I'll be the first to admit that when Riverdale first entered development that I thought it was bound to be awful. Archie and friends live in the town of Riverdale which has been stuck in the 1950's since it was first published and I wasn't sure how that would translate to screen. Then came the logline, followed by the trailer and then I realized that Riverdale was going to be something special. Unlike the awful in development Charmed reboot at the CW, Riverdale is more than just a name being slapped onto a script to give it recognition. Riverdale really is about Archie and friends, if they were living in 2017 Riverdale. The characters aren't carbon copies of their comic counterparts, there have been updates, but the updates work. Riverdale hails from Greg Berlanti who happens to know a thing or two not just about comic adaptations (Flarrowverse) but also teen dramas (Dawson's Creek, Everwood). Given Berlanti's track record it really shouldn't be a surprise that the adaptation is pretty good. Watching the pilot, I found myself really caring for a couple of key characters in the show and involved in trying to figure out the mystery at the center. Since this just a preview, I'm not going to get too into what happens, for that check back for recaps here after the episode airs, instead I'll just give a quick take what to expect and why my sentiment about the show echos a line said by a character in the show that I've used to title this preview.
Archie, played by K.J Apa(and painfully the weakest link here) lives in small town Riverdale, which was most recently shook when resident mean girl Cheryl Blossom's (Madelaine Petsch)brother Jason was presumed dead after a day on the lake. Archie is unaware of the feelings of his smart, beautiful and overachiever best friend Betty Cooper (Played by the true star of the show Lili Reinhart). While Betty does have feelings for Archie, it's not all she wrestles with as she is trying to please as her mothers' (Madchen Amick) overbearing nature with the idea of living her life the way she wants. Her family has a complicated history with the Blossom clan as well that makes things difficult with Betty and Cheryl, who is captain of the Cheer Squad. Archie is really just trying to live his life the way he wants and not follow his dad's plan for him (played by Luke Perry). Archie just wants to make music like Josie(Ashleigh Murray) and her Pussycats while being able to keep secretly sleeping with his music teacher Miss Grundy(Sarah Habel). Their relationship is something he feels should come to light because it may help shed light on the whole Jason Blossom of it all. Jughead, played by Cole Sprouse, is an aspiring writer and an outsider who has a clearly fractured past with Archie and is also woefully underused in this pilot. Things get really interesting for Archie and Betty when Veronica Lodge (Played brilliantly by Camilla Mendes) comes to town with mother Hermoine (played by Marisol Nichols) as they return to Hermoine's hometown trying to start fresh after her father's scandal broke. Thankfully, Veronica isn't put at odds with Betty and the duo has refreshingly great chemistry that could honestly carry the show as Archie really feels as if he is more of an afterthought when these two are on screen. There's also Kevin Keller, played by Casey Cott, as the resident Wise-Gay-Teen who immediately is BFF's with the fab and formerly wealthy Veronica and has caught the eyes of a Down-Low classmate and who kind of parallels Damien in Mean Girls.
Of course, you can probably convey from that this little fact; everything in Riverdale is not as it seems and secrets will start to come out and new ones will arise that need to be kept.There's most certainly a lot going on in this small town and I'm sure things are only going to get crazier. The best part is that it's only sophomore year for these characters, so should Riverdale be a hit we've got plenty of time for the show to delve deep into the crazy before hitting the eventual death spiral for teen dramas that is college. The show has a pretty solid mystery at its core and definitely delivers some minor twists within the first hour, but it also lays the foundation for several different story lines to be explored later and each one seems pretty believable for a place that appears as quaint and perfect as Riverdale seems on the surface.
What it's like: Right off the bat, I couldn't help but feel like someone meshed together bits of a lot of teen dramas in a pot and slapped the Riverdale location and characters into it. That isn't a bad thing though. It has shades of Veronica Mars, Dawson's Creek, Pretty Little Liars and Hidden Palms. The show does a good job of giving Riverdale a face lift. It feels like like the Riverdale of comics lore, if Riverdale was slowly, but surely marching into this millennium. I couldn't help but think of the scene from Dawson's creek, where Jen Lindley arrives in town, walking out of the cab and into Dawson's view causing him to not even see Joey standing right in front of him during a particular moment of the pilot where Archie lays eyes on Veronica for the first time. There are plenty of winks to the comics if you look close enough and some are just right out in your face. The way the show is shot and the color scheme really help provide an eerie tone to the show that really helps add to the whole this-town-is-not-what-it-seems vibe. The plots of the first episode are pretty standard and it's not much to hint about because they mostly serve the purpose of letting us get to the know the characters, and in that it succeeds. There's a dance, multiple identity issues, unrequited love and in my opinion some unnecessary baiting. If there weren't characters aside from Archie (Mainly Betty and Veronica) who weren't so interesting to sustain the show outside of the mystery, I may have tuned out. For me, the biggest draw back is that characters like Cheryl, Josie, Moose, Kevin and Archie fall into these stereotypical voids that make me unsure whether I should cry for them or simply ignore them. With that being said though, the hour definitely flies by and it leaves enough of an imprint that you can't help but want to see what's next, especially given what comes drifting in during the closing moments of the pilot.
Riverdale was never going to be a by-the-book adaptation of 'Archie and Friends' and if that's what you were looking for, then this won't be the show for you. If you look at this show as an updated and decidedly loose adaptation of the characters of Riverdale and if you like a nice sudsy, steamy teen soap and/or a good mystery series then this edgy and darker update of Riverdale is the show for you. Sure, the show has its faults that can be a bit annoying at times, but nonetheless it's still entertaining. Some of the characters are so extremely stereotyped that it does nothing but induce an eye roll from the viewer, but on the other hand the show has a way of drawing you in with its breadcrumbs that you can forgive that misstep. Honestly, I could've cared less about what was happening in the pilot with the whole quadrangle thing (and the ickiness that comes with) or the murder mystery because I was more interested in what the pilot hinted to but didn't say with the backstories of many of the characters. I get the mystery is supposed to be the huge draw and the pilot is peppered with some nice flashbacks and dialogue that reveal what you think is something that's probably next to nothing, but what gets me is how nuanced some of the actors play their characters, giving you so little and leaving you wanting more. I haven't really cared about teen drama characters like this in a long time. Honestly, if I had to pick one reason I'm really excited to watch Riverdale, I'd say it's because the actresses who play Betty and Veronica in particular are amazing and almost make me wish they were the main focus of this show and not Archie. There is so much more that these two don't say with words that the actresses are able to convey that one could see how it would be hard for anyone to choose between them. The runner-up reason as to why you should watch is that visually, the show does such a good job of presenting the town and characters of Riverdale, so that it is entirely believable that in this town there's a lot of tangled backstory and secrets that lay hidden while the small town slowly manages to catch up with modern times. In short, while some supporting characters need an overhaul, Riverdale's characters are equally as developed and loads more compelling as the mystery at it's core and it should make for one really good addition to the CW lineup.
B
The Pilot Episode of Riverdale entitled Chapter One: The River's Edge airs Thursday, January 26th on The CW following Supernatural.
Will you be checking out Riverdale? Sound off below!
About the Author - Winston Mize
I always have the most trouble coming up with a blurb to describe me. Which is really weird for someone who wants to make a career out of writing. If you think I'm awkward online, it's just because you haven't met me in person. I'd like to think I have other interests outside of TV, and maybe I do, but TV is the one that gets me most excited. I live a pretty boring life so TV's the way I get my fix, and I'd love to chat about it with you. I'm also always looking to guest or start my own podcast, so if you've got the opportunity, I'm in there like swimwear. You can check me out with different previews of various shows or read my reviews of iZombie, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and Legends Of Tomorrow here on the site. If you're a fan on One Tree Hill you can check out my podcast about as well by checking out our twitter page @OnlyOthPod.
