Riverdale Queer Watch season 5 episode 6: What’s Cheryl up to?

Welcome to Riverdale Queer Watch, where we look out for the LGBTQ+ folks on The CW’s Riverdale each week. Whether it’s a snuff film or prom night, we’re watching.

HBIC Cheryl Blossom has been pretty quiet in the post-time jump Riverdale era. It’s been confusing to determine what exactly Toni’s former half is up to other than painting and silently crying. This week, we got our first glimpse.

Riverdale’s crushed Blossom

Cheryl’s storyline this season, overall, has focused on the Blossom family reputation. When we last left off with Cheryl before the time jump, she had broken up with Toni and left her college plans behind in order to somehow atone for the Blossom family’s decades of oppression.

This story is as murky and vague as it sounds. Riverdale has a poor track record with race and issues of power. The Blossom story seemed to be a weak attempt at somehow addressing the latent issues of class and race in Riverdale, but it overall was too little too late, especially considering we never learned what the resolution was.

Rather than see any kind of actual reckoning for the Blossom family, instead, we’re saddled with Cheryl telling us her family is cursed and she deserves to bear the burden of their horrible behavior. In short, it’s bizarre. It’s doubly confusing due to the addition of Cheryl’s painting storyline.

A muddled mess

So far, all we’ve seen of Cheryl post-time jump is her very moodily painting while Nana Blossom watches. This week, we learn that the two have a plan (or at least Nana does): Sell Cheryl’s reproductions of the family’s valuable original artwork.

The whole thing raises so many questions:  Was Cheryl always an artistic savant or is this something she has honed over the last seven years during her mourning period (still impressive)? Where did all of the Blossoms’ money go? Why aren’t they running the maple syrup factory anymore?

There have been vague mentions about using all of the money on the Thornhill renovations, but wasn’t Cheryl’s entire goal to re-energize the family company and take it back from her disgusting relatives? Why is she doing nothing now other than painting fakes? It truly makes no sense.

Thankfully, in the closing moments of the episode, we saw a hint of the Cheryl we know and love.

The Vixen Lays a Trap

Despite being quite the hermit now, Cheryl Blossom still has her informants around town, including Miss Bell at Riverdale High. Upon hearing the news that Toni resurrected the Vixens, Cheryl finally snapped, changed out of her dour black outfit, and surprised Toni in her office, decked out in pink from head to toe.

Toni almost certainly provoked Cheryl, but as for what will happen between the two next, we’ll have to tune in to find out.

How do you feel about Cheryl Blossom this season? Tell us in the comments below!