Riverdale’s most promising moments with Betty were ultimately a disappointment

Riverdale teased us with the kind of promise we wanted to see thanks to Betty finally making a stand with her mother. And yet there was no payoff.

Some of the best moments from Riverdale‘s latest episode, “Jawbreaker,” came from not only the solo scenes of Betty, but also the scenes of Betty with Alice. From her taking Alice to see a grave marked with the name Charles Smith, to letting some of her Dark Betty shine when she confronted Evelyn, it felt like the star of the hour was Betty. That is, right up until it felt like all of her big moments were pointless.

We love a good Betty and Alice moment, but when they lead to absolutely nothing, then what is the point? It felt like Betty was finally going to get through to her mother, even if that required chaining Alice up in the bunker. But sadly it feels like she simply caved to the Farm and is letting them keep her mom. And sure we get the idea of trying to heal, but how is giving all of your daughter’s money to a cult and basically ditching her the way to go?

Betty was finally putting up a real fight for her mom and then she sent her back to the cult. And sure, we learn afterwards that she is now working with Toni in order to get to the bottom of the Farm so that they can get both Alice and Cheryl out from under the clutches of the cult, but it still feels like the bad Betty moments were trumped by her letting Alice go into the open arms of Evelyn.

And let’s not forget that earlier in the episode, Betty made it clear to Evelyn that she would have no problem taking her out for good (hello Dark Betty!), and she did it with an audience. But yet she was willing to let Evelyn take her mom. Maybe it’s just me, but my first thought was, “what gives?”

It felt like Riverdale was letting Betty shine for brief moments only to take it back like a game of not it. And it doesn’t help that she has also been visiting her serial killer father in prison and having long conversations with him. She is even taking his calls and trying to get details about Alice for him.

It feels like Riverdale doesn’t want to let Hal’s story go, but they aren’t sure what they want to do with him. Sadly, this means dragging Betty down with them, because right now, these prison talks are just making her look bad (and clearly Alice sees that if the tapes the Farm had from her chats with Edgar are anything to go by).

Riverdale let me down when it came to Betty on this week’s episode, because I had so many high hopes. And while she certainly shined with Alice at her side, everything she did felt like it was a wasted effort once she let her mother go.

Even understanding why she did what she did, I wanted more. Maybe that makes me greedy, but now my hope is that something comes of what Betty has done and is doing (particularly in terms of her working with Toni).