Riverdale 1x01 'Chapter One: The River's Edge' TV TALK

I relented. There has been so much hype around this series and so, I naturally found myself edging away from it because I don't want to be in the mainstream movement of what everyone's obsessed with. But my mum started watching it, then my brother, and then I just felt left out.
Riverdale follows a group of students within this town after a recent murder has just occurred. It's full of mystery, secrets and very stereotypical characters. I will admit that this episode was kinda cliché, corny and hecka cheesy but... it works. For me at least. The cheesiness levels of it reminded me of shows like the Vampire Diaries and Teen Wolf so, for me, it was more amusing and entertaining rather than irritating.
I feel a little conflicted with all the characters- I don't necessarily love any of them yet because they were all a little two-faced and secretive. Which... may be the whole point of this show but still. I really enjoyed the first episode- so much happened!- and I'm excited to see where the story goes.

To overview the very cliché but entertaining character stereotypes, we have:
the attractive-jock-musician-popular-dude, the bitchy-queen-bee-head-cheerleader, the new-rich-kid-with-attitude, the golden-girl-who's-pining-over-guys, the loner-guy-who-writes and, finally the -gay-best-friend. What else do you even need for a successful show?

SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD
Starting with characters, I'll say that Betty and Kevin are the ones I solidly liked. I had issues with everyone else but these two seemed very genuine and their friendship was sweet.
At the beginning, I thought Veronica was very much a stuck-up snob but that gradually changed throughout the episode, I think. I began to like her more- her confidence and how she wanted to be a better person. I also liked her growing friendship with Betty.... until she ended up being a total bitch and kissed Archie even when she knew Betty liked him! Girl code! Veronica did have some of the best lines of the episode, though. And I loved the movie references as well.

And then there's Archie. Sure, he's okay, but Gods do I dislike him! He's so fickle and is such a cliché hipster with his unoriginal storyline of choosing between music and sport (have I been transported to High School Musical or A Cinderella Story?). And I hate that he's the attractive, popular kid because, really, he seems to screw people over a lot and lead many people on. He can't make up his mind (Veronica, Betty, Miss Grundy...) and he just seems so self-obsessed. He doesn't consider how anyone else is feeling because he's got his head stuck up his own ass the entire time!
Rant over! (But I really do hope his character grows and develops through the series- into a decent human being, at least).

We find out that Archie had an affair over the summer with Miss Grundy (aka Geraldine) but he still pushes himself on her and practically blackmails her into doing private music sessions with him in the mornings... and they say romance is dead.
Meanwhile, Veronica and Betty become cheerleaders and that kiss... almost makes me ship them though I think it's unlikely they'll be endgame. We also get to spend time with the cliché character of Cheryl- the Queen Bee who's the head of the cheerleader squad.
After Betty runs out of the after party because of Archie and Veronica's brainless decision to let their hormones run their lives and kiss in the closet, Archie goes out to look for her and finds Jughead instead. There's an implied history between them- some kind of friends-gone-wrong thing that I'm sure will crop up in future episodes.
And finally we have the discovery of Jason- Cheryl's brother's- body. We learn that he was shot but it was already kinda obvious since Archie and Geraldine had heard a gunshot when they were having sexy time and ruining her career.
I will say that the episode was super entertaining and there was a lot of funny dialogue that had me laughing out loud. I'm really excited to see where the season goes but I can't promise that my cynical opinions on these characters will change... we'll see.

Thanks for reading! Feel free to comment your thoughts. Stay amazing!
Chloe