Content warning: This article references murder and suicide.
This article contains spoilers for "Riverdale," Seasons 1–4.
Jan. 26, 2017, a little more than four years ago, was a monumental day. It was on that day that the iconic characters Betty, Archie, Jughead and Veronica were brought to TV format on the CW television series "Riverdale" (2017–). Based (loosely) on the Archie Comics from the 1940s, the series follows the story of the four high school best friends as they move through a storyline of steamy romance, murder, mystery and melodrama.
When Season 1 concluded, the show appeared to be an average, albeit a little trashy, teenage romance-mystery series. And then Season 2 dropped in the fall of 2017 and the world of television was shaken to its core.
Suddenly, the previously questionable dialogue was nonsensical and melodramatic to an extent this author had never witnessed before. What was supposed to be a season surrounding the serial killer, the Black Hood, was also characterized by a gang war that culminates in Betty performing a striptease to become part of the Southside Serpents and a literal drag race between the two gangs — the Ghoulies and the Southside Serpents — that’s something straight out of "Grease" (1978). Archie created a vigilante group known as the Red Circle to stop the Black Hood and later begins to work for his girlfriend Veronica’s previously absent mob boss of a father, whose epic evil plan is to create a private prison in Riverdale. And then Archie decides he hates Veronica’s father and threatens to reveal his criminal activities (including murder) to the authorities. None of it made much sense, to be frank.
But it was amazing. No show has ever created comedy — willingly or, in the case of "Riverdale," unwillingly — of the type demonstrated here. It is genuinely hilarious. Sitting and watching "Riverdale” with a group of friends on Teleparty became the perfect quarantine activity since the show’s wacky plot, and even weirder characters, seemed to be the only thing more insane than 2020.
However, it was in Season 3 that the show turned from weird to insane, and became cemented as a fan-favorite for its madness. The audience is expected to believe that there is a supernatural-esque villain known as the Gargoyle King, a figment of a widely popular board game called "Griffins and Gargoyles" that is encouraging the ritualistic suicides of kids in Riverdale. It was all very confusing, but immensely entertaining. Additionally, there is a massive Riverdale conspiracy (as there always seems to be) that the ever-brilliant Betty and Jughead are intent on solving. Season 3 also saw Archie imprisoned, essentially because of Veronica’s father, for admitting to a murder he did not commit. In response to a juvie inmate who said he had been selling drugs for his Nana since he was in fourth grade, Season 3’s Archie birthed the now-infamous line, “that means you haven't known the triumphs and defeats, the epic highs and lows of high school football.”
But, more importantly, Season 3 saw The Farm become a major, cryptic plot point as Betty becomes dedicated to liberating the obsessed Farm devotees. The Farm seemed like some crazy mind-control experiment, and yet, in one of the last episodes of the season, the Farm is revealed to be an underground organ-harvesting business. Apparently, the cult’s founders Edgar Evernever and his wife Evelyn (who pretends to be his daughter so she can attend high school and recruit people for the Farm) are stealing devotee’s organs and selling them. This was undoubtedly one of the best subplots of the entire series, one which resolved itself rather abruptly in the first few episodes of Season 4, in which Betty’s mom kills Edgar as he tries to escape on a homemade rocket which he and his cult followers built in their time sequestered in an abandoned motel.
Season 4 came out in 2020 and notably featured a scene in which a teacher at Jughead’s new prep school jumped out a window with no context and hardly any explanation, among other wild, ridiculous plot points including side-character Cheryl keeping her dead brother’s corpse in her basement so she can talk to him.
With Season 5 currently releasing episodes every week on the CW, there is so much more about "Riverdale" to discuss, from the botched musical sequences to the numerous plot holes.
And yet, there is only one thing left for this writer to say: watch "Riverdale." Do it. It is genuinely one of the funniest shows on Netflix and has something in it for everyone. If you’re bored some night this week, gather your friends and hunker down to start binging a show you will never forget.
