#TVShowReview: Riverdale
On Thursday, January 26th Riverdale premiered with its one hour long pilot episode on the CW. The series based on the beloved Archie Comics’ characters opened with a dramatic intro read by Cole Sprouse (who plays a mysterious Jughead Jones in the series) and introduced us to a myriad of main and supporting characters and their bits of personal drama that will colour the rest of the season.
Archie Comics often saw the gang riding around town, hanging out together and featured a bunch of spats between Veronica and Betty over the titular character Archie, but Riverdale lends a certain depth to all the characters.
The episode teases mystery and tragedy somehow weaved around many of the characters’ lives. We are introduced to Archie – the football star and not so squeaky clean boy-next-door – who is interest in singing, songwriting and leaving small-town Riverdale behind, Jughead – the perceptive introvert, Betty – the good girl next-door and Veronica – the reformed Queen of Mean who recently moved to Riverdale.
Riverdale has been described by Polygon as “campy, strange, gloomy and an interesting take on the teen drama drama” and we agree. We think Riverdale has all the markings of being everyone’s new favourite teen drama.