So here's a true dilemma: You're looking to recap season one of Riverdale or catch up before the season two premiere hits October 11. You do not, unfortunately, have 9 hours to binge watch all the Riverdale episodes and try to figure out who killed Jason Blossom (and why). Plus, any and all clips you may watch in your spare time are cute Bughead moments, let's be real. It would be super swell if you could easily just flip through the story if all the highlights were spelled out for you…and put in word bubbles.

Well, like Riverdale was inspired by the OG Archie comics, we were inspired to create a comic strip refresher of the first season! Scroll down to see what happened to Archie, Betty, Veronica and Jughead in the CW show's first chapter, and of course, SPOILERS BELOW.

Death of Jason Blossom

So basically Jason Blossom was a mega-popular Riverdale High student, his family basically owned half the town with their maple syrup company, he was really close (like really) with his sister Cheryl.

Cheryl claimed Jason toppled off a boat and drowned in Sweetwater River, but Kevin Keller and Moose Mason discover his body with a bullet wound in his head. So jk, guys, Jason Blossom was def killed by someone.

Meanwhile…

Everyone Wants Archie

This is the original premise of the Archie comics and it holds true on this show. Ladies have a thing for the ginger stallion. Which is cool, have you seen him shirtless?

Of course, Archie has his fair share of secrets. On July 4th he overheard a gunshot while he was hooking up with his music teacher, Miss Grundy, and didn’t say anything about it because…well, he was hooking up with his teacher. Later on he dates Valerie from Josie and the Pussycats for a hot sec. Like, he really makes the rounds.

Archie means well, though. He just wants to be taken seriously as a musician despite having just picked up an acoustic guitar last week. Naturally, his dad Luke Perry wants him to stick with football and work at his construction company some day.

Tl;dr Archie is Troy Bolton.

Betty Goes Full Dark, No Stars

Look, man, Betty is under constant pressure to be perfect; she’s a straight A student, she keeps the school’s newspaper running, and she wants to solve Jason Blossom’s murder. All the while her mom spends a lot of time being the Literal Worst and acting like if Betty doesn’t behave 110% she’ll end up like her older sister Polly. Betty is bright and kind and lovely and also wound as tightly as that high ponytail.

So sometimes she snaps and tries to boil boys alive.

But for the most part Betty is a so smart and a total sweetheart, and she really gets snaps for her "Riverdale must do better. We must do better." speech.

Oh, also she apparently has an older brother named Chic Cooper that was given up for adoption. That’s going to be a thing in season two.

Veronica Lodge Comes to Riverdale

Veronica’s dad is involved in some sort of embezzlement thing so Ronnie and her scandalized mom hightail it to Riverdale. She befriends Betty after a few missteps (ahem, seven minutes in heaven with Archie) and it’s just awk because Betty loves Archie but Archie’s attracted to Veronica. And then Varchie becomes a thing towards the end of the season and that’s all well and good but suffice to say it’s not our favorite Riverdale ship.

Anyway, as far as the actual plot goes, however, Veronica’s main asset is that she’s an amazing friend. She bought Betty Magnolia cupcakes (after kissing Archie in the closet, but still) and she’s given crazy Cheryl a literal shoulder to cry on during all of her Jason-related breakdowns. She won’t, however, tolerate anyone trampling on her and her kin. She also looks great in pearls.

Veronica’s mom also gets a bit smoochy with Archie’s dad so expect some sort of weird Rufus-and-Lily Gossip Girl redux in season two if Mr. Lodge can’t get it together.

Jughead Jones is Perfect

Jughead is our story’s narrator and initially pretty miffed at his BFF Archie for cancelling on their 4th of July roadtrip. His new project? Writing a novel on the murder of Jason Blossom. Also being delightfully cynical and dreamy because Cole Sprouse is everything. Like, seriously, Jughead is amazing all the time.

Unfortunately terrible things happen to him because his dad, Southside Serpent leader FP Jones, is an alcoholic and gets arrested mid-season for the murder of Jason Blossom. The good news is that FP didn’t do it, he was framed and playing along with the accusation in order to protect Jughead from any harm from the Blossoms. But with Jughead’s dad out of the picture, Jug couldn’t legally stay with Achie and his dad, so he was placed into foster care and transferred to Southside High.

This poor bb, tho. Ugh, do you guys remember when he called his mom to say he was gonna visit her and Jellybean and she basically said she didn’t want to see him so he started sobbing in the phone booth? Tear out our hearts, why don’t you.

Bughead

Betty and Jughead’s relationship is like half of the reason any of us are watching this show.

Even with all of Jughead’s insecurities and all of Betty’s neuroses they are an electric couple and we’ve all replayed that first kiss scene on YouTube 40 times this week. The two grew close while trying to solve the mystery of Jason Blossom’s murder, which is presh. Also they close out the season exchanging I love yous and making out hard before being interrupted by the Southside Serpents. Basically, they want to adopt Jughead as their own and give him a boss leather jacket. Betty is naturally concerned. We're all concerned.

Regardless, we will go to hell and back with this couple and are hoping for the best. Of course, there are other looming, scarlet-haired threats; despite being with Ronnie now, Archie seemed sort of wistful and jealous of Buckhead's relationship. And in the pilot episode, Kevin says, “Betty and Archie aren't dating, but they are endgame.”

Uh, not if the fans have anything to say about it.

Polly Cooper Is Pregnant

Omg, so as it would turn out Jason definitely didn’t drown (well, we know that, but still) he was trying to run away from Riverdale with his sweetheart, Polly Cooper. The two were secretly engaged and Polly, who was sent away to a group home by Betty’s disapproving parents, is v pregnant with twins. Congratulations! Unfortunately when Betty finds her she has to deliver the bad news about Jason, and that’s a bummer for everyone involved. Also, it’s later revealed that Polly and Jason are secretly distantly related, which is why their parents didn’t want them together. Also, very much a bummer.

But yeah, after a brief stint infiltrating Thornhill (where the Blossoms drugged her milkshakes, have they no shame??) Polly is now back with her family, attending school, and probably due any minute now. We’d like to hope she’s going to begin to rebuild her life, but this is Riverdale, after all.

Cheryl is legit crazy

Cheryl also clearly has a lot on her plate because her twin and “soulmate” (…weird…) was killed, so that much we’re sympathetic towards. She pretty much allowed Jason to run away, which no doubt contributed to the whole him-being-dead-now thing. Cheryl, like any kid on this show, is carrying very reasonable baggage from her family.

But she’s also unnecessarily vicious AF to basically anyone who comes into contact with her, she makes everyone play the worst party games, and her entire relationship with her brother tap-dances upon creepy. Maybe she’ll get better next season since Archie and the gang saved her from trying to “join Jason.” Or maybe not at all, because she legit committed arson to cleanse Thornhill mansion of its sins.

So Who Killed Jason Blossom?

Oh, it was his dad, isn’t that horrible? Also apparently Clifford Blossom is (well, was) involved in some kind of drug ring and once his son caught wind of it, he decided to take Jason out. This officially makes him the worst parent in all of Riverdale, and we know that competition is high for that honor.

Welp, mystery solved! Guess we can all go home and live our lives happily ever after…. except….

Wait a minute.

Who shot Fred Andrews?

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