Riverdale Tackles Beauty Pageants With Miss Teen Riverdale

“Miss Teen Riverdale” made the decision to focus primarily on the show’s leading female cast. Although they are preparing for the upcoming beauty pageant, they are also talking with each other, and all of the major plot points of the episode surround the girls.

While Betty, Veronica, Cheryl, and Toni all enter the pageant for different reasons, such as a scholarship to any college they are accepted to, participating is expected of them, or to make a stand, Ethel Muggs stands apart as the only one wanting to be in Miss Teen Riverdale because she genuinely wants to win.

“Miss Teen Riverdale” finally does something with Ethel to place her into the main plot, even if it is one of the more predictable storylines. Riverdale never beats around the bush, repeatedly reminding the audience that Ethel is not who Alice would consider a traditional win for the crown.

Ethel’s background is fairly dark, between her parents being killed, the accusation that Ethel had killed them, and her hobbies of drawing shady characters for comic books.

Clearly the underdog of the competition, Betty encourages Ethel to compete, even going as far as working with Veronica to tell Hal that unless Ethel is allowed to compete, all of the girls will back out of the competition.

Betty, Veronica, Cheryl, Toni, Ethel, and Midge have a variety of conversations, all surrounding the themes of sisterhood and support. Instead of petty arguments, the girls are supportive of each other. They have no interest in fighting for the crown and instead encourage each other.

However, Ethel is only able to participate after Alice disqualifies Midge when she discovers Midge’s pregnancy. Midge, sent off to the Sisters of Quiet Mercy after Alice told Midge’s parents, is unable to compete, so Ethel can step into her spot.

Ethel’s victory follows a series of underdog wins in similar storylines. Although Ethel did not win by the judge’s standards, Alice’s belief in the competition, and that it can change lives understood that Ethel was the only one there who truly wanted it.

The conversations between Betty and Ethel were kind and encouraging and reminiscent of when the girls banded together to join forces with Ethel back in season one. Riverdale’s focus as a female-centric episode allowed the girls time to bond on their own and show the friendship that lies beneath the drama surrounding them at nearly every other time.

Midge’s story has the most dangerous stakes, though, which has the side effect of giving Fangs more to do in “Miss Teen Riverdale” than he has had in several episodes. The Sisters of Quiet Mercy is known to be a destructive institution. Midge’s pregnancy may not be enough to keep her safe, and without a plan to break her out, they just have to hope that she can stay strong until the baby is born. Heavily underused all season, Fangs does the most with what he is given.

Otherwise, the boys of Riverdale are reduced to being cheerleaders for the girls, standing around the television and watching them compete.

However, with only a few episodes left in the series, “Miss Teen Riverdale” does not do much to tease what to expect as the final episodes come closer. While Midge’s plot may end up being more important later on, Ethel’s role has been fairly inconsistent at best, and it is difficult to determine how important she will be moving forward.

Ethel’s crush on Jughead has never found a way of coming to fruition before, and even in this iteration of events, Riverdale is not doing much to suggest that Jughead has ever seen Ethel in a romantic light, especially if Jughead is still supposed to end up with Tabitha, or some version of her, at the show’s conclusion.

But Riverdale does make some good calls in showing Veronica and Betty’s solidarity. Their relationship, regardless of how it plays out as platonic or romantic, is being given the chance to shine that had been stolen from it when Riverdale found more interest in showing them with each of their respective romantic partners in previous seasons.