When RIVERDALE premiered in January of 2017, longtime fans of the comic were thrilled to finally see the characters they grew up loving portrayed on the screen.
Boy…were they in for a shock!
This is certainly NOT your or your father’s Archie, betty, veronica, and Jughead. This was a dark, gritty, and often steamy look at Riverdale and those classic characters. It was equal parts CW teen drama and TWIN PEAKS, complete with murders, infidelity, time shifts, witches, warlocks and enough movie and pop culture references to make peoples’ heads explodes.
To be honest, I watched the first two seasons religiously when they aired and absolutely loved it from Episode One. But, as with many shows and things to watch, I fell behind and not only lost interest but got away from the show. Recently, I binged all seven seasons…all 137 episodes. What follows is a full review/synopsis of those seven seasons, so obviously there will be MAJOR SPOILERS. You have been warned.
In the show’s premiere episode, we meet the cast of characters including Archie Andrews (KJ Apa), his father Fred (Luke Perry), girl next door Betty Cooper (Lili Reinhart) and her parents, Reggie Mantle (Ross Butler), Cheryl Blossom (Madelaine Petsch), her brother Jason (Trevor Stines) and their parents, Kevin Keller (Casey Cott) and his father, the sheriff (Martin Cummins), along with Jughead Jones (Cole Sprouse), who acts as the series’ narrator. Also introduced is the new girl in town, Veronica Lodge (Camila Mendes), and her mother Hermoine (Marisol Nichols), who have moved here from New York while her father Hiram (Mark Consuelos) is jailed as he awaits a trial on embezzling charges. The town is reeling from the alleged drowning death of Jason. As we learn, Archie, who wants a career in music, is having an affair with his music teacher Miss Grundy (Sarah Habel). On Fourth of July, the pair were having a rendezvous when a shot rings out: a shot heard by Kevin, who is having a romantic rendezvous with Moose Mason (Cody Kearsley). As the season progresses, Jason’s body is found with a bullet hole between his eyes. Cheryl later is arrested for her brother’s murder, as it is revealed that he was murdered a week after the Fourth of July.
Cheryl admits to her parents that Jason wanted to run away and she helped him fake his death, but did not murder him. Her parents throw blame on Betty’s sister Polly (Tiera Skovbye). Archie and Miss Grundy’s secret affair is in danger of coming to light while Veronica finds herself “slut shamed” by star football player Chuck Clayton, leading to Veronica and Betty drugging and torturing him, revealing Betty’s dark side, which will play out over the next few seasons. The girls investigate Miss Grundy and, after breaking into her car, find out that Miss Grundy isn’t how she says she is, and the real Miss Grundy died seven years ago. Plus, they find a gun in her car. She reveals that she took an alias to escaper an abusive relationship and, with their secret poised to come, she leaves town.
Jughead finds that his beloved drive-in, where he not only enjoys the world of film but also lives, is being sold and will be torn down. Later, Veronica sees her mother meeting with a member of the notorious Serpent biker gang. As it turns out, the gang leader is Jughead’s father (Skeet Ulrich) Because Cheryl had helped her brother run away, her parents ban her from speaking at his memorial service. During a search of the Blossom home while everyone was at the memorial service, Betty meets Cheryl’s grandmother(Barbara Wallace) who reveals Jason and Polly were engaged. Archie, concentrating on music, turns down the opportunity to be the captain of the football team, but also enlists the assistance of Valerie(Hayley Law), from the band Josie and the Pussycats, to help him prepare for his debut at the school’s annual variety show.
Betty and Jughead continue to investigate Jason’s death and that leads them to the Sisters of Quiet Mercy: a home for “wayward girls” where Polly had been sent. There, they discover that Polly is unaware of Jason’s death and is seven months pregnant. Betty and Jughead become closer and kiss. But they also discover a car in the woods, filled with drugs and Jason’s belongings. They contact the police but the car is torches, destroying all evidence. At the same time, Polly escapes from the Sisters of Quiet Mercy, leading to a town wide search for her. Polly turns up at the Cooper home and Betty hides her until the Lodges offer to take her in. Meanwhile, Jughead’s father, F.P., is offered a job at the Andrews family construction business. It is revealed that F.P. and Fred were partners until Fred fired him because of F.P.’s abusing drugs and alcohol. Jughead gets arrested on suspicion of Jason’s murder but Fred provides an alibi for him. Unbeknownst to him, F.P. has Jason’s jacket in his trailer.
Polly meets with Sherriff Keller, telling him Jason was doing drug deliveries for The Serpents to earn enough money so they could both flee town. Fred’s crew walks off their job to go work for Clifford Blossom (Barclay Hope), but Archie and his pals dig in to help, as does F.P. and some of the Serpents. Later, much of the construction equipment is vandalized and it is revealed that Hiram Lodge was responsible for it. With the Coopers and the Blossoms fighting to see where Polly should live, it is revealed that Hal Cooper (Lochlyn Munro) wanted Polly to get an abortion, leading to his being thrown out of the Cooper house and Polly deciding to live with the Blossoms; all part of a ruse to investigate Jason’s death.
The Blossoms, the richest family in town, owes their fortune to their maple syrup business. At their annual tree tapping ceremony, Cheryl asks Archie to be her escort and her parents dangle an offer to an exclusive music school to sweeten his interest, even though he is torn between Betty and Veronica. At the same time, another classmate, Ethel Muggs (Shannon Purser), is revealed to be the daughter of one of those investors that Hiram fleeced and that her father has attempted suicide. Alice Cooper (Madchen Amick)…yes…that is her name…decides to publish an expose on the Blossoms, but her husband, who runs the town newspaper, rebukes her and that leads to Betty and Jughead offering to publish the expose in the school newspaper. With Fred heading out of town to finalize his divorce from his wife Mary(Molly Ringwald), a birthday party is held for Jughead The party goes badly when Cheryl shows up with Chuck and others, leading to F.P. and Alice to break things up, revealing how she had been a Serpent. When Fred returns home, Mary is with him, as the pair has reconciled.
F.P. comes under suspicion and is arrested for Jason’s murder. As F.P. confesses to everything, Jughead seeks to move in with his mother, but she turns him down. Betty and Alice discovers Hal destroying what is the family secret. That the Coopers and Blossoms are related by blood, which would make Polly and Jason’s relationship incest. In an effort to exonerate F.P., Jughead asks Serpent Joaquin to help him investigate some of the Serpents and they find one of them dead by an apparent drug overdose. They call the police, who discover a bag with Heroine’s initials on it. The bag is filled with cash. Despite that, Kevin gives Betty and Jughead a lead and they search Jason’s jacket, where they find a thumb drive. The gang reviews the contents on the drive and discover that Clifford Blossom murdered his son. As Hiram is released from jail and Mary returns back to Chicago, the police go to visit Clifford, only to find he has hanged himself.
Clifford was a drug lord and Jason found out about it, leading to his father murdering him to cover up and protect the business. Even though he has been cleared of all charges, F.P. remains in jail. Alice confesses to Betty how she got pregnant in high school and was taken to the Sisters of Quiet Mercy, where she was forced to give up a child who would be Betty’s brother. With his father in jail, Jughead is given to a foster family and forced to now go to Southside High, where life is not like it is at Riverdale High. Cheryl is devastated by the reveal of her father’s secrets and his suicide, causing her to attempt to drown herself in the same river where Jason’s body was found. Archie saves her, but injures his guitar playing hand in the process. Cheryl burns down the family mansion with her and her mother Penelope(Nathalie Boltt) inside. Jughead is visited by the Southside Serpents and they invite him to join them, which he agrees to, much to betty’s dismay.
End Season One.
The first season is a wild one but nothing compared to the seasons that came after. It was filled with mystery and intrigued sex…lots of sex by a bunch of young teenagers, murder, and, I said before, tons of pop culture references. Many of the episode titles are riffs on or actual famous works of film and fiction. Included are such titles as ANATOMY OF A MURDER, THE LOST WEEKEND, HEART OF DARKNESS, FASTER PUSSCATS! KILL! KILL! among others. Early on in the season, there is an episode called THE LAST PICTURE SHOW, where REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE is being screened. One of the coolest is while F.P. is in prison and his inmate number is 24601: the same inmate number as Jean Valjean in the film LES MSERABLES. If you know anything about the classic tale, that inmate number fits. Overall, there are just way too many to discuss, from Beyonce to IN COLD BLOOD to MAD MEN and beyond.
Yeah, it’s a wild ride needing multiple viewings.
But again, this is only Season One: thirteen crazy episodes that just put down the road for the remainder of the series, with Season Two expanded to a full 22 episodes..
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