TV Series Review: Riverdale (Season 1)

Riverdale (CW/Netflix - 2017)

The first season of this show had everything we could ask for if we wanted to set a crime in a small town with teen characters and parents who hide one thousand secrets from their kids.

Even though it doesn't sound promising, Riverdale turned out to be very revealing. It is true that it had some clichés, like the crush for the boy next door and the rich girl from the fancy city not quite adjusting at the beginning but ruling the high school by the end of the season.

The story starts with the murder of Jason Blossom, a teen with a promising future, with friends and a twin sister who depends on him and tries to prolong her grief for as long as she can in order to keep his name alive.

At the beginning, we follow - in more depth - Betty, a girl who already lives there, and Veronica, a girl who's just arrived, in order to introduce the viewer to the settings of Riverdale. As the story goes along, we start to see other different points of view, some of which from the parents.

I quite liked this link between parents and children, since it brings a sense of full circle to the story, and it is something somewhat new to give so much attention to the parents in a teen show (another example of is Teen Wolf).

The story develops in a way that we find some clues and some suspects, but nothing is certain until an anonymous tip puts the wheels into motion. Perhaps, it is because this season only has thirteen episodes, but I believe that if it had more than that it would become boring to see those revelations with no closure for a very long period of time. On the other hand, the twelveth episode was fast-pacing and it almost looked like a season finale unlike the real final episode of the season.

Murder storylines are usually watched by an older audience, however, I believe that it loses this demo since it involves teens with some melodramatic attitudes (like Cheryl Blossom) and creates unexplored clichés (Betty, at the beginning of the series, thinks has a crush on Archie and there is a big fuss about it, but at the end of the series, she is totally cool with him dating her friend).

That being said, it is clear that Riverdale had some problems with time and presents many clichés. The actors are good and so is the story. These two characteristics of the series make me think if it will continue to explore the darkness of Riverdale (a plot that was set in the last episode) or if it will continue to create this formula of mystery/curiosity that we saw throughout this season.