The pussycat's out of the bag on Riverdale, and Josie is not happy.

With Riverdale High's annual variety show around the corner, everyone's on edge in this week's episode ("Faster, Pussycats! Kill! Kill!"), especially the feisty leader of the Pussycats. So when Josie (Ashleigh Murray) discovers that her bandmate Val (Hayley Law) has been helping their competition, sad-boy Justin Gingerlake (a.k.a. Archie), prepare for his big debut behind her back, the claws come out.

In this exclusive clip from the episode, Josie gives Val an ultimatum: It's Archie or the Pussycats. Let's just say her response is not what Josie was expecting. Is Val hanging up her Pussycat ears for good? Or will Josie learn a Very Important Lesson™ about leading by example?

"Josie has a bit of a blowup," Murray told MTV News. "She has to come to terms with compromise, which is something that she's clearly not used to doing often. In order to keep her integrity and to keep the group together, she has to have some give. She has to be willing to step back and not be so controlling because not every threat is going to be the downfall of the Pussycats."

Still, the show must go on — with or without Val — and Josie has a backup Pussycat waiting in the wings: Veronica (Camila Mendes). The Manhattan socialite is a pitch-perfect addition to the band, and she even comes with her own choreography. In a previously released sneak peek from the episode, Ronnie joins the Pussycats for their variety-show performance of Donna Summer's iconic disco track "I Feel Love." The showcase features some slinky Pussycat choreo, which Murray says was all Mendes's idea.

"We had a rehearsal session on-set, and Cami had come up with this dance routine for the number," she said. "We practiced it I don't know how many times, and we recorded it and sent it to [showrunner] Roberto [Aguirre-Sacasa]. Roberto loved it. We sent it to the director, and he loved it. It was like, Cool, let's see if we can make this happen — I think we only got it right one time, and we were shooting that scene all day!"

The episode will also explore Josie's "rocky" relationship with her father, a professional jazz musician in his own right. While her father supports her musical aspirations, he's not so down with the Pussycats' pop confections.

"She wants her father to believe that she can do it too, that she can be a successful musician, in the way that she knows how, which is through the music that she loves," Murray said. "So she's constantly striving to get that recognition from her dad."

This explains why Josie has tunnel vision when it comes to Val and Archie's blossoming friendship. If she can keep the band focused on the task at hand, then she can prove herself to her dad. Unfortunately for Josie, that's not how real life works.