Gladys Jones finally arrived on Riverdale and she's already iconic

13 December 2018, 15:52

By Katie Louise Smith

Played by Gina Gershon, Gladys Jones (Jughead's mum and the estranged wife of FP) is set to cause huge drama when she arrives in town - but some fans are already obsessed with her savage attitude.

Riverdale finally introduced one of the most anticipated characters in the mid-season finale ('Outbreak') and they did not disappoint. For the past two and bit seasons, fans have been dying to meet Jughead's mum, Gladys Jones, and in season 3 episode 8, we finally got to meet her.

After going on the run to escape Hiram Lodge, Jughead and Archie make their way from Riverdale to Toledo, where Gladys and Jughead's little sister Jellybean have been living for the past few years. After locating the scrapyard owned by Gladys, Jug finally comes face to face with him mum and sister who are both way different from what we thought they would be.

Who plays Jughead's mum Gladys Jones on Riverdale?

Gladys Jones is played to perfection by Gina Gershon, who - like all the other parent actors on the show - has a pretty prolific back log of films and TV shows. For those not in the know, Gina is probably most known for her role as the *iconic* Cristal Connors from 1995's cult classic Showgirls. She's also had roles in films including PS. I Love You, Bound, Face/Off, Touch (alongside Skeet Ulrich) and most recently, Blockers.

You'll have also probably seen her in Glee as Blaine's mum Pam Anderson, in Brooklyn Nine-Nine as Lt. Melanie Hawkins and in Ugly Betty where she played Fabia in the first three episodes. She also once played Donatella Versace and does a pretty terrifying impression of Melania Trump too.

Anyway, let's talk about Gladys, shall we? It's always been maintained in the show that Gladys moved away with Jellybean to escape Serpent life and FP's drinking habit. It sounded like she really wasn't down with the Serpent way of living but it turns out, she's just as savage and she's still very much involved. Now running a compound and in charge of the Toledo contingent of the gang, Gladys is a full blown bad ass and absolutely nothing like we were expecting.

In the episode, she immediately welcomes both Archie and Jug to the compound with an absolute zinger of a line about them being in a relationship and then descends into full mama mode, calling Jughead out on his obsession with Gryphons and Gargoyles and nailing Hiram's big plan in one fell swoop.

Despite being a legend, it also becomes VERY clear that Gladys' morals might be a liiiiittle sketchy. When Penny is caught trying to jump Archie, Gladys appears to *dispose* of her in a very bloody fashion. It's not clear whether or not she killed her or whether she has her holed up somewhere but it's quite clear that she is not to be messed with.

After her unforgettable introduction, fans are already warming to the character... even though she's guaranteed to ruin many lives in the next coming episodes.

Following her arrival in town, Gina Gershon has also teased what Gladys is up to next and it sounds like she is about to cause catastrophic levels of drama, especially for Falice and Bughead.

Speaking to EW, Gina revealed that Gladys is very much still in love with her estranged husband, which was lowkey implied with that hug at the end of the episode, despite their extremely toxic relationship. “She’s still probably in love with him. They definitely have a thing. He’s been off doing his thing, so I’m sure she’s not happy about that, but there’s a lot of love there. There’s a lot of anger on top of the love, but it’s under there.”

In relation to that, she more than likely has a problem with Alice's daughter Betty too. Aguirre-Sacasa revealed to The Wrap that “[Jughead and Betty] are going to continue working together as the investigators that they are and they are going to have these big, you know, a problem rolls into town in the character of Gladys Jones.”

Oh boy. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go ✈️ tears over the inevitable Falice break up for a few hours. Brb x