Riverdale S01E09: La Grande Illusion Review
Director: Lee Rose
Starring: K.J. Apa, Lili Reinhart, Camila Mendes, Cole Sprouse
Writer: James DeWille
A review by Amelia Wellman
Episode nine of Riverdale, titled La Grande Illusion, has come and passed. With only four episodes left to air in season one, hopefully the last of the episodes that aren’t sure where they’re going or what they’re doing are done. I have faith in that after thoroughly enjoying this latest episode.
La Grande Illusion gave us a bigger glimpse into the shitshow that is the Blossom family. Each year the maple syrup magnates hold a sap tapping ceremony, more for their own ego than anything else, but this year it’s the centrepiece of some devious treachery concerning the fact that their heir is dead and others of the clan are trying to steal the company out from under them. Betty’s mother says it best when she describes the gathering of weirdo Blossom redheads like “a cabal of vampires descending on the town”.
Throughout the episode, Archie is used by both the Coopers and Blossoms alike as he’s torn in both directions. Cheryl is trying to be with him romantically despite his protests that he doesn’t want that. Creepier still, the Blossom parents are pushing for the relationship because Archie seems to even Cheryl out and they need to sell him to be able to sell her as an heir to the company.
The Coopers, meanwhile, use Archie to get messages to Polly, who is living with the Blossoms and refusing to talk to them. Turns out she has her own reasons for being there and assures Archie she’s fine. Cheryl seems to know something about her plans though, so Polly’s probably far from fine. God only knows what Cheryl’s going to do now that Archie has formally told her there’s no way he’ll be with her.
Meanwhile, Veronica has her own story happening during La Grande Illusion concerning her crumbling identity as a rich, trust fund baby as she comes face to face with the lives of the ordinary people her father ruined to get her that status in the first place. Ethel is brought back once again as a yardstick for misery and Veronica spends a lot of the episode attempting to make her feel better without really understanding the problem to begin with. At the end of the episode, she sees the light with a dramatically beautiful scene of yanking the pearl necklace her father bought her off her neck in the Riverdale High locker room.
Camila Mendes does a really wonderful job with this storyline. Veronica, so far, has been more of a background character to Riverdale as a whole. Not as much as Reggie has been, but she’s been there supporting other characters without getting much attention herself. She’s helped Betty break into cars, she convinced Archie to give music a shot, I’m not sure she’s said a single word to Jughead. With La Grande Illusion we get to see a Veronica who comes to violent conclusions about her father and it shatters her. As she wraps her fingers around the pearl necklace and rips it off, spilling the pearls over the floor as she too falls, it’s a side of a Veronica we’ve never seen before. She’s self-aware, she’s trying to change, and she’s done being the person that everyone assumes she is because she’s a Lodge. She’s the exact opposite of Cheryl Blossom and Mendes understands that. She’s a great actress and I hope more comes for her in the future.
This episode is the most beautiful entry in a series that’s consistently beautiful. Whenever the Blossoms and their signature colour of red are around, it’s hard to look away. Especially since such a large part of La Grande Illusion has snow falling. The straight cut lines of their hair and clothing, mimicking a still picture you’d find in a comic, are perfect. And the symmetry of their dark wood, Gothic house is such a stark difference from the ordinary houses of Betty and Archie or the modern Lodge apartment. The zoom out of Cheryl sitting on her perfectly symmetrical bed at the end is like a renaissance painting in its attention to detail.
The Verdict
Riverdale went into a mid-season lull, but La Grande Illusion seems to have brought it back to form. I can once again confidently say that you should keep watching! We’re back to the intrigue of the full town instead of individual character drama, and after this last Veronica performance and the secrets that Archie overheard while at the Blossom estate, you’re not going to want to miss what’s coming up. And Polly didn’t ugly cry! What a refreshing joy!
