Riverdale, Season 1 Episode 1 Review

I’m an OG Archie fan from way back; the Double Digests and floppies from the grocery store spinner rack were some of the first comic books I ever read. I’m also one of those people who can be weirdly passionate about the things I enjoy. If I love something, boy howdy it has been *loved*. So of course I own all the trade paperback volumes of the “Archie: The Married Life” series that ended just a couple of years ago, and I totally have a standing order with my LCS for pretty much anything that Archie Comics is putting out these days. It’s this enthusiasm that made me worry a good bit about the “Riverdale” series premiere. 

I heard all the press swirling around the show as early as last year, and was cautiously optimistic but slightly dubious when the creators invoked “Twin Peaks” to describe what they were doing with this story. It’s not a bad way to start, to be honest, since “Twin Peaks” was one damn fine slice of all-American weirdness. And there is a dead body and dark secrets around every corner in Riverdale, but so far that’s about where the similarities stop. (Well, that and the fact that Madchen Amick, who plays Betty’s mom here, was also the waitress who served Special Agent Cooper’s coffee in “Twin Peaks”.) Thankfully, “Riverdale” doesn’t seem to be reaching gratuitious, David Lynch-like levels of oddity just yet.

What it’s actually doing is aiming itself squarely at a teenage audience. Those old comics were really meant for tweens who wanted to be teenagers, or grown folks who wanted to remember fondly how nice it was to have been teenagers. There’s always been the eternal love triangle of Archie-Betty-Veronica, but the classic Archie books were never soapy or overdramatic. That’s changing here - this version of the iconic characters starts with murder most foul, and proceeds onward with divorced parents, prescription drug abuse, and what can even be described as statutory rape. In fact, the less said about the Miss Grundy subplot, the better;  I was relieved to see that IMDb shows her character in only 4 episodes out of 16. But yeah, brace yourself for an honest-to-goodness WB/CW teen drama.

The character I didn’t expect to love at the end of this first hour, but absolutely do, is Miss Veronica Lodge. I’ve been a firmly #TeamBetty girl for my whole life, on account of it’s more fun to root for underdogs. This version of Ronnie is also an underdog, and nowhere near the pampered, entitled princess readers have gotten for the the better part of 50 years. She’s cultured, and well-read, and smart, and anyone who’s willing to defend a new friend against mean girls is aces with me. Also, I would really like to put an icepick through Cheryl Blossom’s eye. She outdid Regina George in the space of half an hour, and I’ll be a little surprised if there doesn’t end up being a River Vixen “burn book” mentioned sometime soon. 

My only real complaints (aside from the Grundy subplot) are a severe shortage of Jughead, and a Josie that was mean in an unnecessary way. For all that this show reminds me of the best parts of early “Glee”, one of the things I don’t miss are the mean-for-no-reason Cheerios. And Josie honestly sounded like she’d swallowed a nasty little rant from Santana Lopez and unleashed it on Archie for having the nerve to ask her for her thoughts about his songwriting. I hope we’re either given a good reason for her snark, or the writers dial it back a bit. Not gonna lie, I’d also adore to see Sabrina added to the mix too, especially after the way she’s been added to Chip Zdarsky’s excellent “Jughead” run from the past year. All told, I was pleasantly surprised, and dare I say even hooked. I’ll certainly be back next week to see what happens next.