Anyone watching this? When my wife mentioned wanting to check this out, I didn’t realize Greg Berlanti was involved (she knew) and I was picturing some god-awful 90210-alike (which made it weird she had brought it up). But two episodes in, this has been pretty darned enjoyable so far.
For those unaware, Riverdale is an adaptation of the Archie comics on CW, complete with Betty, Veronica, Jughead, Josie & the Pussycats, and more. There’s a prevailing mystery thread and a sinister undercurrent to the whole thing. Yeah, there’s been some teen angst/drama but it all works in favor of the larger story and is pretty engaging, with some decent performances so far (particularly digging Cole Sprouse as the enigmatic Jughead).
Curious to see where they are going with the story, but along for the ride, at least for the moment.
I don’t like the fact Archie has any romantic interests at all. Though the comics showed him in various states throughout the years, primarily he was known for being asexual or disinterested in love interests - which was a fantastic counterpoint to the whinging of everyone else in the high school. Not sure why they had to go and change that.
I think you mean Jughead? Archie has always had romantic interests in the comics. He was trying to impress Betty in the first story he appeared in. He has frequently been described as girl crazy.
Jughead, who’s now officially asexual in the recentish comic reboot (but not the tv show), on the other hand, never expressed much interest in girls and was often distinguished from his best friend Archie in that way. That started to change in the early 1980s (I think) when, first, a magic/alien pun appeared in his hat that made him irresistible to girls and also awakened his interest in them. That particular plot device didn’t last long, but his girl-hating personality would be altered to, among other things, let the girl who had a crush on him, Big Ethel, occasionally date him.
Watched eps 3-5 in the last couple of days. Fwiw, episode three was the weakest so far for precisely the reason you mention, too much teen drama. But the next two episodes were really good, introducing a bunch of different little bits and pieces about the history between the families and layering mysteries on top of mysteries. Also love the addition of Skeet Ulrich to the cast.
The show is definitely at its best when the generations are interacting with each other. I’d be hard-pressed to name a show juggling more story threads at one time. Babylon 5, maybe.
I’ll probably watch the rest of it, but from the few episodes I’ve seen the real stars of the show are the girls playing Betty and Veronica. Veronica is sly, the typical high school bitch character, but she’s “trying” to be nice and reform so that makes her interesting. Betty is the gorgeous the girl-next-door-sy type, but it’s implied she’s not quite mentally stable and that she could be going postal soon or something.
Archie is a doofus. Better to let the girls talk this one out.
Yeah, after the third episode I was getting annoyed at the dumb choices the characters were all making in the name of Drama, so I figured I’d save myself the trouble and stopped recording it. I’m two episodes behind now and while I don’t miss it, I will catch up if it turns out things get more interesting.
And I agree; Betty and Veronica were the best part of the show. In fact it’s Archie’s ridiculous drama/story that finally drove me away.
Interesting you both said that. I do think Betty and Veronica are doing a good job, but my wife and I both think the real star of the show so far (albeit in a quiet way) has been Jughead.
There was a girl-on-girl kiss in a very early episode but it went nowhere and that’s the extent of the show’s bi-curiosity in Season 1 (minus a bit of subtext).
Good lord, I just admitted that I’ve been watching this.
Season 1 of this show was actually quite good, once you got past the whole Ms. Grundy business. The Betty-Jughead stuff was good, and I enjoyed the episode that devolved into a “wild party” (for values of wild within the Archie trademark).
