Riverdale season two is here. And I don’t know what to think of it.
Caution: This article contains spoilers from some or all Riverdale season one episodes and season two, episode one. If you want to explore the show free of spoilers, turn back now.
As a collector of the original comics, enjoying this show is hard for me, personally. Although the casting is pretty good, it’s hard for me to believe that Archie and his crew are only sophomores. While the character designs and names don’t stray far from the comics, the Riverdale character personalities don’t quite match up well. For example, Archie is a klutz who can barely make the JV football team in the Archie comics. In Riverdale, he’s the star of the varsity squad as a sophomore, taking Jason Blossom’s old number.
Putting aside my doubts, I found the season premiere to be intriguing. It starts out with Jughead monologuing about the events that have taken place in the town, mirroring how season one began. After this, the plot continues right where it left off, with Fred Andrews getting rushed to the hospital after being shot by a masked murderer. While he’s in the intensive care unit, Fred has recurring dreams about Archie’s future and being injured by the masked man’s gun each time. As soon as Archie’s pals hear the news, they rush over to the hospital to see how the Andrews’ are doing. With precise camera angles, the film crew pieced together some good shots (no pun intended).
The opening title remains the same, which I was a little disappointed about. Without a full opening theme like The Walking Dead, the title sequence seems a bit generic having gone unchanged. I’ve noticed a recurring theme of family on the CW, with shows like Supernatural and Dynasty. Riverdale has its own family dynasties, what with the Blossoms, Lodges, Andrews, and Coopers. A Blossom can’t marry a Cooper, a Lodge has to keep up appearances, and Archie is supposed to inherit Fred’s construction company.
Disregarding the minute details and things to nitpick about, I like that the writers chose to portray Jughead as an intellectual. Although he is a member of the Southside Serpents, he doesn’t resort to thuggish violence. He speculates that the robbery at Pop’s Chocklit shop wasn’t a robbery at all; rather, it was a hit on Fred himself. It’s revealed later that Jughead is right when Pop says no money was taken from the cash register. It would have been nice if Jughead was more like his original character in the romantic sense (Jughead is supposed to be asexual, btdubs), but I guess you can’t have everything.
In the hospital, there is a stark contrast between Archie’s interrogation with Sheriff Keller and the conversation between Betty and Veronica in the waiting area. This juxtaposition shows how the assault on Fred Andrews changed Archie and Jughead as well as Veronica and Betty. During one of Fred’s dreams and reinforced in a later scene, it’s shown that Archie is becoming more like his father. He’s gaining a stubbornness and hard attitude, trying not to let his guard down. After he finally decides to go home and get cleaned up with Veronica, the pair take Vegas on a walk by the lake Jason was found in.
When the two get home, Archie decides to take a soothing shower. With eye candy for the viewers, Archie washes off his father’s blood and watches it go down the drain, just like in Psycho. Veronica decides to join him, and they form a bond. After the shower, she notices that Fred’s wallet is missing, and Archie gets upset and tells her to leave. She stays, knowing that she could prevent him from doing anything drastic out of spite or grief. At the hospital, Kevin and Betty gossip about Jughead and how her relationship is going. Jughead asks around about who could’ve been the culprit in the Chock’lit Shoppe shooting.
Cheryl’s mother is wheeled into the hospital with severe burns from the mansion fire. This could’ve been a dark homage to one of Veronica’s quotes, where she says she’s ice to combat Cheryl’s fire. Meanwhile, Archie goes to the police lineup to see if anyone there was guilty of shooting his father. The man was there, and Archie shows some internal conflict during this scene. Back at the hospital, Hermione Lodge sneaks in to visit Fred, despite Hiram returning home soon. During the chapel scene with the Lodge girls, Hermione shows how dangerous she can be. The red lights used give this scene a particular sense of underlying danger, although nothing quite bad occurs.
The football team and the Pussycats show up at the hospital to comfort Archie and his dad. In Fred’s dreams, there’s a recurring theme of the diner bell ringing. When the Jughead and Betty show up to Pop’s, they learn that no money was taken, just a hit on Fred’s life. Here, they converse about how Jug’s life as a Serpent is affecting their relationship, much like in Bonnie and Clyde. Fred finally wakes up after a montage of Archie’s life moments in dreams. Archie shows guilt that he waited for the shooter to leave, but doesn’t tell Sheriff Keller about it.
Hiram Lodge comes back to the Lodge residence, looking a lot younger than I expected. Veronica throws shade at her mom for visiting Fred in the hospital, right in front of Hiram. “Mrs. Grundy” strikes again, enticing another adolescent into a relationship. The gunman from Pop’s murders her, or at least strangles her badly. The episode cuts off there, leaving a massive cliffhanger.
