Riverdale [The CW] ***Spoilers***

Also Starring LeVar Burton

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMcrvok-7r0

Really enjoyed the pilot episode - a lot of set up, but there's definitely loads of potential.

I'm not really familiar with the Archie series (although I've heard many many references to a lot of the characters in other shows and films over the years), so I'm sure plenty of references went over my head in the pilot, but I loved the timeless feel to the town itself.

It's essentially everything the advertisements have been claiming it to be Twin Peaks meets Gossip Girl/The OC with characters that have been around for 80 years in comic book form.

Lili Reinhart as Betty is easily the standout cast member and character for me at the moment, just judging from that first 45 minutes, and then obviously with the likes of Madchen Amick and Luke Perry in there, the performances from the older cast members are gonna be solid.

Overall I liked it and will be tuning in for episode 2 again next week.

As an FYI, Netflix UK & Ireland are uploading the episodes weekly as they go out.

CastorTroy

They weren't kidding when they said it was like Twin Peaks meets Gossip Girl meets Dawson's Creek. Archie having a best friend and not noticing her but instead wanting the new girl. Though he's also the Pacey part as well with the teacher.
Half expected a phone call at the beginning saying "He's dead. Wrapped in plastic"

Haven't read Archie, but always looked to be like it'd be pretty boring and a nice American small town.

I think it's going to be good.

Lirange

Aware of, but never really read the comics. Having said that I've always admired the look and quaint iconography

And I think most people are familiar with this character from the Archie comics.

Saw the pilot. It wasn't too bad. The main leads were all, if not interesting yet, at least not annoying. Cheryl, probably the obvious main suspect, is a bit of a caricature though (for now). Going to temper my expectations on the writing given the network. It may have some potential with the direction they're taking it.

Agent Coulson

I have to say I enjoyed that.

CastorTroy

So the all important question that I believe has plagued Archie and his fans over the year: Betty or Veronica?

Lirange

CastorTroy wrote: »

So the all important question that I believe has plagued Archie and his fans over the year: Betty or Veronica?

Agent Coulson

Should have just moved to Utah for a bit of polygamy.

CastorTroy

And we saw that Veronica likes Betty. Dunno what Cheryl was on about people not wanting to see it

gryfothegreat

Watched this mostly to hate watch it (and also because I used to read Archie comics when I was younger because they were all available free online) but here I am three hours later wishing I had more episodes...

I really like the look of it - the bright colours give it that unrealistic comic book feel (which other CW comics shows unfortunately lack) and the lighting in particular feels very Daredevil-ish. The writing is clunky (everything Cheryl said made me snort) but in future with less exposition to do it might improve.

The actors are decent and are willing to emote which is usually a problem with the pretty ones, and this crop are. I'm very excited for Cole Sprouse - Suite Life was a great show back in the day. Also of note is that the guy playing Archie is 19 - my age. If that's what 19 is supposed to look like I've gone very wrong somewhere along the line. This also means that he was 18 when he filmed the Ms Grundy scenes, which really does not sit well with me.

764dak

Why doesn't Archie and Jughead hang out more?

764dak

764dak wrote: »

Why doesn't Archie and Jughead hang out more?

Yay, they're friends again.

CastorTroy

So Cheryl and Jason planned on him hiding to get some sort of publicity, but he got taken and killed.
Though if he wasn't killed til a week later, which gunshot did Archie and hot teacher hear?

Probably wasn't the best idea to put the only redhead player in the exact same number.
And how nice of Veronica to spend all that money on gifts for Betty while her mom has to get a job at Pop's.

Lirange

Wow Betty. Neurotic much? :P

She's got it all bottled up. When it finally uncorks take cover! My inner armchair psychologist wonders if she might have borderline personality disorder.

Liked that we got more of Jughead. He's the most relatable male character. Archie is swell we all know but being the jammy bastard in the centre of such a triangle is sadly a non-starter for the likes of me so. Oh not to mention shackin up with teacher. Right then. Though I do like Archie's relationship with his Dad. Have no damn clues or theories as to who shot Cheryl's brother though I doubt it will be a main character.

LLMMLL

I want.to like this show as I do like teen dramas and I like a good mystery but this is very weak. Seems to have absolutely nothing to do with the comics (not that that bothers me I've never read them).

I don't like it's fake daringness especially with the gay best friend cliche character.

764dak

Melody should have been super hot like in the comics.

Also Starring LeVar Burton

Although it's very much a Teen Drama By The Numbers, three episodes in and I'm very invested in these characters and want to see Riverdale get a second season announcement ASAP. It's got that feeling of being both familiar and fresh at the same time, but mostly the reason I'm enjoying it is interesting characters - at the moment Betty, Veronica and Jughead are the MVPs for me.

CastorTroy

Yeah, um, wow. I'm off for a cold shower....

Was a good episode. Jughead does like teasing the whole "It was just the beginning of their problems" type line.

And Barb lives!

LLMMLL

Found it very meh again this week. Characters are cartoonish. Even more than usual for a teen drama. So the ridiculously nasty jock is going to turn down a chance to date/go further with a stunning girl just so he can humiliate her? Betty decides to revive the school paper and get jughead to be some kind of investigative reporter because she heard he was writing a book? It's all fairly lazy. And there gay character is an incredible chore.

Nervous Wreck

This is my new favourite show.

764dak

I despise Alice Cooper.  She went through all of that to paint Archie as bad.  Hiram and Hermione seem so sinister.  Jughead has a messed up life.

Also Starring LeVar Burton

Holy Plot Twist Batman! Did not see that one coming. Also it took me far too long to recognise Skeet Ulrich - don't think I've seen him in anything since Jericho.

Agent Coulson

Even when it all came out at the end of the episode that Archie was sleeping with the music teacher Archie still called her Miss Grundy when she was leaving the room.


I think myself if you have been sleeping with someone for a few months you can call them by their first name.

CastorTroy

Maybe it was part of the thrill for him.

A great idea would be to not write anything incriminating in a diary.

Don't think I would recognise Skeet Ulrich if his name wasn't in the credits.

Had to laugh at the fact the sheriff would prefer his son to go with a gay kid instead of the hot girl.

FunLover18

CastorTroy wrote:

Had to laugh at the fact the sheriff would prefer his son to go with a gay kid instead of the hot girl.

But his son's gay ...

Have to say I'm intrigued by the mystery but getting really tired of the melodrama and bitchiness of it all that could all be solved by characters actually having a conversation. Never liked the contrived drama for drama's sake style of writing.

CastorTroy

I know he's gay. Was more at the fact that his dad is so openly accepting that fact as opposed to trying to convince him he isn't, as is known to happen in small towns on some shows.

Did anyone think to ask Ms Grundy how she got a job at the school with no history? If I was a parent, that would probably concern me.

FunLover18

CastorTroy wrote:

I know he's gay. Was more at the fact that his dad is so openly accepting that fact as opposed to trying to convince him he isn't, as is known to happen in small towns on some shows.

I think this may have been the angle a few years ago, I think it's nice to see a parent of gay character be accepting and even encouraging of their sons sexuality. On the other hand I'm disappointed that they're going to go down the forbidden love angle with the biker kid.

Gabba Gabba Hey

Great show. Hooked since episode one.

Really like those sinister undertones in the seemingly wholesome little town.

I wonder if Ms. Grundy (or Jennifer) will come back into...

Perhaps she lured Archie to the woods as an alibi...

Agent Coulson

Betty looks so much like Melissa Benoist as Kara in Supergirl all she is missing is glasses.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

I didn't realise there was a thread for this show, I've been watching since the pilot.

I'm still not 100% sure how I feel about it, to be honest.

I don't think you can take it too seriously, it reminds me a little of Moody's Point, the fake teen soap opera they used to have on Amanda Bynes' show on Nickelodeon. (youtube it, it's great)

The Jason Blossom story is interesting enough but I find myself getting bored when the focus switches to Archie and his music/football.

I was full sure Cheryl and Jason were twincesting but the last episode makes it seem like nope, she's just super lonely and Jason was the only one who was nice to her. As Trump would say, SAD!

At the moment I'm treating this like a guilty pleasure show. It's cheesy and at times completely stupid/ridiculous but I still look forward to each new episode.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Agent Coulson wrote: »

Betty looks so much like Melissa Benoist as Kara in Supergirl all she is missing is glasses.

I thought her more like a young Romola Garai, especially around the mouth.

She's definitely the standout as far as the younger cast go though.

RockSalto

It's totally cheesy and we've seen these kinds of characters before, but I find it fun and I enjoy a mystery.

I thought that was a very good episode. It moves fast too. I feel everything that happened in that episode would've happened over a couple of episodes in some others shows.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

johnnythunders wrote: »

I thought that was a very good episode. It moves fast too. I feel everything that happened in that episode would've happened over a couple of episodes in some others shows.

I was wondering about the time myself. I was thinking how bloody long are they keeping Jason's body above ground for? He's been dead since July and he was found the first week of school, which was 5 episodes ago, but now it seems that maybe everything we've seen so far has been happening in a matter of days rather than weeks.

RockSalto

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

I was wondering about the time myself. I was thinking how bloody long are they keeping Jason's body above ground for? He's been dead since July and he was found the first week of school, which was 5 episodes ago, but now it seems that maybe everything we've seen so far has been happening in a matter of days rather than weeks.

Yeah the very same occurred to me today. The fact it was murder though maybe they had to hold onto the body for autopsy/investigation etc for a while.

So it was probably was more like 3-4 weeks when you think about it:

The whole Archie/Grundy thing, Betty entrapping that football player, the drive-in cinema and the number of times they've met at night at Pop's off the top of my head.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

johnnythunders wrote: »

Yeah the very same occurred to me today. The fact it was murder though maybe they had to hold onto the body for autopsy/investigation etc for a while.

So it was probably was more like 3-4 weeks when you think about it:

The whole Archie/Grundy thing, Betty entrapping that football player, the drive-in cinema and the number of times they've met at night at Pop's off the top of my head.

Yeah, some of the stuff that happens suggests days, other stuff suggests weeks. Probably best not to think too hard about it

LCD

Have come to the conclusion Betty is her sister Polly. Had episode/breakdown as Polly. Split personality now Betty

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

LCD wrote: »

Have come to the conclusion Betty is her sister Polly. Had episode/breakdown as Polly. Split personality now Betty

Possible except for everyone else in town talks about them as two separate people.

RockSalto

LCD wrote: »

Have come to the conclusion Betty is her sister Polly. Had episode/breakdown as Polly. Split personality now Betty

I was thinking that myself after last weeks episode, but as Tickle me Elmo says, it does seem like they're two different people the way the other characters go on.

Might explain why Archie isn't into some as hot as Betty!

Agent Coulson

Well Polly isn't Betty.

I have to say they are doing a great job with the twists and turns and cliffhangers every episode usually shows that try to do this fail big time.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

I find this show infuriating at times.

The tonal difference between certain scenes is just too jarring. I mean, we went from Betty and Polly being pulled apart in the hallway to... I don't even know, something boring about singing or building or something....

I get that it's a teen show and there's a lot of characters to give screen time to but there must have been a good third of that episode given over to singing. The Josie and the Pussy Cats stuff reeks of trying to establish a spin off.

As for Archie and his musical dreams, BORING! It's probably quite realistic for a teenager to decide to dedicate his life to music one summer but not even know who Bob Dylan is, but it's still beyond boring.

I did appreciate the fact that Betty also had no interest in any of Archie's singing problems. Betty/Veronica/Archie is supposed to be the core love triangle, based on the source material, but it seems like they're taking many steps to remove Betty from that situation on the show, which works for me.

Also Starring LeVar Burton

I think Betty & Jughead are a great duo, and despite myself I have been "shipping" them for the past few weeks.

I believe in the comics Jughead is

asexual

, which I think would be interesting to see them possibly explore at some point too.

RockSalto

^Agree with all that.

Yes, definitely need to remove Betty from that side of things - she's a lot more important things going on - her suspicions of her parents involvement in the murder for one so makes sense.

The whole singing thing is so boring. The pussycats suck. And so does Archie. I lost what little respect I had for his musical ambitions when he didn't know who Bob Dylan was!

Anyway, I wonder who set the car on fire...

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

johnnythunders wrote: »

^Agree with all that.

Yes, definitely need to remove Betty from that side of things - she's a lot more important things going on - her suspicions of her parents involvement in the murder for one so makes sense.

I also think Lili Reinhardt is leagues ahead of the rest of the young cast in terms of talent. The terrible dialogue characters like Veronica have doesn't help but anything that keeps Betty away from all that singing nonsense works for me.

FunLover18

Infuriating!! Jughead took a picture on his phone but they decide to trek all the way back to town to get the Sheriff!! :mad:

I'm hate watching it at this stage; the writing is terrible and cliched but I really want to know what the fcuk is going on.

I also heard a rumour about the last episode which has me very curious -

Sabrina Spellman will be making an appearance

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

FunLover18 wrote: »

I also heard a rumour about the last episode which has me very curious -

Sabrina Spellman will be making an appearance

I heard that too. My guess is set up for another spin off.

I don't know that this needs to be spoiler tagged but just in case

She lives in Greendale, which is the other side of the river, the side Jason was supposed to be going to, so I assume she'll be tied into that somehow and it will serve as a backdoor pilot type thing.

FunLover18

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

I heard that too. My guess is set up for another spin off.

I don't know that this needs to be spoiler tagged but just in case

She lives in Greendale, which is the other side of the river, the side Jason was supposed to be going to, so I assume she'll be tied into that somehow and it will serve as a backdoor pilot type thing.

Great community college there

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Just reading some stuff about the last episode and apparently there were a few Betty/Jughead scenes, or bits of scenes, cut from the episode for time.
Not coming from a crazy internet shipper point of view, but just from a storytelling point of view it seems really stupid to cut things that are relevant to the story/characters in an episode that has about 10 minutes of singing. They couldn't have cut a line or two of a song?

Also, I'm sure other characters have scenes cut too but given this episode developed the Betty/Jughead relationship a bit more I would have thought their scenes would be more important than more bloody singing!

CastorTroy

I have to say Veronica fills out her role in the Pussycats well. In fact they would've won the talent show by just having her up there on her own moving to the song. She is very talented. Sorry.

So Betty's parents, the gang and the Blossoms weren't at the talent show. I assume the gang would be the ones to burn a car, though they were at the drive-in. Will see if the drugs were taken first.

What was with Betty looking at the speaker?

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

CastorTroy wrote: »

So Betty's parents, the gang and the Blossoms weren't at the talent show. I assume the gang would be the ones to burn a car, though they were at the drive-in. Will see if the drugs were taken first.

What was with Betty looking at the speaker?

I would guess the biker gang found the car after Jason/Polly put it there and were just using it as a handy place to stash the drugs. Once they realised someone had found it they took the drugs out and torched it. They either didn't realise or didn't care about the connection to Jason's murder.

Betty looking at the speaker was, to me, a way of showing she's moved on from the feelings she had for Archie at the start of the series. She knew he was performing but showed no interest in going, even before they knew about the car. She stopped for a brief listen but that was it.

CastorTroy

Ah right. Didn't realise the music was playing over the speaker. Assumed was just in the hall. Thought the speaker was what caused Betty to go find Polly as if she realised something

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

I have a theory.

I typed out my whole theory there and imidiately dismissed it and a new one came to me.
The guy Betty went on a date with told her Jason was dealing to make money, right? So assuming the biker gang were his suppliers he ripped off a load of their drugs to take with him when he and Polly left, to sell later to support her and the baby. The gang know it was him though and while he's waiting around in the woods for Polly one of them finds him and BOOM he's dead.

That theory doesn't explain why they left the drugs in the car and only torched it when Betty and Jughead found it. Unless they only found Jason in the woods at the time and not the car.

JP Liz V1

Renewed

http://tvline.com/2017/03/07/riverdale-renewed-season-2-the-cw/