Samantha Michalski

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

Riverdale is a new television show that airs weekly on the CW; the show is loosely based on the Archie comics, which were originally published in 1939. The Archie comics were a huge hit for the young audience then and even throughout the years til now, being published in their own books and in local newspapers. Even in the 30’s, it would seem, everyone loved a good mystery. Riverdale, the series, premiered in January 2017, primarily catering to a young audience. The series begins with a mystery, similarly to in the comics; this grabs the attention of many different viewers, old and young alike.

Episode one starts off with the audience learning about a missing persons case, which later develops into a murder case. Jason Blossom, a bright, wealthy, athletic, young student at Riverdale High, was reported missing on July 4^th after an adventure out in the woods with his twin sister, Cheryl Blossom. Cheryl testified that they were in a boat on the river when a current flipped the boat, she found her way to shore, but her brother never surfaced. Along with the Blossoms, in episode one we also meet all the primary cast members, Alice and Hal Cooper, Betty Cooper (played by Lili Reinhart), Hermione and Veronica Lodge(played by Camila Mendes), Fred and Archie Andrews (played by K.J. Apa), and Jughead Jones (played by Cole Sprouse). The Coopers are meant to represent the middle-class families who pretend that everything is okay, so it seems alright. The Lodges represent those families in turmoil, yet they still proceed strong and valiant. The Andrews’ represent the basic; Fred Andrews owns and runs the local construction business, while Archie Andrews is the upcoming star football player. Jughead Jones is the outcast, the one who never lets anything slip by unnoticed. All of these characters appear to be completely different, whether in their upbringing or in how they have developed in their lifestyle, but later on we learn that many of them have very similar thoughts and ideas bringing them together as a community and as friends. The season definitely started off with an attention grabber; not only do we learn about Jason going missing, but we also learn that the “new girl”, Veronica Lodge’s, father is Hiram Lodge the money embezzler who is currently in prison for stealing from many companies and businesses. This continues to enhance and enlighten the drama of the show. Near the end of episode one the audience learns that Jason Blossom had, in fact, been shot in the head and he was found on the edge of the river bank, the river that had been dredged more than once. This piece of evidence further enhances the idea that it was not an accident, but a cold blood murder.

Episode two begins with Archie nervously thinking about confessing that he had heard the gunshot in the woods on July 4^th. On the day of Jason Blossom’s murder he was in the woods with his high school music teacher Geraldine Grundy. After learning this piece of evidence, the audience would begin to assume that the sister, Cheryl Blossom, could quite possibly have something to do with the whole fiasco. Archie feels as if he is withholding evidence and he feels guilty, Ms. Grundy, on the other hand, cannot let anyone find out that she had been with a student. As the evidence starts to surface about Jason Blossom, many other things start to develop in the background.

Throughout the show the audience’s attention is consistently held because of the many different forms of drama that seemingly surface at just the right time to keep everyone hooked. Betty and Veronica start to investigate things that occurred between Jason Blossom and Betty’s sister, Polly. Polly and Jason had a longstanding relationship. After the breakdown, the Coopers sent Polly away to live in a home for the mentally ill. At the funeral for Jason Blossom, Betty and Jughead Jones start to do some of their own research and find out some evidence that explodes the whole investigation. While there After the uncovering of this evidence, Betty was unsure of what all really happened to Polly and was determined to speak to her.

In further episodes the audience learns about many different things happening around the town, Archie expands his music career, Veronica and her mother start to gain the trust of the town, and Betty starts to expand her knowledge on everything that is going on. Betty speaks to Polly and many things surface. She learns that Polly was completely unaware that Jason was even dead and that she is pregnant. This comes as a complete shock, Betty was very confused about everything that had happened and how little she actually knew of her older sister. Not long after this visit Polly breaks out of the mental home and is determined to find her own way.

Riverdale has an amazing way of proving that all kinds of people can bind together in friendship. Throughout the first season, even the most unlikely of characters, such as Cheryl Blossom, seem to form a bond with the rest of the main characters that cannot be broken. After Polly is found safely, The Blossom’s offer for her to live with them, being the most wealthy and pretentious of those in the town, they saw it best fit for them to help her during the pregnancy and to help raise the baby, or soon to find out, babies. Polly Cooper is having Jason Blossom’s twins.

Slowly as the show reaches its last few episodes for season one, things start to get heated. The audience finds out that Hal Cooper, Betty and Polly’s dad, has been keeping a long-lost secret bottled up. There was a “legend” that great grandpa Cooper and great grandpa Blossom had an altercation that ended badly, and great grandpa Cooper got shot and killed. Therefore, Hal never wanted Polly and Jason together, or so it seems. Hal goes on to explain that they were not only friends, but brothers. At this point in the show most of the viewers were probably very shocked because this means that Polly’s twins are the product of familial incest. Cliff Blossom, Cheryl and Jason’s dad, knew this too and he could not stand to see them together any longer either. Jason soon had found out that the family’s prized maple syrup business, that made them rich, was just a front for Cliff Blossom trafficing heroine from Canada. Cliff commenced to torture Jason and then shot and killed him on July 4^th.

Overall, season one of Riverdale is a must see. I have not listed all of the details, or even all of the drama that occurs throughout the show. This series does a fantastic job of explaining and showing how a town can come together for such a tragic, yet mysterious event; it also shows who can and will be there in a time of need. Even Veronica Lodge helped to comfort Cheryl Blossom after Jason’s body was found. All of these, seemingly, different teenagers find that they have commonalities and they enjoy each other’s company. I think this is a primary reason as to why the show has taken off so quickly; this world needs something to prove that anyone and everyone can work together. Even in times when there seems to be no hope, if a town as diverse as Riverdale can pull together, then so can we.