Why Putting Barchie Together is the Best Decision ‘Riverdale’ Could Have Made
Yes, we said it.
After years of the same two couples reigning supreme in the small town of Riverdale, the series is finally taking the plunge and navigating through a Betty and Archie romance, creating a tidal wave of mixed emotions from fans who have gotten used to watching Bughead and Varchie dominate their screens every Wednesday night.
Responses have been mixed by the storyline, which features the two childhood best friends cheating on their respective significant others during Riverdale Season 4 Episode 18, “Chapter Seventy Four: Wicked Little Town.”
While some people have loved the idea of these two besties taking things to the next level, others have been outraged at not only the idea of the twosome turning romantic, but incensed by how the show has gone about letting it all play out.
Listen, we get it! Bughead and Varchie are very enticing couples, and you’ve watched and loved them for a few years; you’ve grown attached. A visceral reaction emerging due to any sort of couple swapping shake up the show may tease is understandable.
But here’s the thing: whether you love it or hate it, you’re still talking about it. And if we had to guess, we’d say that’s exactly what Riverdale is hoping you’ll do.
Riverdale fandom has always been exceptionally passionate, but potentially pairing Betty and Archie together after years of dormant feelings, has lit things up in proverbial flames.
Causing an outpouring of responses from casual and dedicated fans alike, Riverdale and subsequent hashtags have trended more in the past week than they have since the series began.
When a show is about to enter its fifth season, that’s basically a home run.
Riverdale had to do something big. It had to shake up telling what’s now been, more or less, the same story for years now.
Yes, the mystery, murder, and Twin Peaks-esque tone is all very interesting and wild, but when your main characters are about to enter new chapters of their lives, it’s time to take some chances, or you run the risk of a show going stale.
Beyond just attracting viewers and gaining buzz from what seems like every social media platform and TV news outlet, the Betty and Archie tryst is, at its core, the best possible move for the show’s characters.
Drug rings, serial killer parents, organ stealing cults — nothing shakes the kids of Riverdale. Whatever gets thrown at them, the gang handles with swiftness and strength. Now, the show has decided to pivot and put them up against a villain they’ve never truly dealt with before: teen angst.
Besides a few highlights from the show’s premiere season, Riverdale hasn’t focused much on the idea of high school drama. Season 4 has seen a few of those typical teen moments integrated into the show: football games, wig-wearing sleepovers, SAT meltdowns, and talk about college have all been featured during senior year.
Unfortunately, none of those bits of the adolescent experience have done anything to move the plot of the show or its characters forward. If serial killers and organ stealers weren’t going to do it, standardized testing sure wasn’t either.
The unbearable and painstaking agony that is teenage romance, however, definitely will.
The fallout of Barchie getting together is cataclysmic. All intersecting relationships are pushed into an inevitable spiral the characters have no choice but to deal with head-on.
This isn’t the first time Betty and Archie have kissed. It’s the second time, and there’s no Black Hood around to provide the necessary (albeit flimsy) “we were in a life or death situations, so I just had to kiss this person, my lips couldn’t control themselves” excuse.
Betty and Archie are very much in committed relationships and, very poignantly (and shockingly), not facing any sort of life-altering danger that would leave them afraid and in need of a nerve-induced makeout session.
These two just want to kiss each other’s faces.
Betty and Archie actually dating is a bit of a moot point.
The kiss itself has already detonated a ticking time bomb that will inevitably, spontaneously combust at the most inopportune time. Regardless of how it happens, getting caught will happen, and Veronica and Jughead are unlikely to be quite as forgiving this time around.
It sounds harsh, and in retrospect, it is. A straight forward betrayal forces both Veronica and Jughead into facing the undeniable truth: Betty and Archie have feelings for each other, and those feelings are very much real.
It’s the highest stakes character-driven conflict the show has done to date. And it’s an unbelievably refreshing change of pace of the show, not to mention the perfect time to execute it.
There are no good endings here, and the future of the core four is forever altered. If Veronica and Jughead forgive the kiss, the show is undermining the character’s emotional intelligence. Riverdale simply must deal with the fallout.
That fallout, will most likely involve the characters separating like shrapnel across various parts of the country, right in time for the shows conveniently placed five-year time jump.
Using a Barchie romance as a plot device to implode the core characters would be a disappointing ending to this fresh new storyline, but it could make the potential for Season 5 that much more exciting; you have absolutely no idea what you’re going to get.
After four years with the same relationships, storylines and dynamics, that’s an extremely enticing offer.
Now is the time to give Archie and Betty the shot they deserve. Not only does it allow fans who have waited for that ship to sail some comeuppance, but it’s the perfect conflict to propel everyone forward.
That’s something Riverdale hasn’t done nearly enough.
For those of you still outraged over the seemingly “random, out of the blue” romance between Betty and Archie, perhaps take a minute to look back on past seasons, and remember what you might be choosing to conveniently forget.
Archie and Betty, beyond being one half of the iconic comic book love triangle, have been friends since childhood. The pilot opened with the two at odds about the status of their relationship, with Betty confessing her love for her best friend.
Since then, the two have had countless romantically charged moments; from missed glances to unfinished sentences, to bedroom window longing, all the signs have been there.
Both Veronica and Jughead have asked on multiple occasions if the two had feelings for one another, always sensing something deeper beyond the surface. Archie and Betty have always fought for another, been loyal to one another, and loved one another no matter the circumstances.
If nothing else, remember this: it isn’t the first time they’ve kissed.
This isn’t Veronica and Jughead finding their way into bed together somehow. This is two people who have an immense amount of history and conflicting feelings finally getting the chance to figure out what it all means.
It needed to happen before graduation, and whether they get together or not, this allows the show to take itself in an entirely new direction.
What a great way to kill two birds with one stone.
Riverdale is finally jumping into some traditional teenage angst by letting these characters get messy with one another; it is high school, after all. Bughead and Varchie will surely one day have their time back in the sun, but for now, it’s time to slow down, and let these characters sit in their mistakes for awhile.
That’s something we’ve been waiting for since season one, and we’ll take it.
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Riverdale airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on The CW.
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Kat Pettibone
Kat Pettibone is an aspiring TV writer, artist, and poet. As a Pacey Witter Fan Club lifer who never missed a TGIF, she has dreams of becoming your generations small screen Nora Ephron. She's also an avid lover of coffee, dogs and all things spooky.
9 comments
this is absolutely wrong. They both had just minuets before been through the biggest arguments with their current boyfriend/ girlfriend one being about their future. And you just want to ignore that Betty just went through watching her boyfriend almost get killed again and now have basically PTSD and act like that is not a life change. At last you could watch without a bias.
No, people are not ignoring the “moments” they shared in the past. A lot of these were from the pilot, you know the episode where Archie rejected Betty? The cute little diner scene that showed their oh so cute friendship? He forgot Betty existed when Veronica walked in. Their romantic back to school dance? She proposed they be a couple and he looked very much not for it. Then he goes and tells veronica hes never ft whatever hes supposed to feel for betty and kisses her. Archie’s one cutoff sentence was when Betty shut him down when he all of sudden wanted her when someone else had her. Her face after their S2 wasn’t exactly swoon inducing.
So yes. This was out of nowhere. They had no scenes together 4×02-4×13. And barely had scenes together S1-S3- their “epic” friendship is more tell than show. Two scenes over the course of two episodes before the episode where they cheat where it was “hinted” isnt development, sorry but its not. Unfortunately dor shippers, they are being used asaplot device, as they were in S2, because the writers and lazy and derivative and dont know how to develop drama between couples without bringing other people into the mix.
This exactly explained them greatly, we haven’t had any Barchie scenes and it’s so unfair because Barchie is Endgame. Period sorry not sorry Varchie and Bughead fans it’s our time now
I didn’t really care for Varchie
But Bughead was an amazing match I just don’t feel like Archie and Betty have really anything in common
But jughead has a similar darkness to Betty’s darkness, bonding together they are an unforgettable match
But I feel like people will not feel the same about Betty and Archie as a couple
I honestly blame the writers/producers for choosing to blatantly ignore their friendship in favor of catering to the main ships bughead and varchie. There were so many situations where I wondered why Betty and Archie were not there for each other and its obvious that they were ignored because people already loved the bughead/varchie dynamics. But the small moments between Betty and Archie always spoke more levels to me. I’m glad they didnt get together right away. Their timing was always off, but they’re growing up and things are changing. High school romances dont always last and its time for a change from the original couples!
I totally agree! The writers are only servicing to bughead/ varchie fans because they have sent DEATH threats to actors over “ships”, which is…. so RiDiCuLoUs!!! I have seen so many bughead fans saying they will “stop watching the show if barchie happens”. In this case, Barchie should be endgame because true fans of the show would keep watching regardless of the ships. I have been watching Riverdale for 4 YEARS, and I do not ship bughead or varchie AT ALL! Barchie deserves its time because slow burn couples are always the ones that have the best payoff.
Barchie is endgame. Bughead has no foundation, they have nothing to even talk about except mystery. Take if from them and they will break up in a matter of a second. Betty stays with Jughead because it’s her safe choice, so comfortable and predictable. While she’s afraid to let Archie in her life, because he once caused her a heartache. But this time he’s in love and she’ll find tjis out eventually.
I totally agree, barchie is the endgame. I mean look at them , i love them so much, that why I have been watching this show for four years now
I wish betty and archie together so now they are start have sex scenes so hot btw.
so why should you split them a lot of people want them together so do it so we are be happy.
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