my place… for coffee?”

[dreamerandcrazy]

Ok, so I haven't been able to comment much on my Riverdale rewatch mostly bc i'm watching it with my boyfriend and we have an agreement of no cell phones when we're watching, otherwise we can't pay proper attention to it. But I wrote down some notes about the episodes I did watch (I watched up until ep 6, which is very ironic bc apparently today is its anniversary, so yay for my perfect timing). I actually remember most of the stuff that happened in s1, so here's mostly a few things I paid more attention to or noticed about the characters and the ships, or things i'm able to look at through a different view now that i've watched all the seasons. Strap in if you want to see my notes, if not just scroll please, no ship or character hate here please. Also, feel free to ignore, this is really just a personal look in some stuff I didn't notice in my first watch.

- Betty's character used to be much happier and lighter in season 1. I know we're introduced to "Dark Betty" right in episode 3, but still, I feel like the way Lili played Betty in season 1 did not hold the same "darkness" as it does in the following seasons. The scene where she is dancing happily in her bedroom because she's going to homecoming with the boy she likes? The scene where she introduces Jughead to the Blue & Gold and gets him to work with her? Her genuine innocent happiness at seeing her sister again after so much time? The way she interacted with Kevin and Veronica? Those were all chef's kiss because she actually feels like a teenager in them. In all her girly glory, she radiates youth energy and it's a thing that was sadly lacking after s1. Btw this is not a critique at Lili's acting at all, I blame it entirely on Ras and his obsession with dark Betty.

- There's actually so many indications of Cheryl being a lgbt character in the first episodes that I have no idea how I missed it the first time. But then again, there were many indications with Veronica as well, and sadly that's not the path Ras chose for her.

- Jughead in s1 is truly so superior in so many ways that it's not hard to see why he quickly became such a fan favorite. I think even if he wasn't played by Cole Sprouse, he still would have conquered many fans' hearts. Sadly, the things that made Jughead such a loving and interesting character for me also fizzled out in s2 when the writing team decided to make him a woke serpent leader instead of allowing him to sticking to his true personality as a passionate mystery lover, a dedicated friend and very nerdy, which was very cute. I feel that we got some of that back for him in s4, which was good, but sadly s1 is where my love for him really stayed to stay. But I still care for him, and s5 has a promising storyline for him which i'm excited about, so let's see if s5 Jughead can become better than s1 Jughead.

- Going back again to Cheryl for a sec, I just noticed that the red lipstick actually wasn't that common for her in s1? At least not in the first five. I wonder when did it start becoming her trademark? Anyways, it's actually a really good look her and allows you to appreciate Madelaine's natural beauty even more.

- Also, did anybody notice how Alice lowkey figured out who killed Jason in ep 2 lmao, like... in episode two she legit says she wouldn't be surprised if the Blossoms themselves had killed Jason, which... is what happened LMAO, considering we know it was his father. And even more hilarious and tragically ironic note, in ep 6 she's laughing at Betty suggesting that Hal killed Jason because "do you think your father has the stomach for it?!"... Ma'am... i'm-.... 😂😂😂😂.

- This rewatch has reminded me of how much I adored and how I much I miss Josie and the Pussycats. The girls were such a nice addition to the cast, and their songs were so beautiful. I truly wish we get to see them again someday, but at the same time I also think the actresses deserve to be at a work place where they're given the treatment they deserve and not completely ignored and treated like extras.

- Archie/Valerie was super cute and is very underrated in the fandom, but i'm glad Valerie stood up for herself and didn't take any of Archie's or Cheryl's sh*t. Still sucks because they were really good together, though.

- Why was Jason not allowed to talk, lmao? Like, i'm sure it's become a running joke in the show at this point, but back when season one was airing what was the excuse for it? He appeared in so many flashbacks and scenes and we still never heard a single word ☠️☠️☠️☠️. I just want to know what was the reason lol.

- I liked s1 Reggie, but I feel like Charles Melton's Reggie is better because he actually feels like a douche with good intentions lol, and he has more of a personality. Most of the time I even forgot about Reggie in s1, but after s2 he definitely made me more aware of him. So for that, I like Charles Melton's Reggie more. But the actor from s1 still did a good job with what he was given.

From now on I will be talking about the ships, so bear with me, and know that I am a multishipper. Yes, I have my preferences. No, my word is not law, it's just an opinion, so please respect it.

- Bughead is still super cute in s1. I feel like from s1 they will always be my otp, even if I no longer feel as strongly about them now and have a different insight as to where I would like their story to go, and now I definitely see the problem others had mentioned before of how they kind of took over the show, which is something I kind of closed my eyes to before... But I really loved them in s1. It felt like a very juvenile teenage relationship, they didn't give much thought on why and if they should be together, they just went for it like teenagers usually do, and they were very very cute together.

- I feel like if you don't count Beronica (because they really were the best no matter what you say or ship), if there's a ship that deserves "best chemistry" award for s1 is probably Varchie. I lost my interest in them years ago, but this rewatch reminded me of why I actually loved them once. They never really became an otp for me, but Kj and Camila's chemistry in s1 was VERY GOOD, and I really liked them. Their kiss in the pilot was electric and the s&xual tension was OOF, and that chemistry carries on through the season. You can easily tell something will happen between them eventually. It makes me sad bc I don't know what happened after s1, but their chemistry from s2 onwards was just... not there for me. Which is ironic bc it's the season they truly started dating and they got a lot of smexy scenes, but I just... didn't feel it. But I'll leave that comment to my s2 rewatch. For now just let me enjoy Varchie's chemistry in s1 while it lasts because it was really good.

- Now we get to Barchie, who I made clear was the reason for my rewatch, so let's get to it. I LOVED the way Barchie was written in s1. I remember when I first watched Riverdale, I was curious about their dynamic but didn't put much thought into it because I loved Bughead too much and wanted them to be together, and I thought Barchie would be the traditional "first og ship" thing and wouldn't have a big follow up, but boy was I WRONG and am I GLAD for it. I'll talk more about their development in the next seasons when I get there, so for now let's focus a bit on s1. Just in like the first two episodes, there is so much Barchie foreshadowing, like, it's legit insane how it was right there in my face and I missed it the first time! "I have never felt what i'm supposed to feel with betty", "it's not my fault he doesn't like you", "I can't give you the answer you want"... Omg, those are obvious eyebrow raising "this will come back to bite you in the a$$" moments and it's incredible how they actually DO! I would call it clever writing, but like... it's Riverdale lol. So I really am just glad that the ship was done this way, i'm glad Barchie has the back story that they do, they've really come a LONG way and i'm happy I get to experience their whole growing storyline. It's also especially good because s1 actually provides you with scenes that show you their friendship and how they're so close, you see them hanging out, talking, their pictures together, everything was just really done well with them. Still have a bit of critique with the way Archie contradicted himself sometimes regardinf his feelings for Betty, but let's be honest, we've watched enough Riverdale to know that's just a problem with the writing.

- Kevin/Joaquin is still my favorite Kevin ship, i'm sad it's completely impossible to go back to them someday so for now i'll just be really glad it existed and that I got to see them even if it was short-lived. They had great chemistry and their kiss scenes always outsold.

- Beronica... sigh. Beronica. The most wasted chemistry i've ever seen on CW and I've watched a LOT of CW shows. There was so much potential there, s1 was practically overflowing with them and it's one of the reasons it became some popular. I remember when the Beronica fandom was the biggest one, ah, good times. Veronica and Betty were easily the best part of season 1, their friendship, their lowkey romantic moments, they were just superior in every way. This ship deserved better, not even just as a ship, but as a friendship.

- Veronica's s1 hair >>> Veronica's hair in seasons 2-4. I loved the side part and I am glad it's back in season 5, it looks so much better like that.

- Cheryl, as always, deserves better. Can't wait for her to meet Toni so I can watch again Cheryl finally get to love someone and be loved back, which is exactly what she deserves.

For now, that is all! I will probably make another post soon when i'm done with season one and from season two on I will be live-blogging the episodes since I will be watching it alone. Once again, pls, no hate, my thoughts are my thoughts. Peace.

[bettycooper]

Secret Santa here！

there was a reason why I couldnt view it I have the riverdale tag/word filtered, but I tried sending that ask 5 times until it sent through properly so Tumblr still is wack just for other reasons.

Ok，questions！

How do you like and prefer Betty and Jughead written？（most likely not by Riverdale writers I assume...I jest...sorta）

Whats your dream Bughead scene？ a scene that would finally kill you buried 6ft under never recover from the perfection？or has it already been done in canon？

Would you be open for some Preppy Bughead action？

Lastly you mentioned liking some Potterdale, whats your house placements for the crew？

Thats all for now！🎅

Tumblr is always doing its own special thing, but I DO appreciate knowing I won’t come on here one day to find a “shopping” icon where my notifications used to be. 👀

The thing that initially drew me to Betty & Jughead (Flashback to 10 year old me reading the Digests in the checkout lines in the market) was how supportive they are of one another? If there’s a thing one of them wants to do, they try to make that happen—whatever that is. Another character is rude about Betty/Jughead, the other jumps to their defense. ANYWAY, that’s a long way of saying that’s something I’ve always loved to see a lot: the trust, the support, the assistance.

Here’s the thing. For me, every Bughead canon anything is kind of a Dream Come True scenario! haha. It was a capital rare pair for such a long time that the fact I can go onto Ao3 & choose among 6k Bughead fics to read at any time is still just THE BEST. (Although, I’ll admit it has given me extremely high expectations that if I simply wait around long enough, all my ships will become canon. WHOOPS.) Watching the second episode of the show & seeing The Eye Contact 100% had me screaming at my tv, “HOLY SHIT. IT’S HAPPENING,” & it’s kind of been a state of that much capital letters for me ever since. Archie Comics picking up on the pair’s popularity & finally giving Jughead The Hunger vs Vampironica is some kind of insanity dream thing that I still have a hard time believing is real. (I LOVE IT SO MUCH.) Archie Comics has really found a solid market over the years in au after au after au, so them giving Bughead more series/attention in more universes would be the stuff of even more dreams. 

Preppy Bughead action? Into it! I LOVE aus. They’re truly my favorite as evidenced above. haha

I am extremely extremely extremely fond of Potterdale, and that’s still somehow putting it mildly? Back when I very first created a tagging system for my blog, I made a Potterdale tag so I could go and look at anything I came across for it at anytime. I had like....2 things in it initially, but there’s so much more now. I mean, also not enough (never enough), but that tag is happiness! Personally, I view Betty as a Slytherin, & i’m talking all the way through comic canon too. Betty has been out there scheming in an attempt to get her way since 1939, & while I clearly do not enjoy the reason as to why in a lot of the comics (Dear Archie Comics, please please please. No one wants a shitty triangle after 80 years. Let it die.), I do love her constant ambition, cunning, & resourcefulness. All things I feel the character as Betty (in every iteration) showcases quite well. Jughead I tend to lean Ravenclaw with. He is quite intelligent, clearly loves to learn, & is witty as fuck everywhere all the time. Grades are whatever, but he likes to KNOW things & uses that knowledge to his advantage—whatever that may be at the time, could be napping in class, could be trying to destroy a monopoly in town. However, I can see him in Gryffindor too especially with familial ties & his sense of loyalty to his family. To me, these traits transcend every iteration of Betty & Jughead, so it doesn’t matter if we’re talking show or comics for House situations. 

Well, this got wordy af. Sorry about being like this! 

[daphnefangirling]

tag game! get to know me

tagged by: the wonderful @thetaoofbetty 💖

1. what is the color of your hairbrush? My regular one is grey, but I have a purple one in my purse that i use a lot.

2. name a food you never eat- i’ll try anything at least once. Foods i’d rather NOT eat again? Hmmm probably sea urchin

3. are you typically too warm or too cold? too cold, especially my arms for some reason

4. what were you doing 45 minutes ago? feeding my 11 days old baby

5. what’s your favorite candy bar? ok so this changes quite often, right now i’d say Aero. Ask me in a month or two and it might be something completely different (i’m very partial to After Eight chocolates around the holidays)

6. have you ever been to a professional sports game? yes, many times! i live in the hockey mecca of the Montreal Canadiens and have been to many, many games. i’ve also attended soccer games of the Montreal Impact and Lisbon’s Benfica. Oh and the Women’s Cup that was held in Montreal a few years back, that was fun! Back when Montreal still had a baseball team (RIP the Expos), i went to a few as well. I’ve also attended matches of the Rogers Cup (tennis).

7. what is the last thing you said out loud?  “love you” to my husband who just took over with the baby so i could have a bit to myself and answer this! haha

8. what is your favorite ice cream? i’m a simple gal: i like vanilla because it can be matched with so many flavours. i also really love Ben & Jerry’s The Tonight Dough (created by Jimmy Fallon)

9. what was the last thing you had to drink? water. i drink a lot of water because breastfeeding

10. do you like your wallet? i love my wallet! Ever since 2005, all my purses and wallets are from this Portuguese company called Cavalinho and they’re all gorgeous!

11. what is the last thing you ate? eggs over easy and crispy bacon 

12. did you buy any new clothes last weekend? nope! 

13. what’s the last sporting event you watched? probably the NHL Stanley Cup final

14. what is your favorite flavor of popcorn? Chicago Mix baby! That thing is like crack: i will eat the whole bag if no one stops me!

15. who is the last person you sent a text message to? my mom

16. ever been camping? in a camper, does that count? In 2005, i went on a 2-weeks roadtrip with a camper across Spain and the South of France.

17. do you take vitamins? i’m still taking my prenatal vitamins because the Dr said to keep taking them until i stop breastfeeding. Normally, i don’t though.

18. do you regularly attend a place of worship? i do not.

19. do you have a tan? i actually laughed out loud at this one because i’m so ridiculously pale, it’s laughable to imagine myself with a tan

20. do you prefer chinese or pizza?  pizza. i’ve answered this many times, but pizza is that food that even when it’s bad, it’s still good.

21. do you drink your soda through a straw? not if i can help it, straws are not good for the environment peeps!

22. what color socks do you usually wear? i like fun socks, i have this Harry Potter set from Hot Topic that i’ve been wearing a lot (currently the ones that say: ‘Mischief Managed’)

23. do you ever drive above the speed limit?  yes... uh i mean no! Wait, where’s my lawyer?

24. what terrifies you? that something bad happens to my kids or my family

25. look to your left, what do you see?  a poster of Sandeman’s Port wine

26. what chore do you hate most? cleaning the bathrooms, no contest

27. what do you think of when you hear an australian accent? i’m a lover of pretty much all accents so i’d think it’s sexy

28. what’s your favorite soda? Orange Crush or Mountain Dew

29. do you go in a fast food place or just hit the drive thru? drive thru, i’m a mom of three: drive thru ftw

30. what’s your favorite number? 9 because i was born on the 9th day of the 9th month 

31. who’s the last person you talked to? i talk to myself in my head a lot, but out loud it was my husband (see answer to question #7)

32. favorite meat? uhhhh chicken? i dunno, i’ve never given this any thought whatsoever

33. last song you listened to? Tina Turner’s 'Simply the Best’ covered by Noah Reid on Schitt’s Creek when Patrick serenades David and yes i was all up in my emotions

34. last book you read? Lili Reinhart’s ‘Swimming Lessons’

35. favorite day of the week? we’re in a pandemic, what is time anymore? also, as a mom of 2 toddlers and a baby, there is no such thing as a favourite day of the week anymore. 

36. can you say the alphabet backwards? probably... but really slowly

37. how do you like your coffee? just with milk, nothing else

38. favorite pair of shoes? i have a pair of lace-covered flats that i really love

39. time you normally get up? at whatever time my kids wake up

40. what do you prefer, sunrise or sunsets? sunsets, always.

41. how many blankets are on your bed? i sleep with bed sheets and one comforter (is a comforter a blanket? do the sheets count? i’m making this question is harder than it needs to be, aren’t i?)

42. describe your kitchen plates? they’re white and round (i used to have a set that was square, but we keep breaking them and there are only 2-3 left now)

43. describe your kitchen at the moment: there’s stuff everywhere no matter how many times we clean it and put away everything. Did i mention i have 3 young children?

44. do you have a favorite alcoholic drink? probably gin & tonic

45. do you play cards? i play solitaire on my phone when i’m bored

46. what color is your car? my car is blue, the family car is silver grey

47. can you change a tire? most definitely NOT

48. your favorite state or province? i live in Quebec and it’s pretty gorgeous over here. Can’t complain, 10/10 would recommend. Come visit me when this pandemic is over, I have a Bughead room and everything! Ask @cheryllclayton!

49. favorite job you’ve had? the one i have now: full time mom (i’m on mat leave). But also, the one i have now: coordinator of the CBC Literary Prizes for CBC Books.

tagging: @cheryllclayton @jandjsalmon @anchor-bird-94 @crowns-and-milkshakes @lizzybuggie @darknessaroundus @bluevelvetvideo 

[dmux86]

Bughead AU Idea

So this is the first tease for a Bughead The Martian AU fic idea that’s been bouncing around my head for awhile now, where they meet and fall in love as astronauts on a mission that does not go according to plan.

I have about the first half or so outlined and a few key passages written but still a lot of work left to do on this (and need to finish up the last chapter of my Five Times fic first of course) before it would be ready to post even a first chapter on A03 for everyone to read.

Mostly just curious if people would prefer this over my post 4x19 / S5 speculation fic ‘Faithfully Yours’ that I’ve been posting previews of here on Tumblr for awhile now, but that is pretty obviously not going to be anywhere close to canon, or even what a lot of fans want to read, given my emphasis on anti-social Jughead and romantic-Betty.

Feel free to reply or send asks letting me know which you’d prefer me to focus on if you have any thoughts. Also any feedback on a title for this AU, requests for cameos, etc... would be appreciated as well.

[raymondebidochonlifechoices]

All fans are equal but some are more equal than others. NOT.

There’s been quite a few people in the fandom lately getting very stressed, feeling they’re obligated to constantly be on the defensive re: their fandom choices.

Apparently, whoever has a different opinion about a character or a ship must be said character’s/ship’s stan i.e. overzealous and/or obsessive, i.e. not an objective viewer. Even worse, they must be a dreadful person, who condones a number of moral offences that said character/ship perpetrated (or is thought to have perpetrated). Because, of course, the only acceptable reason for appreciating/enjoying a fictional character or dynamic is their morality. And, by that reasoning, fans who support the correct character/ship must be better fans and better people.

Nothing is more ridiculous than the notion of the objective fan. An “objective” fan is called a “viewer”. You and I, Riverdale friends, we are not just viewers. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have created blogs and dedicated hours of our lives to a fictional couple from an extremely mediocre show. We are still undoubtedly capable of critical thought and objective analysis but we are also aware of our own emotional investment in the show. (Or, at least, one hopes). As a fandom, we engage in activities that exist independently of the show. Fandom is a space of free expression. No one gets to play the higher moral card here. Needing to loudly tell everybody how wrong they are? That’s not the sign of an objective viewer. That’s the sign of a viewer who is also extremely invested, just for different reasons than I am.

Are we seriously holding the morality card over people’s heads for a show that used a poc woman’s pregnancy (Toni) as the means to retroactively establish trauma for a white male (Kevin), all the while touting it in every media possible as a woke response to the BLM movement?!

Are we seriously holding the canon card over people’s heads for a show that treats its 5th(!) season as a tabula rasa?! If the Lodges new backstory in 5x12 shows anything, it’s that s5 is not a time-jump. It’s a reboot.

There are so many people “enlightening” others on their inability to understand canon …

Seriously? That’s the hill you’re willing to die on? Canon Riverdale? You think that people don’t understand what they’re watching? That they’re interpreting canon incorrectly?

No, but seriously: canon for a TV show consists of what the characters say, what the characters do and how the actors portray them. Does this really apply to Riverdale?

Let’s take Donna for example.

Canon explicitly tells us Donna did what she did to avenge her grandmother. At the same time none of her canon actions were against the people who were actually responsible. So, riddle me this, fandom friends: why did Donna do what she did, as per canon?

Let’s try this another way:

Donna is a psycho bitch. Both in terms of Riverdale’s canon (the writers’ intention) and real-life criteria. To create a tag that reads ��Bonna for ever uwu!” is deranged.

On the other hand, her character is (like a lot of Riverdale’s characters) an inconsistent caricature. Canon uses ridiculous dialogue and a lot of the Bonna scenes are cartoonishly enemies-to-lovers tropey. To create a tag that reads “Bonna for ever uwu!” is hilarious.

This doesn’t mean that Bonna is a canon couple. It does mean, however, that a Bonna crackship is based on Riverdale’s campy and over-the-top canonic writing.

A viewer who thinks Bonna is disgusting is not more “objective” or more “correct” or more “true to canon” than a viewer who thinks Bonna is funny. Nor are they a better person for it, and this cannot be stressed enough.

Similarly, who is canon Cheryl?

1. Cheryl is an absolute bitch: if a privileged student was calling an actual homeless boy a hobo in your real-life school, you would neither think her a queen nor use “hobo” affectionately in your tags, comments etc.

2. Cheryl is a deeply traumatized person: her father killed her brother, her mother killed half the town and forced her in conversion therapy, she attempted suicide and more.

(Note #1: this more does not mean more than the other Riverdale characters).

(Note #2: nor is it an excuse for her rudeness, affectionately called “mood for chaos” by the writers).

3. Cheryl is also a caricature of the archetypal mean girl who’s there for laughs and meta comments. She’s not to be taken seriously.

4. Cheryl is lgbtq+ representation …

5. … who canonically shits on other lgbtq+ characters.

6. Cheryl is one half of Choni, who are canonically presented as an uber couple.

7. Choni is also, as per canon, a couple with an acute power imbalance (cough!gaslighting!cough) that visually very clearly panders to the male gaze.

But most importantly:

8. Cheryl canonically is not the sum of her parts. The different facets of her character do not intermingle in any meaningful way.

Was Betty kissing Archie specifically a sore spot for Jughead?

Canonically no [2x14]. But, also, canonically yes [5x03, 5x10].

Are there seriously fans that are astonished that Betty is making some highly questionable choices while investigating?! Did they just discover Dark™Betty/Killer Genes Betty? That is canon Betty! Was it ok before because she was then smooching Jughead instead of giving him the cold shoulder? Honestly, the only newly outrageous part of s5Dark™Betty is the fact that she still believes in “killer genes” despite having spent 4 years at Yale …

As for liking/disliking Betty and morality …

Look, I’m going to be very honest: I am NOT particularly enjoying s5 Betty. And it’s not because of b*rchie.

S5 Betty has 99 problems but the sexcapades ain’t one.

For me, it’s the fact that she’s turned into s1 Alice 2.0. But surely that’s not news either? Ever since the first info about the time jump, everyone and their mother have been speculating about the teens becoming their parents …

Just because Jughead is better written (and written to be more likable), it doesn’t make him more worthy of redemption. Just because the writers are keeping Betty’s redemption “secret” (insert eye roll) for their big reveal in the season’s penultimate episode, it doesn’t mean she won’t have one.  

Simply put, the writers have made Jughead more likable. He’s still the underdog. He’s the only character in Riverdale actively trying to deal with his trauma, since the very first post-time jump episode (working at Pop’s explicitly to fend off the debt collectors). He has scenes with a new and extremely likable character (Tabitha). He has the only new plot line (the Mothman). Said plotline is narratively already tied to both his unknown past and the town’s destruction by Hiram. His behaviour is explicitly explained, even as his recent trauma remains unknown. He’s transparent.

In comparison, s5 Betty is traumatized but not the underdog. Her trauma (TBK killer) is both known to us and a repetition of previous storylines, which makes it narratively less exciting. She is completely disconnected from any other storylines. She comes out as being judgmental and self-interested: telling Tabitha Jughead’s not her business while previously accepting his help? Berating Polly for lying while not keeping in touch and lying about her own life (TBK)? Please note: I’m not saying there isn’t a reason behind her behaviour, just that it comes out in a negative way.

You don’t like Betty’s current behaviour? You don’t consider trauma a good enough excuse? Cool.

You feel sorry for what she’s going through? You consider trauma to be a valid explanation for her behaviour? Also cool.

Personally, I don’t give a flying fig, either for Betty’s trauma or Jughead’s. Because, even though Trauma™ is s5’s actual mystery plot, narratively speaking, trauma never affected the plot of the past 4 seasons, nor s5 trauma will affect future plots, once revealed. And you know what? That is also cool.

None of the above is better.

And just because I’m not enjoying Betty right now, it doesn’t mean that I don’t want her to overcome her current situation or that I won’t cheer for Bughead like a River Vixen on fizzle rocks, once they reunite.

This thing though, where people are made to feel as if they owed anyone in the fandom an explanation about why they like the things they like, because, somehow, their preferences are a reflection on their character or their cognitive abilities to read a TV show? This is a joke.

There is no “wrong” way to consume any show, let alone Riverdale, with its fractured format, its short-term memory and its see-sawing characters.

Look, everybody’s here for their own reasons. For most people this is a place of escape. No one’s escaping better than the other, because of how they enjoy their teen TV show ... 

[thatiranianphantom]

Things Jughead has done for Betty:

Literally risked dying to protect her

Faced off against known serial killers

Repeatedly punched anyone who besmirched (his fave word) her honor 

Broke up with her so she wouldn’t get hurt

Told her about his dad and worked with her to get FP out of jail

(I mean, there’s def more, better Bughead fans, pls add?)

Things Betty and Jughead have gone through together:

Polly disappearing

Jug transferring to Southside

G&G taking over the town and causing Archie multiple attempts at his life

The Black Hood

Penny Peabody

The Serpents

The Stonies trying to kill Jug

Things That Make This A Very Healthy Relationship:

Jughead is currently the only one who knows about Betty’s self-harming habits and there is no judgement for it

Mutual unconditional support ( “Jughead has every right to protest”, “whatever you need to do, I support you.”)

Excellent dedication to working out conflict (remember when they got into the fight about Yale, and Jug came home and they cuddled it out? He didn’t know about Betty’s breakdown until Betty’s mom told him, so he was coming home to work things out)

Admitting wrongs and talking about conflict (all previous conflicts have been talked about and worked out)

Honestly a lot of mutual respect. I was really impressed when DuPont asked Jug to tell Betty to kill the story she was writing, and he literally told him that he doesn’t tell Betty what she can and can’t do.

Very common interests. Betty and Jug have their roots as an investigative duo, something that has continued throughout the show. 

Things They Have Said To/About Each Other:

“Jughead was really there for me” “I know who you are”  “I want to know who you are. All of it.”  “I believe you, Jughead.”  “You’re so much stronger than all the white noise.”  “I love you, Betty Cooper.” “Jughead Jones, I love you.”  “I love Jughead. He is as much my family as you are.”  “Whatever you need to do or explore, I support you.”  “You’re not one of the bad guys. You’re Betty Cooper. Like Nancy Drew meets The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.”  “You are a sight for sore eyes.”  “I wish we could just leave.” “Like Romeo and Juliet but we live happily ever after.”  “A signed first edition for my beloved.”  “We. It’s nice to hear that again.”  “Stay.”  “I just want you to know that I love you. I’ll never stop loving you.”  “Our story isn’t over. It’s just beginning” “You’re a good person.”  “Now that I am the serpent king, I was wondering how you felt about being my queen.”  “It was asked between two young people in love.” “If you’re on the frontlines, so am I.”  “From now on, we’re partners. In the serpents, in life, all of it.” “I’m surviving. Because you’re here with me.” “You and I are in this for the long haul.” “If I ever disappeared you would be the one to find me.” “I need my anchor.”  “Don’t threaten my boyfriend with an axe.” “I missed you.” “I’m happy for you and I’m proud of you.”  “I would never ask you to turn down a life-changing opportunity.” “He’s your biggest fan.” “I love you, and I hate it when we fight.” “The man I love.”  “You’re the only man for me.” 

Times Where Betty Expressed An Interest in Archie:

- 1x01 and 1x02

- 2x09

- the last three episodes 

Look. I get that it’s a teen drama. I get that they’re still in high school and I definitely get there being some part of Betty that wonders what it might be like to end up with Archie, especially during a VERY stressful time. 

I would totally get it if they had Betty and Jughead slowly drifting apart, or found ways to establish that they were heading in different directions, or even established that they weren’t the same people they were, and their relationship had simply puttered out. But that has been the opposite of what they’ve showed us the last few episodes. Moreoever, Betty and Archie haven’t even significantly interacted in two seasons. This was all thrown into the last three episodes. 

And even if that WERE the case, that Betty and Jug were drifting apart, I would still think they are both not okay for doing this to their respective best friends. Laying aside the fact that Jughead loves Betty completely, and canonically they are planning on going to college together, and her cheating on him, particularly with Archie, would absolutely shatter him, this is the highest of not fair to Veronica. Betty means a lot to her, they’ve established this, so this betrayal of both V and Jug is so very selfish. 

Since they have established they WILL finish the season, and if the article can be believed, I can see this going one of three ways:

1. Betty and Archie kiss in 4x17, Betty tells Jug in 4x18. This is my preferred route, but I don’t think it’s the way they’ll go. There’s a chance though, they already went the route of Barchie kissing and not telling anyone. That would get the drama of the love triangle out in the open ASAP, and they’d have a better chance of resolving it before season’s end. Riverdale doesn’t tend to end in romantic cliffhangers. 

2. Betty and Archie continue to cheat on their respective significant others, until it all blows up in the finale. This would completely assassinate both Betty and Jughead’s characters, and I don’t see this as being the way they go.

3. Jug and V find out in the last episode, the core four implodes, and we time jump six years. This is probably the most likely scenario. 

I gotta say, I’m pretty excited to see B and J find their way back to each other, but really really don’t want a time jump. 

Also, to the Barchie fans, I get it. I had several shows where my NOTP was canon for several years, and it was torturous watching. I rejoiced when they broke up. But think of it this way, Barchie would likely be forever tainted by the circumstances of how they got together, and probably never get off the ground. I get you want Barchie, but do you really want it like this? 

[alwaysspeakshermind]

Varchie Appreciation Week~Day 7: Free Choice

I didn’t really know what to do for the free choice, so I decided I might as well just go ahead and talk about why I love Archie and Veronica together so much. This sucker wound up being longer than intended though so, oops, my bad, and without further unnecessary ado, here’s three quick(ish) reasons why I love the Varchie relationship:

(1)  It’s like a fairytale, but for people who don’t believe in fairytales

I’ve seen a lot of shows/movies and read a lot of books in my life, and I don’t ship easily. As a rule, I tend to gravitate toward fictional relationships that deal with the messiness of reality but also showcase how much fun things can be despite life’s general crappiness and, comics history aside (Riverdale is a TV show so it’s technically as though we’re being introduced to these characters for the first time), Archie and Veronica are like the love story that was never supposed to happen. He’s a small-town guy from a lower/middle income family; she’s a New York socialite born to rule the 1%. He’s the Sweet Kid with a hidden wild side; she’s the Wild Child with a hidden sweet side, and if life went according to plan, their paths would never intersect. So much of them even meeting is random chance, and it’s kind of amazing—if Hiram weren’t crooked, Veronica and Hermione wouldn’t have had to leave New York, and they wouldn’t have met. If Archie had moved to Chicago with Mary, they wouldn’t have met. (And both those scenarios would have been tragedies of epic proportions.)

To me, their story really resonates because in spite of the glorious, jaw-dropping, Love At First Sight scene, it feels more real-life than storybookish. I mean, hey, they meet randomly in a restaurant. They take a look at the other person and think “Hmm. I could potentially be interested in this.” They don’t mean to make out, but the attraction is strong, they succumb to temptation, and they handle their natural but immature slip-up as maturely as possible and deal with all the immature fallout as best they can. They don’t have to apologize for something they had every right to do, but they do it anyway because it makes a friend uncomfortable, and they then try to stay away from each other, but they can’t do it. The thing they wrote off as attraction is too strong because it’s actually something else, and they accidentally fall in love.

Now. 

It may not be everyone else’s cup of tea, but to me…that’s pretty cool. That is a fairytale, except it’s a fairytale that’s grounded a bit more in reality, so it’s easier for me to get invested. It’s cute, but it’s not Disney, singing-birds cute. It’s more like...cynically cute, and thus more my jam.

(2) They’re each other’s first choice, their goals align, they’re a natural match

In the comics, Archie has always been the guy all the girls want, therefore he is also the guy all the guys kind of hate. Similarly, Veronica has always been the girl the guys all want, and thus the girl the girls all hate. The question constantly asked by everyone who hates Archie for dating Veronica is “Why does Veronica date Archie when she could have any other guy in the world?” and the question asked by everyone who hates Veronica for dating Archie is, “Why does Archie go out with Veronica when he could date any other girl in the world?”

Funnily enough, for all the flack Riverdale catches for ‘deviating from its source material,’ it has, if all the over-the-top Varchie complaints are any indication, done an amazing job adapting that particular aspect of the comics. In Riverdale, both Archie and Veronica have multiple people ready and willing to date them, yet they keep focusing on each other.

So, let’s consider that question again: why does Veronica want to date Archie when she has all these other (equally hot, debatably smarter) options? Why does Archie want to date Veronica when he has all these (debatably equally hot, debatably with less-dangerous-family-drama) options?

Spoiler alert: it’s not because of sex. 

I have an entire sermon I’d like to preach on this particular subject, but since it’s far too long to include in this already-too-long post, I’ll just reiterate that last part...it’s not because of sex.

It’s because they love each other. (You know, kind of like they and their actions have been suggesting since the very first season?) 

In the end, it doesn’t matter to either of them how much crazy baggage comes with the other one; the love’s strong enough to outweigh the rest of it, and they’re both the type of people willing to do whatever they can to help those they care about. That’s the thing I really love about them—they take care of family, friends, and neighbors first, because that’s something they can actually do to help. They don’t get hung up on widespread social injustices or the problems of the world at large, because there’s no way to fix all that. They just do whatever lies in their power to help, and spend the rest of their time trying to stick together and have fun in a world that pretty much sucks.

Is that a noble ambition? Eh, maybe not. But it is a practical one, and it’s also one that makes sense for Archie and Veronica as characters. They’re both only children, they both grew up valuing family, they both thought their parents were totally solid units until they found out they weren’t, and they both prefer dwelling on the good things in life rather than the bad. They are a young couple, same as Bughead et. al., but the way they function as a couple really isn’t because they’re both very attractive people with just enough prior experience in life and romance to complicate things. 

Also, their personalities balance each other out: Archie’s hotheaded, Veronica’s coolheaded. He acts on instinct, but can be indecisive. She thinks things through, but is very decisive. He’s trusting, she’s suspicious, he’s optimistic, she’s realistic, etc. etc., but they’ll both punch someone’s lights out if necessary. It’s an adorable combination.

(3) They work at making it work because they want it to work

In essence, Varchie has what I always call the Married Couple dynamic—their primary focus is less on “How do we move forward together,” and more on “How do we juggle pasts, present, and future, because we know we want to be together, but we also know we’ve each made a lot of mistakes, and we don’t know what to expect because we’ve never been in a relationship this high-stakes before.” They’re not discovering how love and sex works, or figuring out how to handle a relationship transition from friends to dating, they’re discovering how love and sex works with a person whose background they don’t share and whose family they know nothing about. That’s the kind of thing that tends to show up more in a post-high school/college setting with twenty-somethings and older, and that’s why, I think, it’s so compelling a dynamic to me—it’s interesting to watch the Meet The Family/Meet The Ex/Let’s Just Be Friends storylines play out with kids for a change.

What makes it even better: they still feel young. They still make young mistakes, like thinking they can stay “just friends,” or that they have to do things on their own to keep the other person safe. But they handle their young mistakes maturely, and that’s frankly remarkable for a couple on a show aimed at teens. I personally love the way they’ve been written, even though it involves a bunch of storylines that made me mad in S3, because whether they’re dating or trying to pretend to be just friends, Archie and Veronica’s connection is strong and obvious. Even when they’re not supposed to, they end up looking at and to each other, so it’s just kind of pointless for anyone else to try and get in the way—from the second Veronica walked into Pop’s, she’s had Archie’s attention, and vice versa.

To me, that’s not a boring, predictable love story—that’s a freaking classic.

“Archie...you’re so good. It’s like you’re filled with it. And I know that I need goodness in my life. I need you in my life.”

“Ronnie, when I first met you...you were it for me. Everything I could have ever wanted.”

[thetaoofbetty]

nonnie, i stuck your ask under the cut: 

all the hate for betty makes me feel sick.—i’m not a fan of it either. mostly because it points a finger at the way society treats us at large. 

at this point most of bas and bhs likes her just because they want betty for one of the boys.—i wouldn’t say most. loudest, maybe. a lot of people aren’t comfortable speaking out because they’ll get attacked. i certainly do on the regular now. 

 now suddenly jug storyline is interesting, he sleeps around because the only woman he ever loved betrayed him, "you can't blame the guy", they said. ok i get it, they're adults, but i've never seen someone saying "betty might sleep with archie because it's been 7 years since that stupid kiss, she's an adult, she can do what she wants”. —there’s an undercurrent of punishment to it, isn’t there? i’m not saying jughead can’t do what he wants while single but when you can’t bring the same energy to betty let’s be real about what it is: 

they literally have an excuse just for whatever they want. jughead has ptsd? ok. archie, "he's just archie"? ok. veronica? she's also an adult so it's okay. but betty? "she can't have sex with a, she's gonna destroy jughead" also no one seems to even care abot her own traumas!—i know, doll. maybe the writers did a little too good with their madonna/whore thing they had going on between betty and veronica. you can’t punch down on archie for something while lifting jughead up for the same thing without some self-awareness that you’re being hypocritical i think. and it’s fine! this is fandom, be biased. my issue with it is when i have people attacking me or i see them attack others for a differing opinion. or they take it to the actors. or the writers. 

some lines shouldn’t be crossed. 

 i know watching dating ba is gonna be really hard but i don't mind if bh will have sex with others (especially the "shower scene") and ras literally confirmed bh exes to lovers so ba might date just because they need to explore them at this point.—i agree, i don’t really want to watch it either but i am here for the journey of bughead reconciling. i’d rather their whole story be fulfilling than focus on parts of a whole when it’s literally in my hands if i watch or not. 

i think a big part of the problem is the way we live in a world that reinforces that sex =/= love for men but not for women. 

also everyone's in their mid-20s and at their worst, that's why i'm looking forward their little interaction (we’re already gettin pining jug even better if he share a storyline w betty!) while i try to survive this ba storm.—lord, that’s the truth. and i was married! if i hadn’t been, i would have been an absolute disaster, i just know it. i was sort of a disaster in my teens so like, giving me that energy with more money and freedom? jesus take the wheel. 

being a bh fan is really hard in this fandom.—currently, yes. hah. i like how we’re all varchie truthers now. which, to be fair, i’ve always liked them but they’re not my preferred ship. okay i just like veronica. but she likes archie and that’s enough for me.  

and i mean by being fan of both characters. since most of the time i've seen bas loving betty just when they remember they want, i wish bh fandom would've been different. sorry if it's long but i really enjoy to read about your opinions, it really opened my eyes most of the time! ^^—i think the thing to remember is that a lot of people love both, but they’re not being as loud as some jughead stans. it’s hard to be objective when you have someone yelling in your ear all the time. 

i hope you got what you needed off your chest, lovely!💜

[blueandgoldoffice]

None of my Asks are showing up and it's starting to make me upset..

Good morning, dear

Today is your lucky day; you’re going to get a behind-the-scenes tour of how things run at the Blue and Gold!

Hi! I’m Mother Maple - I’m Canadian, and I’m a mother. 

It’s just after 0800 here where I live in Northern Alberta (side note- when is the snow going to melt? It’s been on the ground for six months and three days, people. I’m over it) and my husband, recently returned from his third deployment and/or training mission in the last year and a half, has just gone to work. 

I’ve fed him and packed his lunch, and now I have to contend with the fact that my house is in complete chaos because there is army crap EVERYWHERE. (Seriously, they teach them how to be tidy in basic training, so why does my house look like a kit bomb went off in it every time he comes back from a trip?)

My high-needs toddler is still sleeping, thanks to daylight savings time, but he’ll be up soon and demanding breakfast. He will not stop eating until he goes to bed. And he likes his veggies and fruit chopped. (Already have a savings account devoted to feeding him as a teenager, heaven help me.)

Once he has his first protein fix of the day, he’ll be unstoppable. He makes Taz look lazy - and the mess he’ll make will make my husband’s army chaos look like dropped coffee next to an Atlantic oil spill. His current obsession is Lego, and boy is he good at it, but if he can’t find that one block that he needs, he will dump that entire bucket of Lego on the carpet and burrow like a Niffler until he does. 

At some point, I should probably eat something too.

 Pyjamas aren’t exactly day wear, either. 

Keeping my kitchen clean is something of a pipe dream at this point, but I should make an effort at that. I ran out of plates one day last week and it was not pretty. 

Oh, and Monday is laundry day - and one would think that wearing a uniform to work lessens the load but it actually triples it. Fun fact.

My next-door-neighbour recently had a hip replacement, so I’m taking turns with some of the girls to do her shopping. Hubby took the car to work, so I’m taking Shank’s pony to the shops. I’m also taking my kid, who likes to browse. 

So that’s just my morning and I won’t bore you with the rest of my day but you get the gist. 

Jandy has kids, too. And a full-time job. I would imagine that her kids, who are older and who outnumber mine, wear more clothing and eat more food. They probably tidy up after themselves though, so she does have that going over me. K is equally busy.

Recently I made a post on my own blog that mentioned that my therapist has put strict time limits on how much time I can devote to fandom - that is reading, commenting and blue-and-golding. I max out at one hour, but we prefer 45 minutes.

So - how we answer asks. I mostly dabble in lost fics, which are pretty straight forward. We either know them or we don’t. If we do, we link them up and put them in the queue. (We queue all of our asks because some days we have a productive fit and answer twenty all at once, and some days we don’t find anything and there’s really no need to publish evidence of our ineptitude all over Tumblr.)

If we don’t - well that’s when it gets fun. Obviously, our first step is a filter search. For example, we recently queued up an ask looking for a fic in which Jughead is a firefighter etc. I happened to know it off the top of my head, but it was well tagged so even if I didn’t know it, it would have come up under a simple ‘bughead’ ‘firefighter’ search.  (@transparentpicklezonklover your ask is queued)

Now, if it hadn’t been well tagged, we would have had to turn to Google which is sometimes a real pain in the back end. Per the firefighter ask, I would have searched ‘ao3 Jughead firefighter auction’ and received a whole lot of Captain America fic for my troubles. But no matter! We persevere, putting stranger and stranger combinations of words into that little search bar until it finally cracks and gives up its secrets. 

My record is six days of searching for a single fic. I saw it in my dreams. It was behind my eyelids every time I blinked. I even asked my husband, who wouldn’t know Bughead if he walked in on them in the bunker, if he’d read it.

Of course, sometimes we just can’t find it and we put it out to the audience, and someone invariably links it within three-point-five seconds, making us question just how inevitable our obsolescence is. (Just kidding, I actually love the community aspect of it and I feel all warm and fuzzy when people help us out.)

So. Your most recent ask is looking for Jughead visiting Hal in jail. It’s not a lost fic, but the principle will be more or less the same because I don’t know any off the top of my head. Which means searching for them - and filtering out all the FP in jail fics that come up first. I or one of the other mods will read, or at least skim, dozens of prison fics that come up on google (ao3 search has failed us, alas) to see which Riverparent is in jail (honestly though, they should all be in jail) and if Jughead or Betty does the visiting. Betty visits FP and Hal a lot, so we have to weed through quite a few. 

You sent your ask on Friday, and this follow-up yesterday. You gave us less than two days to answer an ask that will take literal hours to complete - when we already have 20 other asks in our inbox that were there first. 

I will also add that I posted this last time you were in our inbox decrying our delay in answering your asks. I wanted to give you the benefit of the doubt as a new blog, and took it as a teaching moment. 

You should also read this post that Jandy recently made on the same subject.

We will not respond to any further follow-up asks of this nature - particularly not from empty side blogs that seem to exist for the sole purpose of side-stepping our no-anons rule. 

If anyone truly believes that their ask has been lost - and we’re talking weeks of inactivity - please feel free to follow up (especially if you can provide more detail on which we thrive like ladybugs love aphids). We are here to help, and we don’t want to leave anyone out if it can be avoided. 

But, as I’ve said before, we are humans. We are not bots, and we only have so much time to devote to this. Please give us patience.

~MM

[writeradamanteve]

Fic Files

So I wrote a bughead fic way back after the Season 1 finale, and it was about Betty coming to terms with Jughead getting that jacket from the Serpents. Jughead eventually joins the Serpents so he can help get his father out of jail.

In this fic, Betty meets Chic for the first time...

********

Betty waited beside Sheriff Keller as a young man came towards them. He was in a suit, of course. Basic black like all the other agents in the station. He had blonde hair, green eyes, he was tall, and probably what many girls would consider good looking. But Betty only saw a kind face, and when he saw her standing beside Sheriff Keller, he looked so stunned that she felt curiosity rather than ire.

“Special Agent Murray, this is Betty Cooper,” Sheriff Keller said. “She has information for you that you might find interesting.”

Agent Murray arched an eyebrow. “She has information? About my investigation. On heroin.”

Okay, so that was making her bristle a bit. She frowned. “Aren’t you a bit too young to be a fed?” she asked in retaliation.

He seemed taken aback by her sass, but only for a moment. His eyes began to shine with mirth, then it went blank again. Impassive.

Sheriff Keller grinned. “Tenacious, this one. She cracked this thing wide open. She’s the reason you’re all here. She solved the Jason Blossom murder, which caused his killer to commit suicide and uncover his drug business. I’d take her seriously if I were you.”

She tried not to be so pleased by the Sheriff. God knows, there were a great many other things she wished he did better.

Agent Murray looked like he had a lot to say about it, though he didn’t voice it. His eyebrow arched before jerking his head towards one of the empty conference rooms and said, “Come with me.”

He settled them in the briefing area and he asked if it was alright if Sheriff Keller didn’t join them. The Sheriff turned a questioning eyebrow at her and she nodded.

She sat and he took the one a seat away.

This agent, aside from his chiseled good looks, wore his suit with practiced ease. She could tell by his stance that he was packing under his coat, and the stiff turn of his blouse told her he was wearing kevlar. These agents didn’t mess around.

He took out his badge and showed it to her, explaining that he had to show her proof of his office. His teacherly explanation distracted her so she only caught the “Murray” but didn’t get the chance to see his full name.

“So what do you have for me, Ms. Cooper?” he began, putting the badge away.

Betty brought out her folder. It had copies of the information she and Jughead had gathered. “I’m sure you have files on most if not all of the known Serpents, so I didn’t bother to get you those profiles, but what I do have is a list of the Serpent’s business associates.”

Agent Murray seemed surprised.

Betty found that encouraging. “It’s not a complete list, as this is just a couple of batches, but I can keep feeding you this type of information. I can tell you right off that many of them are just your run off the mill marijuana and loan sharking transactions, but there’s a select few who have clean records, no ties to criminal activity. Either they really do have nothing or they are involved in some serious stuff.”

Agent Murray took her offered folder and began to flip through the well-organized files. “Nothing, you said? No records?”

Betty shrugged. “Some of them had shenanigans in their youth, maybe, but nothing really criminal. You’ll only find a few in those files like that, but that’s three too many, if you ask me. Whether they’re dealing heroin or something else, I don’t know.”

Agent Murray eyed the files and stared at her. “What’s in it for you?”

“The truth. That’s all.” And she wasn’t lying. The faster to the truth they got, the sooner FP can either get out of jail or prove to Jughead that FP had to serve the time he got. Either way, Jughead would be able to get on with his life and hopefully away from the Serpents’ path.

“There’s a known Serpent, newly minted,” Agent Murray began mildly. “His name is Jughead Jones. You know him?”

“I do,” she said without hesitating.

“He’s FP Jones’s son. He comes by the county jail often to see his dad.”

She did not break Agent Murray’s stare.

He paused for a moment, obviously thinking over what he was going to say. “Can you convince him to get his father to talk?”

Slick.

So he obviously knew that Jughead was her boyfriend. And he probably knew Jughead was her source, but she wondered what else he was going to do with that information. “I can’t. I’ve already tried that, Agent Murray. He’s already tried that.”

Agent Murray nodded. “And do you think I can go directly to Forsythe Pendleton Jr.--”

“Don’t,” she said emphatically. “Don’t do that. You’ll put him in danger.”

He clamped his mouth shut, then nodded. “Does his father know he’s working as a mole?”

Betty didn’t know whether she could divulge that information, so she just shrugged. “I don’t ask Jughead what he talks about with his father.”

Agent Murray blinked and an amused grin threatened to show. “You call him Jughead?”

“All his friends do.”

“What kind of a name is that?”

Betty frowned. “The name he prefers. Do you need anything else Agent Murray?”

He settled, though the amusement was replaced by something far softer. Inexplicable, really. “We’re good for now.” He handed her his card. “You call me or come to me if you have anything else. Don’t investigate this on your own. This is dangerous work, Betty. When that much heroin is involved, we’re talking cartel level brutality. Mutilated bodies hanging from bridges, people burned alive, women raped and killed--I won't have your blood on my hands.”

Somehow, she didn’t mind that he called her Betty, and she respected that he was straight talking her with the gory details. She looked at his card and saw that he was a Charles.

“D’you understand?” he asked.

She nodded. “I do, Agent Murray.”

He looked at her then, staring at her face so intently that she felt slightly uncomfortable at his gaze.

“Call me Chic,” he finally said, getting up and patting her shoulder. “And if you feel unsafe for anything at all, call me. Stay safe, Betty.”

*****************

When Kevin met her at the door, he was all Oh my fucking God, what an Adonis!

Betty made a face. “Really? I mean, he was nice and all, but I don’t know if I’d consider him attractive. Kinda acts like my father.”

“That’s called Jughead Blindness, what you have there,” Kevin said. “You’re so stupid in love that you’re immune to the charms of other guys who are twice as good looking.”

Betty shrugged. “He’s not my type, then. Honestly, I still think Jughead’s much more good looking than he is.”

“Jughead would love that. Wait’ll he gets a load of this dreamboat. So he gave you his number?”

She looked him pointedly. “As an Agent. And God, Chic’s like, at least ten years older than me. It’s not legal for him to be thinking what you’re thinking.”

“Chic, is he? First name basis!”

“He’s trying to make me feel at ease with him. It’s a psychology thing. Kev, can you drop this line of thinking? It’s seriously grossing me out.”

“You’ve got it real bad for Jughead if you think that tall blonde treasure is gross.”

She wasn’t going to deny it. “Well, he’s nothing to me if he doesn’t help us get to the truth.”

She felt a pang of guilt after she said it. Chic seemed nice enough and he didn’t deserve her flippant attitude.

She shook her head and scolded herself for falling back on her anxieties. Why would she be guilty about what she thought of Chic? He was practically a stranger.

She should be focused on her mission, which was to get to the truth. That is what matters now.