Once upon a time…

Wait, this isn’t a fairytale. This is Riverdale.

This TV series takes place in a town called Riverdale — not so surprisingly — and follows the many strange criminal activities that go on there. There are mysteries and drama, both of which involve the main characters Archie, Jughead, Betty, and Veronica. Betty and Jughead serve as the group’s detectives, solving any mysteries that come their way and exposing everything from serial killers to thieves to kidnappers demanding ransom money. Archie and Veronica, on the other hand, are much involved in the drama of both their group and the town.

Along with these four, there are secondary characters that help solve the mysteries and increase the dramatic moods, some of which include their friends Josie and Kevin, the son of the sheriff.

The four of these characters and their close friends go through many eventful summers throughout the five seasons. Murders of those they know from school and others in the town occur. After solving the first murder of the mysterious “drowning” of Jason Blossom, these four become more involved than they ever were before with the dark and violent events of Riverdale.

While navigating their family lives, romance with one another, and being detectives, will these four solve the biggest town mysteries of all?

You might have heard of this show due to its appearances and victories in multiple Teen Choice Award shows, winning Best Drama Show three years in a row. Unfortunately, the pandemic ruined their impressive streak when the 2020 Teen Choice Awards was cancelled.

Riverdale’s characters are based on the original characters in the Archie Comics, an ongoing comic that became famous in the 1940s and was popular up until the 80s and 90s. People still read these vintage comics today.

Riverdale has four full seasons, and Season Five is currently running. The show goes through both the difficult and enjoyable times of four core characters: Betty Cooper, Veronica Lodge, Archie Andrews, and Jughead.

Jughead is the narrator of the show along with being a main character throughout the seasons. He enjoys being a detective and loves to write about his experiences.

Betty is the “girl next door”. She is described as the “perfect” girl at the beginning of the show because she has a comfortable home life, gets her work done without any issues, and always seems happy and excited.

Archie is the “boy next door” that — yes — is destined to be with Betty. They’re next door neighbors and truly perfect for each other.

And lastly, Veronica is quite literally a spoiled rich girl from New York who moved to the town of Riverdale because her mother owned property in the area, and her father was in prison for fraud and embezzlement.

At the beginning, Betty liked Archie, and Jughead was more of the lonely kid, but they were all still really close friends… until Veronica showed up. Archie instantly took a liking to Veronica, and Betty and Jughead started dating later in the show as they both worked together on the school newspaper (The Blue And Gold).

Though I did enjoy the show overall, there were a few parts of the series that I wasn’t the biggest fan of.

There are major spoilers for later seasons beyond this point.

There is one scene close to the end of Season Four where Jughead and Betty were taking down a serial killer that worked at the prep school Jughead had previously attended. Serial killers were pretty common in the main storyline of the two previous seasons, so this particular scene where the serial killer was officially arrested was actually quite boring and felt like a repeat of the last couple of seasons. I mean, he did decide to jump out of the window from the third floor of the school, but still. It seems as if the plot line for each season is mostly staying the same.

Other than that scene and a few other minor mishaps, the series was pretty great in my opinion. In Episode 1 of the first season, the viewers are introduced to Betty and Kevin in a well known scene. Kevin is basically the stereotypical gay best friend that every girl needs to have. In this scene, Betty seems incredibly sweet and innocent, which shows the beginning of her character development. Though I do believe this was a little cliche at first, Betty does develop a lot more in later seasons. 

Another scene that I thoroughly enjoyed is the scene at the end of Season Two in Episode 22. Archie is about to be sworn in as student body president when Hiram Lodge, Veronica’s horrible dad, comes in with the police to arrest Archie for the murder of a man that robbed the four main characters in the Lodge Cabin at Shadow Lake. The killer was actually the Lodge’s bodyguard and doorman. I really like this scene in particular because it gave me a good cliffhanger for Season Three and was very well done. It also starts off one of the most underrated storylines in the show.

The director of the show is Rob Seidenglanz. The producer and writer is Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa. Roberto produces shows that are connected to Riverdale such as The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, which was actually previously reviewed by The Mav. 

I have nothing to say but positive things about the actors and actresses in Riverdale. Many viewers argue that they deserve better writing in the script, which I do agree with. There were some lines that could’ve been written a little differently to make them less cliche, but the storyline and acting are so genuine that it makes up for some of the cheesier lines. Though I do think the writing could have been better, the show remains flawless if viewers are willing to look past that.

Character development is tremendous with all of these previously mentioned characters. A lot of them start off innocent, and then, after seeing a bunch of horrible events happen in their town, they are totally different people. It’s so interesting to watch them change and grow.

I will admit, Riverdale does kind of drag on at times due to the restraint of 22 episodes in a season. They draw out many parts that truly don’t need to be drawn out. But most of the storylines they drag on for a little while end up with amazing and unique finishes, so it’s usually worth the wait.

The average consistent views of the show peaked at 2.11 million in Season Two and around 1.5 million still tune in for the shoe on The CW. The first four seasons are available on Netflix as well, which is where many of the avid viewers watch the series.

The online ratings of this show are better than I expected given the conversations I’ve had with many who strongly dislike the series. Riverdale gets a lot of backlash online from people trashing certain parts of it. While I do agree some elements of the series could have been improved, there’s no reason to hate on the show until you’ve watched it all the way through.

Riverdale is rated 6.9/10 on IMDb, 86 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, 8/10 on TV.com, and 4.5/5 stars on Google Review. 

My rating for the show would probably be a 9.8/10. It’s a great show if drama is a genre you enjoy as much as I do. It is really entertaining to watch on your own or with friends and family. Solving mysteries is also a really big part of the series, so bringing people together to watch the episodes and figure out the criminal cases is a fun way to spend time with friends.

The show is rated TV-14 and may be slightly inappropriate for audiences under the age of 14.

Overall, Riverdale is great, and I recommend you watch it. The show is still moving forward, and I can’t wait to see what the rest of the seasons bring.