Heading Back To High School Could Do Wonders For ‘Riverdale’

Riverdale started out as a series about high school students who lived in a town changed by a murder. The students ate lunch together, got into fights, and even had affairs with teachers.

While it could be described as far-fetched, it was high school. Then Riverdale Season 2 began.

The characters were spread across two different schools and spent most of their time exploring the town’s gang and hunting for a serial killer. They spent very little time in Riverdale High.

The change included very awkward story arcs and ignored many of the established characters.

Fortunately, Riverdale creator Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa told Entertainment Weekly that “the second half of season 2 gets back to a little bit of Riverdale basics, which is focused on stories at the school, kind of getting back in deep on the relationships and the friendships.”

According to Aguirre-Sacasa, “There’s still going to be a pulpy noir crime element to the second half, but there will be a resurgence of high school hijinks, and getting back to the roots of what Archie’s all about, which is the kids and the school.”

From the sounds of the above statement and the midseason trailer, it seems like the story is making the high school a priority again moving forward.

This move should do wonders for the series. It will give the show a chance to rediscover the charm of its first season and utilize the characters neglected during the first part of Season 2.

Riverdale centers around a town full of people, both the teenagers at the school and their parents. Moving away from Riverdale High resulted in fewer occasions where many of the characters could appear together.

School dances where parents chaperoned and students danced were replaced with events at the clubhouse of local gang, the Serpents. Chats around the lunch table were replaced with dates at Pop’s Diner.

Spreading the characters all over the town gives viewers an overview of town, but isolates characters and makes the show worked harder to utilize many of the characters, even the core characters of the series were negatively impacted.

Archie, Veronica, Betty, and Jughead’s dynamic was built at the high school. Separating Jughead and Betty by sending them to different schools may have been a great complication for the relationship, but it hurt the series.

For some reason, we spent time at Jughead’s school, yet Archie, Betty, and Veronica were spending less and less time with their classmates.

Bringing them back to school will allow for the characters to actually be together, and the close proximity will allow for stories to move faster. It’s easier to avoid your problems with your boyfriend/girlfriend if they go to school across town.

The shift in focus in the first half of Riverdale Season 2 has also deeply impacted several of the supporting characters.

Cheryl Blossom is the witty and dynamic surprise fans of Archie Comics didn’t see coming. Her comic book counterpart was a fairly one-dimensional love interest, but she is anything but that on Riverdale.

The show is better when we have more Cheryl, and moving back to the school brings her back into the story. She’s a classmate to the central group of four, which requires that they be at school for much of their interaction.

Diversity was a big conversation at the start of the series, and the first half of Riverdale Season 2 has neglected two of the characters who bring the diversity. Having an African-American Josie is a big deal, but viewers barely see her.

In addition, Kevin Keller, the only gay character, was made a series regular and then also regulated to being seen infrequently. Making things awkward is the fact that Kevin is actually friends with both Veronica and Betty, but that’s hard to tell considering they have barely spent time with him recently.

Representation is a big deal in the television landscape, and pushing these characters aside does viewers from these communities a disservice. Shows don’t get points for introducing these characters if they don’t actually use them.

Apart from the representation issue, neglecting Josie is disrespectful to fans of Archie Comics.

Josie and The Pussycats are a major part of the Archie universe and including them should be taken seriously. We barely know the other Pussycats, so ignoring Josie is like adding insult to injury.

The addition of Sabrina to the universe brings to mind how big the universe is, and while many may be excited for other characters from it to be introduced, Josie’s treatment does not instill confidence.

All of this doesn’t take into consideration the other students, many of which are prominent figures from the Archie comic book series, who the series seems to have less time for.

Then there’s the biggest point: THEY ARE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS, AND SCHOOL IS A BIG PART OF THEIR LIVES!

Part of the fun of a series set in high school is the problems that arise within its walls. School dances, rivalries for the head of organizations, budding romances, the parties they have when the parents are out of town, sports events, and concerts.

Many great moments of Riverdale Season 1 happened during these events — Archie performing with the Pussycats, Jughead’s birthday at Archie’s house, and Veronica battling Cheryl for leadership of The River Vixens. Typical high school activities.

The students of Riverdale High can solve murders in between periods if they have to after all, or after school, or on the weekend.

Are you excited to see more of Riverdale High? Let us know in the comments!

Riverdale returns Wednesday, January 17 at 8/7c on The CW.

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