-Partway through The Sweet Hereafter, I had a revelation about this first season of Riverdale: this has all been a prologue for the real story they've been wanting to tell. This first season has been about a small, picture-perfect town with dark secrets behind it that a murder threatens to bring to the surface. While a group of teens try to get to the truth, no matter the cost, the rest of the town has essentially tried to ignore the murder and move past it, hoping that the whole thing would just go away. But the whole thing didn't go away and solving the death of Jason Blossom has only revealed just how dark, corrupt, and dangerous Riverdale is, no matter how much the mayor and her ilk try to ignore it or blame it on scapegoats. With our heroes established, their relationships in interesting places, and the stakes finally clear, the stage is now set for an explosive second season about the town trying to salvage it's soul at all costs. It's a risky move doing a whole season of TV that's basically set-up for the next season and few are able to pull it off, but Riverdale, with it's bold reimagining of comic book icons, anchored with strong performances, sharp wit, and a healthy dose of weirdness accomplishes it, making for a strong season that (mostly) never felt like we were waiting for the good stuff.
-I was a bit underwhelmed by the obvious reveal of Cliff Blossom as the killer last week but as the consequences of that reveal and the newly exposed drug syrup empire seep out this week, it becomes clear that this was 100% the best decision for the purposes of the story, which makes me like the reveal more and more. On an micro, episode-by-episode level Riverdale could be a bit of a mess, but I have a feel that the big picture, seasonal arc stuff is going to hold up well on a rewatch because of how structurally sound it all is.
-Another thing I realized during The Sweet Hereafter is that Archie's uselessness and disconnectedness from the murder mystery all season long has essentially been his arc for the season (Well, his arc for the season that wasn't about his music). Apart from his love of music, Archie's defining character trait is his love for his friends and family. All season long Archie has had to watch them suffer and deal with all this stuff and feel helpless about the whole thing. In The Sweet Hereafter, he decides to try and take action, first by the sweet, yet completely useless gesture of writing a song for his friends, and then by the actually impressive move of punching through a frozen pond to save Cheryl's life (Hey, buff Archie wound up having a story purpose!). It's a nice culmination for the character's journey this season and between this and the ending (more on that part in a bit), I'm actually interested to find out what's going to happen to Archie next season, which is more than I could say an episode ago.
-Alright, so I'm not trying to diminish from Archie heroically saving Cheryl's life, which was easily the strongest moment the character has had all season. That being said, why did he not alternate hands once the one he was using started heavily bleeding?! I get doing this single-handedly is more dramatic and probably more interesting on a visual level, but it feels like Archie breaking his hand (Which KJ Apa actually did while shooting that scene.) could have been easily avoided. Again, not taking away from what he did but I did find myself shouting "Alternate hands, you goon!" at my TV during that scene.
-Of all the characters on Riverdale, the one who has changed the most over the course of the season is Betty, going from a frustrated, reserved girl under the thumb of her mother to the confident, fierce young woman we saw tonight, willing to do whatever it took to make sure the truth about what happened wasn't ignored, even if it meant retaliation (Also, the pigs blood message and hanging voodoo doll seemed really hardcore for high school cruelty). I've been singing Lili Reinhart's praises all season long for how well she captures the core of Betty and she capped off a season of great performances in fine form tonight.
-Another thing I was impressed with in this episode of Riverdale: how well they pulled off the cliche "Hero gives big speech forcing everyone to confront unpleasant truths that the speech was supposed to help them avoid" scene. Every beat of it was predictable, down to the spontaneous standing ovation from everyone except the mayor yet it worked like gangbusters as the natural culmination to Betty's arc for the season. Again, I credit Reinhart who poured a lot of passion into every word of that speech, elevating what could've been a half-hearted summation of the season's themes into something special.
-So apparently the reason Riverdale was dancing around the word abortion a few weeks ago in reference to something Hal did to Alice was because they were actually talking about an adoption. Turns out Betty has a secret older brother out in the world somewhere. It's a surprising twist rooted in Archie history (Betty has two seldom-seen siblings in the comics) and it'll be interesting to see how they deal with this information going before. After all, if you introduce the idea of a secret brother, the laws of storytelling demand that you pay that off at some point.
-The most ridiculous sequence in the episode has to be the parts set at Southside High, where a newly transferred Jughead finds himself surrounded by a bunch of neighborhood toughs who look like rejected extras from Grease. There's a misdirect where it looks like the kids are going to beat him up or something but then he wins them over off-camera, probably by flashing the irresistible Cole Sprouse smolder.
-If you had asked me around the midpoint of the season how I expected Jughead's story to resolve, I would not have guessed him joining up with the Serpents, but the finale does a really good job showing how this is the natural conclusion to his arc for this year. Jughead's biggest desire all season was to have a proper home and a family to belong to. That's why he had gotten so hopeful about F.P. turning his life around, even though the chances of F.P. becoming a proper caretaker were slim. Now he's about to lose his father for a long time and has found himself being essentially ostracized and banished by the town he's stuck in. Yes he still has Betty and his friends, and the scene of him and Betty exchanging "I Love Yous" is incredibly sweet (I'm officially onboard with Bughead as a pairing now). Still, when the Serpents show up offering him family and a place to belong, it makes total sense that he'd put on that jacket. Jughead has found a way to feel closer to his father, but with Betty's fears of a distance growing between them and judging on that look she has as he puts on the jacket, season 2 could be putting Jughead at risk of losing the family he really needs. It's a compelling story for the character and I'm excited to see how it unfolds.
-I hope this isn't the last we see of Skeet Ulrich. He's added a lot of depth to what could've been a one-note character and he elevates the work of everyone around him with his performance.
-So... Cheryl is taking this whole thing pretty well. All season long Madelaine Petsch has played Cheryl as someone who's barely stable, just one push away from being sent completely over the edge. So it makes sense that finding out her father had killed her brother and learning that essentially everything she knew about her family was a lie would lead her to attempt to kill herself, especially with her mother basically saying that's what they should do. Madelaine Petsch is terrific playing this broken, desolate version of Cheryl and there's genuine tension in her scenes leading up to the moment where she falls through the ice. Of course a vision of zombified Jason seems to confirm to her that no, she doesn't want to die like this and by the end of the episode she's ready to embark on a new path, by burning down Thornhill. It's a stunning sequence that sets up a promising new status quo for Cheryl and Penelope as they find themselves needing to redefine who they are.
-So Hermione has just gotten more and more shady this season as she's fallen back under Hiram's sway. Her zero sympathy when she walks in on a clearly distraught Cheryl and the lengths she goes to to try and get Fred to sell his part of the drive-in land continue this pattern but I'm going to give her the benefit of the doubt that she's trying to get Fred to sell for his protection because she still cares about him. I guess it'll all come down to her reaction about him being shot next season. Meanwhile Veronica has fully turned against both of her parents, setting the stage for an interesting power-struggle going into season 2.
-The most impressive thing about the first season of Riverdale might be how the most famous love triangle of all time never materializes after those first couple episodes. Betty and Jughead get involved while Archie is romancing Val and then Archie just moves onto Veronica. They feint towards Archie being jealous of Jughead and Betty or Betty not being OK with Archie and Veronica but everyone seems pretty content with how things have ended up by episode's end.
-OK, that ending. Last episode I talked at length about Archie's disconnect from the central mystery of the season and expressed a desire that he be more connected in season 2. Well, looks like I'm getting what I wished for. Fred getting shot in what Jughead assures us was a "not random act of violence" is a great way to set up a second season that should be considerably more personal to our hero whether or not Fred dies (I'm assuming he'll live but exit interviews from showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa have compared this moment to both Batman and Spider-Man's origins so they could easily kill Fred). Again, one of Archie's only character traits is his love for his family and now his worst nightmare has happened right in front of him It's a moment that comes by surprise (Though Fred's talk about not knowing or feeling safe in this town anymore and his refusal to sell his part of the drive-in land does alert us that something will probably happen to him) and is effectively harrowing. Where the disappearance and murder of Jason Blossom felt stylized and surreal, this feels very grounded. It's easy to see how this could potentially tear the town apart, as Jughead promises in his closing narration.
-A lesser show would've made us wait all summer to find out who had been shot, but Riverdale is smart enough to know it's more emotionally effective to know it was Fred (Like anyone would believe that Archie had been shot anyways) and that final shot of Archie holding his gravely injured father is an effectively devastating note to end the season on.
-This Week in Hot Archie: Archie and Veronica had a network-friendly sex scene y'all! There's something you wouldn't see in an Archie comic.
-Archie's music is still bland and forgettable, in case you were curious on if I've come around on it yet.
-So Clifford was using his Maple Syrup empire as a front to smuggle in Heroin from Montreal. Hiram tried to sabotage Fred's construction site with friends from Montreal several episodes back. That tells me two things: 1. Montreal is apparently the epicenter of crime in the Riverdale universe. 2. There's a strong chance that the Hiram is connected to Clifford's drug business. After all, we never found out why the Blossoms were paying money to the Lodges.
-F.P. Jones is definitely reading a Sabrina The Teenage Witch comic in prison. Foreshadowing perhaps or just a fun Easter egg? Guess we'll find out in season 2.
-The whole "Northside vs Southside" thing is very reminiscent of the class war in Veronica Mars, which is not a bad thing. If you're gonna get inspiration from somewhere, Veronica Mars is a great place to start.
-If there's a benefit to Jughead joining up with the Southside Serpents, it's that we finally get the introduction of Hot Dog, Jughead's beloved dog from the comics. He seems to be the gang's pet, but I'm hoping this will lead to an origin story about how Jughead becomes Hot Dog's owner.
-I'm going to have to doublecheck this but that last shot of Archie holding Fred's body feels like an homage to Archie's death in Life With Archie 36.
-While she was off having zero screentime despite having series regular status, Josie dyed much of her hair blue. I'm sure there's a story behind that involving her awful father or something. Let's hope for more screen time and meaningful stories for Josie and the Pussycats next year!
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-And that's it for season 1 of Riverdale. I was deeply skeptical about this show before it initially aired but was won over almost immediately by it's self-aware charm, fun twists on the Archie mythos, and strong character work, particularly with the female characters. I'm not sure that I would describe Riverdale as a "good" show in terms of quality, but in terms of pure enjoyment, it's a fantastic show and that's what really matters here. Anyways thanks for reading my recaps, whether you did it every week or just for one or two. Hope to see you back in this space next season!
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