Andre the Black Nerd noted in his review of the sixth episode, "Faster, Pussycats, Kill Kill" that the show, based on what he called the "whitest of all comics", one-upped La La Land by having the man obsessed with saving jazz actually be Black. He viewed it as a Moment of Awesome and said, "Change is coming to Riverdale!"
With Harry Potter having become so popular since the original comics, it's now quite funny to see a romance between characters named Fred and Hermione, plus the latter's daughter sometimes being called Ronnie. Some people who weren't familiar with the comics even assumed those couldn't be their original names.
A certain meme "KILL MS. GRUNDY" considering that is exactly what happens in the season two premiere.
All of the theories and jokes about Cheryl and Jason being in a Twincest relationship are even funnier now after the reveal that Jason's relationship with his actual love interest, Polly- which many fans grossed out by incest cited as a much better alternative ship- is actually incestuous, given that they're cousins.
In episode two of season two, Josie and the Pussycats (minus Valerie, plus Cheryl) sing a cover of "Milkshake" by Kelis. South Park ended up having Kyle, Butters, Cartman, and Kenny singing the same song (even in a similar, slowed down and a capella style). These two episodes aired on the same night!
When it was leaked that Archie and Betty were going to kiss in the mid-season finale, a portion of the fanbase (particularly Bughead shippers) took to calling him out before the episode aired, accusing him of betraying his best friend, seducing poor Betty and disregarding Veronica’s feelings (even though she left him at the end of the previous episode). In the actual episode Betty proceeded to kiss him, after he reassured her in a stressful moment, leaving him more stunned than anything else and the episode ended with him getting back together with Ronnie.
The third episode shows Ross Butler being among the jocks who humiliate the girls with the ridiculous points game. In 13 Reasons Why (which he left Riverdale to star in), he's one of the lone jocks to have a Heel Realization.
Before it was revealed in Season 1 that Jason and Polly were third cousins, everyone watching the show had figured out that they must have been related somehow and that was why their parents (particularly Polly's) were so against them being together and why Hal wanted Polly to have an abortion. The most popular theory was that Hal had had an affair with Penelope, resulting in Jason and Cheryl, making Polly and Jason half-siblings. Though the half-sibling theory ended up being false, Hal and Penelope do eventually get together in Season 2.
Cole Sprouse states that the reason he didn't sing in the musical episode, was he felt it was OOC for Jughead to be singing while everything else was going on. Even saying in an interview "I survived a Disney career without singing"...and yet...
And then he sang in the second musical episode.
Years prior to joining the cast of Riverdale, Vanessa Morgan starred in My Babysitter's a Vampire, which had an episode where the two main characters Benny and Ethan disguise themselves in drag as cheerleaders. Their given fake names? Betty (Ben in a blonde wig) and Veronica (Ethan in a brunette wig).
In Episode Four of Season One, Cheryl forcefully joins Veronica and Kevin at the drive-in movie theatre. Watching Rebel Without a Cause, Veronica and Kevin take turns swooning over James Dean’s good looks- Cheryl remains stone silent for a moment before reminiscing about how Jason always “adored” the drive in. Knowing what wenow knowaboutCheryl, this scene comes off as a very subtle bit of Foreshadowing.
In the pilot, after witnessing firsthand how much of a Manipulative Bitch she can be, Veronica declares that “Cheryl Blossom truly is the Antichrist.” Come the announcement in 2018 that a new Archie Comics series titled “Blossoms 666”would premiere in 2019 about Cheryl and Jason Blossom both vying to become the Antichrist.
You know how the show plays intentionately the Incest Subtext with Veronica and her father, Hiram and people make "who's your daddy" memes with them? Well, in 3x04, where the young actors play the teenage version of their parents, a young Hiram is played my Mark Consuelos' own son, while Hermione is played by Camilla Mendez, which gives a totally new meaning to the whole Veronica and Hiram thing. Veronica did kissed her "Daddy". Yay?
When the trailer for the first Time Skip episode (Season 5's "Purgatory") was released, many people mocked the presence of Archie and his fellow soldiers fighting on the football field of all places. Many assumed it was just laziness and incompetence, and made a lot of jokes about them supposedly fighting in a football war, with many finding it utterly baffling. In the episode proper, this is from a dream sequence where Archie's football memories and his Army service ones mix together in even more overt ways, such as having his commanding officer addressing the football team in the locker room, Cheryl appearing in the battle field, and the extras wearing both army fatigues and football uniforms. So yeah, it was strange, but it was on purpose.
actually made a parody trailer for a Darker and Edgier Archie reboot called Riverdale way back in 2011.