Staff Writer: Eve Ergler

SPOILER WARNING FOR RIVERDALE

Riverdale (2017) has been noted as one of the worst TV shows in recent years because of the way the storyline is written, however the writers of the show make this intentionally self-aware.

Riverdale follows the story of Archie and his friends Betty, Veronica, and Jughead which is based off the comic book franchise Archie Comics. The storyline begins in a quiet town known as Riverdale when Jason Blossom goes missing and is later found murdered. This sparks suspicion as to who done it throughout the show, and after the murder is solved more tension is created that sets the audience up for a second season.

Image source: https://grande-caps.livejournal.com/2173550.html

The show goes on to solve more mysteries in the town of Riverdale, which results in more questionable plot lines all throughout the 6 seasons. This is where Riverdale gets a bad rep because of the plotlines the writers put in; however, this is all intentional since the comics also have storylines that are insane.

Image source: https://www.spoilertv.com/2017/11/riverdale-episode-214-title-revealed.html

The comics have crazy plot lines the same with the show, and an example of this is Jughead’s Time Police. Jughead gets banned from competing in his town’s Bake-Off all because he created the most horrendous pie by accident, so he builds a time machine to fix his mistakes. While trying to resolve the mess that he created, Jughead messes up the timelines to the point where all the Jugheads in different plotlines of the comics start showing up into his timeline.  There are plenty of other Archie Comics that have these wild plot lines such as Afterlife with Archie where there is a zombie apocalypse happening in the town of Riverdale.  There are plenty more comic plotlines in the Archie universe that prove to the audience that Riverdale has intentionally crazy storylines, which just proves that the writers of the show are self-aware of what they are writing.

Image source: https://www.seventeen.com/celebrity/movies-tv/a38529034/cole-sprouse-100th-episode-riverdale/

Riverdale recently reached their 100-episode milestone, and to celebrate they released for season 6 episode 5 The Jughead Paradox which shows the two universes of Riverdale and Rivervale colliding into one another. This results in characters coming back from the dead as well as having the former actor who played the character Reggie come back. To fix this, the two Jugheads must decide which of them gets to be the narrator while the other is the character in the story.  This episode is similar to Jughead’s Time Police since both deal with the issue of overlapping timelines that needs to be resolved, which is why Riverdale is intentionally insane since the comics and the show have similar plot.

Image source: https://www.elitedaily.com/p/watch-veronica-sing-jailhouse-rock-to-imprisoned-archie-in-a-new-riverdale-scene-12586800

Riverdale has received its share of hate over the years, however after knowing that Archie Comics has similarities to the show, it should be better understood that the writers are aware of what they are doing. The insanity of Riverdale makes it enjoyable to watch, since the writers throw curveballs at its audience anytime an episode premieres. The show isn’t predictable like other TV shows today, but it doesn’t have to because that is what makes it entertaining.  With more episodes of season 6 coming out, we can only hope the show continues to surprise its audience with the insanity of its storyline.

Featured Image source: https://www.express.co.uk/showbiz/tv-radio/1269044/Riverdale-season-1-mistake-error-Veronica-Camila-Mendes-The-CW-Netflix-video