History Fridge / Riverdale

* As previously mentioned, the kids often have very little to do with solving the actual murder, with most of it being luck, but they are treated as central by the narrative. Additionally, every little high school drama is treated as life or death when in reality it isn't. But it makes sense when you consider the framing device--a True Crime novel by Jughead, a high school sophmore right in the middle of all of this.

* Miss Grundy's relationship with Archie is squick enough, but her behaviour around other young men is quite creepy itself. There's the implied past she might have had with Jason, as well as her checking out other teenage boys as she's leaving town. Combined with this, she claims she was been beaten by her ex-husband, which would explain her fake name, but using fake identities is a very common tactic used by serial predators to escape public scrutiny. They also have a tendency to portray themselves as victim, and may get very good at creating sympathetic stories.

* Ethel's allegiance to the Gargoyle King and her feud with the gang is, InUniverse, an exercise in both PerspectiveFlip and AlternateCharacterInterpretation on both sides. On the one hand, Ethel was mostly ignored by the group unless they needed something from her, with the exception of Veronica, who genuinely wanted to be her friend. She was then used by Josie in her own quest for mis-guided revenge, got passed over for a lead role in a play in favor of Cheryl, and lost a school election to Archie, who spent most of the year acting out. Meanwhile, they forgave Chuck, who mistreated most of them, and have included both Cheryl and the Serpents rather than her. On the other hand, why would the gang want to be friends with her? Veronica tried, and she basically spat in her face. Betty, Archie and Jughead wouldn't really want to be friends with someone who a) attacked Veronica and tried to turn the whole school against her; b) terrorized Kevin's play and threatened to do more unless he fired Cheryl; c) blackmailed Jughead into kissing her and threatened him with lies; and d) sent out a dangerous game to the whole town to ensure that they played it. The rest of them just don't care enough about her.
** It actually makes sense that Ethel believes that Veronica’s attempts at befriending her weren’t genuine. Even though we the viewers know they were. Because the only things that Veronica did for Ethel was inviting her over to dinner at her house and buying her expansive gifts. Which seems more like superficial flattery than a genuine attempt at friendship. Ethel said in the fifth tie in novel that the reason why she’s so angry is because the gang never thinks about the consequences of their actions.

* As mentioned perviously, the kids often have very little to do with solving the actual murder, with most of it being luck, but they are treated as central by the narrative. Additionally, every little high school drama is treated as life or death when in reality it isn't. But it makes sense when you consider the framing device--a True Crime novel by Jughead, a highschool sophmore right in the middle of all of this.

** Jughead doubling down on how lucky he thinks Archie is makes a lot more sense knowing Jughead himself as feelings for Betty for however long, and has been watching her crush on Archie.

* Riverdale's history of maple trading explains the last names Blossom and Cooper as a function of the old tendency of surnames existing to identify occupation - the Blossoms were likely responsible for cultivating the maple trees, while the Coopers produced the barrels the syrup was trafficked in. With the reveal that the maple syrup business was also used for drug smuggling, it makes even more sense because Blossom might have been referring to Poppies, which are used in the making of Heroin, and are also known for their bright red color - the Blossom's signature color.

* Possibly confirmed as in a season three flashback episode we discover that Penelope was adopted into the Blossom family as a sister and future wife for Clifford. By Nana Rose.

* Riverdale's history of maple trading explains the last names Blossom and Cooper as a function of the old tendency of surnames existing to identify occupation - the Blossoms were likely responsible for cultivating the maple trees, while the Coopers produced the barrels the syrup was trafficked in. With the reveal that the maple syrup business was also used for drug smuggling, it makes even more sense because Blossom might have been referring to Poppies, which are used in the making of Heroin, and are also known for their bright red color - the Blossom's signature colo.

* A very subtle but wonderful detail in episode seven: Jughead wakes up and checks his phone, spotting the time is early morning. Underneath the time, it's shown breifly as "75% charged". Given how quickly your average iPhone charges, this is probably a subtle way of pointing to the lack of sleep Jughead was getting. It had only had a chance to charge to 75% since he plugged it in and presumably went to sleep, which couldn't have been too far out of the ballpark of an hour.

* Betty finds out that Evelyn is actually [[spoiler: twenty six years old]] and has been posing as a [[spoiler: high school student for “a decade.”]] This would mean that Evelyn was sixteen when she [[spoiler: married Edgar, who is clearly in his late thirties and thus would have been in his twenties at the time.]]

* Jason Blossom's body was found in the river weeks after his death, and showed no notable signs of decay. However, this makes more sense after episode two where it is revealed that [[spoiler: not only was Jason's body shown to have been frozen for an indeterminate amount of time, but also that he died an entire week after the Fourth of July, when it was assumed he died.]]
* Jughead's constantly wearing his beanie, even in [[spoiler: leaked pictures of Jason's second funeral.]] Which makes a lot of sense, considering that [[spoiler: he's homeless, and might not have a chance to wash his hair regularly;]] he wears the hat to cover up any greasiness.
* For that matter, Jughead's BigEater tendencies make a lot of sense when you realize he grew up poor and [[spoiler:is now homeless]]. As anyone who grew up poor can tell you, nothing makes you want to devour every piece of food in sight quite like not having access to it as often as you'd like.
* Veronica calling out the Southside Serpents for their rude and loud behavior at the drive in and not facing any confrontation from them, despite them being ''a criminal gang,'' seems ridiculous. [[spoiler: Until we find out that the Serpents are in business with Veronica's ''parents''.]]
* Riverdale's history of maple trading explains the last names Blossom and Cooper as a function of the old tendency of surnames existing to identify occupation - the Blossoms were likely responsible for cultivating the maple trees, while the Coopers produced the barrels the syrup was trafficked in. With the reveal that [[spoiler: the maple syrup business was also used for drug smuggling, it makes even more sense because Blossom might have been referring to Poppies, which are used in the making of Heroin, and are also known for their bright red color - the Blossom's signature color]]

* It's a very small thing, but the fact that Jughead chose ''Film/RebelWithoutACause'' as the last film to be screened at the drive-in - at Betty's suggestion - makes more sense when you find out he [[spoiler: has feelings for her]] and likely thought it would make her happy. There are three other small hints at this: one is that Jughead was still in a bitter, angry mood, but when Betty suggested the film, he sent her a genuine smile. An arguable one in episode two occurs when Betty turns and sees Archie and Jughead together--Jughead having a sort of dumbstruck expression. The most obvious is probably his alarmed and slightly crestfallen reaction - which was [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness out of character for him]] - in episode five when Betty confirms she's going [[NotADate to meet up]] with Trev to gather information.

** Jughead doubling down on how lucky he thinks Archie is makes a lot more sense knowing [[spoiler: Jughead himself as feelings for Betty for however long, and has been watching her crush on Archie.]]
* The beginning of episode 8 features a voice-over by Jughead describing the Coopers, as two high school sweethearts who had a wonderful marriage and two beautiful daughters. Beyond the DysfunctionJunction already shown to hammer that things aren't what they seem, astute fans may remember that there are ''three'' Cooper kids in the comics - in addition to Polly, Betty has an older brother, Chic. [[spoiler: There are implications that Alice became pregnant as a teenager and Hal pressured her to have an abortion, though by the end of the season it's revealed she put the baby- a boy- up for adoption instead.]]
* Alice Cooper's desire to be seen as the "perfect" family and "perfect" wife, to the point that Hal tries to rebuff her throwing him out by asking her "what the neighbours will think" makes a ''lot'' more sense when you find out that Alice is [[spoiler: from the South Side, potentially a serpent, and 'mysteriously disappeared' for 6 months and stayed with the Sisters (the asylum Polly was in at the beginning of the season) before giving birth to her son and then giving him up for adoption]]. She probably feels like if she slips up, or if her children don't appear perfect, people will automatically blame her [[WrongSideOfTheTracks upbringing]] and discredit her work. It also gives a reason for why she is surprisingly accepting of Jughead, despite her misgivings about boy next door Archie - [[spoiler: she may relate to Jughead's (less extreme, but still present) UptownGirl relationship with Betty, or his inability to find his place among the students who actively look down on people from the South Side, as these are probably things she herself struggled with while dating Hal in high school.]]
* Why didn't Nana Rose stop Jason and Polly from getting married by [[spoiler:telling them they're cousins]]? Well, either [[spoiler:like Penelope, she has no problem with incest, ''or'' we can consider the fact that, given Nana Rose's age, she grew up in an era where marrying your ''first'' cousin was completely socially acceptable. Jason marrying his third cousin wouldn't have been a big deal at ''all'' in her time. (Hell, depending on where you live, there are some who barely consider it incest at all, especially since they weren't raised together.)]]
* Possibly confirmed as in a season three flashback episode we discover that [[spoiler: Penelope was adopted into the Blossom family as a sister and future wife for Clifford. By Nana Rose.]]
* Cheryl [[spoiler:tries to drown herself, then sets her house on fire]] in an attempt to make the pain go away. The water and fire dualism is obvious, but the brilliant part is that [[DramaQueen Cheryl probably did it on purpose]].
* Cheryl mentions that her father's hair is rumored to have turned white overnight. Now, who was Laura Palmer's murderer in Twin Peaks, a show that Riverdale pays several tributes to and has a lot of similarities to? That's right, [[spoiler: her father, whose hair turned white overnight.]]
* When Polly is revealed to be pregnant with twins, Cheryl attributes the fact to Blossom genes, as twins run in the family. Except, twins running in families is a matrilineal phenomenon--a woman may be more prone to ovulate multiple eggs at a time, thus resulting in fraternal twins/triplets/etc. The father's DNA has nothing to do with it. Of course, as a high school sophomore who likely hasn't taken biology yet, it makes sense that Cheryl wouldn't understand that, and initially, it seems that the writers don't either. But now it appears to have been foreshadowing, since [[spoiler:Polly's a Blossom too]]. As for Penelope's giving birth to Jason and Cheryl, Penelope's dismissal of Polly and Jason's [[spoiler: borderline incest]] suggests that she doesn't view it as problematic, so maybe Penelope [[spoiler: is also of the Blossom family line. Confirmed as of season 3, Penelope is Clifford's adopted sister, specifically adopted to be his future wife.]].

* For a series that tries to make itself a darker and more realistic take on the Archie verse, it still seems to slip into a hole of having the main characters (who are all high schoolers with little to no knowledge of the law and detective work) solve the crime while PoliceAreUseless is in effect. But in hindsight, they actually don't do a lot of crime solving. Everything related to the case they find out that is actually correct and useful is either by accident or coincidence (such as Kevin and Moose finding Jason's body), simply being a witness (hearing the gunshots), or following leads that the police would deem irrelevant while the teens are desperate (getting crucial info from Polly and [[spoiler:Joaquin]] about the truck and [[spoiler:video of the murder]] respectively). They do plenty of amateur detective work, and it pays off, but it really comes off more as a stroke of luck and stubbornness gone right rather than them just doing the police's job for them. Which, while still contrived, is a far more realistic way of putting some high schoolers at the center of a murder investigation.

* [[spoiler: Ethel's allegiance to the Gargoyle King and her feud with the gang is, InUniverse, an exercise in both PerspectiveFlip and AlternateCharacterInterpretation on both sides. On the one hand, Ethel was mostly ignored by the group unless they needed something from her, with the exception of Veronica, who genuinely wanted to be her friend. She was then used by Josie in her own quest for mis-guided revenge, got passed over for a lead role in a play in favor of Cheryl, and lost a school election to Archie, who spent most of the year acting out. Meanwhile, they forgave Chuck, who mistreated most of them, and have included both Cheryl and the Serpents rather than her. On the other hand, why would the gang want to be friends with her? Veronica tried, and she basically spat in her face. Betty, Archie and Jughead wouldn't really want to be friends with someone who a) attacked Veronica and tried to turn the whole school against her; b) terrorized Kevin's play and threatened to do more unless he fired Cheryl; c) blackmailed Jughead into kissing her and threatened him with lies; and d) sent out a dangerous game to the whole town to ensure that they played it. The rest of them just don't care enough about her.]]

* Miss Grundy's relationship with Archie is squick enough, but her behaviour around other young men is quite creepy itself. There's the implied past she might have had with Jason, as well as her checking out other teenage boys as she's [[spoiler:leaving town]]. Combined with this, [[spoiler:she claims she was been beaten by her ex-husband, which would explain her fake name, but using fake identities is a very common tactic used by serial predators to escape public scrutiny. They also have a tendency to portray themselves as victim, and may get very good at creating sympathetic stories.]]

* Lampshaded example, Veronica herself questions whether [[spoiler: Nick has been drugging and raping girls for years now, including when she was friends with him.]] It seems likely, given how he [[spoiler: tried to physically force himself on Veronica, and then tries to coerce her into it through blackmail, before he attacked Cheryl.]]