Riverdale: You Could Be Watching
Archie, Betty, Veronica, and Jughead...the gang’s all here! Of course, this isn’t the Archie Comics crew we may be used to, for those of you who actually read Archie’s comics growing up--or like me, had a sibling who did. So what works so well that we’re doing an article on this newest comic-book show on the CW, even before dipping a toe into the DCTVU? Well, my friends, that is a very good question.
Before you get out your torches and pitchforks, hear me out: this is a pretty legit comics-to-live-action adaptation of a town half-frozen in the 50s and half in the current era. To the credit of the show, it manages this merging of worlds in a sort of eerie, Stepford-esque fashion, creating an atmosphere of a dark, broken world hidden behind a veneer of pristine civility. Riverdale brings to mind any number of small towns that seemed elysian at first glance but are filled with corruption and discrimination, and as far as how it handles these issues, it’s...mixed. It has only been six episodes at the time of this writing, and the best way to describe it tonally is probably Twin Peaks mixed with Power Rangers 2017--minus the superhero aspects, of course.
The plot seems to combine teen-level intrigue with a murder mystery with the potential to implicate so much of the town in it. For someone like me, that’s all I needed to get into the show, but there are obviously people reluctant to jump in, especially given the source material’s famous triangle between Archie, Betty and Veronica. I’m pleased to report that the way it’s handled thus far is reasonable enough if you’re worried about that sort of thing, but I won’t give spoilers on what exactly that means. As far as the murder mystery, it’s got a few rather juicy aspects to it that seem to be getting brought to the forefront now; generally a show like this goes for around seven episodes before throwing a huge wrench in, which is partially why I waited until episode six to write this.
Possibly the biggest tonal shift has to do with the characters themselves, especially if you’re more used to a bright, shiny portrayal of the town and its inhabitants rather than the more current Riverdale comic titles. In the custom of most modern reboots, the characters are much more “realistic,” which can mean anything from less 2-dimensional to saddled with angst and issues and drug-addicted babies born out of wedlock. Practically all of the main characters have some secret that they’re struggling with. I’ll go on record saying that the characters as conceived in Archie Comics would not be able to support a show for more than a few episodes, whereas adding flaws and human dimensions to them has been a good thing. There have of course been a few disappointing departures--six episodes in and only one mention of burgers from Jughead!--but that’s largely the nature of the beast.
I won’t say that the representation of the various social issues that have cropped up on the show has been absolutely stellar. As with any show that employs racebending as a means to combat the inherent lack of diversity in an older intellectual property--Veronica and all of the Pussycats including Josie are made women of color in the show--there’s a certain risk that Riverdale shows it is willing to take, especially if comments sections around the internet are any indication. We’ve seen issues of racism, sexism, classism, homophobia, and stigmatization of mental illness. But then at the same time the show sometimes opens a discussion about these issues, but will not necessarily delve into them or even properly close them, which can be frustrating for anyone looking for that sort of representation. For example, if Josie is now a black woman, and her mother is the mayor, then the mayor is also a black woman, but thus far this has only been given a token gesture as far as the implications of what her life has been like.
If you like shows that could be considered guilty pleasures, as well as shows that are willing to open discussions about society and the norms of such, Riverdale is definitely the show for you. Even if you don’t see yourself in the description above, I still think there is inherent entertainment value in what I’ve seen so far, so I would recommend it to anyone who needs another comic book show to fill out their stable of shows to watch. This is especially true if you’re looking for something that tells a good story while dialing down the comic-y intensity. There’s a lot of stuff here, and I for one think it’s worth watching.
