Rose Blossom

"Such a shame. Your wedding was the last thing I was living for. I lost a grandson, but you, you've lost the love of your young life. Poor child."

- Rose to Betty (thinking she was Polly)

Roseanne "Rose" Blossom is a guest starring character on Riverdale. She is portrayed by Barbara Wallace.

Rose is the mother of the recently deceased Cliff Blossom and grandmother of his two children, Cheryl, and the deceased Jason. She is also the great-grandmother to Jason's and Polly's twin babies, Juniper and Dagwood.

Rose moved in with Cheryl and her daughter-in-law Penelope in their new home, Thistlehouse, after Cheryl destroyed their former residence, Thornhill.

Early Life
Fairly little is known of Rose's early life. What is known, is her affection for Polly Cooper. She took a liking to Polly as the young lady dated Jason, her grandson. At some point during their relationship, Rose gifted Polly with a ring that had been in the Blossom family for generations.

Secret Engagement & Given Blessing
Betty Cooper and Jughead Jones attended Jason's memorial, hoping to learn why he would want to escape his family. In an effort to find possible clues, the two teens crept into his bedroom, unbeknownst to either of them that Rose was in Jason's room as well. However, she mistakenly took Betty for her older sister, Polly. She grabbed Betty's hand and realized that the ring wasn't on her finger. The ring that she had given Polly was a Blossom family belonging that had been with them for generations. She says that it should be kept by Polly's heart at all times, but should Penelope find out, she'd take it from her. Still under the misconception that Betty is Polly, Rose went on to say that it's a shame that Polly and Jason never got married, their wedding was the last thing she was looking forward to. She lost a grandson, but Polly lost the love of her life.

It was shown via flashback that Nana Rose gave Jason her blessing to marry Polly, however, as revealed in a previous episode, her blessing was not the only thing she gave Polly and Jason, she also gave them her heirloom ring. Present day; Rose attended Polly Cooper's Baby Shower following the discovery that she was pregnant with Jason's child. Upon her arrival, Nana Rose performed some kind of ritual on Polly to identify the baby's gender by using a purple stone pendulum, which led Cheryl to remark that Rose had dementia as well as "gypsy blood," offered as an explanation for her doing this. According to Nana Rose, Polly was pregnant with twins, a boy and a girl.

Executing the Accused
In the days leading up to Christmas, Nana Rose sat at the dining room table with Penelope at Thistlehouse where they were later joined by Cheryl. "Where's Jason's stocking?" Cheryl asked. Unfortunately, Penelope couldn't find it. No matter, there was nothing to put in it anyways. Aligned along the table were candy canes, which none of them were accustomed to. However, it would be a "hard candy Christmas" as they had run out of funds.

Later that night, Nana Rose was pleased to see Cheryl return home with a large Christmas tree, which she later decorated, all the while claiming that she saved Christmas. However, with so little money, Penelope was irate. How were they supposed to pay for it all, Penelope asked. Cheryl suggested that she ask Hiram Lodge for a job, though that would force Penelope to admit that the only skills she possessed was being a terrible mother. So, Cheryl advised her to get creative in the new year. As Cheryl exited the room, Rose told Penelope that she should've drowned Cheryl and Jason at birth, "like a basket of kittens".

On the night of Christmas Eve, Rose received an unexpected visit from Archie Andrews and Betty Cooper, who came looking for information in regards to the Riverdale Reaper and his rumored execution. After the Reaper killed the Conway family, a group of townsfolk decided to take justice into their own hands. Betty asked if she was apart of the group when they executed the Reaper for revenge. Rose informed Archie and Betty that she did not attend the execution, as no girls were allowed. She was instructed to stay at home while a group of men took care of the rest. Betty asked where the man was hung. However, she was misinformed as he hadn't been hung. They buried him alive. A proper burial, so to speak. Where did they bury him, the teens wondered. Rose advised Betty, whom she mistook for Polly, which she had done before, to ask her grandfather given that he participated in the execution. Rose had a picture of them, smiling at the burial grounds, just under the devil's hand. Nana Rose then called out for Cheryl. Having fell ill, she requested that she be taken to her room.

Rose attended the will-reading upon learning that Clifford had a secret will that he requested be kept secret until after the authorities had concluded their investigation of his drug dealings. Also in attendance was Cheryl, Penelope, Betty, Polly, Hal Cooper, Toni Topaz, aunt Cricket and uncle Bedford, amongst others. Clifford's first declaration was that ownership of Thistlehouse remain in her name. With Penelope, Clifford left ownership of Thornhill, which Cheryl, had burned to the ground. Not that anyone knew this other than Cheryl and Penelope. Regarding the other guests who had been contacted per Clifford's request, they were to received half of his remaining assets of his fortune. The first half would be distributed equally to anyone in town who could prove with medical authentication that they were of Blossom blood. The will-reading was then interrupted by Alice Cooper. Who came to confront Hal over him asking for a divorce for the sole purpose of cutting her out of the will. Once Alice turned her attentions towards the family and began calling them inbreds, Penelope requested that she leave.

The second half of Clifford's fortune would go to Cheryl alone as Jason was no longer with them. And so Cheryl approached the podium with a speech prepared. As the one, true Blossom heir, she felt it was her duty to say a few words. However, Cheryl's speech was interrupted by the return of Claudius Blossom, Clifford's twin brother and Rose's estranged son. Cheryl fainted at the sight of who Cheryl believed to be her father. By the time Cheryl woke up, the will-reading had long since ended. Claudius explained why he had runaway so long ago, which left Rose heartbroken. When he and Clifford were boys, they were inseparable. But it became apparent that Claudius was being primed to inherit the Blossom empire. Until their 14th birthday when he and Clifford were down by Sweetwater River and he pointed a rifle at Claudius and told him about the Blossom curse. How one of the twins always met a violent end and often at the hands of the other. Fortunately, he spared Claudius. But that very night, Claudius ran away from home without a trace and later joined the Merchant Marines where sailed the seas desperate to outrun the Blossom curse.

The following night, Rose had dinner with Penelope, Claudius, Cheryl, and Cheryl's friend, Toni. Penelope suggested that Claudius ignore Toni as she had assumed that it would be a family dinner. But Claudius didn't mind. He even told them about his journeys as a sailor. During one particular journey, he came upon an Island. It was the most beautiful and natural place on earth, he claimed. It was named "Lesbos", in reference to Cheryl and Toni's relationship though Rose failed to catch this and was worried that he would be leaving town again. But Claudius announced that he would be staying in Riverdale to assure that Rose and the house was well cared for. And so Penelope reluctantly invited him to stay in the room over the garage which was freezing in the winter and boiling in the summer.

Physical Appearance
Rose is an elderly woman with a frail body, pale skin, and white hair, with a red streak. Notably, Nana Rose has what appears to be some kind of eye condition, possibly blindness as her left eye is a milky-white color, while her right eye is hazel, and looks perfectly fine. Unsurprisingly, she's known to wear clothing that one would expect an elderly person to wear, such as wool sweaters and long, dark-colored skirts.

Personality
Having been diagnosed with dementia, Nana Rose suffers from extreme delusion and memory distortion. At Jason's memorial, she confused Betty Cooper, for her sister, Polly, who was engaged to Jason prior to his death. According to Cheryl, Rose comes from a gypsy bloodline, which she believes allows her to predict the gender of a woman's unborn child, specifically Polly's child. However, Rose later revealed that Polly was having twins, one of each gender which had been revealed during a conversation between Cheryl and Betty. This prediction later came true although the means in which Rose managed to make this prediction remains unknown.

Rose is quite accepting when she met Polly with Jason when she gave Jason the family wedding ring. Despite Polly being a "Cooper", she didn't seem to care. As if the only thing that mattered to her is that they both loved each other very much.

Images

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Season 1 Screencaps

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