Camila Mendes is having one of the biggest years in her career so far. A major summer blockbuster, the second feature film from her production company, and wedding planning are all on the roster for 2026. This month, Mendes steps into the sprawling world of Masters of the Universe as the sword-slinging Teela alongside Nicholas Galitzine, Idris Elba, and Jared Leto.
The project is a stretch from her days as Veronica Lodge in #Riverdale, which catapulted her into mainstream recognition nearly a decade ago. Mendes makes movies for “the girls and the gays,” she states lovingly, but her star power is only going to get bigger and brighter with Masters. “I’ve never been a part of something of this scale,” she says of the project.
archie and veronica dynamic is so funny from 1x05 to 1x06 because in 1x05 RIGHT AFTER archie has been through a pretty traumatic experience veronica makes light of the fact that archie (child) used to date a teacher (adult) but he doesnt anymore because she skipped town on his ass even though he felt she was the one person who believed in him + he was publicly shamed for being a horrible person for his crimes of being taken advantage of by a pedophile. one episode later veronica is like archie you have no sense of loyalty for not singing with me at the school talent show #gingerjugas. and then 5 minutes later they're besties. and this is a pretty accurate depiction of what being 15 years old is like
Therapy episode of Riverdale one of my favourites for so many reasons like the Betty and Alice conversation, Gina Torres as the guidance counsellor who doesn't get paid enough for this shit, the Cheryl of it all and Toni's reactions. But the Veronica section is so interesting to me because I think it misses the mark slightly on what it was going for and as a result accidentally does something more interesting.
Like this is a Stating the Themes episode and I can see what they were going for with Veronica. She hates her father but she still loves him, loyalty is a huge character trait for her. She goes against her father and fights against his abusive controlling schemes but when it seems he's going to die she's willing to put it all aside because. She's a kid. She doesn't want her dad to die she wants him to go away and work on himself and come back changed and reformed and ready to be the good normal father she thought he was when she was younger. It's never going to happen but she's young and hopeful enough to still long for it and it's only when she's older and an adult that she's capable of accepting he's never going to change and then killing him. (Which was amazing. Good for her!)
And the way they go about it in the episode is Veronica stating all the fucked up things her dad has done and the guidance counsellor going well why do you still live with him? Why haven't you cut all contact? You need to let him go completely. And I do get the overall point they're going for but when you stop and think about it what Mrs Burble is accusing her of doesn't. Actually fully line up with what we've actually seen so far.
She's already tried moving out and it didn't work. She tried sending him to jail and cutting him out of her life completely and it didn't work. He showed up and told her not to bother changing the locks because she can't keep him out. And she changed the locks anyways! Even if it's futile she has to try. There's a fundamental power imbalance between them where Hiram has all the control and even if Veronica wants to keep him out, even if she cuts contact, he keeps finding ways to worm back in. The law can't stop him, she can't stop him, he is simply too powerful. The show ignores that part of their dynamic this episode and it makes it so much more fascinating.
Because instead of what they were going for what we get is something resembling the attitude a lot of people have towards abuse victims, aka why don't you just leave him? It completely ignores the conditions that cause women to feel trapped in these relationships. Financial control, social control, stability, fear of retaliation. And it's usually directed at women who stay with their partners but this episode it's directed at a daughter who won't leave her father and that's kind of even more fascinating because she's literally a high school student. "Just move out and cut contact." should not be her responsibility there should be like. CPS involved. But this is a show where the teenagers have to deal with things they shouldn't have to because almost every adult in their life fails them so of course CPS was never an option.
So instead of what they were going for this episode where Veronica gets someone who tells her the reality that her father will never change and she needs to let him go, we get someone who listens to all the messed up things Hiram has done and then goes hmm. Sounds like you're both obsessed with each other. Are you jealous when someone else gets his attention? (An accusation her father used to manipulate her only recently when she expressed concern and outrage that her mother had gone back to him. You're not concerned because I'm abusive and have hurt her in the past Veronica, you're just jealous. Don't be jealous it's not a nice look on you.) Like Veronica needs to break the cycle this is true but the way this was expressed to her was the most fascinatingly gross victim blaming I've ever seen. She even pulled out Sigmund Freud and diagnosed Veronica with an Elektra complex, which should have probably gotten her license revoked on the spot even though it was mainly just stated to foreshadow Veronica killing him. It's fucked up because accusing her of incest is quite literally a tactic her father uses to undermine her genuine concern and rage at him, to dismiss it and mess with her mind and cast her intentions as something evil and wrong instead of genuine concern and rightful anger. And the guidance counsellor who hasn't even met him reinforces that!
And I'm glad it does miss the mark slightly! I'm glad we get something much darker in it's place. You reach out to an outside adult for help for the first time in 4 seasons and they tell you to suck it up and get over yourself. Just walk away, you're doing this to yourself. Your emotions DO stem from jealousy he's correct. And then they diagnose you with incest and don't seem particularly bothered in doing anything about it or stopping it if it's going both ways. (Which it is! Or rather, it's going one way from Hiram to Veronica. His obsession with controlling her and isolating her and playing with her is indeed emotional incest but that's not what's acknowledged out loud. Instead the blame is put on the child and the accusation is that this teenage girl is obsessed with her father which is a personal flaw on her part and not. A mentality her father is keeping her trapped in by literally never letting her escape him.)
All this to say Veronica is a better person than me because if all my friends got useful therapy this episode and I got Sigmund Freud quoted at me and told to do things to escape that I already tried which don't work because he's a rich powerful adult man and I'm 17, I would have killed way more than one man that season. The whole school would be gone, maybe even the whole town. They're so lucky she doesn't want to be evil and is trapped by guilt complexes because otherwise I don't think Riverdale would survive.
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