Did Betty kill Jason on ‘Riverdale’? Lili Reinhart on Betty’s ‘dark side’

Throughout its initial episodes “Riverdale” has given viewers hints at some deeper mental health issues Betty (Lili Reinhart) is facing. With the third episode, “Body Double” (Feb. 9), those issues have risen to the surface giving viewers an interesting new prism to look at the character through.

In the episode she takes on the persona of her sister Polly while trying to exact revenge on Chuck Clayton (Jordan Calloway) for slut-shaming the girls of Riverdale High. In doing so she screams at him, calling him Jason — the name of the dead teen who seemingly treated Polly in a way that led to her being institutionalized.

While the mystery of Jason’s murder will continue to be a driving force of the show, this dark turn in Betty isn’t something that’s simply going to go away.

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“Betty’s issue is that she’s seemingly perfect on the outside but very broken on the inside and slowly trying to piece herself back together throughout the season — and throughout the show, I’m assuming,” Reinhart says. “She struggles with mental health issues, and anxiety and self-harm.”

Reinhart’s interpretation — of Betty’s focus on perfection as a “facade” — is so important in differentiating “Riverdale” from the “Archie” comics it comes from, and shows just how emotionally authentic the show strives to be. However, it also raises an interesting question. There’s a killer on the loose, and Betty is not in the best frame of mind. Clearly she doesn’t remember, or won’t admit to, some of the things she does — and whatever happened to Polly looms large over her. Could she have been the one to kill Jason?

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Betty’s immediate alibi is that she was at her internship in Los Angeles at the time — but who’s to say she didn’t make a quick trip home to carry out the deed? After all, seemingly everyone in the city of Riverdale is a suspect at this point.

For what it’s worth, we’re hoping Betty isn’t the killer. Making her issues proof that she’s a killer is not the way this story demands to be told, As Reinhart explains, “One out of four teenagers have a mental health issue — that’s something that should be talked about and focused on.”

“Riverdale” airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.

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