With Riverdale season three presumably premiering this fall, this presents a perfect opportunity to course-correct. Riverdale still has the potential to reach the absolute highs of season 1. Let's look at some ways it can rebound from what many see as a sophomore slump.
Warning: Some spoilers for Riverdale Seasons One and Two follow
Focus on Riverdale As a Whole
What really makes the world of Archie Comics stand out is the ensemble that makes up the town of Riverdale. It's similar to Springfield in The Simpsons. A town that feels like its own world, made up of a variety of unique and memorable characters.
It's something Riverdale was pretty good about in Season One. Sure, some main characters didn't get their due (like Josie...), but Riverdale, both the town and show, felt like a fleshed-out world. Characters like Valerie and Ethel weren't completely fleshed-out, but they had fairly well-rounded storylines. Kevin was pretty much a main character, appearing in almost every episode.
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| Josie doesn't even feel like a main character at this point. |
Season Two really regressed in that regard. The show almost exclusively shined its spotlight on the core four. It makes sense in some regard. Archie, Betty, Jughead, and Veronica are the main characters of the comics. But it also shined a light on the supporting characters in Riverdale, too.
Josie got some pretty good moments in Season Two, but if it weren't for the fact that she was on all the promo, you'd have no idea she was a main character. Kevin, who was actually upgraded to a series main on Season Two, somehow got even less to do, even with an expanded season. (More on that later...) The Pussycats regressed into background characters. Cheryl, who was Season One's most fascinating character, got seriously (and tragically) sidelined for most of the second season.
The murder of Midge Klump, one of the most important characters from comics, did not have the impact it was surely meant to. She was pretty much a background character in any episode she appeared in, never getting any more than a few lines.
With news that Vanessa Morgan and Charles Melton, who play Toni and Reggie, respectively, will be upgraded to series regulars in Season Three, this brings even more concern. While I'm hopeful that this means Toni and Reggie will receive more development and storylines, I wish this show would give more focus on the main characters the show has now.
Tighter Storytelling
Part of what made Season One so great was that there never truly was any downtime. The thirteen episode season really forced the righters to cut all of that fat in terms of solving the mystery of Jason Blossom's murder. I was skeptical of Season Two being almost double that length, but I had faith in the writers. And I still maintain that the first half of the second season is generally great. But the middle of the season just feels like the writers stalling while waiting for the Black Hood to return.
I had hopes that the expanded season would allow more character-focused storylines, like Chapter Six in Season One. Chapter Sixteen did go for that, having a Kevin-centric episode. Besides that, however,
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| 'Tales From the Darkside' may be the series' high point. |
Is the solution to shorten Riverdale Season Three back to thirteen episodes? Not necessarily. A length like eighteen episodes would strike a good balance, and we see many network shows are starting to adopt shorter lengths. If we must have a twenty-two episode season, I think it's still possible to maintain Riverdale's greatness.
The big issue with Riverdale Season Two wasn't really it's length, but the storytelling. Should we get another twenty-two episode season, I believe having the season comprised of separate, defined arcs, would be the best course of action. Naturally, plot elements should be expected to carry through the whole season, but this would prevent the season from feeling like it's just treading water. And it really felt like the show was treading water in the middle of Season Two.
Bring Back the Fun
The first season was just fun. A pulpy, noire-esque mystery sprinkled within a teen drama show. It had a campy, self-aware tone. The teenagers are far from realistic, but you still had the sense that these were teenagers who were, at their core, good people. Before the second season aired, many on the show were talking about how the show would be going "darker". I was worried, but was sure the show's campy tone would still shine through.
And it did in certain instances (again, going back to Chapter Twenty). Chapter Thirty-One, the musical episode, was a great reminder of what the show once was. But as the season went on, it just kept getting darker and darker. More and more violent. I genuinely think last weeks installment, Chapter Thirty-Four, was a fantastic episode for the series. It was an intense, frantic episode of television. But there was still something missing.
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| I almost wonder if the show would've been better off if it had not coupled off the core four so quickly. |
Riverdale was described by many prior to its premiere as a "dark and gritty" adaptation of the Archie world. But it truly wasn't. Sure, there was murder and teacher-student relationships, but it never got too dark. A more apt description would be a "modern" adaptation of Archie. Underneath all of the mystery, it was still a relatively lighthearted show that generally held true to the mythos of the Archie Comics world.
Season Two stripped a lot of that away. Riverdale, both the town and show, became a violent, overall hateful place. What happened to the show where the characters could grab a booth at Pop's, get a milkshake, and escape the world around them for a bit? I get the desire to explore new genres every season. The first half of Season Two had a great horror movie tone. And putting your characters in more turmoil is almost inevitable in long-form storytelling. But it feels as if Riverdale lost its sense of identity in its sophomore outing. )
Let's Go Supernatural Already
Look. We all know Riverdale is going to go supernatural at some point. While I don't expect it to go full Afterlife with Archie for at least a couple more years, the seeds have already been planted. The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is coming later this year (on Netflix, but still). They may not directly cross over (I still fully expect it to happen), but unless told otherwise, these two shows exist in the same universe.
I don't expect Riverdale to be a series about magic and such. But we've already established that something supernatural is going on over in Greendale. I don't expect it to fully bleed over to Riverdale (again, for now at least), but something has had to make its way across Sweetwater River.
By that I mean that the Blossom family totally has magic running through it. Cheryl's totally a witch.
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I don't think Riverdale is bad now. But it just hasn't reached the heights of its superb first season. I am worried that it won't be able to recapture that magic, but I'm hopeful too. Riverdale has become one of The CW's most popular shows, so it's probably going to be here for at least a few more years. So hopefully the writers can learn from the growing pains of Season Two and fully rebound when it returns for another year.
What did you think of this season of Riverdale? Did you like it more than I did? What're you're hopes for Season Three? Let me know, and be sure to follow me on Twitter @aidansimonds.
