Riverdale Riverdale Season 1 Chapter 1 "The River's Edge" (SPOILERS):

[Kelly]

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As a new school year begins, the town of Riverdale is reeling from the tragic death of high school golden boy Jason Blossom. Archie Andrews (KJ Apa) is still the all-American teen, but the summer’s events made him realize that he wants to pursue a career in music — not follow in his dad Fred’s (Luke Perry) footsteps — despite his forbidden relationship with Riverdale’s young music teacher, Ms. Grundy (guest star Sarah Habel).

 

[Sawyer]

Feel like I've been waiting forever.

 

[terry78]

As a lifelong reader of the comics, I am ready. Obviously it's not a 100% faithful adaptation a la Archie banging Miss Grundy....

But I'm prepared.

 

[Sawyer]

As a lifelong reader of the comics, I am ready. Obviously it's not a 100% faithful adaptation a la Archie banging Miss Grundy....

But I'm prepared.

Considering Arrow, The Flash and Supergirl before it, I'm guessing [blackout]the one Archie's banging is canon Grundy's daughter/niece/granddaughter, rather the show's portrayal of the comic character. Just like the others did with Tommy Merlyn, Eddie Thawne, Winn Schott. Then canon Grundy comes in, most likely after the relationship comes to light and lands younger Grundy in hot water, to make Archie's life hell[/blackout].

 

[TheComicbookKid]

It was okay. None of the kids outshine the others in acting ability.

I wanted something more out of the Pussycats storyline since it steers from the normal teen drama dynamics.

 

[DigificWriter]

I don't know what show other people were watching, but this was awesome. I've seen others online describe the show as a cross between Twin Peaks and Dawson's Creek, but for me, the show is a Noir version of One Tree Hill, which is just brilliant.

Character-wise, I absolutely LOVE Veronica. She's the Brooke of this show (sticking with the OTH comparisons), with Betty as Peyton and Archie as Lucas, and I can't wait to see what happens next with her and this love triangle she's stumbled into.

I also really like Jughead and the fact that he serves as the audience's omniscient surrogate as the Noir mystery aspect of the show slowly unfurls itself. I also really want to know whst happened between him and Archie to tank their friendship.

Jughead and Veronica may have leaped out as the standout characters foir me, but the entire group of characters we've been introduced to each have things about them that are intriguing and interesting, including Cheryl (which is surprising given that I really don't usually like "queen bee"-type characters).

Chapter One: The River's Edge was a really great way to start the series, and I can't wait to see more.

 

[Osiris-Rex]

As a lifelong reader of the comics, I am ready. Obviously it's not a 100% faithful adaptation a la Archie banging Miss Grundy....

But I'm prepared.

Just going by how she was drawn in the comic books I never realized Miss Grundy was such a hot babe.

 

[Wheels]

i think the comparisons to Twin Peaks and Dawson's Creek are pretty obvious from a surface level. There are shots in the pilot that clearly feel in the vein of the Twin Peaks' style coupled with the general "Small town with big secrets" plot. Then you've got the good looking male-lead high schooler with a big dream to be in the entertainment business, who ignores obvious signs that his female friend has romantic feelings for him, and there's two love interests.....One blonde and the other brunette, hence Dawson's Creek comparisons.

 

[Slick]

I don't have much to say other than I loved this first episode. Can't wait for more. I hope the ratings are good.

 

[Wheels]

I liked it and I was not expecting to honesty. The concept and character changes shouldn't work but they totally sold me. The idea of these characters being taken seriously to this degree seemed ridiculous but it works.

 

[Juan1193]

I really enjoyed this episode. I will definitely be sticking around for the entire season! Veronica and Betty have a good dynamic going and Archie is pretty likable lead. I also like how Jugghead was portrayed!

 

[dsfjr1190]

Meh. The show was pretty generic. Not bad, not great. Just generic. Generic characters, mean cheerleaders, murder mystery, teacher/student plot, etc. Dawson's Creek and One Tree Hill did most of these things over a decade ago so there is a lot of 'been there, done that' with this show. It really didn't do anything new.

Archie himself is the weakest thing about the series so far. He just your typical bland, pale-faced, angsty character that all of the women love for some reason. He's like Edward Cullen or Stefan Salvatore. The acting was mediocre compared to literally every other character. Every time he was on screen I was bored.

If I was a hardcore Archie fan I would be annoyed at them making Moose bisexual, but as I was never that deep into the Archie franchise the change doesn't bother me. But I feel for any fans that may be upset. I get upset at changes from source material all the time when I watch adaptations of work I like.

I never read much of the material with Kevin so I can't comment on him much, but I was amused at Cheryl calling him out as the gay best friend. Ha. The actor was solid though.

Cheryl Blossom was the cliched mean girl that was old 20 years ago. Maybe the show will use some of her Afterlife with Archie background to make her more sympathetic.

Reggie was there.

The adult characters were fine. This was my first real exposure to Hermione Lodge in any form, given that my experience with the Archie world so far has been Afterlife with Archie and The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (go read them). Hermione was fine. A bit predictable but the actress was good enough and she had some good moments with Veronica.

Luke Perry was good. I'm glad the show avoided the cliche of having the father push his son to play sports and take over the family business. He was just upset at his son lying to. I did like his scene with Hermione and not hiring her.

What saved the show for me was the Betty/Veronica dynamic, mostly because of the actresses that portray them. They are very talented and were the only characters in the show that had any chemistry. They pulled my attention in every scene the were in. The only thing that annoys me if the love triangle. I know the love triangle is a staple of the Archie franchise, but I can't see what makes Archie so amazing on this show. I can already tell the fandom with ship Betty/Veronica way more than any pairing involving Archie. The writers would be smart to have them as the focus of the show.

I'll tune in next week mainly for Betty and Veronica. Hopefully it gets better.

 

[Steelsheen]

ok, bit the bullet, went to watch the first ep.

in a word: Eh.... its ok.

i mean sure, aesthetically, they nailed the look of the main characters whilst making sure diversity is present in the cast (meaning not everybody is white ) (except for the Josie and the Pussycats, wouldve really loved to see ginger Josie and blonde Melody but anyways...), so im pretty happy in that regard. the whole Twin Peaks/ X-Files vibe is also good, sure i miss the humor that is the strength of the Archie franchise but hey i think its a good trade off.

the problems i have with this mainly is the Archie/ Ms Grundy quickie. i mean seriously you can have Archie be not so perfect as to have an illicit affair but did it have to be Ms Grundy? The way this cast has come together they could've come up with another character for that and it wouldve worked just as well without it leaving a bad taste in the mouth yknow? (at least for us who grew up reading the comics, because really its EWWWWWW)

anyway, the entire cast is really good, but it looks like Veronica and Jughead was the standout of this ep. Betty too, but mostly because Veronica carried her character. Archie is pretty good, but he's saddled with the ewww-ness that is Ms Grundy. also im not so keen about Moose being in the closet, because it means Midge is possibly non-existent or will be the typical suffering / clueless girlfriend, and after Betty and Veronica, she's my other fave character from the franchise.

also appreciate that they managed to squeeze in Dilton Doyle, Reggie Mantle, Smithers the Butler, Pops from the Chocklit Shoppe and the parental unit of the Andrews, Coopers and Lodges (nothing like the comics but they serve the story).

will i be sticking around for ep 2? maybe. ep 3? 4? that depends on how compelling the story and the characterizations become, if its good enough for me to overlook the ewwww-ness of what i've seen, or if it gets worse.

PS: i really like Jughead's beanie-crown. now thats inspired i want one!

 

[kguillou]

It was... good not great. I've never read Archie but I'm familiar with the comics. I decided to watch this because early reviews indicated this was a Film Noir, atmospheric, satirical version of Archie so I was like "sign me the f*** up!" But, a lot of it really is kind of a generic CW high school drama.

It wasn't bad though, but I think the early critic reviews overhyped this. Throughout the episode I kept thinking "ok, this typical high school drama stuff is intentional and there's gonna be a dark twist coming...any minute now...it is coming, right?" And it never did. Now, I suppose, if you're an Archie fan some of the modern twist on the characters probably shocked you (like Archie's affair with the teacher) but as a non Archie comic reader I just took it all at face value. There were some clever lines of dialogue I liked, "Is being a cheerleader still a thing?"- "Is being the gay best friend still a thing?" and I was hoping for more tongue in cheek dialogue like that.

I'll watch episode 2 though, I'm sort of interested in the mystery, sort of, but I do like the kid who plays Archie. He's likeable and has natural screen presence. But, overall, so far this definitely feels more CW high school drama than satirical film noir and it just may not be for me.

 

[Hypestyle]

it's almost too much to take in.

Archie and 30-ish Ms. Grundy, okay then... he wasn't even a sophomore yet? Ripped from the headlines, I guess..
-- And Arch is an emo soloist now, I guess? Not the 'garage band' type?

So is it being hinted that the Blossoms had, ahem, a "thing" going on between them? Yeesh..

I must have stepped out of the room whenever Reggie showed up. Did he say or do anything?

I guess Dilton's not a main character. Oh well.

No Chuck or Nancy, no Midge... Oh well.

now that Josie has been 'remixed', will this mean that Valerie will not get a character arc? Same with Melody, I guess..

sidebar: Now that 'cat ears' are everywhere with young women, what makes them unique?

So Moose is, uh, 'questioning/curious' now? Um, oh-kay....

 

[Paradox1]

I liked the first episode so I'll keep watching. I'm interested to see how these storylines play out.

 

[Web-Head]

That was good! I really liked it more than I was expecting to.

Looking forward to next weeks episode.

Also: Not sure who's cuter, Betty or Veronica

 

[PeterBenParker]

Forgot to post my thoughts last night but I really enjoyed it despite a few odd things. Jughead is going to be the best character of the show for me, if not him then Betty easily.

Not sure why they made Moose and Kevin a thing, even if it'll be brief. Also not sure I like Reggie being buddy-buddy with Archie, but we'll see how that goes as the series progresses. Lastly, Archie himself is kinda mixed. I'm not sure I'm gonna like him fully the way I want to and that's a bit of a bummer but then again, it's only the premiere so we'll see how that goes.

Anyway, Jughead all the way.

 

[TheComicbookKid]

It was... good not great. I've never read Archie but I'm familiar with the comics. I decided to watch this because early reviews indicated this was a Film Noir, atmospheric, satirical version of Archie so I was like "sign me the f*** up!" But, a lot of it really is kind of a generic CW high school drama.

It wasn't bad though, but I think the early critic reviews overhyped this. Throughout the episode I kept thinking "ok, this typical high school drama stuff is intentional and there's gonna be a dark twist coming...any minute now...it is coming, right?" And it never did. Now, I suppose, if you're an Archie fan some of the modern twist on the characters probably shocked you (like Archie's affair with the teacher) but as a non Archie comic reader I just took it all at face value. There were some clever lines of dialogue I liked, "Is being a cheerleader still a thing?"- "Is being the gay best friend still a thing?" and I was hoping for more tongue in cheek dialogue like that.

I'll watch episode 2 though, I'm sort of interested in the mystery, sort of, but I do like the kid who plays Archie. He's likeable and has natural screen presence. But, overall, so far this definitely feels more CW high school drama than satirical film noir and it just may not be for me.

This nails it.

There's no there, there.

You know that moment when you watch a comic book movie and it feels like a comic come to life? That's what this is missing. It felt like all those summer shows attempting to be a thrilling murder mystery( like Harper's Island) and never felt like, it was pulling something unique with it's comic inspiration.

 

[terry78]

I feel like CW could've done a decent adaptation of the comics but maybe more in the vein of Jane the Virgin or Crazy Ex Girlfriend.

 

[Mace Dolex]

I thought it was garbage, typical high school setting that are like so many other high school shows and the guy playing Archie looks 30 years old, nobody in my high school had six pack abs.

And boy do I feel old now as I used to watch Luke Perry on Beverly Hills 90210 and Madchen Amick in Sleepwalkers.

 

[Juan1193]

I thought it was garbage, typical high school setting that are like so many other high school shows and the guy playing Archie looks 30 years old, nobody in my high school had six pack abs.

And boy do I feel old now as I used to watch Luke Perry on Beverly Hills 90210 and Madchen Amick in Sleepwalkers.

Must be because I'm from California but several of the guys at my school had six pack abs, especially the soccer players. Unfortunately I was not one of them lol

 

[Primal Slayer]

Finally got around to watching it. For the most part I enjoyed it and ill continue to watch. Veronica if QUEEN.

Though I feel like this doesn't exactly have the right creative team behind it. It needs a Joss Whendon-eque vocabulary and a tiny bit of Pushing Daises feel.

Kevin Kellar was a refreshing breath of gay air.

I thought it was garbage, typical high school setting that are like so many other high school shows and the guy playing Archie looks 30 years old, nobody in my high school had six pack abs.

And boy do I feel old now as I used to watch Luke Perry on Beverly Hills 90210 and Madchen Amick in Sleepwalkers.

I don't know about your high school but at mine there were plenty with six packs annd mustaches and full on beards. Especially nowadays I feel like it would be even more prominent.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

I like it, especially Betty and Veronica, but I have two things that really annoy me. Everything is overcast in gray inside and out and why is Archie wearing Twilight vampire makeup? And just him. It is so strange and gives him a punchable face.

 

[Primal Slayer]

Yes....the show should cast an illusion of being a happy go lucky bright shiny town.