Charles Smith

Charles Smith is a recurring character on The CW's Riverdale. He is portrayed by Wyatt Nash.

Charles is the illegitimate son of Alice Cooper and FP Jones as well as the older half-brother of Jughead and Jellybean Jones and Betty and Polly Cooper, as well as the half-uncle of Polly and Jason Blossom's twin babies, Juniper and Dagwood. Unfortunately, he was initially believed to be murdered by Chic, who later stole his identity. However, this proved to be untrue, as Charles is not only alive, but an agent for the FBI, tasked with taking down The Farm.

Early Life
On the night that Hal and Alice were crowned King and Queen of their homecoming dance, the couple was witnessed fighting by FP Jones; Alice had just told Hal that she was pregnant, however, it was with another man. This revelation led to an argument as Hal wanted Alice to have an abortion, believing they were not ready to be parents, however, Alice was unwilling to do so.

The following day, Alice checked herself into the Sisters of Quiet Mercy, and five months later she gave birth to a baby boy which the sisters arranged to be adopted quietly. Alice then kept the existence of him a complete secret.

After Alice gave birth, he entered and stayed in the foster system and was never adopted as Alice had originally planned. Around 2009, Charles ran away from the institute. Upon leaving, he discovered information about his biological family and he went to the Cooper house to see his mother, though he never got the chance to meet her. Sometime later, he found himself living in Centerville where he befriended Chic and told him about his life. Their friendship increasingly deteriorated and they argued continuously until Chic lost control and allegedly killed him during a fight.

Throughout Riverdale

 * -|Season 1=

The first mention of Charles
At dinner of The Cooper and Jones Family, which soon turned into a scandal, FP begins to tell the story to Betty that Fred and him were set to play around at the dance, where he was backstage dropping off their gear, when he heard these voices yelling. Telling Betty that it was her mom and dad, telling her they were fighting...about something he didn't know about, while also adding that it sounded like life-or-death. Before FP could finish his story, Alice furiously tells FP to shut up, in which FP was more than happy to oblige if she was. In which FP informs Alice that he doesn't care what she thinks of him, but warns her to not jerk him around especially in front of his son Jughead. Before things got anymore intense, Betty left with Jughead and FP for the school dance. This story interested Betty and a few days later she gets the truth from Alice. The night of the Homecoming dance, where she and Hal were crowned King and Queen, it was the same night that she had told him that she was pregnant, which led to the huge fight that FP witnessed. They disagreed on how best to handle the situation, so Alice went away to the Sisters of Quiet Mercy, where she gave birth five months later to a baby boy. The Sisters then arranged for a quiet adoption. As tears roll down Alice's face, she hugs Betty while expressing that it is the biggest mistake of her life. So Betty learns about the existence of her older half-brother and she decides to find him.


 * -|Season 2=

Season 2
Charles never physically appeared in the season. At this point, it was believed that his former friend and roommate Chic murdered him prior to Betty learning about him and wanting to genuinely establish a relationship. This led Betty to seek out Charles. Although, they found Chic, who deceived the Coopers into believing that he was indeed Charles.

When the truth came out that Chic was an impostor, he taunted Alice and Betty by telling them that Charles was a junkie who overdosed. However, his former neighbor at the hostel told Betty and Jughead that Charles was most likely murdered by Chic after a violent altercation one night. This neighbor also had no knowledge of Charles' supposed drug use. In order to avenge the brother who she never got to know and keep the rest of her family safe, Betty turned Chic over to the Black Hood.


 * -|Season 3=

Season 3
Agent Smith with the FBI knocks on the Joneses door. He is looking for Betty, who is inside with Jughead. Betty and Jughead suspects this is about the Lodges, but in actuality, it’s about Alice. Agent Smith’s team has been investigating Edgar Evernever for quite some time. They almost had him two towns ago. When they landed in Riverdale, the FBI sent in an undercover, someone tasked with getting close to Edgar to gain intel. They were waiting on her word to take him down. That someone being Alice. She’s an FBI informant. She’s been helping them build a case against Edgar and his organ harvesting program. It’s vital that they find Alice as soon as possible, which is why they’re setting up in Riverdale. Agent Smith seems vaguely familiar to Betty, and so after talking to him for a bit, Betty finally decides to ask if they know each other. Agent Smith replies that it’s no coincidence that he and Alice found each other as he’s Charles. Betty and Jughead’s half brother, who was supposedly killed by Chic.


 * -|Season 4=

Season 4
Charles tells Betty that their mother missed her last check-in. However, this isn’t the first time Alice has been late with her report, Charles claims. Nevertheless, Betty is concerned. Charles advises Betty to worry about her academics and he promises to update her if anything changes in the investigation.

Betty returns to the office with takeout for her and Charles. On his desk, she finds a classified file which details the FBI’s surveillance on Kevin, which she was unaware of. Charles reveals that he’s always suspected that Kevin still had ties to the Farm. He’d been monitoring Kevin’s phone activity and it turns out he’s been texting with Fangs Fogarty. Charles wants to use Kevin’s relationship with Fangs to their advantage. In the text messages, Kevin keeps pushing to meet in person, but Fangs keeps pushing him off as he can’t risk it unless Kevin has something useful to offer. Charles wants to "accidentally" let slip some kind of fake intel about their investigation in front of Kevin to lure Fangs out of hiding.

Betty has taken Kevin back to Charles after they tricked him into meeting with Fangs. The two of them cross-examine him. He apologizes for everything, but he wasn’t thinking clearly and just wanted to see Fangs again. Charles suspects that Kevin wanted to share information in order to get back in the good graces of the Farm, but he assures Charles that is not the case. Kevin explains that Fangs is all he has left after Betty ignored him all summer. Charles pulls Betty out to speak with her privately. He wants to cut Kevin loose, though Betty thinks he may still be of use as she believes Kevin can still help, Charles doesn’t agree.

Betty asks Charles if he has heard from their mother, which he hasn’t. He begins to question his previous decision of cutting Kevin loose. Betty seizes the moment and tells Charles that she’s already working with Kevin. She gave him the fake name of their witness Penelope Blossom. She also told him about their mother being undercover. Charles questions how she could put their mother’s life in danger so recklessly, but Betty trusts Kevin. Kevin arrives and reveals that Betty’s plan worked. He connected with Fangs and told him about Penelope Blossom. Fangs led him to where the Farm is staying. It’s an abandoned hotel behind the maple barrens. He didn’t see Betty’s mom, but he did see Edgar, who is heavily armed. Charles realizes that Edgar is gearing up for war.

Charles has the derelict motel that the Farm is staying in under 24 hour surveillance. According to city records, it’s owned by one of Edgar’s followers, and they have photos of Evelyn answering the front door. The Farm has been getting pizza deliveries everyday at the same time. Charles has an agent in disguise about to make the delivery, which he and Betty listen in on through a wire the agent is wearing. Evelyn answers as the under cover agent knocks on the door. She immediately makes him. A scuffle can be heard before several rounds are fired off. Edgar finds the wire on the undercover agent’s body and taunts Charles.

Charles learns from Betty that Edgar called her with a list of demands. Charles gets off the phone with Governor Dooley, who refuses to negotiate with a cult leader. Edgar calls Betty back and asks if she was able to get what he asked for. Charles coaches Betty through the call. She tells Edgar that he first has to release a hostage as a sign of good faith. In anticipation that Betty and Charles wouldn’t take his demands seriously, Edgar has already released a hostage. He hangs up, and Polly arrives moments later with a bomb strapped to her chest.

Polly’s holding a dead man’s switch, meaning if she lets go of the detonator then the bomb will explode. Betty promises Polly they’ll figure it out. There’s wires connected to the C4 on the bomb. Three are decoys that will trigger the detonator. They need to find the one that is linked to the firing circuit and battery. Betty cuts the yellow wire, which turns out to be a trip wire that causes the bomb to count down faster. Charles tells Betty that there might be a system override on the dead man’s switch. A pin connected to a chain that slides into the hole that goes underneath the trigger. However, Polly tells Betty that Edgar took the pin. With the bomb quickly counting down, Betty takes the bobby-pin out of her hair and inserts into into the switch to stop the bomb from exploding with two seconds to spare.

Betty calls Charles and tells him that she’s inside the motel. Charles instructs her to get out as Governor Dooley is prepared to send in a group of mercenaries. Betty tells Charles to tell the mercenaries to stand down as there’s a bus load of civilians headed their way.

Physical Appearance
When he was a teenager, Charles was thin with a fair complexion, curly brown hair and light eyes, as seen from the photo of his permanent record in Sisters of Quiet Mercy.

Now Charles' adult appearance is a tall, handsome white man who seems approaching 30. He has golden tawny brown hair, which he smears with gel, and grey eyes. He prefers the business style of clothes.

Personality
Charles was a boy who grew up in the foster system with the idea of being unfitting and unwanted. This may have led him to make bad life choices, such as becoming an alleged drug addict. According to Chic, he felt resentment towards his biological family. Despite his bad friendships and a poor state of life, he is remembered by his neighbors as a polite boy.

Betty Cooper
"You see, I'm Charles... Your brother."

- Charles to Betty

Betty is the younger maternal half-sister of Charles. Their relationship is progressing. They spent a lot of time working together over the summer while investigating The Farm with their mother Alice working undercover. As it stands, Betty believes Charles can be trusted.

Chic
"Your brother was a junkie. [...] I didn't mean to hurt him."

- Chic to Betty

The relationship between Charles and Chic was quite turbulent, with ups and downs ultimately leading to Charles' alleged death. Despite an initial friendship based on sharing their sad past and upbringing, they became more and more hostile to each other to the point of arguing furiously every day. According to one of their neighbors at the hostel, Charles was the "good one" while Chic was the "bad one".

Trivia

 * In Chapter Eleven: To Riverdale and Back Again, FP Jones indirectly reveals that he knew of the existence of Alice's illegitimate son in their senior year, but he also believed that she was pregnant with Hal Cooper's child.
 * FP found out about Charles being his child in Chapter Thirty-Two: Prisoners.

Gallery

 * -|Season 2 Screencaps=