Riverdale, Season 1 Episode 4 Review

I came to the Riverdale series because I’m a hardcore Archie Comics stan and because I enjoy a good trashy drama now and again. I’m staying for the “OMG, what just happened?!” factor, and because I consistently find myself wondering whether I love Betty Cooper or Veronica Lodge more. So far those two are my hands-down favorite characters on the show, aside from Kevin. (Speaking of everybody’s handsome gay bestie, I was so happy to see him getting more screentime last night!)

The show continues to bend, fold, spindle, and mutilate what old-school fans thought they knew about characters in the Archie-verse, but that’s mostly a good thing. I enjoy seeing parents and teachers who look like they could reasonably be people with teenage kids/students. In the old comics, they were written and drawn as super-old for comedic effect, which isn’t so much a thing these days. That being said, can we please get some adults who know how to do right by their children or students? Betty’s mom continues to be a trainwreck of the worst kind, Veronica’s mom isn’t much better, the less said about “Miss Grundy” the better, and poor Jughead seems to have nobody at all in his corner. Even Mayor McCoy (Valerie’s mom, yo!) is pretty messed up. In fact, the only parents who seem to not be awful in Riverdale are Archie’s and Kevin’s dads. Again, props to the writers and the CW for not making Sheriff Keller in a stereotypical homophobic dad; I’m impressed!

Among things that are still the same, and thank goodness for it, Betty knows her way around a car - and how to use a shiv to break into one, hee! Also nice to see her being resourceful enough to use her position at the Blue and Gold to ask sort of rude (but really important) questions of Miss Grundy, and then Google her with the bits and pieces she got. Score one for investigative reporters as the good guys! Also, points to the writers for keeping Ronnie willing to go along with Betty’s crazy schemes as long as it’s meant to protect Archie. Also funny to see that “a Riverdale landmark being torn down” is still a plot point, even in this universe. Glad to see it wasn’t Pop’s (for the approximately ten zillionth time), but still happy that Hiram Lodge is hip-deep in what it actually was. 

I’m continuing to love the way that references, old and new, get dropped into casual conversation, and I love that Kevin gets to do a lot of the dropping. I was amused that Betty’s been compared to both a “Hitchcock blonde” and Betty Draper, but nobody’s seen fit to note that “Miss Grundy” apparently pulled a Don Draper to escape her former life. I also just about choked laughing at Veronica’s takedown of Cheryl in this episode, noting that she’s really not actually a “character in a ‘90s teen drama”. 

Saying too much more about the episode would veer into spoiler territory, and I never kiss and tell. But suffice to say that things have gotten exceedingly real already, and show no signs of stopping for anyone in Riverdale. I’m already desperately counting the hours until 9 pm next Thursday night!