Moderator: Sarah

THE SPECS:

Who: “Riverdale” is an American teen drama based upon the characters of Archie Comics, which typically airs fall to spring Wednesdays at 8:00 PM on the CW; it is currently on extended hiatus due to delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

What: Adapted for The CW by Archie Comics’ chief creative officer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, “Riverdale” features an ensemble cast playing the traditional “Archie Comics” characters, with series regulars KJ Apa as Archie Andrews; Lili Reinhart as Betty Cooper; Camila Mendes as Veronica Lodge; Cole Sprouse as Jughead Jones, the series’ narrator; Madelaine Petsch as Cheryl Blossom; Ashleigh Murray as Josie McCoy; Casey Cott as Kevin Keller; Charles Melton as Reggie Mantle; and Vanessa Morgan as Toni Topaz. Other characters in the series include the parents of the main characters: Mädchen Amick as Alice Cooper, Marisol Nichols as Hermione Lodge, Mark Consuelos as Hiram Lodge, and Skeet Ulrich as FP Jones.

SYNOPSIS

The series follows Archie Andrews’ (Apa) life in the small town of Riverdale and explores the darkness hidden behind its seemingly perfect image.

When: Season 4 aired on the CW from October 9, 2019, to May 6, 2020, with a total of 19 episodes after production was halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Where: The action is set primarily in the fictional town of Riverdale, the comics-based home of the “Archie Comics” characters. The time is contemporaneous present day, presumably.

Why: To find out why individual podcast panelists started watching this show, listen to the podcast episode covering Season 1 via the link below!

How – as in How Was It? – THOUGHTS

Earlier this year, we launched our Riverdale panel and caught up quickly on the first three seasons. You can listen to our first three episodes in this new Water Cooler series here and at our audio feeds at Apple Podcasts/iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Google Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Castbox, and Amazon Music:

Season 1

Season 2

Season 3

Panelists Emily (S), Micah, Jessica, Nate, and Chief CP Kylie triumphantly reconvene with moderator Sarah (one of our previous panelists departed the podcast for life’s greater journeys) Around the Water Cooler to pick up where our Riverdale series left off in March of this year, when we talked about each of the first three seasons of Riverdale, in turn, in one of our “Catching Up” miniseries. In tonight’s episode, CPU! begins forward-looking Water Cooler coverage of Riverdale with our Season 4 recap, and the Chief CP once again steps aside from the moderating microphone, so that Sarah may serve as main moderator once more; if you recall, Sarah was a college roommate of Sarah Habel, who played Geraldine Grundy on the series for the first two seasons. 

As such, our panel continues to remark upon the realness of Riverdale compared to its idyllically drawn source material in talking the fourth season of this sudsy soap opera-like teen drama, and in so doing, we ruminate in-depth upon the production values, performances, writing, and dark mysteries of this show – with a continued, veritable variety of results and even more so in reaction to Season 4 and its focus on Stonewall Preparatory Academy, the enigmatic Baxter Brothers mysteries, and the appearance of voyeuristic videotapes across Riverdale’s representation of #smalltownamerica (drink…if you’re playing along). In tonight’s episode, our panel reflects upon and recaps Season 4 of Riverdale, in which the town, the teens, their parents, and the various villains pockmarking this wry study of human nature, where real clashes with the ideal, grapple with new forms of darkness resulting in new rounds of attempted murder, kidnapping, torture, suicide, and a confusing mix of technology aiding the proceedings – camcorders meeting older generation cellular telephones definitely leaves our panel confused and without proper suspension of disbelief as we try to puzzle through what is passing for the time setting of the series.

This episode was recorded in September 2020, and there are, without question, MAJOR SPOILERS, as the panelists cover key plot points – very key plot points – of the fourth season. Listen at your own risk, and let us know what you think by commenting below!

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Remember, new episodes and/or blog posts are published weekly! Next Wednesday, our DCTU Series panel triumphantly returns to the CPU! Water Cooler ready to follow the cues presented in this past season’s Arrowverse crossover event Crisis on Infinite Earths, more or less, by beginning a two-part Catching-Up Miniseries. The first part of this miniseries offers a recap and review of the first two seasons of Black Lightning, newly included in the Arrowverse – recently redubbed the “CWVerse” – lineup following the aforementioned Crisis. Stay tuned for all of the DC-related snark from CPU!’s spiciest panel!

Questions, Impressions, and Future Considerations

Old Questions

1) Was the (alleged) Charles, the FBI agent and Alice’s (Amick) first child (possibly) with FP (Ulrich) that we see at the end of Season 3, the same Charles that was rooming with Chic, as Chic told Betty (Reinhart) and Alice in Season 2?  Was FBI Charles living undercover with Chic, as moderator Sarah theorizes?

ANSWER: Yes, FP and Alice’s Charles (guest: Wyatt Nash) is the same Charles that roomed with Chic in Season 2, which means that Chic was, at least partially, telling the truth for once. Based upon information presented in one Season 4 scene, though, it seems that Charles and Chic might have been and might still be legitimately romantically involved, meaning that Charles would not have been living with Chic undercover, as moderator Sarah previously theorized; however, we do not have much detail related to Charles, Chic, or their back story beyond what we have been shown in the last three seasons, so there is still a hornet’s nest of questions surrounding that potentially toxic coupling.

2) In the flash forward in the Season 3 finale, why are Archie, Betty, and Veronica (Mendes) gathered at a campfire without Jughead (Sprouse)? Why do they burn his iconic beanie?

ANSWER: (SPOILER, SPOILER, SPOILER) Pursuant to events that transpire in Season 4, for which it is best to listen to tonight’s podcast episode for details, Jughead fakes his death to hopefully tease out the potential perpetrators of his planned murder by classmates at Stonewall Preparatory Academy. Jughead temporarily transfers to this new school on a writing scholarship, for reasons not entirely clear but which might be related to Jughead being poor and possibly the perfect patsy for mayhem and murder at this highly privileged boarding school, or so it is believed by his obnoxious classmates. His friends stage this campfire scene and burn the beanie to really sell the deception, which is closely monitored by the Stonewall students. It’s a long and convoluted tale: watch the season and then listen to tonight’s episode. The Season 4 plot is a bit of a brain buster that simultaneously rings as less than convincing to the majority of our panelists.

3) Has FP (Ulrich) met Charles prior to Charles introducing himself to Betty and Jughead in the Season 3 finale?

ANSWER: Unknown. When Season 4 starts, Charles seems very chummy with the Coopers and Jones, who are living together in what used to be the Coopers’ house and is now the Jones’ house. The show does not explicitly answer the question of whether FP has encountered his biological son prior to now, but it is presumed that he has not.

4) Is FP actually Charles’ father? The panelists tossed out a wild theory that Hal Cooper is actually Charles’ father after all because the actor who plays Charles has some resemblance to Lochlyn Munro.

ANSWER: So far, the show is advocating that FP is definitely and actually Charles’ father and, therefore, Jughead and Jellybean’s half brother. The show has not even hinted at any nugget of a notion of an idea that Charles’ father could be anyone else, much less the erstwhile Hal.

5) Is Charles really who he says he is?

ANSWER: Unknown. So far, we have seen Charles acting as the FBI agent he claims to be, recruiting his younger half-sister Betty to be a junior FBI recruit, and helping out “Bughead” with their various exploits to get back at the rich and spoiled Stonewall Prep gang. If Charles has secrets beyond Chic, the viewer has not been made privy to them.

6) Where did the “Farm” members go when they “ascended?”  Are they actually dead?

ANSWER: So far, they appear to be pretty dead. They certainly have not reappeared in Riverdale (so far).

7) What is Cheryl (Petsch) really doing with Jason’s corpse?  Is she that far gone?

ANSWER: A little of this, a little of that. Cheryl’s grief over Jason consumes her this season, now confronted with his rotting corpse, which she stows in the Thornhill chapel below stairs. She also seems to have full conversations with his cadaver, which her girlfriend Toni aka “TT” (Morgan) seems far to copacetic with for our panel’s comfort. A B-plot this season revolves around Cheryl and the ensuing madness of the remaining Blossoms, and housing Jason’s body above ground only serves to up the macabre quotient; however, it’s best to watch the season to fully make sense of this development. Word to the wise: our panel barely discusses this plot point in tonight’s episode because, in the end, none of us were sure what difference it made to the overall story, except to further exploit Cheryl’s crazy and, perhaps, by proxy, Toni’s.

8) How does the show pay tribute to Luke Perry (RIP) in Season 4?

ANSWER: The Season 4 premiere is entirely devoted to writing Luke Perry’s character, Archie’s dad Fred Andrews, off the show. After Fred becomes the victim of a “hit and run” accident while helping a stranger on the side of the road, Riverdale, but particularly Archie, is besieged by grief. The town holds a huge memorial; the characters share memories of Fred; and when Archie goes to retrieve Fred’s body from the law enforcement agency that investigated the scene in the next town over, he stops at the location where Fred suffered his fate, only to encounter the stranger that Fred ultimately helped, who arrives to pay tribute to the man who lost his life saving hers. That stranger is played by none other than guest star Shannen Doherty. Many tears will be shed if you have not seen this episode, gentle listener.

9) What “revenge” is Hiram (Consuelos) planning for Hermione (Nichols)? Should we be rooting for these crazy kids at all?

ANSWER: This is a good question without an answer because it seems as if Hiram forgets all about revenge against Hermione and decides, instead, to go ahead with warring against his rebellious daughter Veronica in some sort of Shakespearean power play reminiscent of MacBeth coupled with the Greek tragedy Elektra. In fact, once Hiram is released from prison, where he does not stay for long, Hermione is persuaded to take him back quickly; we subsequently learn, along with Veronica, that Hiram is diagnosed with an unnamed degenerative disease. Of course, most of the season follows Veronica’s determination to upend her father’s hold over the manufacture and distribution of homegrown rum. So, if Hiram really cared to plot revenge against his estranged turned not estranged wife, it appears that he does a lousy job of his revenge machinations in the end.

Also, rooting for any member of the Lodge family feels like an exercise in masochism and futility. Our panel is most assuredly growing somewhat weary of that quarter of the Riverdale main four families. Listen to tonight’s podcast episode for details.

10) Is Season 4 really the best season yet, as some of our panelists earlier suggested?

ANSWER: No. The consensus of the panel is that this season is about as entertaining as Season 3, though it is slightly improved because the “Gryphons and Gargoyles” story line of Season 3 did not entertain as much as enrage, or at least frustrate, most of our panelists. Panelist Jessica, one of the early proponents of the alleged improved quality of this season, admits in tonight’s episode that she spoke too soon. All in all, the panelists described an increasing sense of ennui and repetition plaguing our collective Riverdale viewing experience, which is starting to engender restlessness amongst our panelists. Listen to tonight’s podcast episode for further rants and reviews.

New Questions

1) Who is creating and/or sending the videotapes, and what is their purpose? Is it Charles? Is it Chic? Is it Mr. Honey after all (guest: Kerr Smith)? What do they even mean?

2) Has Skeet Ulrich left the show never to appear again, even though the end of Season 4 did not really tie off his character? Reports in the press and impressions left with the panel most certainly conflict, as some reports have Ulrich gone for good while others suggest that he will at least appear in Season 5 in a recurring status, if for no other reason than to provide FP with a proper sendoff.

3) What about Marisol Nichols? Is she going to appear long enough to provide Hermione Lodge an organic departure after Nichols announced her own departure from the series?

4) Will Molly Ringwald become a series regular in the future, since Mary Andrews decides to stick around and care for Archie in the wake of Fred’s untimely passing (following Luke Perry’s untimely passing)?

5) In Season 4, the show seems to tease “Barchie,” i.e. the romantic pairing of Archie and Betty, when they exchange some illicit kisses and, um, some illicit make-out sessions behind Veronica and Jughead’s respective backs, but then the show seems to “chicken out,” as several of our panelists described it, by having Archie return to Veronica and Betty return to Jughead. Was this sampling of “Barchie” a tease of what’s to come? Will “Varchie” and “Bughead” lose each pairing’s respective relationship momentum in the coming season? Will the show finally pull the controversial trigger of mixing up Archie’s love life, as often occurs in the comics?

6) At several points in Season 4, our characters remind us that they are living through their senior year of high school. Does the show mean to follow these characters to college? How would that even work?

7) For several seasons, the series has discussed, and the character of Betty has grappled with, the idea that there is a genetic darkness within her; in fact, mysterious and possibly shady Charles informs her this season that she has the infamous “serial killer” gene, which she inherited from her father Hal. Is the show teasing a future in which Betty fully loses herself to this alleged darkness? Will that future occur in Season 5?

8) Will we see Mr. Honey again, since he informs our heroes that he has accepted the position as headmaster of Stonewall Preparatory Academy in the season finale and since Stonewall apparently battles Riverdale regularly in football?

9) Josie (Murray) left Riverdale to join the Katy Keene spinoff, which was subsequently canceled by the CW. Will Josie return to Riverdale in the coming season?

10) Who has access to Jughead’s story about Mr. Honey, which is played out in the series finale. It seems that the producer of the videotapes is someone who has proximity to sensitive information, particularly given the use of the masks in Jughead’s story and in the final videotape. Theory: is the videotape maker Betty? Does Betty have a dissociative identity that has started to engage in voyeuristic behavior, which she forgets when the “core” Betty reappears? Alternatively, who else could have access to the information, and why are the videotapes being made?

11) What will next season’s musical episode be?

12) Is Betty still in the FBI Junior Training Program? Or, did she quit?

13) Will we see Charles and Chic and/or learn more about them and their past next season?

14) Is Kevin (Cott) and the others intent on restarting their “tickle ring” business? Why was this even a plot point this season? The story was universally unpopular with our Riverdale panelists.

PARTING SHOTS

Following the viewing of Season 4, the CPU! Riverdale panel coalesced a bit more as far as overall consensus of opinion related to this series. In fact, at this juncture and unlike in previous episodes of CPU!’s Riverdale reviews, five of six of our panelists (including the moderator) do not currently recommend Riverdale to new viewers because the panel believes that anyone who has not yet chosen to watch this series will not likely be attracted to the show now, particularly as the panelists regard the series’ already uneven quality to be slipping and/or deteriorating.  Our panelists believe that Riverdale, if it is to appeal to new viewers, would still be most appropriate for anyone who enjoys watching teen dramas generally; for fans of noir storytelling, owing to Jughead’s overarching narration, as well as of horror and/or murder mysteries, in which this show heavily dabbles; for Archie Comics fans, with the caveat that these versions of the characters are nothing like their comic book counterparts; and for fans of CW-level standards of attractiveness, as the cast is filled to the brim with the usual types, in physical appearance anyway, that populate this network’s plethora of youth-oriented shows.  Beyond these categories, the panelists expressed a wide spectrum of reasons why they would be less likely to recommend Riverdale after Season 4, describing the series as a a “niche” show, the guiltiest of pleasures, and occasionally “trashy” if not absolutely “bonkers,” like only the best soap operas can be.

To wit, the panelists continue to praise the cast performances and the original spin applied to this particular adaptation, even if the writing choices do not always successfully follow standard storytelling logic. As such, the panelists spend much of tonight’s discussion focusing upon how the writing remains woefully uneven in Season 4, with most panelists regarding this season as one of the worst seasons and virtually equivalent, in most panelists’ opinions, to Season 3, except for stalwart panelist Nate, who continues to rate the show “five stars” with the kind of devotion that only a true, unerring fan can muster.  The panel modestly enjoyed the interweaving storylines of Stonewall Prep and Jughead’s alleged/faked death, Archie’s community center, Betty’s buddying around with her brother Charles, and, less so, Veronica’s business-related rebellion against her father Hiram, but common adjectives and phrases used by our panelists in tonight’s review, even by panelist Nate, included “repetitive,” “tedious,” and “it just doesn’t make sense.” In any event, our entire Riverdale panel, despite the panelists’ various and generally waning levels of enthusiasm for the series, remains cautiously motivated if somewhat less eager to watch Season 5, if for no other reason than to see how Season 4 would have ended but for the interruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

LOOKING AHEAD

On January 7, 2020, the CW renewed Riverdale for a fifth season, which is slated to premiere on January 20, 2021, following the delay resulting from a halt in production caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. CPU! will next visit Riverdale at some point following the airing of the fifth season finale.  Like, follow, and/or subscribe to the website, Apple Podcasts/iTunes, YouTube, Stitcher Radio, Google Play, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Castbox, Amazon Music, or our social media accounts to stay abreast of new episodes regarding Riverdale as well as new episodes for all of our podcast panels! And, if you feel so inclined, please leave us a review. Thank you!