Whether or not you believe Veronica and Archie are "endgame" on Riverdale, one thing is obvious: Veronica was never going to have a great husband that followed up her epic romance with the redheaded boy next door. Instead, she has Chad. Chad — a Wall Street bro — doesn't seem bad, per se. He seems to care about Veronica and her safety, a plus in a spouse. But he also seems a little overbearing. And nefarious. And maybe even worse than Veronica's dad, Hiram. I know we know very little about him so far, but I'm convinced Chad caused the helicopter crash that almost killed Veronica.
First, some background on their romance. In Season 5's "Purgatorio," which takes place seven years after the previous episode "Graduation," it's revealed that Veronica is married to the uber wealthy Chad. (Whether there is any relation to Gordon Gekko is unclear but, obviously, his moniker is no accident.)
Veronica and Chad used to work side by side on the trading floor, where Veronica, the "She Wolf of Wall Street," reigned supreme. She pulled better numbers than Chad did nearly every week, she brags to her mom, Real Housewives of New York star Hermione. That all came crashing down, literally, when Chad and Veronica got into a helicopter accident — and Veronica nearly died. Chad insisted that she couldn't handle the stress of the stock exchange anymore, so Veronica quit her job on Wall Street, and her and Chad decided to start a family imminently — a plan that, these days, Veronica doesn't seem super stoked about.
In present day, Veronica sneaks around behind Chad's back in order to continue a high-stress job — this time, at a luxury jewelry store. She loves the rush of the Uncut Gems lifestyle, though it's very possible that Veronica did not see the end of that movie.
When Chad finds out, he loses it — this is not the safe job Ronnie said she took next to her BFF Katy Keene at Lacey's department store. After the fight, the two kiss and make up — and Chad buys Veronica a "Glamergé egg," a gift Veronica immediately tries to sell in her jewelry shop. (This is how she wins.)
Now, technically, Chad hasn't actually done anything so terribly wrong in his introductory episode. On the surface, he's worried about what Wall Street stress could do to his wife, who suffered some sort of unnamed injury during the helicopter crash. He wants to start a family with her, which, seemingly, they have all the money in the world to do. Nothing is awful here...
...unless, of course, Chad is just a really great manipulator.
Hermione mentions that Chad is similar to Veronica's father Hiram. Both crave power and success. It's almost in the same breath that Hermione mentions the crash, which sped up Veronica and Chad's timeline for having kids. So what if Chad orchestrated the crash as a means to an end?
Veronica mentions the two were in their helicopter on the way to Marsha's Vineyard (yes, a play on "Martha's Vineyard") when they crashed, meaning that, most likely, Chad was the one who hired the pilot. Perhaps Chad was getting tired of Veronica outpacing him at work, but knew that his wife would never stop being her ambitious self in order to stay home and raise his kids. So, he had to orchestrate a reason for Veronica to stop working — and a good one at that. The near-death experience put Veronica in a much more comfortable position for Chad, who could now thrive on Wall Street without anyone comparing him to his wife.
It's something that Hiram would do — and it's not exactly shocking that Veronica would go on to marry someone a lot like her dad, down to the gift of a Fabergé egg. Veronica could never quite sever ties with dear old daddy, even after he wrongfully imprisoned her boyfriend and nearly had him killed. In "Graduation," the episode just before the time jump, Veronica is still extra chummy with her father, despite his many, many wrongdoings against her and her friends. And it's worth pointing out that while Hiram hasn't killed anyone close to Veronica yet, he did routinely threaten her mom.
Look, I have sincere doubts that Veronica will stay with Chad through the end of the season — but even if she doesn't, there's a chance that Veronica's husband could become a Hiram-like villain on the show. It all could start with Veronica learning the truth about that helicopter crash.
Images: The CW