“Our story is about a town; a small town and the people who live in the town. From a distance, it presents itself like so many other small towns all over the world…safe, decent, innocent. Get closer though and you start seeing the shadows underneath. The name of our town is ‘Riverdale’.” The quote you just read is from the new popular TV show called, as you may have guessed, Riverdale. The quote is said by a character who goes by the name of Jughead Jones, who joins together with the other characters to solve the mysterious problems that seem to surround their town. The show is based off of the classic Archie Comics, which were created by publisher John L. Goldwater. The comic’s characters set a foundation for the TV show to bring the comic strip to life.
Archie Andrews, Veronica Lodge, Betty Cooper, and Jughead Jones, among many others, are teenagers that attend Riverdale High, but always seem to find themselves in the center of the problem. The show just started releasing season 2 episodes, but viewers see a lot of character development just in season 1. For example, Betty Cooper was always referred to as “The Girl Next Door”, meaning she was expected to be this sweet, innocent person from a nice and well-known family. Throughout season 1 we see her changing into the person she wants to be. She said in the show that she is sick of being called “The Girl Next Door” because she feels she is so much more than that. I can’t give away any spoilers, but Betty definitely goes through some events to help change her to be the way she wants to be seen. Character development is very widely seen in this TV show, which makes it easy for the viewers to be able to watch the characters grow into different personalities, all for the sake of good content.
There are different elements to the show that make it great. For starters, the casting that was done for the show is perfect. You may recognize the actor that plays Jughead Jones – his name is Cole Sprouse, known for his number of movies as a child and for his Disney Channel days. Other well known faces you may see are K.J. Apa, an australian actor that appeared as the teenage character Ethan on A Dog’s Purpose and who plays Archie Andrews on Riverdale, and Luke Perry who plays Fred Andrews, Archie’s father, who played the character Dylan McKay on Beverly Hills, 90210. Among these celebrity faces are some new ones that are making their debut on television, like Madelaine Petsch who plays Cheryl Blossom and Camila Mendes who plays Veronica Lodge. These actors bring the characters to life to create the perfect mesh of mystery and high school love. Along with the cast, special effects like neon background lighting and the small amounts of detail that make all the difference, not to mention the plot twists, bring the Archie Comics to life. It’s the small stuff that counts.
It’s hard not to love Riverdale when every episode is packed full of cliffhangers that leave you picking your jaw up off the floor. It leaves you wanting more, which is exactly what we expect from a TV show like this one. I recommend watching Riverdale because it is a pure, drama-filled mystery machine type of TV show where you find yourself awake at 3AM watching every last minute because you can’t sleep without knowing what happens. Do yourself a favor and become obsessed with this show – I promise you won’t regret it.
*You can watch the first season of Riverdale on Netflix, or try out the CW channel app that releases season 2 episodes each week.