Riverdale, an Archie Comics adaptation on the CW

He never even showed a badge.

He just wore a suit and claimed to be one.

It wouldn't surprise me if he actually was an FBI agent though. I could see it going either way.

Weekly Riverdale thoughts (rant)...

• This whole Archie/Agent Adams subplot really needs to go. There's no way this guy is part of the FBI and Archie is stupid for working with him.
• On the flip side, I love the Archie/Hiram dynamic. It's one of the best dynamics on the show right now. It definitely saved the episode for me.
• I'm not getting Veronica's character. If she know her dad is evil, why is she helping him? And why is the thing that she cares about most happen to be her relationship with Archie? What happened to the Mean Girl that wanted to turn over a new leaf from last season? What happened to the empathetic, but still vain girl who wanted to help the people that her father hurt? What is happening to these once extremely likable characters?
• Jughead's storyline was okay simply because FP was involved in it. FP has become one of the most complex TV Dad's I've seen in a while and he's definitely one of the only likable characters at this point. Jughead is becoming so damn angsty lately that it's getting on everyone's nerves. It's nice to have FP knock him down a few pegs.
• Betty being a cam-girl is disgusting and dumb. Betty keeping the truth from Jughead is contrived and dumb. Betty's dynamic with Chic is weird and dumb. Everything about Betty's storyline since the Mad World Strip Tease is so, so, so dumb.
• Forget Veronica, can we just baptize this entire second half of this season?
• Soooo...where the hell was Cheryl this episode?
• And what is this show doing with Kevin? Hell, why does Kevin even exist at this point? Either he's part of this crew or he's not. Stop advertising him as if he's one of the core main characters because he's just an accessory to this show's faux-progressiveness. And that goes for Josie, The Pussycats, and all of the other minority characters too.
• Oh and Bughead is back together, I guess. Does this mean that we can finally have the Betty and Jughead that we fell in love with back in the first season? Judging from the next episode, nope.
• Hiram was the best character in this episode. I love how he has some master-plan. It gives the season a new sense of direction that it's been lacking for a while.
• The ending got me invested in next week's episode as well, but I'm starting to feel like this show has jumped the shark a little bit.

Okay, believe it or not, I liked this episode better than the last few. However, these characters really are not themselves anymore. Archie, for all of the dumb things he does, is the only character that seems to be growing or changing for the better. Am I expecting too much from this show? It's a shame that I have to ask this every week but can we please have an episode about literally anyone else but the Core Four?

edited 31st Jan '18 6:52:35 PM by deuteragonist

Minor little note from The Wrestler - has Kevin always had those triceps I've seen in a couple shots? Can't quite get mine to push out like that.

The cam girl thing shouldn't surprise me given how they handled the Archie/Grundy thing.

Can we talk about the aesthetics of the Lodges? You've got a Latino family with an Anglo-Saxon name yet behaves like an old school Italian mafia clan.

And I have to question the idea that Veronica didn't know her dad was a criminal given the way her family acts in this episode.

Veronica knew her dad was a criminal but turned a blind eye when he wrecked the rapist up.

Sorry I meant I can't buy she didn't know her dad was a criminal at the beginning of the series.

edited 1st Feb '18 3:56:40 AM by windleopard

That was rude of Veronica renouncing Cheryl like that.

I'm looking forward to seeing this Alice development as well.

Congrats to Veronica and Josie on their beautiful wedding

Alice's character development has been great so far, so I'm interested to see where this goes too.

Also I guess the possibility of mobster Archie is now a thing. Oh my.

I'm starting to wonder if Archie has Borderline Personality Disorder. He seems to become whoever he hangs around with.

Well, one of Archie's defining traits in this show is that he's very impressionable. He is 16 years old after all.

Also, I will say one thing that I did love in this episode was Veronica and her family finally, FINALLY spoke actual spanish. Like actual conversations, not just "¡Basta, Mija!"

At this point I won't be surprised if Adams turns out to be a fake FBI agent. More and more, yeah, something feels off about him.

I actually really enjoyed this episode. Last week had me wondering if the season was starting to stumble, but this was a big step up. Very tense and exciting.

I'm fine with Chic so far and I'm curious to know more about him, but I do agree that the cam-girl thing with Betty seems kinda unnecessary. Hopefully it doesn't become a major part of the show. The cliffhanger was great. I too am really enjoying Alice so far.

Also, does anyone else really dislike Weatherbee? I can at least understand where he's coming from most of the time, but he always comes off as such a jerk about it.

Yeah - Weatherbee is being a real jerk about the Southside and Northside thing, and it seems a lot of people are working either knowingly or unknowingly for Hiram Lodge's ends. Including the protagonist by now.

...seriously, though, Kevin, I NEED that tricep workout, whatever it is you're doing.

Tonight was a pretty wild ride at the end.

Cheryl was amazingly dramatic as usual. Of course she's an archer. #Cheryl Blossemfor Red Arrow when?

Hot dang, that was an eventful episode. The portrayal of Betty's trauma at the beginning was the realest the show's ever gotten. Also, @Charles: Congrats on calling it.

If all Cheryl contributes to the plot is dramatic delivery and great outfits, I wouldn't be mad.

My WMG: Chick is the Black Hood.

edited 8th Feb '18 11:10:10 AM by d!zzzyzebra

Did we ever find out who was taking those photographs of Archie and Veronica kissing?

• So has Jughead's suspension from the school paper ended? Honestly, it looked like it had been shut down. Either way, I don't see why a teenager's angry words seem to have so much weight.

• Well I guess we kind of called Agent Adams being a fake after all.

• Really? We're supposed to believe Hermoine's in charge?

• Cheryl, the Cooper family is already destroyed. Let Penelope and Hal have their fun. Hal's bound to ruin whatever interest the woman has in him soon enough anyway.

I think part of the reason Jughead got in such hot water for his article was because it inadvertently led to the Pickens' statue getting beheaded. Still, yeah, everyone seemed to take his article a little too seriously. The whole "defamation of character" charge seemed kinda bogus as well.

I actually believed Agent Adams at first. Once it was pointed out in the thread, though, then I started to notice that his behaviour seemed off. Still, I thought that maybe Adams was a rival of the Lodges who was trying to get inside info on them. I didn't see the twist coming of Adams working for the Lodges and the whole thing being meant to test Archie. That was a good twist.

It might also explain why, as deuteragonist pointed out earlier, that Hiram's apparent dislike of Archie seemed to come from nowhere. If the whole thing was just an initiation test for Archie, then maybe Hiram never truly disliked Archie, per say.

edited 9th Feb '18 1:17:50 AM by StardustSoldier

sighs Okay so I finally got around to watching the episode and I have to say...I kind of want this season to be over. This is gonna be a bit of a rant.

• I just want to express that I love How To Get Away With Murder. It is one of the most insane, preposterous shows on television. It never makes any sense but it's entertaining as hell, kind of like Riverdale. However, in HTGAWM, the majority of characters are unlikable, self-serving nutjobs; but it works because the show has (and you can fight me on this) better writing, as well as great actors and only 15 episodes so that nothing feels drawn out. This show, however, cannot handle this type of murder plot. It's not designed for it. Plus, these characters are freaking teenagers.

• Also, why didn't Betty just call the cops? And why is FP so quick to help them bury a body when he literally just got out of prison for covering up a murder? And why is he walking around smelling like salt after he just buried a body? THIS IS SO DUMB.

• Alice Cooper is the worst, I swear to God.

• Every week I fail to understand Veronica less and less. What exactly is her motivation for helping her father? One minute she wants to help them do the immoral unethical business and the next she wants to help the people that they want to destroy. This isn't interesting or compelling, it's just confusing.

• I love Cheryl. God knows I do, but she has got to be the most inconsistent character on television. She's become such a caricature at this point.

• I have yet to understand why Betty and Veronica have decided not to tell Kevin that his father is having an affair. I'm sorry, but they are terrible friends. Kevin, I love you. Please get your own spinoff.

• Chic really needs to die. Not because he's a manipulative sociopath or because he's eviscerating Betty's character, but he's just a really terribly written character who does nothing for me.

• Archie. Archie. Archie. I can't even defend you anymore, dude. You're an idiot. Seriously.

• The show really suffers from losing the fun, friendly dynamics from last season. I miss the B&V misadventures, or when Bughead was worth rooting for, or when Kevin had somewhat of a storyline, or when Cheryl was a Bombshell.

Honestly, this season should have just stretched the "Black Hood" storyline into 13 episodes and ended it there. The Black Hood episodes were far more focused and engaging. It was less scattered and the character drama actually worked because everyone was in-character. This second half of the season is not working at all.

Be that as it may, it's still a terribly written plot. It honestly would have made more sense had Hermoine hired Agent Adams without her husband knowing.

edited 9th Feb '18 10:39:34 PM by deuteragonist

I don't have a problem with any of the above because:

• Betty is a teenager and was told not to call the cops by her mother.
• Betty knows the police in the town are useless and self-serving since she's been involved in TWO murders she had to solve herself.
• FP is probably Chic's father and certainly used to be Mama Cooper's ex. Also, despite Jughead's belief the Serpents are good people, Jason Blossom was probably not the first body he's disposed of.
• Veronica was drawn in to the Godfather situation by the fact her father brutalized a rapist.
• Cheryl...okay, I got nothing for Cheryl other than I love how she speaks. "Your courtesan ways."

edited 10th Feb '18 12:42:14 AM by CharlesPhipps

All this does is solidify my opinion that Valerie (the other member of the Pussycats, remember her?) was in fact The Best Bachelorette in Riverdale and Archie should just go back

Consider:

1. not part of a crazy murder family

2. there is no point 2, that's the bar

edited 10th Feb '18 9:33:04 AM by d!zzzyzebra

I didn't think it was terribly written. It kept me wanting to know more, and it genuinely surprised me at the end. I thought this was the best episode so far since the show returned from its mid-season hiatus (although I do want them to return to the Black Hood mystery). Also, I like Chic. I want to know more about what his deal is. And I especially want to know why exactly he killed that drug dealer.

I would enjoy seeing more of Valerie in general, but I'm actually happy her and Archie remained apart. I never really got into them as a couple. Valerie seemed kinda jerk-ish to me.

edited 10th Feb '18 11:06:14 AM by StardustSoldier

I found the Cheryl and Toni subplot to feel a bit tacked on this episode.

It felt really off and unnatural.

It really needed to be drawn out over a few more episodes.

Plus, honestly, Toni should really stay away from Cheryl if her friendship with Josie is to be used as a reference point.

I would have preferred it if instead they had Cheryl rock up to Ronnie's holidays house, with Toni in tow. And then built up to the backstory reveal over a few episode.

Which IMO I would have dropped entirely. It really feels like something they added in this season.

I'm still trying to understand why Cheryl and Josie were ever friends.