Riverdale, an Archie Comics adaptation on the CW

"Escort my daughter to the tapping" is one of the dirtiest lines I've ever heard uttered in such a mild and non innuendo full tone.

EDIT- "Sticky red thick of it" is yet another one.

edited 6th Apr '17 6:26:30 PM by ArthurEld

Almost everyone in this town is insane.

Given the only common denominator, it pretty much has to be the maple syrup. Tainted, no doubt, like when rye bread has ergot in it.

Also, I knew Ethel was gonna get a lesbi-crush at some point, but I'm surprised its Veronica. Although Mendes did say she'd be interested in making Ronnie bisexual which could lead to an eventual Beronica relationship, which would be cool.

Gotta love that Archie ends up with neither girl by the end. And Veronica really is coded bisexual. Female relationships are so important to her, and I was getting queer vibes from all the stuff with Ethel. She also, queer baiting aside, full-on kissed Betty with no hesitation like it was just the thing to do. Which, btw, Veronica/Ethel or Verronica/Betty would be a cute couple.

I like how Cheryl was wearing blue to the fancy Blossom party. It really tells the audience how she's the odd one out in the Blossom family. I actually am kind of upset that she has a vendetta against Archie. I want to like her, and I feel like she needs a good friend, so I wanted her and Archie to at least be that.

There is definitely something in the maple syrup to produce all these crazy, small town fuckers.

Not only did she not wear red, she specifically called it viridian as if that was some sort of upsell to Archie.

I also didn't connect it at first but someone on twitter pointed out how similar this episode was to one of the plot points of High School Musical 2, where Sharpay's family get Troy a job as she tries to seduce him.

Next episode looks great-Molly Ringwald, teenage parties, Betty's shirt which is some wonderful combination of Jean paul Basquiat and Jughead's hat.

In advance of tonight's episode, here's a rehearsal video Madelaine Petsch posted to her twitter of her and Mendes practicing for their dance off.

https://twitter.com/madelainepetsch/status/851890496213364736

I actually think it ends up looking more impressive than the finished product (which I've seen through previews) just because there are no cuts. However, I do wonder how Petsch is able to see sometimes with all that hair flying around.

Also something I've noticed in a few episodes are Mendes' flubs that end up being in the final cut that totally work. There's a bit in one episode where she misses her mouth with a french fry, and then recently she said "Vanity Flair" and nobody thought to ADR it. It totally works because in real life people make mistakes like that all the time.

Another great episode. I've been to parties pretty much just like that. I'm glad Betty's mental issues got brought up, plus the Cheryl/Jason thing.

I don't think Jason and Cheryl were ever together in a physical way, but it makes sense that people would draw that conclusion. Cheryl is very affectionate in a touchy way-which probably stems from how cold her parents are to her.

It seems weird to a lot of people, but that's really a relative thing (no pun intended)

I'm kinda surprised the show verbally acknowledged the whole Jason/Cheryl thing. I felt like I was being gas-lit with how much they kept alluding to it, but the actors and writers said it wasn't a thing. It did make Cheryl cry, which can mean there is a nugget of truth, or she perhaps she was mortified that Veronica thought that. It certainly struck a cord with her. Also so much for Veroinca/Cheryl's friendship...I'm still no sure I really got that anyway. Plus for weirdly queer sexual tension for Cheryl, I prefer her with Betty. I'm still impressed by that scene where she did her make up in the second episode.

As for the party thing, I think Archie drunk calling his dad in a downward spiral is the most realistic teen behavior I've seen on a show. Also, Archie and Veronica went right for it, huh? I didn't expect that. Jughead and Betty at the end made me emotional. I'm really glad that Betty opened up to him, about how she wasn't perfect. I also like that they made her annoyed about him referring to her as the girl-next-door. She clearly was as uncomfortable with him putting her on a pedestal as he was with her asking why he couldn't just be normal.

She stated she hated the word 'perfect.' Which makes sense given both the character and the actress have anxiety issues.

As far as getting drunk and having sex goes...well, I've been at parties like that too.

The only big surprise to me was that maybe Alice Cooper was a Serpent once.

There was no reason they couldn't have kicked Cheryl and Chuck out immediately.

I've also been at those parties. Debauchery is fun, but man can it go to hell in a hand basket.

I said "Goddamnit Archie" a little too loudly when he let them in. It was ultimately Archie that decided to take it that far.

*sighs I wish I would have been cool enough in High School for parties like that. Now college on the other hand...

Anyway, I had two problems with this episode:

1. Chuck. Just, CHUCK. God, I hate this character. Why did he have to come back? He's such a stain on an otherwise very good show.

2. There was nothing revealed in this episode that we didn't already know; aside from, yes, Alice Cooper being a serpent. But yeah, this murder mystery is starting to get a little annoying because it feels like we're not getting anywhere. This show really needs to hurry up.

Other than that, this was an awesome episode. Just the right kind of insanity I love from Riverdale: Archie actually gets a shred of depth, Veronica vs. Cheryl too-sexy-to-be-believable-teens dance-off, Cheryl continues to be a confusing yet complex character, Kevin continues to be Mr. Fanservice, and Betty and Jughead are giving Cory and Topanga levels of amazing at this point (CW and Riverdale writers, please don't mess this up, okay?).

Also, I can't believe the show highlighted Archie being a mediocre musician.

edited 13th Apr '17 7:59:45 PM by deuteragonist

I should probably say I too was not cool enough for these kind of high school parties. But boy...did I have quite a few in college. I couldn't handle Cheryl/Veronica's dance off. I already find Cheryl's cleavage terribly distracting, and i have to ask myself if I like her because she's truly complex, or because she's pretty. Both, probably both. The actress' performance helps.

I also dislike Chuck, because they took the one black guy in Riverdale and made him disgusting. I also missed exactly what he said that made Jughead punch him.

Also it's worth noting Cole Sprouse said the murder mystery would be solved by the end of the season.

edited 13th Apr '17 7:59:42 PM by iamthecircle

Everyone's parents hate everyone else's parents. That's it. That's the show.

Again, I've been at that party.

My concern is who might die in the finale-it probably won't be a main character, so it will probably be one of the parents.

As long as it's not one of the teens, I'm good. Unless it's Chuck, he can go. I don't even care about the Unfortunate Implications of his character, even with me being a black man myself, I just want the writers to wash their hands clean of him for good.

Also, plot hole: How did Betty not know it was Jughead's birthday? Didn't the know each other since childhood? And Betty doesn't seem like one to forget. C'mon Riverdale!

Seriously, did the writers mistake Chuck for Reggie?

Some people are really quiet about their birthday-Jughead seems like one of those people.

As for Chuck, I think the writers just felt the show needed a bad guy who wasn't one of the awful parents. Reggie is more like a typical jerk who really isn't that bad, while Chuck's a little worse. In a sense, its more egalitarian that he's black...kinda.

Also Betty slapping Chuck was apparently not in the script-it was Lili's idea and they decided to go with it.

I don't know, it kind of rubs me the wrong way that the writers took this nice, if sort of generic Black guy character and turned him into a sexual predator (more or less) and set him up to be dominated and mistreated (in the sense of disproportionately punished [I specifically mean the jacuzzi scene]) and literally have a white woman step all over him...

edited 14th Apr '17 5:05:03 AM by SalFishFin

Well everyone thinks Betty was wrong to do what she did. Veronica was visibly appalled and the audience wasn't supposed to cheer Betty for that (also I love that the show actually used the term "Dark Betty")

Every other black character on the show is portrayed more or less positively-mostly Valerie and Josie (whose been absent for other work but will be back in the next episode) cause as usual Josie's parents kinda suck.

I mean, I don't think anyone watching the show thinks Chuck is a bad guy because he's black, he's a bad guy who just happens to be black. In fact his whole archetype is fairly common but its typically seen with white dudes.

I'm starting to wonder if the reason why Reggie has been missing so much is because he was filming for Thirteen Reasons Why. People are starting to get salty that he's underused. He wasn't even at the party.

And there are a lot of Unfortunate Implications with sexual predator Chuck. I really wish they would have just made up a douchey guy for the part, or used a super minor character.

Yeah but to the average viewer, Chuck Clayton is a super minor character. Archie is not the pop culture icon it once was.

And yeah, Ross Butler was probably busy with other projects. It happens. Recently most of the cast was at some convention or other but Petsch was absent cause she's wrapping up a movie.

Clearly, many have been deprived of the joy of your mother picking you up an Archie comic while shopping. I had several Betty and Veronica comics. I bet they're all trashed or gone now though. I do have to agree Chuck is pretty minor, but were they not thinking when they made the only black man in Riverdale a sexual predator? Which is sad, considering they've done pretty well to make Riverdale less like white bread with extra mayonnaise.

You're ignoring at least two other black men.

Principal Weatherby and Pops himself.

Now, neither of those characters are important, but in the grand scheme of things, most people you will meet aren't important in the narrative that is your life.

So out of four black men (Pops, Weatherby, Josie's dad, and Chuck), only one of them is a bad guy. And yes, he gets more screen time and is more memorable than them, but well, negative cognition bias is a thing. If you see someone five times a week and they're mean to you once out of five, you will remember that more than the other four put together. That's how it works.

I mean, I doubt white people come out of a showing of Othello and are like "man, white guys suck!"

They don't need a play to tell them that. They know it already.

Josie's dad is kind of a dick, but I get your point. I am neglecting other characters. I do understand the need for there to be a villainous student, which for the most part they've avoided. Even Cheryl Blossom has nuance.