FP Jones

"Here's the thing about snakes— you don't step on 'em, they got no reason to bite."

- FP to Hermione Lodge

Forsythe Pendleton "FP" Jones II was a recurring character during Season 1 of Riverdale. He has since been promoted to series regular for Season 2. He is portrayed by Skeet Ulrich.

FP is the leader of the Southside Serpents and the father of Jughead and Jellybean Jones. During the first season, FP almost got framed for the murder of Jason Blossom after the cops found a gun in FP's trailer. It was later revealed that Cliff Blossom was the one who murdered his own son in cold blood, having FP to take the fall for him so he could protect his son Jughead. Even though FP was found innocent he was still an accomplice and is still behind bars until his court trial. Due to FP's loyalty of protecting the Southside Serpents and not outing anyone as he told the sheriff that he's no snitch. Jughead was later rewarded as a member into the Southside Serpents due to his father's loyalty to them.

Character description
While his character will have a history with all of Riverdale's main residents, he holds a grudge against Fred Andrews and is the father of Jughead Jones.

Early Life
FP grew up in Riverdale and attended Riverdale High School with best friend Fred Andrews, Mary Andrews, Penelope Blossom, Alice Cooper, Hal Cooper and Hermione Lodge.

He and Fred later went on to found a construction company together, but barely made enough to stay in business. By that time, FP had married and become father to two young children, Jughead and Jellybean, who he and his wife would frequently take to the Twilight Drive-In, however, they often couldn't afford tickets for everyone, so the kids would hide in the trunk until they parked. While Fred had his wife and son, Archie, to provide for, FP had his family as well as many hospital bills. Due to this, FP became involved in a string of criminal activities which would often end with him getting arrested and Fred having to bail him out. Eventually, he became too big of a liability for their company and was forced by Fred to resign.

After losing his job, FP began drinking heavily which led the Jones family to fall apart. FP's wife left him and took their daughter with her to Toledo to live with the kids' grandparents, and Jughead began living out of the projection booth of the drive-in where he had found employment. FP ended up living alone at the Sunnyside Trailer Park, where he continued drinking. At an unknown point, FP became the leader of the Southside Serpents, a dangerous biker gang of thugs and criminals.

Throughout the Series

 * -|Season 1=

Season 1
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A Deal with the Lodges
FP and Hermione Lodge had a heated exchange of words behind a dumpster at Pop's Chock'lit Shoppe. Unbeknownst to either of them, their interaction was captured by Cheryl Blossom on her phone. It wasn't long before the two arranged another meeting, this time behind the Twilight Drive-In, on the south side of town. Hermione handed him a brown paper bag, inside of which were several stacks of cash. FP wasn't satisfied with the amount, yet with Hiram Lodge in prison, he was left with no choice but to deal through Hermione.

The following morning, he approached Jughead as he tagged his name and his signature crown on the projection booth with spray paint. FP told his son that the booth would be torn down and taken to the junkyard with the rest of the drive-in, and them with it. He asked where Jughead would now be staying as the booth is no longer an option, to which Jughead replied, he'd figure it out, he always did.

FP received an unexpected call from Fred Andrews, who offered him his job back, however, he turned it down. FP would later come to find out that Jughead and Archie were at the center of it all.

That evening, Jughead returned home to Sunnyside Trailer Park to find that FP was a mess, and the trailer was littered with empty liquor bottles. FP refused to go back hat in hand after being fired, but his son insisted that he take the job at Andrews Construction, and work on rebuilding their family, to which FP seemingly agreed.

He decided to take Fred up on his offer, after being rehired, FP encountered Hermione in the office, and warned her not to reveal to Fred that he was a member of the Southside Serpents. To celebrate FP returning to work, Jughead, Archie, Fred and FP went out to Pop's Chock'lit Shoppe for dinner, where the two fathers shared stories about their younger years, such as their band "The Fred Heads", and a DW bus that they called "The Shaggin' Wagon". When it came time to pay, Fred and FP got into a slight dispute over the check, but as FP reminded Fred, it was his treat.

Later that night, FP, Jughead, and Archie practiced playing music in the garage, where he complimented Archie on his guitar playing skills, saying that he was even better than his father. FP then revealed the truth behind why he was forced to resign from Andrews Construction, he took up some odd jobs in order to provide for his family, which eventually landed him in jail, Fred was kind enough to bail him out, but at that point, Fred wanted to part ways. This left FP very upset and bitter, so he began drinking.

He was taken home by Jughead, and laid on the couch, where Jughead mentioned that he had spoken with Jellybean over the phone, and from her, he learned that his mother was working at a call center, and was taking online classes in the hopes of finally getting her GED. However, FP had fallen asleep long before Jughead had even finished telling him everything.

The next morning, Jughead was brought to the Sheriff Station by Sheriff Keller as a suspect in Jason Blossom's murder. FP showed up late to the station just as Jughead was freed, thanks to Fred. FP was furious, and angrily demanded to see Sheriff Keller for making accusations against his son and even lashed out at Fred, who tried in vain to calm him down. In a fit of rage, he shoved Fred, and stated that Jughead was his son, and Fred would do the same for Archie. Jughead convinced him to let it go before he made the situation any worse. Before leaving, FP tearfully promised he would get his act together and that they would have their family back, but it would just take some time. Jughead looked angry and resigned as he told his father he believed him. In the end, Jughead went to live at the Andrews house.

That night, it was revealed that FP was in possession of Jason Blossom's varsity jacket, which was last seen in the car on route 40, before it was set on fire.

Serpent Leader; King Cobra
FP watched from the second floor of the Whyte Wyrm, as Joaquin, Archie, Kevin and Moose entered the bar. Unbeknownst to the teens, FP watched them enter and immediately called Fred. He allowed them to move forward with their plan, while keeping an eye on them from a distance. FP didn't intervene until Archie picked a fight with one of his fellow Serpents, Mustang, which nearly led to Archie taking a beating. After ordering Mustang to let Archie go, FP escorted him along with Moose and Kevin outside the bar, sending all of them home, except for "Red", in reference to Archie. FP demanded to know what his business was at the Wyrm, to which Archie explained they were searching for the two thugs that had ambushed Moose and destroyed equipment at Andrews Construction, the night before. Archie initially assumed that the attack was a result of the Serpents retaliating for getting kicked off their land, but after learning that FP was one of them, he began to think it was a personal attack against his father for firing FP years earlier. FP denied the accusation, joking that Archie had a bigger imagination than Jughead.

Just as Fred arrived, FP told Archie that he held no grudges, as life was too short. Fred sent Archie to the truck, as he and FP had a chat about his recent activities. FP once again denied having any involvement in what happened to Moose and the Andrews construction equipment, he'd never do that, especially after Fred took in Jughead. Fred's trouble were greater than ever before, having neither crew nor cash, while FP was sorry for his troubles, he was sure that Fred would bounce back, he even offered to ask around, hoping that his guys would know something about the attack.

That night, he received a visit at the trailer park from Jughead and his girlfriend, Betty Cooper. Jughead revealed that they were aware of the drug deal that the Serpents had going on with Jason Blossom, and that the cops knew too, so if they hadn't been by to pay a visit, they would be soon. FP informed them that Jason needed money to run away, no one would suspect a clean-cut kid like Jason of running, so they had a mutually beneficial relationship. The Serpents gave him drugs, but up until his body was found at Sweetwater River, they had assumed that he took off with their stash. Jughead then asked if he had anything to do with Jason's death, in which FP admitted his fault in being a poor father, but he isn't a killer.

With the cops applying heat, even later that night, he and Joaquin had to come up with a plan as FP stuffed Jason's Varsity jacket into a bag and tossed it to Joaquin, telling him to hide it in a safe place as it was their insurance in case everything went to hell. He then checked in on Joaquin's progress with Kevin, as they were going to need that inside line with Sheriff Keller. Apparently, their relationship was only a means to an end, however, Joaquin began to feel guilty as Kevin had developed genuine feelings. FP chuckled, telling him that they all had a part to play.

The next day, he and the Serpents were first on site of the SoDale site to assist Fred with construction; he refused to leave Fred hanging again, and trouble was not an issue. FP walked off with Hermione to inform her of the recent information he had gathered, according to his guy, the thugs that attacked the site were from Montreal, and they both knew that Hiram had business there. Hiram sent his men after discovering Hermione's affair with Fred, but FP wondered who ratted her out.

FP received an unexpected call from Betty, on the eve of Jughead's birthday, wondering if he would like to join them for a movie and dinner. FP came to learn that Jughead was unaware of Betty calling him, if there was one thing that Jughead hated more than surprises, it was his own birthday, he never even had a party, thought that was because he never wanted one. FP thought it best if he kept his distance, that would be the best gift he could give to his son. Much to FP's surprise, this would not be the last he heard of Betty, the second time around she showed up in person, insisting that he join them for the small party they were going to have at Archie's house. Betty wanted to do something special for Jughead, and she believed his presence would be special, realizing that she would not let up, FP agreed to attend Jughead's party.

The following night, as promised, he came to the party, only to discover that it was a wild house party and that he was the only adult in attendance. Gift in hand, he entered the garage to find Jughead and Archie conversing, before leaving to put the gift in the den, he commented that Betty invited him, and that she knows what she wants. In the kitchen.

He found Joaquin and Kevin in the middle of a heated make out session, "you could cut the sexual tension in here with a knife", he said. He then reminisced about the time he kicked Kevin out of the Whyte Wyrm, before making an excuse for Joaquin to guide him to the bathroom in order for the two of them to talk privately. His son's birthday party was the last place he expected to see Joaquin, fortunately, while there, he had gathered some information pertaining to Hiram Lodge, whose daughter was also at the party, and had earlier mentioned the possibility of her father being involved in Jason Blossom's Death. This was unwelcomed news considering FP and Hiram had business. He wondered how much Sheriff Keller knew of this, to which Joaquin explained that he would find out through Kevin. Unbeknownst to either of them that they were being watched from the next house over by Alice Cooper.

Downstairs, FP kept quiet and watched as the teens played a game called "Secrets & Sins", in which they would reveal their own secrets, however, the game quickly escalated as punches were traded between Jughead and another party-goer named Chuck Clayton. FP grabbed Chuck by his shirt, and threw him out the house, along with everyone else, as he declared the party was over. He confronted Jughead as he attempted to leave the house, FP wanted him to man up, and talk to Betty, running away is never the solution. FP saw that Jughead had a good thing going with Betty and his friends, something he could never give his son. As he proceeded towards his truck, FP was approached by Alice, who demanded to know what he was doing on her side of town, to which FP responded that Alice may not live on the south side anymore, and she may not dress like she's from the south side, but they both knew the truth, snakes don't shed their skin so easily. FP then remarked that Alice was still hot, but sadly, she was a stick-in-the-mud.

Framed for Murder
It would appear that FP had finally started to get his act together, at the trailer, much to Jughead's surprise, he had not only cleaned up himself, but the trailer as well. FP even read Jughead's story that he'd been working on, surrounding Jason Blossom's Death, and complimented him on his well-written manuscript. However, he did have a couple concerns, he questioned why his son wanted to write about a dead kid when there were so many other topics, but as Jughead explained, it was more like Jason picked him to tell the story no one else was going to tell. Jughead and Betty had gotten pretty deep into the case, leading FP to wonder who they thought killed Jason, but for Jughead it was less about who did it, and more about whether Riverdale was a place a place of good, or darkness and evil. FP claimed that most things are both, then suggesting that Jughead should move on at a certain point, he can't allow this story to be the only one he told.

Jughead and FP were invited to a pre-Homecoming dinner by Alice Cooper, in hopes that the two families could become better acquainted, at least that's what she told them. During the dinner, Alice began interrogating FP about his involvement with the Southside Serpents and his spotty work history, which also included his work with Hiram Lodge and the Twilight Drive-In. Betty's father, Hal Cooper soon arrived at the scene, at which point it became wildly uncomfortable, and as Alice started grilling Hal, FP decided to revisit the past, to spill some dark secrets surrounding their homecoming back in the day. He revealed that Alice and Hal were Homecoming King and Queen, he also commented that who remembered hearing the couple have a terrible fight about something that night, he didn't know what it was but it sounded serious. Alice instructed him to shut up, to which he agreed to do, but only if she stopped trying to insult him in front of his son.

FP didn't attend the dance that night, but he did drop Betty and Jughead off, but not before having a brief chat with Jughead about their future plans, which involved getting the family back together and moving to Toledo. FP returned home, unbeknownst to him, the trailer had earlier been searched by Archie and Veronica when he was at the dinner. A little later that night, following an anonymous tip, Sheriff Keller was at his doorstep with a search warrant. Sheriff Keller searched the entire trailer until he found the gun that killed Jason Blossom hidden in a lockbox in his closet. FP was then accused of and arrested for the murder of Jason Blossom, however, the weapon did not belong to FP. According to Archie and Veronica, the gun was not there when they searched, meaning someone came in after them to frame FP.

While under interrogation from Sheriff Keller down at the station, FP learned that the gun in his trailer was a direct match to the bullet that killed Jason Blossom. FP explained that last summer he was approached by some red-haired kid outside the Whyte Wyrm, who was looking to skip town with his pregnant girlfriend, Polly, but he first needed money and a ride. FP offered him a deal: in exchange for delivering an unspecified amount of drugs for him, he would pay Jason and provide him with a getaway vehicle.

However, at some point, FP realized that he was the son of Cliff Blossom and this led him to wonder why a rich kid like Jason would ever need someone like him, and that's when Jason told FP his plan. On July 4th, Jason's sister would row him out to Sweetwater River, tip the boat, and say that Jason drowned.

Once Jason made it to the other side of the river that fateful morning, FP grabbed him, and tied Jason up in the basement of the Wyrm. From there, FP worked on his plan in which he would get word to Clifford that his son was still alive, and demand ransom money for his safe return. Before he could get word out, FP claimed that Jason got loose, so he killed the kid before he could escape, and stuffed him in the freezer. Once the police were done dragging Sweetwater for Jason's body, FP decided to dump it there, the one place that had already been checked. He also admitted to breaking into the Sheriff's house, stealing the case evidence, and even setting fire to Jason's car out on the highway off route 40.

After confessing, he used his one call to contact Joaquin, and tell him that their contingency plan was off, it was too dangerous. The next morning, as he sat behind a cell, FP received a visit from Jughead, who told him that when he and Archie first came together with their plan to help him get back on his feet, Jughead knew it was a mistake. But when FP had finally begun to clean himself up, it was the happiest Jughead had been in so long, he was even interested in the manuscript, which Jughead then realized was just a ploy to make sure his son wasn't on to him. Jughead also accused him of trying to run away when he suggested they move to Toledo, FP exclaimed that he did what he had to do, what he always does, and he's only sorry that he got caught. He then told Jughead to never come back.

Unbeknownst to FP at the time, Joaquin had informed Sheriff Keller's son of their contingency plan involving Jason's varsity jacket, which he had deemed as being too dangerous. However, it wasn't the jacket itself that was dangerous, it was the USB flash drive hidden inside the lining that was as dangerous, as it contained surveillance video of Jason Blossom's murder. As he sat in that cell, Jughead, Archie, Betty, Veronica, and Kevin would go on to watch the video, as would Alice, Sheriff Keller and Mayor McCoy, all of whom learning the truth behind the death of Jason Blossom, that was he killed by his own father. It would come to be revealed that the reason for FP's false confession was due to a threat that he had earlier received from Cliff, in which he would kill Jughead if FP told the truth about what happened. Although FP would be cleared of the murder charges, he was far from free as there were several other charges he had to deal with, everything from tampering with evidence to perjury.

Despite the recent discovery that Clifford Blossom was not only responsible for the murder of his own son, Jason Blossom, but that he was also trafficking drugs into Riverdale, FP remained in his cell with a number of charges hanging over him. Clifford was a Kingpin, but what Sheriff Keller and Mayor McCoy cared about was the local component of his dealings, mostly on the south side, but it started making its way across the tracks, so they believed the Serpents were involved. If FP was willing to give up the names of those dealing the drugs, Sheriff Keller, Mayor McCoy and the District's Attorney would consider granting him a lesser sentence for his involvement in the murder. FP explained that the Serpents didn't deal large sums of drugs, only dime bags of weed, and even if they did, FP wouldn't tell Sheriff Keller anything as he's not a snitch. If FP didn't cooperate, he was looking at twenty years in a federal penitentiary.

The following day, FP received a surprise visit from Archie, who informed him that Jughead was being forced to move in with a foster family on the south side, and consequently, he'd have to transfer to Southside High. While it tore him up inside to see Jughead suffer because of his actions, he could not give up the Serpents, they were his tribe, and they were also innocent, not that anyone in town cared, but Archie corrected him by saying they cared. When the time comes, FP believed the Serpents would stand up, you don't betray those who have your back, FP said. Jughead was a tough and scrappy kid, he'd make it, especially with Archie looking after him. FP explained that Jughead would try to pull away by disappearing into himself, but that's precisely why Jughead needed Archie and Betty to stick with him no matter what.

Jughead paid him a visit the subsequent night. He had been sent in there by Sheriff Keller, who was hoping that Jughead could convince FP to give up the names of the drug dealing Serpents. FP had been sweating it out, but he came to the conclusion that both options sucked. FP inquired about Southside High, which Jughead stated as being no different than any other high school, so he'd survive. FP explained that while he was more innocent than he was guilty, he had done a number of horrible things, and he would eventually have to answer for those actions. He didn't know what would happen once the case was taken to trial but Jughead needed to be there for his mother and Jellybean. He then patted Jughead on his head, and sent him on his way. }}
 * -|Season 2=

Season 2
TBA

Physical Appearance
FP would best be described as a tall man, around 6'0" in height, with a muscular build. He is a handsome older man with short, black hair, and light brown eyes. Being the leader of the Southside Serpents, he often wears a black leather jacket, with the gang's double-headed serpent symbol printed on the back of it. While he has been known to typically grow out a beard, FP has taken up the clean shaven appearance as of late.

Personality
While he is admittedly an alcoholic, deadbeat dad, FP cares deeply for his family. The stress of losing his job at Andrews Construction weighed heavily on him and so he relied heavily on alcohol to cope, which subsequently led to the separation of his family. This isn't to say that he doesn't care for them, but quite the opposite. In order to provide for his family, FP became involved in criminal activities.

His son, Jughead, is all he has left at the moment, he'd do almost anything for him, even if it meant jail time for himself, such as threatening or even attacking the local Sheriff. He has also shown a violent side, as when he heard Jughead was being interrogated by the Sheriff, he got furious and wanted to go and lash out at Sheriff Keller, only for his son to ask him to stop and not to make things worse.

Jughead Jones
Jughead and FP's relationship may have started out strained, but over the course of the series they grew closer as Jughead tried to mend things with his father. Due to FP's alcoholism, the Jones family were forced to move out, as Jughead found shelter at the Twilight Drive-In. Unfortunately, now that the drive-in was now closed, Archie offered to help, as well as get his father a job back at Andrews Construction. FP reluctantly agreed after Jughead paid him a visit at the trailer. Following Jughead's interrogation at the Sheriff Station, unfairly accused of Jason's murder one morning, FP arrived, furious at the sheriff for falsely accusing his son of murder. Jughead convinced him to let it go, and before FP left, he vowed to get his act together so that his family could return.

FP and Fred
FP and Fred have been friends for a long time now ever since they were both in high school. They once worked together at Andrews Construction until FP's family got separated and he becomes a liability for the company due to his alcoholism and such. A few years after with Jughead trying to fix things with his family, he had his friend Archie talk to his father about offering FP back his old job. Luckily Fred was willing to take another chance on FP for Jughead and his family's sake. With FP trying to make great efforts for Jughead to be proud of him, Fred and FP decided to go by Pop's Diner with their boys for dinner with FP wanting to pay for their meal after they were done.

Gallery

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Promotional Images

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Season 1 Screencaps

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