Riverdale star Skeet Ulrich talks Serpents and THAT shocking Betty scene
Once a Serpent, always a Serpent.
At least that’s how it seems for FP Jones (Skeet Ulrich) after his release from prison. Even though he attempted to walk the straight and narrow, by the end of the episode, FP’s back in his former role as king of the Southside.
“Initially, he’s ready to part ways with the Serpents and ready to be a standup citizen for Jughead, and for himself,” Ulrich tells EW. “He gets a job at Pop’s, he’s been in AA in prison, and he’s looking for a fresh start. But that doesn’t always go the way he hopes.”
But FP isn’t the only one in Riverdale returning to their roots: the episode’s climax features the once-buttoned up Alice Cooper (Mädchen Amick) showing off a more risqué fashion choice at FP’s release party sans her husband Hal (Lochlyn Munro). And, as Ulrich reveals, there’s a lot more to the relationship between FP and Alice than what we’ve seen. “There’s a long history with them. There were several things that happened in season 1 that sort of hint at this relationship that went on, that she’s more like him than she is anyone on the Northside, and he’s not going to let her forget it,” Ulrich explains. “So there’s a lot going on, and there are a lot of secrets between the two of them. I’m excited to get to that part of the story.”
That climactic party was also the setting for Betty’s (Lili Reinhart) Serpent-dance striptease, her backfiring attempt to ingratiate herself with Jughead and his new friends. Considering both her mother and her boyfriend’s father were in the room, it’s safe to say it was a little awkward.
“I looked away for most of it,” Ulrich said. “I have to walk in at the end of it and rescue her from it, but I think from the stuff I saw that [Lili] did a great job of bringing this high school innocence to this very precarious situation that Betty’s in, and she’s an incredibly talented actress. It’s something that could have been very salacious and she found a way to infuse it with this sort of nervous innocence that really worked.”
Riverdale airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on The CW.
