“Hey there, Juliet.” If you love Bughead – Betty Cooper and Jughead Jones on The CW’s Riverdale – chances are you’ve quoted that Jughead line more than once. Or maybe you’ve used a GIF of Juggie saying those very words to Betty at her bedroom window. Flash-forward to season three: Bughead is on again, but only after being off for a wee bit, with some D-R-A-M-A in between. Whatever your feelings are on this relationship, they’ve come a long way since Betty asked Jughead to help her revive the Blue and Gold newspaper at Riverdale High. Here’s how we got here:
Season 1, episode 3 (“Body Double”):
Not long after Betty gets rejected by Archie on the night of the school dance, she focuses all of her attention to helping solve Jason Blossom’s murder. Her first task: reviving the Blue and Gold student newspaper at Riverdale High. She enlists Jughead – sorry, “Juggie,” as she calls him in this scene – to help with the first assignment, interviewing Dilton Doiley, one of the scouts who found Cheryl Blossom at Sweetwater River after Jason died.
Season 1, episode 5 (“Heart of Darkness”):
Betty and Jughead get ready together at her house for Jason’s memorial. Upon seeing Jughead in a suit (with his signature crown beanie), Betty gives him a ~*look*~.
Once at Thornhill, Betty and Jughead sneak off to look for more clues about Jason’s murder and accidentally run into Nana Rose, who thinks Betty is her sister Polly and reveals Polly and Jason were engaged. This also happens:
Season 1, episode 6 (“Faster, Pussycats! Kill! Kill!”):
Betty invites Jughead over for breakfast with her mom Alice, who is suspicious of their guest and can’t stop over pronouncing his name. He helps Betty distract Alice at the breakfast table and TL;DR, this is how they discover Polly has been living at Sisters of Quiet Mercy, a home for troubled youths. Later, at school, when Archie asks what they’re up to and offers to help, Jughead says, “What we’re attempting is a stealth operation, Archie. If we go in there with the entire Scooby Gang, forget it, we’re compromised.” (In other words, Bai, Archie.)
After visiting Polly (and learning that she’s seven months pregnant with Jason’s child), Jughead shows up at Betty’s bedroom window and delivers the “Hey there, Juliet” line. He assures a frantic Betty that she will not become her family. They kiss for the first time but instead of fully enjoying the moment, Betty immediately thinks of searching the car that Jason had stashed for him and Polly when he was alive.
Season 1, episode 7 (“In a Lonely Place”):
Jughead, who now lives in a small closet at school, has a ‘50s style dream about being married to Betty and literally stabbing Archie in the back. When Archie discovers where Jughead’s been sleeping, Jughead cautions him not to tell anyone, “especially not Betty,” which makes Archie suspicious.
Later that day, Jughead squeezes Betty’s shoulder in the common room at school, raising everyone’s eyebrows. When confronted about the moment by Veronica, Betty says, “OK so the past couple of days, I haven’t been in a great place, emotionally, and Jughead was really there for me.” In response, Veronica says she approves.
Jughead walks Betty home that night, in the rain, holding hands. When Betty tells him he “didn’t have to” walk her, he says, “Uh, there’s a killer on the loose, remember? Besides, isn’t this what, you know, what people like us, who have gone through what we’ve gone through, do?” He further assures her that she’s been doing the right thing with Polly; Betty kisses Jughead, thanks him for walking her, and says she’ll call him later.
While at Pop’s for dinner with his dad FP, Archie, and Fred, Jughead is grilled about Betty. “Who is Betty, is that your girlfriend?” FP asks. Before Archie can fully freak out, Jughead changes the subject. Case closed. For now.
Betty and Jughead’s relationship advances another level while at the police station, where Jughead is being questioned about why his fingerprints were found on Jason’s since-torched car. “I know who you are,” Betty tells him in the interrogation room. When he’s released (thanks for lying, Fred), Betty comforts Jughead in front of Archie, Fred, and FP, and Bughead walk away together.
Season 1, episode 8 (“The Outsiders”):
After casually acknowledging that Jughead is in fact her “boyfriend,” Betty throws a baby shower for Polly at the Pembrooke, with some help from Juggie, who says “organizing a baby shower… is totally on my bucket list.”
When all hell breaks loose after Archie shows up with important information that FP is a Serpent, Betty lays down some ground rules for the RMS Bughead. “If we’re gonna be together, I wanna know who you are. All of it,” she says to Jughead. Later, after questioning FP about Jason’s murder, Betty tells Jughead outside the trailer that she believes him no matter what. They kiss.
Season 1, episode 9 (“La Grand Illusion”):
While comforting a crying Betty, who’s upset about Polly living at Thornhill and their parents fighting over The Register newspaper (remember when Alice threw a rock through the office window?), Jughead delivers an inspiring speech to his girlfriend. “Don’t do that, don’t give up,” he says, drying her tears. “Your family is definitely splintering right now but it won’t fall apart because of you. You’re holding them together. You’re so much stronger than all the white noise. You’re stronger than your mother. You’re stronger than your father. you’re holding this family together. So don’t… don’t let go.”
Season 1, episode 10 (“The Lost Weekend”):
After Archie tells Betty it’s Jughead’s birthday, Betty plans a surprise outing for her beau, even though traditionally he spends the day watching a double feature at The Bijou. When she calls FP to invite him out, FP reveals Jughead has never had a birthday party and hates surprises. Clearly not getting all the messages, Betty organizes a surprise “inner circle only” birthday party for Jughead and somehow finds the time to buy a grey sweater featuring a yellow crown on the front.
Ahead of the party, Betty goes to The Bijou with Jughead to watch An American Werewolf in Paris. “I’m all about the beast within,” she says as the lights go down.
An uncomfortable Jughead later walks into his surprise party, which kicks off with Betty singing Happy Birthday while holding a cake. “That was haunting, Betty,” says Jughead, who looks like he’s just seen a ghost. He later tells her, “I’m not normal. I’m not wired to be normal.” Cheryl and 90 percent of the school show up with kegs and the Andrews residence immediately becomes party central.
In the garage, Jughead delivers his now-famous “weirdo” speech to Betty: “In case you haven’t noticed, I’m weird. I’m a weirdo, I don’t fit in, and I don’t want to fit in. Have you ever seen me without this stupid hat on? That’s weird… It’s not just a party. It’s the fact that you don’t know or even care that this is the last thing I would want. You did this for you. To prove something… you’re a great girlfriend. Doesn’t it ever occur to you just how different we are? Like, on a cellular, DNA kind of level. You’re a straight-A student. You’re a cheerleader, for God’s sakes. You’re the perfect girl next door. I’m the damaged, loner outsider from the wrong side of the tracks. Betty, come on. Who are we kidding? We’re on borrowed time. Betty, I’m not one of your projects. OK?”
Before the party gets out of hand, FP tells everyone to go home and advises Jughead not to screw things up with Betty. Bughead reconvene at Pop’s and over milkshakes, Jughead tells Betty, “Sometimes, when people do nice things to me, I short circuit. Maybe I’m not used to it. Maybe I’m scared of getting hurt. Being rejected. For being myself.” Betty comes clean about Dark Betty and her bleeding palms. He clasps her hands into his, kisses them, and they kiss in the booth.
Season 1, episode 11 (“To Riverdale and Back Again”):
Alice invites Jughead and a clean-shaven FP to her house for dinner ahead of Homecoming at Riverdale High. After an uncomfortable grilling session, Betty ends the dinner (and skips peach pie!) and goes to Homecoming with Jughead. Hours later, FP is arrested for Jason’s murder and an angry Jughead leaves Homecoming.
Season 1, episode 13 (“The Sweet Hereafter”):
Not long after it’s revealed (via a USB stick in the lining of Jason’s varsity jacket) that Clifford was the one who pulled the trigger on his own son, Betty publishes an article about the unfair treatment of FP in the investigations. Her locker is splattered with the message, “Go to Hell Serpent Slut,” in pig’s blood. The next day, Jughead is sent to Southside High by social services. Betty shows up to the caf, where Jughead is seen conversing with other students. “I’m not letting Riverdale’s civil war split us apart, Jug,” she says, before they share a sweet hug outside. Witnessing the moment, Veronica tells Archie, “They’re each other’s soulmates. Good for them, don’t you think?”
Later that night, after speaking at the Jubilee and asking Riverdale to “do better” for their own, like FP and Jughead, Betty and Jughead head back to the trailer (while FP remains in jail, since he helped get rid of Jason’s body). “Until he gets out, I’m not giving up on him, Jug,” Betty says, leading Jughead to tell her he loves her. She says “I love you” back and the two strip down before getting interrupted by the Serpents, who arrive with Hot Dog and a Serpent jacket.
Good luck trying to get that Imagine Dragons song out of your head from this point forward.
Season 2, episode 1 (“A Kiss Before Dying”):
Betty hops on Jughead’s motorcycle while wearing his custom crown helmet as they head to Pop’s after Fred is shot. When Betty asks Juggie to “go slow,” he says, “It’s actually much more dangerous if we go slow. You are gonna need to hold tight.”
Later that day, Betty tells Jughead he should “do or explore” whatever he needs to (as he inches closer to #thatserpentlife). They kiss outside of Fred’s hospital and Betty heads home on her own (because as she says, “I think if my mom saw me getting off your motorcycle, she’d come out with a shot gun”).
Season 2, episode 2 (“Nighthawks”):
After arriving at Thistle House, the Blossom family’s new home, Jughead and Betty are referred to as “Hobo” and “Bride of Hobo,” respectively. In the same episode, while at Retro Night at Pop’s, Cheryl tells Bughead their PDA is “like chimps in captivity grooming and picking lice off each other.”
Season 2, episode 3 (“The Watcher in the Woods”):
Betty and Jughead begin to drift apart as he starts attending Southside High. After reviving Southside’s paper, the Red and Black, and befriending fellow student Toni Topaz, Jughead is jumped by the Ghoulies late one night at school. He lies to Betty and says it was a motorcycle accident.
Season 2, episode 4 (“The Town That Dreaded Sundown”):
Jughead apologizes for his morning breath after Betty arrives with news that she’s going to the library to do some research for deciphering the Black Hood’s secret code. Jughead tells her he started working on it with Toni, leading Betty to suggest that they all work together (and with Kevin). “It will be like a little code-breaking party. So fun! You can host!” she says, lightly hitting Jughead’s arm.
After falling asleep together at his place, Jughead later arrives to Betty’s house along with the notebooks she left behind – and her note from the Black Hood. When confronted about it, Betty says she fears that she “inspired” the Black Hood to commit his crimes. “You’re not one of the bad guys,” Jughead tells her. “You’re Betty Cooper. Like Nancy Drew meets Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.”
Season 2, episode 5 (“When a Stranger Calls”):
“Betty Cooper. You are a sight for sore eyes,” Jughead tells Betty at Pop’s Diner after not seeing each other in a while. The two share a long kiss but remain untruthful to each other (her Black Hood stuff; his injured hand). To cut the awkward silence, Jughead tells Betty, “I wish we could just go, just hop on my motorcycle and just leave Riverdale. Just go someplace where there’s no north side or south side or Serpents, Ghoulies.” Adds Betty, “No crazy moms, Black Hoods,” referring to Alice’s recently-surfaced mug shot from her Serpent days. “Like Romeo and Juliet, but we live happily ever after instead.”
Before Bughead fans everywhere are able to fully soak in the moment, the Black Hood tells Betty it’s time to cut off her friends (Veronica) and Jughead, or else. She makes Archie do the dirty work but his message is slightly interrupted by the Serpents, who arrive for Jughead’s final phase of his initiation. To one’s surprise, Jughead has no problem officially joining the group. He receives his official Serpent tattoo from Toni and spends time with her back at his trailer. With “Sign of the Times” by Harry Styles playing in the background, Toni and Jughead kiss.
Season 2, episode 6 (“Death Proof”):
Despite being broken up, Betty helps Jughead fix a car ahead of his race against the Ghoulies. “This is what Serpents do for fun huh? Street race a rival gang?” she says while asking for a tool. Of her decision to break up with him, she says, “It won’t make any sense, but everything around us was imploding and I did it to protect you.”
By the end of the episode, it’s suggested that Betty and Jughead are back together. “The girl next door came clean about her Danse Macabre with the Black Hood, further confirmation that everyone in Riverdale wears masks,” narrator Jughead says over a shot of Bughead hanging out together in his trailer.
Season 2, episode 7 (“Tales from the Darkside”):
Betty and Jughead are shown waking up in his bed together in an episode that’s told from multiple perspectives. It’s mostly a snoozer, save for the opening shots of Bughead waking up together and the Black Hood calling Pop Tate at the diner to tell him everyone “failed” his test and that “the reckoning is upon us.”
Season 2, episode 8 (“House of the Devil”):
Betty gives #thatserpentlife a try and tells Toni she wants to be “Serpent Adjacent.” Overhearing their conversation, an old lady at the Whyte Wyrm tells Betty, “If you wanna join the club, you gotta do the dance. The serpent dance.” Fast forward to FP’s “retirement” party (the quotes are there because he changes his mind almost immediately after), and Betty is doing a strip tease on stage while singing that song from Donnie Darko. After the dance, she meets Jughead in the parking lot, where he breaks up with her. “How many times are we going to push each other away?” Betty asks. “Until it sticks,” Jughead says, as Bughead enters the Land of Exes. Again.
Season 2, episode 9 (“Silent Night, Deadly Night”):
Betty and Jughead exchange Christmas gifts despite being broken up. It’s later revealed that she got him a Vintage Underwood typewriter and that he got her a 1987 copy of Beloved by Toni Morrison, along with a handwritten note that read, “A signed first edition for my beloved. Thanks for introducing me to your favorite writer. Love Jug.”
Later in the episode, also known as the disappointing Black Hood reveal episode, Betty and Archie share a kiss outside Thistle House (with Cheryl watching) in the middle of their search for the masked killer.
Season 2, episode 12 (“The Wicked and the Divine”):
Some time after the kids from Southside High were sent to Riverdale High, Betty and Jughead meet up in an empty classroom. She tells him she saw him with Toni at Pop’s when the Black Hood saga was going on. “You seemed like more than pals… did anything ever happen between you two?” Betty asks. Jughead clarifies what he and Toni were up to: “We did some stuff, but not everything.” When he throws the question back to Betty, she quickly blurts out, “No. No. Of course not,” all while wearing a heart adorned sweater.
Between attending Veronica’s confirmation and solving the case of the decapitated General Pickens statue, Betty and Jughead hang out in his trailer and talk for what feels like too damn long. When Jughead says, “We got rid of Tall Boy” (yeah, Tall Boy had a part in the statue head), Betty remarks how nice it is to hear “we” again. Jughead apologizes for casting Betty out and asks her to stay. The two have sex for what appears to be the first official time and get back together. In the following scene, Betty arrives home to find Alice cleaning up blood as a dead body hangs out in the Cooper living room. Thanks a lot, Chic (Betty’s brother).
Season 2, episode 14 (“The Hills Have Eyes”):
While picking Betty up for the Fab Four’s getaway to Veronica’s family lodge, Jughead meets Chic for the first time. In a creepy scene, Chic warns Jughead that if he tells anyone about the dead body, “It will be bad for Betty and Alice.”
At the lodge, Jughead receives a call from Cheryl, who tells him about Archie and Betty’s kiss. To “level the playing field,” Jughead and Veronica kiss while in the hot tub with their significant others. Jughead presents his case: “What if a future me tries to use your kiss with Archie against some future you? A Vughead kiss? Right now in the present, might be precisely what it takes to save a future Bughead from imploding.” Vughead kiss and receive mixed reviews.
After the Vughead kiss, everyone heads back inside where Betty points out who’s left to make out: Jughead and Archie. Before Jughead is able to fully react, Dark Betty comes out to play. The two have sex and Archie and Veronica are unable to shut out that evening’s Bughead bed noise.
Season 2, episode 16 (“Primary Colors”):
Jughead tells Betty he’s running for student body president and wants her to be his “co-president” (because apparently vice presidents don’t exist in Riverdale). In response, Betty says, “There is no me and Veronica. You have to do me a favor though. You have to let me stay here. I can’t stay in the same house as Chic anymore.” Let the cohabitation of Bughead commence!
Earlier in the episode, Betty and Chic’s ongoing sibling war leads to the revelation to Alice that Betty and Jughead have been sexually active. When Alice asks Betty if she’s “being safe” with Juggie, Betty says, “Yes mom, of course.” Alice then proceeds to reminisce about how when she was Betty’s age, she “wasn’t always” safe and that she’s “very well acquainted with how alluring the Jones men are.” As soon as Betty jumps to the whole OMG F.P. is Chic’s dad theory, Alice snaps back: “Absolutely not.”
Season 2, episode 17 (“The Noose Tightens”):
With student elections heating up, Betty and Jughead appear in a school hall (it’s like a town hall, but at school, get it?) and address concerns that things will be one-sided if they’re elected. “Jughead and I will be representing all students, north and south side alike,” Betty says.
Alice, meanwhile, is angry that her daughter has temporarily moved out to live with Jughead. (She doesn’t want to be under the same roof as Chic, OK?) In a post-school hall chat, Alice tells FP that he should be ashamed for “letting my sweet innocent daughter live in sin in that soup can you call a trailer.” Other important Alice lines on the topic of Bughead:
Bughead later share a moment on his couch while discussing their next move in wake of news that the car they got rid of a few has resurfaced.
On the same episode, after Chic mistakenly invites the real owner of the dead man’s car (from “The Wicked and the Divine”) and another dangerous man to the Cooper house, Jughead and his fellow BB Serpents barge in to save Betty and Alice. Gotta love a grand Jughead entrance.
Season 2, episode 18 (“A Night to Remember”):
As the official documentarian for Carrie: The Musical, Jughead films his boo with pride as she rehearses with the cast. Find someone who looks at you the way Juggie looks at Betty in this scene:
At the sight of Midge’s dead body on stage, everyone in the audience panics. Jughead’s first thought: “Betty.”
Season 2, episode 19 (“Prisoners”):
In a throwback to one of the first Bughead outings together (season one, episode six), Betty and Jughead go to the Sisters of Quiet Mercy and demand the truth about the connection between Svenson and Betty’s brother. Their somewhat controversial tactic used on Sister Woodhouse (Betty threatens to expose the institution’s secret conversion therapy program that they just tried to use on Cheryl) works. Turns out, Chic is not Betty’s real brother. That’s Charles Smith, who may or may not be dead.
Hearing this news, Alice heads to FP’s trailer to reveal what fans have long suspected – that Charles is his son and that yes, Betty and Jughead share(d) a brother. In a later scene, Betty gets call from the Black Hood, but lies to Jughead and says it’s her dad, aka BH suspect number one. The call eventually leads to Betty delivering him Chic, who, like Charles, may or may not be dead.
Season 2, episode 21 (“Judgment Night”):
After Hal reveals to Betty and Alice that he’s the Black Hood and is arrested by Sheriff Keller, Betty gets a mysterious call from Jughead. “I’m happy to hear your voice,” he says. “I just want you to know that I love you. I’ll never stop loving you. I’ll see you soon.” In the next scene, Jughead hands himself over to Penny Peabody and the Ghoulies to save the Serpents from getting destroyed by Hiram and his money. It’s 30 against one, FYI.
A worried Betty calls FP, who immediately heads to Penny’s hideout to look for his son. Later, when Betty arrives, FP emerges from the bushes with what appears to be a lifeless Jughead, who’s now missing his Serpent tattoo. (Penny likely carved it out of his arm for revenge on what he did to her.) It’s hard to tell from everyone’s faces, but the look on Betty says everything you need to know about Jughead’s condition.
Season 2, episode 22 (“Brave New World”):
Following a rocky seven days for Riverdale fans, the season two finale opens with Betty standing at Jughead’s gravestone. Before everyone weeps again, the show reveals that Jughead was just dreaming and is indeed alive, just a bit bruised up and recovering at the hospital. When he’s reunited with Betty, he apologizes for not being there for her during the Black Hood mess. “I never want to see him again,” she says. “Right now all I care about is you and taking care of my mom, and figuring out how to atone for everything my father did.” Before they go back to snuggling, they agree that they probably should pull out of the student council race.
With Polly and the twins back in town, Bughead briefly babysit Dagwood and Juniper. Understandably, Betty is still torn over the darkness she shares with Hal. “Jug, you think evil can be passed on? [They] were all murderers… is it possible this baby’s going to grow up to be a monster like my father, or like me?” In a line that serves as a sweet throwback to season one, episode six (“Faster, Pussycats! Kill! Kill!”), Jughead assures Betty she’ll be fine. “Look at me. I know you. You’re a good person. You might have some darkness, just like me, but you’re not evil. Do you believe that? Do you believe me?”
Before the season ends, the newly crowned Serpent King Jughead asks Betty how she feels “about being my Queen.” This happens during their romantic stay at the “Five Seasons.” When Betty asks if this is a request for her to officially join the Serpents, he jokes that she can take her time and let him know, “like tomorrow at lunch.” The two go back to canoodling as Jughead the narrator prepares fans for the final scene of Archie’s arrest. “It was a foolish question, asked between two people in love, but it didn’t matter, because it would soon be overshadowed by the next day’s cataclysmic event.”
Season 3, episode 1 (“Labor Day”):
When Hot Dog the dog goes missing, Jughead rallies the Serpents for a mission to take him back from Penny and the Ghoulies, but he tells Betty to stay behind. “The Serpent queen is a warrior queen, so if you’re on the front lines, so am I,” Betty fires back. She joins Jughead, Sweetpea, Fangs, Jughead, and new Serpent Cheryl on the mission, but is ultimately useless.
Later on the episode, Betty and Jughead frolic and make out in the water during a Labor Day weekend getaway with Archie and Veronica. When Bughead are alone by the fire, Jughead tells Betty, “From now on, we’re partners. In Serpents in life, all of it, OK?” before putting his crown beanie on her.
This post will be updated as more Bughead developments happen.
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