Betty Cooper’s Southside Serpent initiation dance routine had Riverdale viewers fully shooketh to the core last week, as it was just the most flat-out unexpected scene we ever did see on the show. Many found the dance number very inappropriate, especially for a teenage character, but actress Lili Reinhart was honestly not expecting the fans’ reactions to be that strong. However, she did confirm that the scene was supposed to make us v uncomfy. So it did its job, we guess?
“I didn’t think it was going to receive as much backlash as it did,” Lili said in an interview with Glamour. “People were very caught up with the fact that Betty is 16 and she’s dancing around all these men, but that’s the point. That scene was supposed to make you uncomfortable because you’re watching this girl do something completely out of her comfort zone for the man that she loves. You’re watching her make a personal sacrifice, and that is the most important takeaway.”
Lili went on to further explain why it was hard for people to watch.
She added, “It was supposed to make you feel uncomfortable and hard to watch because you don’t want to see Betty go to the dark side like that, but she does because she loves Jughead. It only makes it harder to watch when they break up at the end of the episode because you know that she laid it all out on the line for him. He’s trying to protect her from that darkness, but she wants to be part of it.”
As for the choreography, Lili actually came up with it herself.
“It was not easy. It was very intimidating,” she says. “They offered me a pole dancing lesson, like the workout classes girls do, but I was like, ‘No, I don’t think that’s necessary because Betty wouldn’t know how to pole dance. I just want to go in there and feel it out.’ During lunch, before we shot the scene, I was in the set by myself just playing around a little bit and came up with some really simple choreography.”
Well, if one thing’s for sure it definitely did make some people scratch their heads.
Watch: Riverdale Cast vs. Archie Comics
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