#but i wanted to talk about riverdale between season 1 and so i made this one

[book-tease]

wait the series finale of riverdale was last night??? might watch it with no context because like. that show started this blog. there’s such a soft spot in my heart for it

[maya-matlin]

hi my love!!!! 💞💕💗 so I'm rewatching riverdale and wanted to ask you something if you don't mind?? you know I ship bhva and barchie but I just wanted to hear why you love bughead over barchie? I've heard you talk about it before and sorry if you're tired of answering this question lol also is there anything that would've made you ship barchie, like if they write them differently or anything?? ily 😘😘

Hi! ❤️❤️❤️❤️ No, it's okay. To be honest, so much of the reason why I prefer Bughead is that I'm more inclined to prefer that type of couple. Riverdale barely allowed Betty and Jughead to have a friendship pre-Bughead, but something I liked is that they weren't necessarily spending time together and bonding with the idea of falling in love. There was no expectation that it was going to turn into the super serious relationship it was. But, Betty and Jughead bonded over investigating and seeing each other through family problems and came to realize that they were much more similar and compatible than they'd thought. They had this effortless ease and were very passionate about each other. Neither had to change or downplay part of who they were just to feel loved by the other. Betty and Jughead loved all of each other, including each other's flaws. They found a very sweet home and stability within each other. And on top of that, they seemed to have a lot of passion and excitement within the relationship. Rather than adhering to the idea of what couples are supposed to do, they had their own stuff. They discussed investigations in bed and considered searching for clues in the woods a date night. Bughead's relationship was just.. so distinctly them. They shared every aspect of their lives with each other and FELT like best friends in love. It felt like endgame, honestly. Riverdale's writing was always questionable, but in this case their romantic relationship was very well defined. They'd created a couple so ridiculously compatible that only poorly executed plot devices and attempts to bring back years old baggage successfully tore them apart "for good". But even during the time jump years, the handful of times Betty and Jughead were allowed to talk or exist in the same story line and have real conversations, that connection always shone through. It was difficult (at least for me) to see how they couldn't be together when the characters almost demanded they be paired up.

When it comes to Betty's relationship with Archie, it started off as a so-so thing with the potential to turn into something really sweet. At least in season 1. Betty became a much stronger, happier, more confident version of herself once she got over Archie and found love with someone who actually understood her. Once Riverdale finally got around to exploring a romance between Betty and Archie, it came across to me that Betty was a shell of her former self, almost acting out of self hatred, and felt so down on herself that she kept forcing herself to become the ideal partner for Archie while he was allowed to get everything he ever wanted without any attempts to be a better or particularly decent partner to Betty. There's a version of Riverdale where Betty and Archie ending up together could have been a satisfying, full circle ending. The problem is, the concept was abandoned so early on that the most memorable, strongest part of the series seemed dedicated to setting up something much different. Betty no longer felt like the woman who was supposed to end up with Archie. I never bought that Betty felt nearly as loved and as seen as she did with Jughead. On Archie's end, it never felt as though he was particularly passionate about Betty either and just kind of settling for whoever might give him a family.

For me to ship this couple, Archie would have had to be a different type of character. I found myself disliking adult Archie more often than not and felt as though a sexist narrative surrounded the entire BA relationship. Not to mention the way the season 4 cheating played out and Betty and Archie's involvement post-high school. Other shows weren't afraid to explore love triangles between best friends being fucking damaging. On shows like Dawson's Creek and One Tree Hill, it took years for those wounds to heal. Even after they did, the trust issues remained and it took actual effort for things to be even remotely "fine" afterwards. On Riverdale, Jughead and Veronica were hurt by Betty and Archie but weren't allowed to voice their pain TO BETTY AND ARCHIE. So it's like this wasted potential not only for drama, but for the catharsis factor of Veronica and Jughead being allowed to speak their piece. Betty seemed to carry guilt over what happened and struggled for years with self worth as a result. Archie? He just kind of got the red carpet rolled out for him when he returned from the army and never had to deal with any sort of backlash or anything that would complicate things for his life. And that's the kind of character I could never ship with Betty. Bad writing aside, Archie is the kind of person who could be living with and planning a future with Veronica in one episode and in bed with Betty, her best friend and the person he cheated with in high school, in the very next episode.

[etherealwanderings]

Sex isn't dirty and it has nothing to do with "rushing things to feed a fantasy." How don't you see that you're sounding indistinguishable from ron desantis and televangelists?

Homophobic GA members think all of Byler is creepy just because it's gay. I promise you that keeping it "pure" is not gonna make them be okay with Byler. You can keep dancing around the truth, but it doesn't change the truth: you think sex, and gay sex in particular, is creepy.

This is puritan behavior.

You post stuff like "I'm gonna protect these 2 cuties from the creeps of the fandom" without any hint of irony. That is purity culture. It's the same mindset of those who try to shield their daughters from their own sexuality or who try to tell people that the only acceptable way of having sex is in a heterosexual marriage, as if sex is something that corrodes and erases innocence. Do you hear what you're saying?

Never mind that there's an obvious thematic significance to a Byler sex scene given the 80s context, as well as emotional significance (since most of sex is psychological, and it's about exploring these character dynamics. It has nothing to do with being "creepy" or "forcing fantasies" on people TF.

The show itself has already shown Byler be sexually attracted to each other, are you denying this? Have you seen hosegate? Have you watched the show?

Another example of a show that handles queer teen sexuality perfectly is the new Chucky show. After showing them fall in love in Seasons 1 and 2, Season 3 has shown their two queer teen main characters ready to take things to the next level. And they openly communicate with each other and talk about safety/consent.

No one's saying that a byler sex scene would be some weird horny thing. It would be a display of love between two characters who have grown up together and would fit within the show's main anti-conformity character arcs and themes. It would be wholesome and tastefully done. Most Bylers would want it to be implied anyway.

It's not like Stranger Things is gonna suddenly become Euphoria or Sex Education or Riverdale.

Didn't you listen to all the minors of the Tag who are feeling uncomfortable thinking about that things? Don't u care about them ? Why do u call them puritans? Also no offense but hosegate is an interpretation lol. If you watch the show without analysing it like crazy,you wouldn't even interpret that scene that way. When I first saw that scene I saw a Will being sad and breathing loudly while looking at Mike because he is nervous. He would love to run to Mike and tell him that it's his painting and his feelings but he cannot and the fact that now he thinks that Byler has 0 chance of happening. It is giving him anxiety. Noah made the same look during the rain fight and generally starts breathing loudly when Will is nervous. If you don't look at the hose and think about a banana , hosegate becomes bs. It's not even a Byler evidence. My problem isn't about Byler sex scenes in general cause if Byler was like over 20 I wouldn't say anything, it's the fact that you are burning to get that scene. You want it so bad that it becomes creepy and when a minor feels uncomfortable because of what u are saying, you call them a puritan.It is basically child manipulation! Not everyone is ready to understand anatomy ! Not everyone likes to see 2 people having intimate moments! Not everyone agrees with minors having s.x! And it's fucking valid !

[alignallofthelights]

Dean Cas Wedding Tweet Report

Now that the dust has settled, I wanted to do a quick after action report on the #DeanCasWedding trend. For those who aren’t aware. #Dean Cas Wedding trended on Twitter, based on some recurring Supernatural castmates sending a tweet about Dean and Cas getting married at the roadhouse. 

Destiel fans ran with this theory and created a fictional wedding between Dean and Castiel on Valentine’s Day. The hash tag trended for 8 hours, and peaked at #4 on Twitter’s United States trending top 30. In the end it generated 46.3k tweets. 

I am doing a deeper social media analysis of the hash tag findings to better understand Destiel fan activity, during this campaign. Further details are shared here as follows: 

Overall Campaign Metrics

As posted before the majority of this campaign was based on retweets - 67% of this campaign was based off of retweets from 13.7k original tweets. 33% of the campaign came from original content. For scale that means of the 46.3k tweets that were generated during the Dean Cas Wedding trend ~30k came from retweets. 

This means that the Destiel fan base has a predilection to retweet and spam  continuously to get their hash tags to trend.

Size of Destiel’s Fanbase/Stanbase

So this is the interesting story. Of the individuals who participated in the campaign there were 2.6k active contributors, 5.3k total contributors, this means we can deduce that 2.7k or so were just retweet contributors. The 2.7k numbers are “passive” contributors in that they did not create any new content with their tweets. While the 2.6k active participants are the tweeters who created original content that fueled the hashtag. This means that 5.3k people in total fueled enough content to create a 43.6k hashtag campaign. 

Supernatural’s Viewership Cross Reference

For context the average Supernatural episode in the last season attracted 1.1 million viewers. Quick facts to put this in perspective: 

For every 208 general fans of Supernatural you will find 1 Destiel, Misha Minon, or Destiel Extreme shipper stan

Destiel as a fanbase is less than 1% of the Supernatural audience/fan base (precisely less than .5% of the general audience)

The average Destiel fan tweets 5-8 times to get something to trend

When an extreme Destiel fan screams that “they made Supernatural what it is”, “that they are the majority of the audience”, and that everyone wanted “Dean and Castiel together”, show them these numbers. All in all, the reach of this fanbase is quite small. Their hash tag campaign had an overall reach of 3 million people. 

Cross comparison: Destiel’s hash-tag vs. Walker’s Live Tweeting

For scale Walker reached 12 million people when they trended for “Don’t Fence Me In” with a fraction of the tweets they had (46.3k vs. 11.7k). 

#DeanCasWedding (2/14)

#Walker (Don’t Fence Me In, Live Tweet 2/11)

What Corporations Value

This is why Supernatural and CW executives do not take Destiel and their hash tag campaigns seriously. 67% of this campaign is basically just re-tweets, which is what devalues this campaign in terms of meaningful social media engagement that corporations and stations look for. The value of the campaign is not there despite the high tweet count (Trended at #4, and generated 46.3k tweets but with no substance). The problem for Destiel fans is that their conversation is all insular, which is why the reach is so small. You have a max of 5k people talking about a ship, and a less than 3k actually pushing it. It is basically just these small .5% of audience members talking to each other and passing the ball between themselves back and forth.  

Destiel’s existing echo chamber

If you are interested in knowing who those individuals are look no further. I broke down the Top 10 Most active members during the campaign and top 10 for original tweets and retweets. You may see some familiar faces: 

Lastly, we will delve into the age of the twitter accounts who were active during the campaign. 

As seen here a sizable portion of this tweet campaign comes from twitter accounts that are less than 1 year old. This is an obvious indicator for multiple accounts and fake accounts. It shows that the two biggest splits here are twitter accounts that are less than 1 year old, and others that are 6 years or older. Combine this finding with the retweet threshold (67%) it’s highly likely that there  is some double dipping going on here. Remember the average Destiel account retweets things 5-8 times. As we can take a look from the most popular tweeters during the campaign some of them tweeted an excess of 400 times just from one handle. The top 10 tweeters during the campaign generated 3k tweets just amongst themselves.  

As such it’s likely that the 5.3k number shared here is inflated, with much of this engagement coming from fake accounts, double accounts which aren’t a genuine reflection of actual population size. I hypothesize that about a third of this fanbase is a result of multiple accounts. Especially since many Destiel fans say that they’ve been watching since season 4. How is it that a third of the audience just came aware of Destiel in the past year, when Castiel has been on the show since Season 4? 

Summary

The Destiel fans need things to cling onto. Often when they try to trend spontaneously as in response to Misha’s instagram video on the 13th the trend only got 8k tweets before it collapsed. They need to latch onto a social justice themes to trend (Eileen), they need to latch onto Jensen and Dean’s fanbase along with LGBTQIA+ representation that exists in other fanbases to partner in order to trend (Shameless Gallavich, MCU’s Stucky and Teen Wolf’s Sterek). But even for all of their efforts it doesn’t really mean anything in the end, when you look at the numbers and review the context of their campaign.

In conclusion, I know this is a long post but I wanted to double down on a few things. The Destiel, Misha Minon, Extreme Destiel fans are not the majority. They don’t have a lot of power amongst their group. The economic value of this hash tag campaign doesn’t compare to the likes of live tweeting events generated from the CW during their live tweet shows: Batwoman, Legacies or Riverdale. Definitely not Walker. Even when they try to trend with all their might they can’t equal or make a significant dent in social media engagement that means anything to the network. This is why the CW has ignored them. As such I hope that this tumblr post can help people understand how small the fanbase is, and how their bullying and smear campaigns are insignificant and don’t amount to anything. I hope this number can give people perspective and context to what this crazy stan base has led to with all their tantrums, doxing, anti-voting sprees and generally toxic behavior. Ultimately I hope this post shows that they are insignificant. Let’s let them be so. 

[jupitermelichios]

ive never seen riverdale but im here from ur post and listening... can u explain how the characters use "old-timey tech" or what that means

short answer: imagine if people in 300 years time threw a '20th century' themed party, and you've got 20s flappers standing next to 70s punks next to someone cosplaying paris hilton. that's riverdale.

long answer: despite appearing to be pretty much just another vampire diaries, or pretty little liars, or even smallville (seriously, this show wants to be smallville so bad), riverdale is made with a kind of aesthetic verve usually only found in Wes Anderson movies. Whole sets are perpetually bathed in neon light, camera work is suprisingly inventive, characters are very carefully colour coded, its a visually pretty interesting show

and a part of that is the tech. the show-runners were going for a kind of timeless americana vibe, and one of the main ways that mannifests itself is that (after season 1, which is fairly normal) technologies from 1901 to 2021 all exist simultaneously in the town, and the general rule seems to be to only ever go as modern as you absolutely have to.

telephones are a good example of that. if a character recieves a phone call while in a physical building, it will come through on a chorded landline. (the only chordless phone exists in betty's bedroom, because they like to have her lie on her bed and talk, ala early 90s teen romcoms.) people will phone the diner and ask to speak to a patron rather than just calling that patron directly. the phones used are often rotary dial ones, rather than push button, and in the case of the high school, a candlestick phone (the ones where the speaker and microphone are two sepperate parts)

but characters have modern cell/mobile phones. if someone needs to make/recieve a phone call when they're in their car or outside, they'll use a mobile phone. (I have a feeling there is one instance of an 80s car phone, but don't quote me on that)

jughead has a laptop, because that was introduced in season 1, but he basically stops using it and starts writing on a typewriter from season 3 onward, and the laptop only comes back when it's needed for a plot point.

the fbi uses paper files and microfiche, and when they tap someone's phone it records onto a cassette tape. the highschool computers are from 1995, people are surprised that a video rental store is still in business but not that it only rents VHS tapes, tvs are almost all 1960s wood pannelled ones except when they're early 80s countertop ones, betty's dad is about 40 but his childhood home movies are reels of film that have to be played on an vintage projector rather than vhs tapes.

for season 3 and 4, all the tech works on this same logic. occaisionally it's a nod to the comics (archie drives a 1915 ford model T tourer, which is a comics reference, but everyone else drives cars from between about 1950 and 1975, which isn't. any modern cars are ones introduced in the first season), mostly it's just the designers having fun.

season 5 does something slightly weirder, where specific sets and characters seem to exist in different timezones, like jughead's flat exists in the 1970s and archie's military service exists in the 1910s. (hospitals have always only existed in the 1950s and the nurses wear those weird white pointy hats that make them look like the flying nun.)

i don't think it works for what they were going for; the diner definitely has a timeless feel, but the rest of it just feels weird, honestly. but that actually works in the show's favour, because the plots get so insane that combined with time not working properly you just have to conclude that this either takes place on an alien planet where everyone is trying and failing to cosplay 20th century humans, or in some kind of time sinkhole where a century of time is all happening simulataneously and also mothman is here. (that's not a joke. mothman is here)

[amazingphanisnotonfire-imagines]

Cheryl//this is me trying

Request: Can I request a season 1 cheryl x reader. Cheryl always protects reader from people and r is shy but falls in love with the redhead and some who’s accidentally tells her while she’s having a bad day but cheryl is quick to reassure her then they cuddle after going to pops or something and it’s just fluffy.

hey! happy valentines day gays! and get you, two imagines in one day, it must be the day of love. i hope you all like this because it’s really fluffy and i enjoyed writing this a lot!

Overnight, Riverdale became a shell of its former self. Two months since Kevin Keller and Moose Mason stumbled upon the body of Jason Blossom, and nobody has been the same since. 

The town is riddled with secrets, they’re slowly destroying it like a disease. Nobody trusts anybody anymore, everyone is on high alert, and everyone is a suspect. 

Cheryl usually loves being the centre of attention, she has done ever she was a kid. It’s something that comes naturally with being a twin, you share everything and as much as she loves loved the shared birthdays and friends, she has always loved being the centre of attention.

Now however, she hates it. Her life is a true crime documentary at the minute, and all she wants is for the killer to be caught so the crew can pack up and leave and she no longer has to stare down at the blinding lights being cast over her and her family. 

The only thing that’s kept her sane over the past two months, is you. Despite everything happening, despite the murder and the secrets and the suspicion, you’ve stuck by her side. You were with her when they found the body, and you haven’t really left since. 

The two of you are unlikely friends, she’s Cheryl. Bright and bold and never one to back down from confrontation. But you’re Y/n, sweet and shy and always the first to shrink away from any sort of attention directed at you. 

She knows you hate the constant attention recently, it’s something you get used when you’re best friends with the victim’s sister, but not once have you complained. 

You’ve being questioned by police, journalists and strangers on the internet. You’ve had camera’s shoved in your face on your walk back from school and been asked countless questions about what you know about the Blossom’s. And you’ve also been offered ridiculous amounts of money in order to talk. But no matter what happens, you always just rush past them and join Cheryl, who’s always waiting for you with a sad smile and warm hand. 

Due to the constant hoard of vultures swarming Riverdale High, the two of you had to figure out somewhere else to meet after school so you could walk the long way home. It adds twenty minutes to your walk, but it’s not that well known around town, meaning people can’t bother you. 

Plus, the extra twenty minutes that you get to spend with Cheryl isn’t the worst thing. It’s the opposite in fact. It’s the thing you look forward to, even if you are looking over your shoulder every so often 

But today you’re not at your meeting spot. 

When Cheryl pushes her way through the stares of her fellow students with you and only you on her mind and makes her way through the school basement, back up the stairs and out of the fire exit, you’re not waiting for her with a smile that makes her feel warm and a cold slice of pizza you snuck out of the cafe earlier. 

The only thing waiting for her is a full bin and an empty field. 

“Y/n?” She calls out and looks around the corner. She’s met with three seniors, all of which are smoking with absolutely no care for being caught. 

“She’s not here.” One of them says, her blonde hair and large glasses cover half of her face and Cheryl forces a smile. 

“Hey, Blossom.” A boy says and Cheryl freezes. Who knows what they want, but whatever it is, it probably won’t be nice. It’ll probably be something along the lines of ‘hey, did you kill your brother’ and no matter how many times she’s asked that, it doesn’t get any easier. “Maybe try the bleachers.” He says, ending his sentence with a sympathetic smile and Cheryl nods slowly, not really sure what to say. 

“Thanks.” She forces and spins on her heel. 

“We’re sorry about your brother, Cheryl.” The blonde one says and she turns around again. Each of them look sad, with matching frowns and sorrow swimming in their eyes. 

Jason meant the world to Cheryl, but he also meant a hell of a lot to other people too. And that’s when it hits her. Of course you’re at the bleachers. 

For some bizarre reason, only known by your father. You and your family used to come along every other week to watch the Bulldogs play. For a while you thought it was because your dad was trying to get you and your brother into football and this was a lot cheaper than the actual game, but the older you got the more you figured it was because he was just trying to relive his youth. For 90 minutes he could pretend that he was quarterback again and for those 90 minutes your dad would be the happiest he’d been all week. 

Then one week, a redhead sat beside you. In clothes that were far too expensive to be worn to a high school football game. Her parents looked like they wanted to be there as much as she did, but then a boy with matching red hair ran out on to the pitch and you’d never seen a smile quite like it. 

After that, you made sure to sit beside her at every game. And then one day she sat opposite you at lunch. The first few times she was alone, but then soon she began to appear with a group of other girls, but you were the only one she’d talk to. 

Eventually lunch times and football games turned into group projects and sleepovers. You spend hours braiding her hair and listening to her tell you stories of other worlds and the creatures that live in them. You’d sneak down the dark and creepy halls of Thornhill in hopes of finding a midnight snack, and instead be met by Jason and your older brother in clown masks. 

Eventually, you found a different way to get to the kitchen, one that Jason didn’t know about. And when he’d come looking for you, both of you would jump out  and chase him around the house, much to the dismay of Penelope and Clifford. 

Those bleachers are what started a whole friendship, not only between you and her, but also you and Jason. When you’re brother eventually made the team, thanks to a good word put in my Jason, despite him being a year younger. Him and Jason became as inseparable as you and Cheryl and so it wasn’t an uncommon occurrence to see the four of you hanging out. It also meant that if Cheryl was busy, you and Jason would hang out until she finished whatever she was doing. 

Grief is a hell of a lonely thing, and sometimes Cheryl forgets that other people miss Jason too. With everything going on, she didn’t even think about how you were doing. With all the questions, accusations and crying that constantly fills Cheryl’s house. She never even asked how you were. 

And now her legs can’t carry her quick enough to were she hopes your sat. Because she’s already lost her brother, she can’t lose you too. She wobbles as her heels dig into the dirt, kicking up dust and mud as she runs across the field. Her hair swings behind her, and she can feel the red scrunchie loosen the quicker she runs. 

The bleachers have all sorts carved into them. Initials in hearts, some of them still there, some of them crossed out so aggressively that it’s a miracle they didn’t chop it in half. There’s inside jokes and ridiculous rumours. Codes and dates and everything in between. 

But something new has been added in the past few days. 

cheryl murdered jason

and y/n helped

The writing is small and barely legible, but it’s there and the more you run your fingers over it the more it carves itself into your heart. 

“Y/n?” Cheryl pants breathlessly and you quickly pull yourself away from it. Instead you stand up properly and pull the sleeves of your sweater down over your hands. The y/f/c scrunchie remains still in your hair and Cheryl has to stare at it for a few seconds to calm herself down. “You weren’t at our spot.” She says quietly and you close your eyes. 

You let her down. You let her down. You always let her down.  

“Sorry Cheryl.” You sigh and sit down in the dirt. Cheryl looks around before sitting beside you. “I just wanted some space.” You add and force yourself to look at her. 

The sun sits behind her, but even that doesn’t seem as bright as it used to be. Nothing is what it used to be. For the past two months, you’ve been told that thats a good thing. But what’s good about someone you loved being dead. What’s good about watching someone else you love go through life but not really live. 

Cheryl just exists. 

But she exists for you. 

Because as lost as she would be without you, she knows you would be just as lost without her. 

It’s an unspoken rule now, you always text each other when you wake up and before you go to sleep. It’s something you used to do anyway, but now you make a point not to forget. Because forgetting means that the worst could have happened, and that’s something neither of you can bare to deal with. 

“I get it.” She nods. “I was just worried that’s all.” She adds, trying to sound as casual as she can. But on the inside she’s screaming. Because she thought you had died, she thought whoever had killed Jason had gotten to you too, and the whole reason you’re both dead is because she wronged the wrong person. 

There’s a lot of people that don’t like Cheryl, being unliked comes naturally to her. But she doesn’t know how she’ll cope if she’s so unlikeable someone she loves died. 

She has no idea why your friends with her to be honest. She saw you staring at her at a football game once. But it wasn’t a stare she was used to. It wasn’t cold like her mothers or jealous like her friends. No, this was nice. You were staring at her like you wanted to know about her, like when you looked at her, you saw a friend not someone to be feared. 

And so Cheryl clung onto the tiny hint of friendship, the crack of a door into something that could happen, and she shoved herself through it. It worked, and now you’re the only person she’s nice to. She’s mean to everyone else, she calls them names and teases them, especially when they’re rude to you...but you stay. And she has no idea why, but she’s not going to wish it away. 

“Shit, sorry Cheryl.” You drop your head into your hands and Cheryl looks at you confused. She looks around, not really sure of what to do. “I didn’t think, God knows what you thought had happened.” You ramble and she realizes you’re crying. Her eyes widen and you look at her, your eyes red and puffed and your lips pulls into frown. 

“It’s okay.” She replies and wraps her arms around you. You bury your head into her neck, the smell of maple and cherries invade your senses and you let out a shaky breath. 

It smells like home and happier times, and you want to crawl into those happy memories and never come back out. “I was just being ridiculous.” She tries to play it off, to make it seem like she couldn’t feel her heartbeat in her throat and the ringing in her ears. Pretend like it didn’t feel like someone had pulled her heart out and stamped on it. 

“No, no you weren’t. I’m really sorry.” You sob and wrap your arms around her. She falls into your neck, surprised but not upset with how tight you’re holding her. She never wants you to let go. But of course she has to, and so however reluctant, she untangles herself from you and lets out a deep sigh. 

“I’m sorry.” You sniffle. She hands you a tissue and you wipe your eyes with it before scrunching it up in your hand. “I’ve just had a rubbish day. Somebody shoved this in my locker.” You frown and pull a balled up piece of paper out of your pocket. 

Cheryl’s eyebrows knit in confusion as she takes it from you, her fingers graze yours and you freeze for a few seconds. 

who do you think did it? 

cheryl __

y/n __

Jamie __

“Why is your brother on here?” Cheryl asks, her voice rising with each word and you rest your hand on top of hers to calm her down. 

“I dunno.” You shrug. “Your parents are on there too.” You add and point further down the page. 

“What a bunch of dicks.” She grumbles and crumples it up. “Do you know who it was?” You shrug and she sighs. 

“I’ve just gotten tired of the staring and the whispers. So I thought I’d just have five minutes peace before going home and having to listen to Jamie cry in his room but pretend he’s okay. Or for my parents to walk on eggshells around both of us. Neither of them know what to say, and because of that they keep saying the wrong thing.” You ramble and she listens intently, trying her best to find a resolution to all of your problems. 

Unfortunately, she doesn’t know the answer to everything, no matter what her mom says. 

“I just thought five minutes by myself can’t be terrible. But then I came down here and someone carve-well it doesn’t matter what they wrote. What matters is that I made you worry at the worst possible time in your life. I hurt you, and I’m really sorry. Believe me, hurting you is the last thing I want to do you. I feel sick even just thinking about it. I never, ever want to hurt you. I love you too much. I love you more that I’ve ever loved anything or anyone ever. I just love yo-” Your eyes widen when you realize what you’ve just admitted to. 

You don’t want to look at her, but she hasn’t said anything in a while and that’s strange for her. So you force yourself to look at her, expecting the worst. Expecting disgust, disappointment, betrayal. But it’s none of those. 

Instead she’s smiling. And she looks actually happy. Something you haven’t seen in so long, something you’re glad to see, despite the circumstances. 

Oh yeah, you’ve just told her you’re in love with her. What do you say after that? 

“I-er-”

“Y/n?” She cuts you off before you get the chance to ruin the moment. She’s known you for long enough to know that when you get nervous, you ramble and when you ramble you say weird things. 

You’re grateful for her cutting you off, usually if she talks over you, it annoys the hell out of you. But this time it’s welcomed and she stifles a small laugh and the sigh of relief you let out. 

But the next thing she says is something that you weren’t expecting, but you’re sure as hell grateful for. 

“Would you like to go on a date?” 

---

The red lights from outside, illuminate Cheryl’s pale face in the night, painting her in a reddish hue and you find yourself staring at her for far longer than would be considered normal. 

Lucky for you, she hasn’t noticed. She doesn’t seem to be paying attention to anything, not really anyway. Instead she stares down at her food, pushing a few fries around the plate and anxiety rises in your chest. 

She’s already regretting doing this. She’s made a mistake and now she doesn’t know how to let you down gently. 

She seems to sense you nerves because she’s looking at you quickly, a sad smile twitching at her lips.

“Sorry, I just. Jason always used to tease me about the two of us. It’s the only thing we’d take about sometimes. He’d constantly ask me if I’d asked you out yet. And every time I would say ‘no, we’re just friends’ but, well neither of us really believed that.” She says, a small laugh escapes her lips near the end, but she quickly shuts it off. It’s too soon for her to be laughing, too soon for her to be happy. 

“Yeah.” You nod and finish your drink. “He used to tease me too. ‘if you don’t tell her, I’ll do it myself’.” You mimic his voice and a ghost of a smile twitches at her lips as she forces herself to look at you. “I am really glad you did ask me though.” Your voice shakes a little with nerves and Cheryl stares at you confused. “I do really like you Cheryl.” 

“I really like you too.” She smiles softly and you stare at her lips. Sometimes you think the red lipstick has permanently stained her lips cherry red. Even when you guys are a sleepover, she still has bright red lips and the other part of you wonders if that’s just what they look like. 

“Hey.” You start and a sly smile twitches at your lips as you remember an old memory. She leans forward, excited to know what you’re smiling about. 

It could literally be anything, from a musty old book she let you borrow from the Thornhill archive, to a new tv show you started to watch. But whatever it is, she’s excited to hear you talk about it. 

“Can you remember last year. It was Jamie’s 16th birthday and you and Jason were invited over. Jason was there because him and Jamie were planning on sneaking out later that night, and you tagged along so you could keep me company.” You start and she smiles at the memory. 

The four of you sat in the living room, while your mom brought cake and your dad sang ‘happy birthday’. Cheryl remembers how happy she was, and she remembers talking to Jason afterwards, the two of them whispering and wondering if that was what a normal family was supposed to look like. 

You, Cheryl and Jason had each pitched in for the record player he wanted. And even though you all knew that just Cheryl alone could have been able to buy him it if she really wanted, you knew they split it for you. 

Jamie was ecstatic when he opened the box, and then all of the records you’d bought to go with it. He’d played it every single day since getting it, but now you haven’t heard it in months.

“Yeah.” She nods, a sad smiling taking over he face. “Can you remember when Jason pushed his face into the cake.” She adds making you snort a laugh. 

The bell above Pop’s rings and Betty and Archie walk in. They send you a sympathetic smile before sitting at their own booth, and you and Cheryl share a look. 

“Would you like another one?” You point at her milkshake and she nods, smiling shyly. 

---

The walk home is over far too soon, and it’s only when you’re standing on your porch do you realize you took the normal way home by accident. Either the media has gone to sleep, or people are starting to forget about Jason and Riverdale. 

That thought makes you frown and Cheryl watches your expression falter before you look back at her again. 

“Thank you for walking me home.” You smile shyly and a nervous laugh escapes her lips. 

“It’s no problem.” She shrugs and the two of you stare at each other for a few seconds longer than normal. She’s about to leave when you grab her hand and spin her around to face you. 

She’s surprised for a second, until suddenly she feels a pair of lips on hers, and then the only thing she can feel is them. Everything else disappears, and though the kiss is short and a little awkward, it’s still perfect. 

“Would you like to come in?” You ask and motion your head to large wooden door. The pain is chipped around the metal numbers, something your mom has nagged your dad about for the past 6 months. “We still have the rest of y/f/s to watch.” 

“I’d love to.” She nods and the two of you grin at each other. “But seriously, how many times have you seen that now?” 

“It doesn’t matter how many times I’ve seen it.” You unlock the front door, giving it a quick kick before you stumble through it. “What matters is that this is the first time you’re seeing it.” You add and she rolls her eyes but follows you up the stairs anyway. 

The sun sets over another day in Riverdale and darkness floods the town. The streets are cold and scary, but wrapped in your duvet and Cheryl’s arms, you’ve never felt warmer. 

[amazingmaeve]

Leaving - Archie Andrews

Riverdale Masterlist // Main Masterlist

Summary: Y/N and Archie had a fling during the summer. Even though they promised no feelings she still fell for him. Then school came back and she starts feeling jealous of Archie and Veronicas flirting. Then Cheryl Blossoms party ruins everything. She decides to leave and go visit some family in California but before she goes Archie tries to stop her from leaving.

Request: Haii, I’m new to request, I was wondering can you do a Archie Andrews x Fem!Reader. The reader is Josie sister (Darkskin) and she fell in love with Archie. Prompts 76,78,79, 95. Archie and Reader had a thing before school started (Season 1. Before Veronica showed up and he’s not with Ms. Grundy) and kinda like how Veronic flirts with Archie she’s jealous but knows he’s not hers. (Sorry for the long request). During the 7 minutes in heaven that they played At Cheryl party how Betty left it’s the reader instead. Betty chases after her in attempts to calm her down. When The next day at school Archie catches her packing up her locker. She’s moving away to another school. In another state. maybe California or somewhere. She’s tried to leave before getting spotted until Archie catches her and they talk (The prompt numbers) And after they hug, she kisses him before walking out and not coming back.

Requested by: @theonequietblckgirl

Pairing: Archie Andrews x FemaleMccoy!Reader

Warnings: Angst, swearing, underage drinking, mentions of sex

AN: Hope this what you asked for 😊. Also this doesn’t follow the exact plot of the first episode of the series.

Word Count: 1853

Archie and Y/N had something in the summer. With her sister and her band she had no one else to hang out with. Then she started hanging out with Archie and hanging out turned into having sex. They both agreed to not involve feelings since it would make it more complicated and they didn’t want that.

But Y/N started to have feelings for him.

She knew that he didn’t feel the same since he was the one to recommend the no feelings part of their relationship. She knew he cared about her but just as friend he sometimes has sex with.

When the times they did hang out and didn’t have sex they had really meaningful conversations. They would make each other laugh and all in all they were happy with this arrangement.

But then the summer came to an end and so did their fling so it seemed.

When her and Archie didn’t hang out she hung out with Kevin and Betty. They knew about the thing between her and Archie and her feelings. She has known Betty and Keven ever since they were young and she knew she could trust them with this information.

Betty would lend a shoulder for Y/N to cry on when she talked about her feelings for Archie. And Kevin would always say the he had feelings for her to. But it was to hard to believe for Y/N.

She knew she shouldn’t have started his fling with him. She knew she would have a broken heart at the end of it.

Everything seemed to go back to normal at school except for the disappearance of Jason Blossom. Even thought Y/N didn’t know him she hope that he was ok. But she did know his sister Cheryl.

She didn’t exactly like Cheryl but wouldn’t start anything with. Y/N didn’t like Cheryl because she would always make fun of Betty and as friend of hers she would stick up for her which made Cheryl hate her.

Then Veronica Lodge came to the school.

She didn’t hate the girl but Y/N could sense that she liked Archie. But Y/N didn’t do anything since her and Archie weren’t even dating hell they weren’t even having sex anymore.

She couldn’t even hate Veronica for it. Since Veronica knew of her feelings and promised to stay away. But that didn’t help the nagging voice in the back of her mind that this wouldn’t end well.

Then the dance came.

Archie asked you which made Y/N’s heart race and could feel her body warm up and agreed to go with him a happy smile on her face.

Her and Betty helped each other with their outfits Betty didn’t go with anyone but that didn’t stop her being happy for Y/N.

Archie was a complete gentlemen, he held the door open for her, and held her hand.

The night was so magical.

The dance was romantic. Y/N could feel butterflies in her stomach whenever he looked at her. She hoped that her and Archie could have something more real.

Y/N and Archie talked the night away with smiles and laughs. She felt so much love for him and she hoped he felt the same for her.

Everything was perfect.

That was until they got into Cheryls after party were Y/N, Archie, Betty, and Veronica attended.

As the walked in Y/N sat next to Archie with Veronica on his other side.

When Cheryl started talking Y/N rolled her eyes at the red head not in the mood to deal with her.

She heard Cheryl talking about seven minutes in heaven. God this was such a sixth grade thing to do.

But unfortunately she saw that Archie would be going in the closet with Veronica which made Y/N take a deep breath to try and control her emotions.

She saw Betty give her sad look  and a comforting look in her eyes.

"So Y/N how was your summer," Y/N heard Cheryls condensing tone in her voice.

"Oh just great," Y/N answered Cheryl's question with a bit of sarcasm in her voice.

"What's going on with you and Archie," Y/N could hear humor in her voice which just made her roll her eyes.

"Why do you want to know," Betty stood up for Y/N which made her mentally thank Betty.

"Oh Betty I almost forgot you were here," Cheryl almost beamed with malice in her tone.

"I just don't think it's right for you to involve yourself if someone else's relationship," Betty snapped at Cheryl who just rolled her eyes in return.

Y/N felt bad for Cheryl after finding out Jason has been missing but times like this just made her hate Cheryl more and more. When she want after her friends and herself. Y/N doesn't know why Cheryl does this but it annoys the crap out of her.

"Listen before I get even more angry why don't just stick to your relationships and I'll stick to mine," Y/N stood up from the couch she had her voice at a steady calm breathing. She didn't want to get angry and focused on her breathing.

"Oh looks like times about up," Cheryl smirked as she walked over to the door to where Archie and Veronica were. Y/N hasn't notice it's been about 9 minutes which didn't follow the rules.

Y/N had a bad feeling in her stomach when Cheryl walked over to the door. She knew it was going to be something bad.

When Cheryl opened the door it revealed Veronica and Archie making out.

Y/N felt like she couldn't breath when she saw them kissing. She saw the two break apart and look at everyone in shock.

Y/N saw guilt flash both of their faces. She was about to cry and she didn't people to see her cry. She always prided her self in being a pretty confident girl. But right now she didn't feel like that.

Y/N didn't let either of them speak before she ran out of the door with tears rolling down her eyes.

Betty glared at Archie and Veronica. Then turned her eyes to Cheryl who had a malicious smirk on her face.

“This was your whole plan wasn’t it,” Betty asked while glaring at Cheryl.

“I just wanted to prove that Archie didn’t care for Y/N,” Cheryl shrugged not seeing with what she did wrong.

Betty shook her head before leaving running after Y/N wanting to comfort her friend. She left behind Archie and Veronica who let guilt set in.

Betty found Y/N in her car crying in her hands. Betty felt bad for her friend she had never experienced heart break herself but from looking at her friend she could feel it radiating from her.

Betty got into the car comforted her friend while hugging her for what felt like hours. When Y/N finally calmed down she dropped Betty off at her house and after reassuring her she was fine left or go to her own house.

Now she knew Archie didn’t have feelings for her.

For the next few days Y/N avoided Archie and Veronica which was hard since she had some classes with them.

After she went home she told Josie what happened which made her sister comfort her and to tell her everything would be fine.

During those few days her mother told her that there was this art school that Y/N got accepted in. She applied to this school during the summer with the permission of her parents. She only told Betty though.

She thought she wouldn’t get into that school.

Y/N was finally happy about something. She had been down ever since Cheryls party.

Her parents only allowed her to go to the school because there was some family close to the school that she wanted to go to.

The next day she told Betty who was overjoyed for her but sad that one of her friends wouldn’t be there. Y/N reassured her that they could talk and write each other which made Betty nod happy for her friend even though she was sad about that.

While she was packing her stuff out of her locker she felt someone walk up to her.

“Hey,” She heard Archie softly day. Y/N took a deep breath before turning towards him.

“Hey,” Y/N muttered turning her attention to her locker again.

“You’ve been avoiding me,” Archie pointed out after an awkward moment between the two.

“I wonder why,” Y/N scoffed.

“Y/N-,” Before He could continue Y/N put her hand and speaking herself.

“No I don’t want to hear it. I thought you asked me out I thought you liked me. I just I can’t pretend anymore that we are just friends,” Y/N shouted at Archie angry tears running down her face.

“Why are you packing your stuff,” Archie asked seeing all the stuff in her bad.

“I’m leaving I got accepted into an art school,” Y/N answered his question closing her locker after she was finished.

“This isn’t you. You wouldn’t go pack your stuff without telling anyone,” Archie explained with furrowed brows.

“Well I did tell someone I told the people who actually cared about me,” Y/N explained while glaring at him.

“I do care about you,” Archie pleaded with Y/N trying to get her to understand that he really did care about her.

“If you did you wouldn’t have kissed Veronica,” Y/N pointed out. “You broke my heart,” She whimpered trying to not let any of her tears fall.

“I know and I just want to prove to you that I really do care about. And ok now you’re going to say that I don’t but you’re wrong,” Archie began to explain. “I know I can never make it up to I just hope that one day you can forgive me,” He ended trying to not let tears fall from his eyes.

Y/N herself tried to not cry as she nodded. Even though he did hurt her she was going to miss him.

“Maybe one day,” Y/N whispered and she heard her own voice crack as a tear fell from her eyes.

“Just one last hug and I’ll leave,” Archie smiles and Y/N nodded letting him wrap his arms around her and she did the same. She took a deep breath and she smelled his cologne that she always loved.

When he pulled away he pressed his lips against hers softly seeing if she was going to kiss back. When she did they stood there kissing for a minute before they pulled back.

Archie walked away from Y/N and leaving the school.

Y/N let out a sad smile and let out a sniffle before grabbing her stuff and left herself setting her self on a new journey.

[13-reasons-ideas]

Once a Serpent? Part 1

A/N: This is a Riverdale X 13 Reasons Why crossover. I stopped watching Riverdale when season 2 got weird. I haven't really kept up with the show since outside of promos. As a result, this won't really line up with much of anything in seasons 3-current. I know I usually have Monty be this great guy who changes for the girl but I decided to try something different this time. This story has gone in a direction I wasn't expecting. It won't be super different than normal for a while, but I will give content warnings where needed. Let me know what you guys think and if you want me to continue! As always, feel free to send feedback or Q&A type questions. And much love! - Em

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to real people is purely coincidental. 

I found Nathan over by the river. He was staring out over the cliff. My black leather jacket was pulled around me tightly. It was a cold August. “Hey.” I called out to him, softly.

“Hey.” He didn’t turn around.

“Can we talk?”

“About?”

“What happened?”

“Not much to talk about, is there Kennedy?”

“Nate…” I started. “Please?”

“Fine.” He sighed, walked back closer to the trail, and sat on a rock. I watched him run a hand through his shaggy hair.

“I just found out last night. I was going to tell you today. I didn’t think it was something you should tell someone on the phone.”

“I just don’t get why you have to go. You’re an adult.”

“Because. I haven’t graduated and I have nowhere to stay here.” He opened his mouth to speak. “My boyfriend’s trailer doesn’t count.”

“Okay. When do you leave?”

“Three days. My mom needs time to finish her week. Dad leaves tonight.”

“You can keep the jacket until then.”

“Thanks.”

“Not doing it to be nice. You know that.”

“I know. But still. Thank you.” He merely hummed in response. “For everything.” I felt tears welling in my eyes. He knew me too well and, even if he didn’t want to, he opened his arms for a hug. I took a few steps forward into his grasp. He wrapped his arms tightly around me as I sobbed. I don’t want to leave. I don’t want to leave you. He shushed me and petted my hair. “I love you Nate.”

“I love you too Kenna.” His voice sounded small. I stepped away from him hhen I calmed down enough to breathe properly again. I couldn’t look at him again as I walked away.

Three days passed by in the blink of an eye. One minute I was starting to fold clothes, the next, I was staring at the jacket on my empty mattress. My room was full of boxes for the movers to take. The Serpent jacket stared back at me. It was almost mocking me. You knew this was a possibility when you got involved. “Shut up.” I muttered.

It was time for me to give the jacket back. Giving it up was almost harder than the breakup. It had become a part of me in the last two years. The thought of being without it made me feel cold. As hard as it was, I knew it didn’t belong to me anymore. So, I took a deep breath and picked it up. I didn’t put it on. There was no reason to make this even harder than it already was.

I pulled to the side of the road when I got to Sunnyside. I knew my car was safe on the side of the road because I was in Serpent territory. Walking along the gravel to his trailer, I felt a pit growing in my stomach. I could have given the jacket to Jughead, or Toni, or Fangs to give to him. No, you couldn’t. I had to see him one last time. The last time couldn’t have really been the last time.

“No, man. I’m all good.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah. It’s not like we were going to work anyway.” Is that? Are they… are they talking about me?

“What do you mean?” Fangs asked. I stopped dead in my tracks behind a random trailer. I was far enough away that neither of them could see me.

“Kennedy is,” Sweetpea paused, “she’s the experiment. You know, try the pretty little rich girl from the North side. See how that goes. See what it’s like.”

“I wouldn’t say that. Look at Betty and Jug.”

“Kennedy is not Betty.”

“Okay?”

“Look. Fangs. Kennedy is the girl who marries the CPA. She buys a house with him in the suburbs with a picket fence. They have a couple or three kids and buy a golden retriever who loves everyone. She doesn’t marry the guy who’s in a gang. We are both better off for this.”

I was stunned. I didn’t know what to do. I knew I couldn’t go out there and make my presence known. But I had his stupid jacket. Jones. I ran back to the entrance of the trailer park and went around the other way to get to the Jones’ trailer. I still had a key that I was going to give back after I gave Nathan, Sweetpea, back his jacket. Leaving the jacket on the kitchen table, I grabbed an old envelope and a pen. This doesn’t belong to me. I wrote quickly. It was messy but I knew he would know who it was from and who it was for. I left the note and the key beside the jacket. Again, I couldn’t look back as I walked away.

My mom and I arrived in Evergreen County just in time for me to be enrolled in school before the first day of classes. I would be attending Liberty High School. From the second I walked in the door with my parents to sign my paperwork, I knew this school would be just like the rest. The walls were lined with permanent “do your best” posters and trophy cases at any given turn. The smell that could only be described as eau de jock permeated the halls.

The principal’s office was down the hall. I tried to hang back from my parents. “Ah, you must be the Campbells. Major Campbell. Mrs. Campbell. And Kennedy.” The man I could only assume was the principal, judging by his obviously fake charm and smile, greeted us. “Gary Bolan.” My dad shook his hand firmly.

“Matthew Campbell.”

“You can call me Heather.”

“Of course.”

“Kennedy, come here darling.” My mom called for me. I walked over to her wordlessly.

“Hi.” I nodded. I had done this plenty of times before.

I decided to take advantage of my few more moments of freedom and explore the school. They didn’t need me to fill out medical forms and make sure my transcripts transferred properly. The school was big. Much bigger than Riverdale High. Didn’t seem too hard to navigate though. The sound of weights clashing together caught my attention. I followed the sound and found myself standing at the open door of the fitness centre.

There was a boy working out. He seemed hyper focused on his actions. It was mesmerizing in a way. The boy was tall. Not as tall as Nate. Most people weren’t. If I had to hazard a guess, I would say maybe between six feet and six foot two. It was hard to tell since he was sitting down. His brown hair was damp with sweat. I watched him. Not in a creepy way. Just… observed. I could tell by his form and muscles that he was probably an athlete. Judging by his size, maybe football? Small beads of sweat trailed down his tan neck. I coughed suddenly and caught this mystery boy off guard. He set the weights down and turned to face me. His face was…. And the cheekbones. Kennedy. What? He’s pretty.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to disturb you.”

“No worries.” He stood up and used his shirt to wipe the sweat from his face. Those abs. Good Lord. I blinked quickly to keep myself from staring. “I didn’t realize anyone was still here.”

“Oh. My parents are just enrolling me now. We moved here a few days ago from New York.”

“Cool. And you are?”

“Oh. Uh. I’m Kennedy.”

“Montgomery.” He nodded.

[akwardlyuncool]

Class Favorites: Was The Show What I Needed?

A ranking of all the shows I finished in 2021.

1) Kid Nation (2007) *1 Season

This was a re-watch that I did sometime in between some other shows that I was watching and since I hadn’t watched it since I was in high school, I got all of the “fresh” excitement/feels of the show during the binge I took with it. After it was over, I watched a few where are they nows, some cast (as adults) interviews and I think even a cast tier list video. The extra content fell off rather quickly, but that moment as a whole was great.

Side Note: As a Hasanabi fan I thought several times about how I wanted to see him to react to the show cause I just wanted to hear him call some kids based and others future Republicans. I just know it would be a good time.

2) 90210 (2010) *5 Seasons

Now I didn’t watch all 5 seasons in 2021, however I did conclude whatever seasons I was on and thus the series, this year. Yes it is the true spin-off and far better than the spin-off/reboot/not-a-reboot thing they tried to do with the original cast in more recent times. It ranks so high simply because of how dramatic it was. I’ll admit that the the ending wasn’t good and upon checking my notes, I thought it was rushed and didn’t properly close things out too well. That being said the ending of these kinds of shows very frequently don’t do what they need to do, but the series as an entity finds many ways to hit all of the right spots. Even if you cringe at most them.  

3) Life As We Know It (2004-2005) *1 Season

With only 13 episodes the show it still managed to give me my moment of 2000′s Teen Drama feels that I crave so deeply, so that alone justifies its 3rd place ranking. It’s also the only show that I’ve written an actual review on this year, which means it gets points for that too. It for sure kept me engaged though, so everything tends to add up.

4) Good Trouble Season 3 Part Something

Covid messed up many production’s air-times and Good Trouble was no stranger to the wonky season parts, but I think we were still on season 3 this year. Anyway it was fairly good, I question some of the character’s decision making and the massive cliff hangers they decided to leave us on, but I’m still hooked. This is a series I’m continuing to follow through with, so it’s not so much about it being what I needed, but the fact that new episodes were available to me and that gives me something to look forward to every week.

Side Note: I watch a ton of Colleen Balinger videos on YouTube and she just happens to be married to Erik Stocklin who plays Matt on the show and that kind of crossover made me really happy.

5) Escape The Night *All 4 Seasons

This was another moment that I took this year, that kept me engaged and motivated to keep going forward with it. This fantastic YouTube series was also the topic of discussion for me and my friends, well more like I talked about it several times during its stint in my life. There was also some Gabbie Hanna “drama” that came out afterwards that I was interested in simply because of the time I spent watching the series. My hope is that they come out with a season 5 cause they’ve already set it up to do just that.

Side Note: I put ETN in the “TV” series category and also in the YouTube category as well because of how much it felt like an actual show with the amount of production that went in to it.

6) Riverdale/Rivervale Season 4/5/Something

I’m gonna keep watching this show, however it is such a mess. They keep on adding half musical episodes inside of regular episodes and continuously doing the most at all times, to the point where I’m only here because I cannot, not be. I wouldn’t recommend someone get into this ridiculousness now, but hey if you’ve already dipped at least your entire foot into the mix, then you might as well dive full force into the rest of it, cause you’ve made it that far. I don’t expect this show to give me what I need, I take what it wants to give and let that be what I need, even if I’m irritated by it.

.

.

All The Shows I Started/Continued/Almost Finished, But Did Not Complete In 2021.

Still working on Step By Step (Probably somewhere in season 5 at this point.)

Hulu ruined my life by taking it off their platform, so I have to find a new way to finish the show.

Malcolm In The Middle (Somewhere in season 3.)

It gave so much, I just didn’t get as far as I wanted to with it this year.

Girlfriends (Maybe just starting season 5.)

This is a re-watch that I’m doing with a friend of mine, but we put it on pause at one point and haven’t picked it back up yet. It was what I needed, again just didn’t finish it.

18 To Life (Season 2, probably close to the end somewhere.)

Too lazy to write the review I want to write on it, so I haven’t finished it yet, basically avoiding future responsibilities.

Everwood (Season 4)

I’m literally on the last few episodes, but again I’ve put off finishing it cause I know I want to write a review of some sort and have been too lazy to do that. I know that is hella ridiculous, but it is what it is.

[clio-just-clio]

The Riverdale 102(?)-Day Sprint, Day 4: “Chapter Seventy-Five: Lynchian”

Jughead is the Man in the Planet

My internship picked up again and I actually was pretty busy today, so that’s why this is a bit late. You thought I’d given up 4 days in? As if! I’m seeing this through to the end, no matter the cost. Admittedly the title of this episode has me concerned already, and given that this is the furthest in the series we’ve gone so far (and the last episode from this deep in, Day 2’s “Halloween”, was a nightmare), I’m expecting a lot of garbage from this episode in particular. There’s no way they’re going to attempt some kind of direct Twin Peaks/David Lynch homage though, right? The title of this episode has to be because they reference one of the two in dialogue or something. I know I remarked on it yesterday but I honestly will be pretty miffed if they do actually attempt something like that.

                                                                  *          *          *

The references to David Lynch started in the first sentence, and continued throughout the episode. While they were annoying and out of place and made zero sense, they were incredibly funny. Here’s a quick list:

1. The “Blue Velvet” tape store, named after the iconic film starring Kyle McLachlan

2. The owner of said tape store was named David, and if that seems flimsy, he was doing a horrendous David Lycnh impression which was absolutely hysterical

3. Jughead references Eraserhead with a nonsensical analogy. Jughead definitely has unironically used the word “kino” at least once

This episode as a whole was pretty average, all things considered. The “competitive tickling” subplot was so out of left field it was funny, and I find it equally funny that a) all of the students swore up and down that it wasn’t sexual when it very obviously was, and b) apparently anyone who runs any kind of business in Riverdale that isn’t 100% legal is a hardcore criminal who intimidates people like a mob boss, instead of just being, y’know, normal people. Also the fact that there is a competitive tickling subplot at all is pretty great. I think the show has hit its stride by now, by which I mean the writers have completely given up on any kind of dramatic storytelling and are now just doing whatever sounds funny, and as I’ve said before, while this is not as fun as when the writers were trying and failing to write an actual dramatic series, it is still quite funny to pick apart.

Also in this episode it turns out Hiram Lodge kills people. This doesn’t necessarily surprise me but it throws a bit of a wrench in what I wanted to talk about today, and that is similarities to Twin Peaks. I’ve said before that Riverdale invites a lot of comparison to Twin Peaks, despite the fact that the shows are nothing alike at all. Well, maybe that’s not necessarily true – I think Riverdale is actually very similar to Twin Peaks... season 2, episodes 12-23, where David Lynch wasn’t involved in the series and nothing of consequence happened. It’s got all the soap-opera sappiness with none of the satirical elements of season 1, and the murder mysteries all fall flat because none of the characters are interesting in the slightest. There aren’t really any character parallels between the two. I was initially going to say that Hiram and Veronica Lodge were sort of similar to Ben and Audrey Horne, but that hardly seems accurate now. Ben Horne got his subordinates to do his dirty work, and he never killed anyone (although not for lack of trying). And Veronica doesn’t have that manipulative edge that Audrey had in the early episodes; that aspect of Audrey’s character seems to fit Cheryl Blossom better, although she seems to have mellowed out by this point in the series.

All in all this episode was ehhhh, which probably makes it the best one I’ve seen so far. To be clear, yea it still sucks and I wouldn’t recommend it, but at least it was funny. I desperately hope my enjoyment stays ironic throughout this whole thing, because if not... wow that would be embarrassing.

Tomorrow: “Chapter Sixty-Six: Tangerine”

quick notes

- fuck. David Lynch’s name is mentioned in the first line of Jughead’s narration in the episode. this is gonna suck

- ok so again this is something I probably missed but whyyy do Betty and Jughead have masks of their faces? are they famous in-universe by now? why do the faces look like the comics instead of the actors’ faces?

- TICKLE FETISH VIDEOS? HELLO???

- so Archie and Betty are finally maybe getting together after almost 6 seasons. k

- “Oh great, the cast of Swamp Thing just got here.” all of the people in the Swamp Thing TV show (which is probably what they’re referencing here, given the date this episode aired) are quite attractive, thank you very much

- Evil moonshiners... what minor stock antagonists does this show not have

- also I’m pretty sure that’s not how business works

- this “will-they-won’t-they” shit is just... ugh

- YES FINALLY confirmation that Archie’s dad dies at some point

- the “R” on his jacket stands for “R-chie” (does that scan?)

- who tf is the Gargoyle King? another serial killer/cult leader? this town sure attracts a lot of weirdos

- “Blue Velvet Video” lmao

- oh good Reggie, Kevin and the other one are making their own tickle videos. they know it’s 100% a fetish thing right? why is it looking like they’re treating this like it’s some kind of twist?

- according to Charles and Jughead renting Friday the 13th a bunch of times is suspicious. They’re right – anyone who watches the original movie more than once has zero taste (seriously it’s fiiiine but it’s very clearly a Psycho rip-off. The defining aspects of the series mostly don’t come into play until 2 or 3; hell Jason isn’t even really in the first one. anyway)

- “I’ve seen Eraserhead over a dozen times, that doesn’t mean I’m the Man in the Planet” what the fuck are you talking about what kind of analogy is that I am foaming at the mouth

- the stuff with Archie and Betty is just... so horrible. no one talks like that. no one talks anything like how Riverdale people talk

- also is it just me or is Archie being... more than a little creepy?

- this whole tickling subplot sucks so bad

- I really didn’t expect Hiram to actually dirty his hands and beat up the Malloys. thought he’d get an underling to do it

- also wow he really was about to murder that guy for messing with Veronica. he almost seems more like a mob boss than a crooked businessman

- what’s the deal with Charles? is he just eccentric or what?

- “[...] that you and Archie were more than just pretending to date when Jughead was dead?” Jughead died?

- huh Cheryl swings wildly between gossiping mean girl and sage, socially conscious advice giver. interesting. also wasn’t she like... the main antagonist of s1? what was the deal with that?

- “40%... or you’ll never tickle anyone again” has to be one of the better out-of-context lines of this show

- WHOA ok. wow. Jughead has sex?

- and yeah I figured Ethel wasn’t actually involved just from seeing her in this episode. A creep, yes, but not involved in the weird voyeur tapes or the snuff film

- speaking of was that snuff film real or what? have they addressed that?

- so Jughead is just going for informal ride-alongs with the FBI huh? that seems illegal

- oh well I guess I know who shot Jason Blossom. whoops

- Reggie becoming a mob boss is very funny, as is the fact that in real life I suspect people who make tickle-torture videos are probably not gangsters. probably

- ARCHIE’S MOM IS HERE???

- and Archie’s joining the Navy? what is going on???

- Kevin seems more like a real person here than a stereotypical gay character, but just a little

- yeah ok the principal being evil or whatever doesn’t surprise me in the least. he seemed off

- so did Hiram Lodge used to kill people? Veronica seems to imply that

- HA well I guess he still does!

- and the snuff films continue. can’t wait to see how this gets resolved... eventually

[alexzalben]

Hey Alex! There's been much discussion recently on "riverdale twitter" about Toni still not receiving adequate storylines since the timejump, as she's still being used solely to support the core4/Cheryl. Today news broke about an actor being cast as Britta's mom, which has made many frustrated that Toni's parents have still not even been mentioned, + we don't know much about her backstory outside of a few throwaway lines and the Grandma scenes. Do you think its worth tweeting the writers about?

So, a couple of thoughts about this, since I have definitely seen people upset, and I’m sure if I have the writers have too, they tend to be pretty socially active. I’m also 100% sure they’re aware the fanbase would like to see Toni get more of a family, that’s something people have (rightly) been incessantly talking about for years. So you’re always certainly welcome to (politely) tweet at people, but they already know.

That all said, a couple of reactions to this:

1) I don’t know anything about Britta’s mom being cast, or how it’ll play out, but I would look at that as an entirely separate thing (and also understand this is all very exciting for a new, young actress, so would recommend not drawing them into this/making comparisons because it might end in some bad feelings). Since you don’t know whether it’s Britta’s mom coming in to say “My daughter can’t play football” and never showing up again, or is the new main character of Riverdale (or possibly, more likely, something in between) maybe wait and see how it plays out?

2) Of course Toni should get parents, or some sort of reveal at some point - everyone else has had five secret uncles.

3) THAT SAID! I am personally much more concerned with story than backstory. The fact that we’re going Toni in the present, interacting with multiple characters, having a mission and agency like any other character on the show is fantastic. Backstory informs a character, but story is what they experience, and I’m excited about seeing that for all the characters going forward. I know I’m probably in the minority here, but I only have scant interest in what happened during the seven year time jump. It’s much more fun to thrust these characters into the future with new status quos, and see what they do now. That’s what I’m enjoying, and if the show never has a surprise relative show up ever again, that is a-okay with me. I don’t think that’ll happen, because it’s a soap opera (and see point two above), but that’s my take.

4) The other thing that’s probably important to remember is that they’re filming episode 12 or so now, and have probably scripted out most, if not all of the season. So tweeting now, even if there was a massively successful social media campaign, is not going to impact the show in any way for a good long while.

All that aside though, I want to reemphasize that I get people’s frustration, they’ve been talking about a Toni backstory forever now, and It just hasn’t manifested. In this particular case, though, I would say there are probably better uses of your time.

[dreamerandcrazy]

Ok, so I haven't been able to comment much on my Riverdale rewatch mostly bc i'm watching it with my boyfriend and we have an agreement of no cell phones when we're watching, otherwise we can't pay proper attention to it. But I wrote down some notes about the episodes I did watch (I watched up until ep 6, which is very ironic bc apparently today is its anniversary, so yay for my perfect timing). I actually remember most of the stuff that happened in s1, so here's mostly a few things I paid more attention to or noticed about the characters and the ships, or things i'm able to look at through a different view now that i've watched all the seasons. Strap in if you want to see my notes, if not just scroll please, no ship or character hate here please. Also, feel free to ignore, this is really just a personal look in some stuff I didn't notice in my first watch.

- Betty's character used to be much happier and lighter in season 1. I know we're introduced to "Dark Betty" right in episode 3, but still, I feel like the way Lili played Betty in season 1 did not hold the same "darkness" as it does in the following seasons. The scene where she is dancing happily in her bedroom because she's going to homecoming with the boy she likes? The scene where she introduces Jughead to the Blue & Gold and gets him to work with her? Her genuine innocent happiness at seeing her sister again after so much time? The way she interacted with Kevin and Veronica? Those were all chef's kiss because she actually feels like a teenager in them. In all her girly glory, she radiates youth energy and it's a thing that was sadly lacking after s1. Btw this is not a critique at Lili's acting at all, I blame it entirely on Ras and his obsession with dark Betty.

- There's actually so many indications of Cheryl being a lgbt character in the first episodes that I have no idea how I missed it the first time. But then again, there were many indications with Veronica as well, and sadly that's not the path Ras chose for her.

- Jughead in s1 is truly so superior in so many ways that it's not hard to see why he quickly became such a fan favorite. I think even if he wasn't played by Cole Sprouse, he still would have conquered many fans' hearts. Sadly, the things that made Jughead such a loving and interesting character for me also fizzled out in s2 when the writing team decided to make him a woke serpent leader instead of allowing him to sticking to his true personality as a passionate mystery lover, a dedicated friend and very nerdy, which was very cute. I feel that we got some of that back for him in s4, which was good, but sadly s1 is where my love for him really stayed to stay. But I still care for him, and s5 has a promising storyline for him which i'm excited about, so let's see if s5 Jughead can become better than s1 Jughead.

- Going back again to Cheryl for a sec, I just noticed that the red lipstick actually wasn't that common for her in s1? At least not in the first five. I wonder when did it start becoming her trademark? Anyways, it's actually a really good look her and allows you to appreciate Madelaine's natural beauty even more.

- Also, did anybody notice how Alice lowkey figured out who killed Jason in ep 2 lmao, like... in episode two she legit says she wouldn't be surprised if the Blossoms themselves had killed Jason, which... is what happened LMAO, considering we know it was his father. And even more hilarious and tragically ironic note, in ep 6 she's laughing at Betty suggesting that Hal killed Jason because "do you think your father has the stomach for it?!"... Ma'am... i'm-.... 😂😂😂😂.

- This rewatch has reminded me of how much I adored and how I much I miss Josie and the Pussycats. The girls were such a nice addition to the cast, and their songs were so beautiful. I truly wish we get to see them again someday, but at the same time I also think the actresses deserve to be at a work place where they're given the treatment they deserve and not completely ignored and treated like extras.

- Archie/Valerie was super cute and is very underrated in the fandom, but i'm glad Valerie stood up for herself and didn't take any of Archie's or Cheryl's sh*t. Still sucks because they were really good together, though.

- Why was Jason not allowed to talk, lmao? Like, i'm sure it's become a running joke in the show at this point, but back when season one was airing what was the excuse for it? He appeared in so many flashbacks and scenes and we still never heard a single word ☠️☠️☠️☠️. I just want to know what was the reason lol.

- I liked s1 Reggie, but I feel like Charles Melton's Reggie is better because he actually feels like a douche with good intentions lol, and he has more of a personality. Most of the time I even forgot about Reggie in s1, but after s2 he definitely made me more aware of him. So for that, I like Charles Melton's Reggie more. But the actor from s1 still did a good job with what he was given.

From now on I will be talking about the ships, so bear with me, and know that I am a multishipper. Yes, I have my preferences. No, my word is not law, it's just an opinion, so please respect it.

- Bughead is still super cute in s1. I feel like from s1 they will always be my otp, even if I no longer feel as strongly about them now and have a different insight as to where I would like their story to go, and now I definitely see the problem others had mentioned before of how they kind of took over the show, which is something I kind of closed my eyes to before... But I really loved them in s1. It felt like a very juvenile teenage relationship, they didn't give much thought on why and if they should be together, they just went for it like teenagers usually do, and they were very very cute together.

- I feel like if you don't count Beronica (because they really were the best no matter what you say or ship), if there's a ship that deserves "best chemistry" award for s1 is probably Varchie. I lost my interest in them years ago, but this rewatch reminded me of why I actually loved them once. They never really became an otp for me, but Kj and Camila's chemistry in s1 was VERY GOOD, and I really liked them. Their kiss in the pilot was electric and the s&xual tension was OOF, and that chemistry carries on through the season. You can easily tell something will happen between them eventually. It makes me sad bc I don't know what happened after s1, but their chemistry from s2 onwards was just... not there for me. Which is ironic bc it's the season they truly started dating and they got a lot of smexy scenes, but I just... didn't feel it. But I'll leave that comment to my s2 rewatch. For now just let me enjoy Varchie's chemistry in s1 while it lasts because it was really good.

- Now we get to Barchie, who I made clear was the reason for my rewatch, so let's get to it. I LOVED the way Barchie was written in s1. I remember when I first watched Riverdale, I was curious about their dynamic but didn't put much thought into it because I loved Bughead too much and wanted them to be together, and I thought Barchie would be the traditional "first og ship" thing and wouldn't have a big follow up, but boy was I WRONG and am I GLAD for it. I'll talk more about their development in the next seasons when I get there, so for now let's focus a bit on s1. Just in like the first two episodes, there is so much Barchie foreshadowing, like, it's legit insane how it was right there in my face and I missed it the first time! "I have never felt what i'm supposed to feel with betty", "it's not my fault he doesn't like you", "I can't give you the answer you want"... Omg, those are obvious eyebrow raising "this will come back to bite you in the a$$" moments and it's incredible how they actually DO! I would call it clever writing, but like... it's Riverdale lol. So I really am just glad that the ship was done this way, i'm glad Barchie has the back story that they do, they've really come a LONG way and i'm happy I get to experience their whole growing storyline. It's also especially good because s1 actually provides you with scenes that show you their friendship and how they're so close, you see them hanging out, talking, their pictures together, everything was just really done well with them. Still have a bit of critique with the way Archie contradicted himself sometimes regardinf his feelings for Betty, but let's be honest, we've watched enough Riverdale to know that's just a problem with the writing.

- Kevin/Joaquin is still my favorite Kevin ship, i'm sad it's completely impossible to go back to them someday so for now i'll just be really glad it existed and that I got to see them even if it was short-lived. They had great chemistry and their kiss scenes always outsold.

- Beronica... sigh. Beronica. The most wasted chemistry i've ever seen on CW and I've watched a LOT of CW shows. There was so much potential there, s1 was practically overflowing with them and it's one of the reasons it became some popular. I remember when the Beronica fandom was the biggest one, ah, good times. Veronica and Betty were easily the best part of season 1, their friendship, their lowkey romantic moments, they were just superior in every way. This ship deserved better, not even just as a ship, but as a friendship.

- Veronica's s1 hair >>> Veronica's hair in seasons 2-4. I loved the side part and I am glad it's back in season 5, it looks so much better like that.

- Cheryl, as always, deserves better. Can't wait for her to meet Toni so I can watch again Cheryl finally get to love someone and be loved back, which is exactly what she deserves.

For now, that is all! I will probably make another post soon when i'm done with season one and from season two on I will be live-blogging the episodes since I will be watching it alone. Once again, pls, no hate, my thoughts are my thoughts. Peace.

[tbhwhocaresanymore]

Nancy Drew 2x6

As promised I am done with my most stressful finals and am now posting my review albeit two weeks late, and let me say to start off that this episode would have made a fantastic season premiere.

Ghost kiddies: 1 Lamia: 0

Speaking of things I need to get off my chest wow I can’t believe the arraignment for the morgue break in finally happened. I assumed it had happened and she got off, or that everyone just forgot about it but more the fool am I. Because it is back and kicking off our second season.

And for the record as someone who despises insects and all forms of creepy crawlies with a passion this episode was a teensy bit horrific and not in the fun way.

Like I said at the top though, this episode would’ve made an amazing season premiere. It set up a whole bunch of fun new season plot lines in addition to being a killer episode in its own right. For example I’m assuming with Nancy’s 443 hours of community service to go we’ll be seeing more of Connor the Surly Coroner, and what if his flower shop wife works at the place the gang scammed a few weeks ago to get AJ Crane’s address? I mean be real how many flower shops can one small town have.

In other news I continue to yearn for Chief McGinnis to return. Like WHY in the name of all that is holy would you throw away a perfectly good, lovable book character, not to mention Native American rep, in favor of this new asshole that nobody likes? (This is only 10% me being bitter about my Tamura being AJ’s son theory not panning out.) The only (ONLY) upside to Tamura being here is that Nancy and McGinnis were becoming friends, and now we have a very rude cop for Nancy to be sassy to. “Not a real holiday.” “Not a real necktie.”

Speaking of lovable book characters, it causes me pain how Hannah and Nancy’s relationship was like shot in the head and dumped in a ditch. Like must she eternally be at odds with one of her book parental figures? For those of you who don’t know, in the books Hannah Gruen is the Drew’s housekeeper/cook, and a surrogate mother to Nancy. Like I’m thrilled that Nancy and her dad are back on good terms and working their way towards being the iconic father/daughter duo we all know and love, and I understand that Hannah has every right to be furious with Nancy, but the pain is still there.

Moving onto more lighthearted aspects of the episode, I love the balance this show has found between comedy and horror. Riverdale could never. The scene with the five of them in Nancy’s kitchen and the autopsy was comedic gold. Ace and Bess and George, fairly quickly getting on board with it, Nick convinced they all want to send him back to prison in possession of the group’s one brain cell. But then he immediately loses the brain cell because when somebody shows up AT THE FRONT DOOR, NONE OF THEM THINK to hide the body in plain view in the kitchen??? Guys! Oh and that absolutely iconic bit of dialogue: “No, we are not performing an autopsy in your kitchen!” “No you’re absolutely right Nick, we should do it in the living room there’s more space.” *wheeeeze*

So that’s the comedy now for the horror. So many little delightfully creepy moments sprinkled throughout the episode. George drifting off and singing in French, when the body in the back of the van opens its eye, when the dad stops the car and gets out and it SITS UP, when Charlie and Ted see something outside and all you can see is its silhouette, when the lamia is like sucking their souls out looking like a skeletal cretin straight from the depths of hell. Delightful.

Getting back to season long arcs, my writing sixth sense is tingling and it’s telling me the Women in White are going to be important. How? I don’t know. But there is sooo much potential. What if they’re all comatose a la Sleeping Beauty waiting for someone to call them back once some sort of evil reawakens? What if they’re immortal and walking the earth solving problems in secret? What if they were corrupted and had to be killed by their loved ones? The possibilities are endless and I’m here for it.

Time for my Drewson shipper talk so if you’re not into that skip this paragraph. Ooooh Lordy the scene with Nick and Nancy in the seamstress house made my heart do a happy little tap dance. Really any time they share the screen at the same time, but they had lines directed at each other and it was beautiful. And that gorgeous line of dialogue, “Hey, you can still fix this. No one’s gotten hurt yet.” aeexoijxoij

Now I will close out with some thoughts I had while watching.

Nancy can be so smart but also so dumb, like she hears a mysterious thumping sound and Hangs Up The Phone??? Girl it could be a human killer!

And is it just me or does it seem like if twelve children in a small town were all murdered on the same day and the killer was never caught that would be the sort of thing that lives on in town legend

Nick has the absolute WORST British accent oh my GOD. Understandable, because the actor is Scottish, so at that moment he was a guy with a Scottish accent pretending to have an American accent faking a British accent but still.

Cannot believe on their way to the Claw to stop a soul sucking spirit they had to stop at the grocery store for caramel apples and candy canes like them all running around must have been a hell of a sight for whatever sleep deprived Safeway cashier was on duty

Finally, what in god’s name is George going to tell Jesse? Not the truth I imagine, but I have no idea what possible lie she could sell. Personally I think I’d just tell her I drugged the water as a joke and gaslight her until she forgot about it.

Normally this would be the part where I theorize about what could happen in the next episode but at this point you already know what happens in the next episode so I’ll sign off with my typical schtick instead. Ahem

Writers give me Lucy Sable

[gershwinn]

Lili Reinhart Never Had a Backup Plan

A fan favorite on the wildly popular teen soap Riverdale, Lili Reinhart has major movie stardom in her sights. And if you ask nicely, she just might read your horoscope.

Refreshingly, Reinhart is not vegan, gluten-free, keto, or on a macrobiotic diet. She is a self-described picky eater and considers this a treat. "No one wants to go [here] with me," she says, excitedly, when we sit down. Though Reinhart is dressed unfussily, in a faded black tee, Topshop denim jacket, jeans, thin hoop earrings, and a taupe baseball cap pulled over her buttery blonde hair, she is promptly approached by a woman at the next table. There's a lot the cap isn't hiding. Off-screen, Reinhart's eyes look as wide, upturned, and full-lashed as a Disney princess's; her clear, milky complexion is dotted youthfully with freckles; and her dimples seem to take turns showing off: a slight divot in her chin, then twin creases that show up on either side of her face when she's amused.

The woman leans over and asks Reinhart if she is on TV. Reinhart's lips tighten, and a wince flickers at her eyes, but she gives a polite smile and nods slowly. The woman plows on. Her son is a big fan, she says, motioning to a grinning boy beside her. He's an aspiring actor, and they're in town from Texas to give it a try. Reinhart relaxes a bit. She asks what part of Texas they are from, sincerely congratulates the boy on his endeavors, and turns to resume our interview. Reinhart says this moment — and others like it — is more full circle than she would care to admit.

"It's funny. I went to this Cheesecake Factory with my mom when I was, like, 15," she says. "We had flown in for an audition. I was sitting at the table over there, and I remember I got the email that I didn't get the part." Also around that time, Reinhart recalls spotting Zac Efron in a doctor's-office waiting room and surreptitiously snapping a photo of the actor. "I feel so gross about it now," she says. "It is flattering, but it also makes you feel like a zoo animal. Even when I'm sitting in the cast greenroom, if [someone is] holding their phone up like this, I'm like, ‘What are you doing?' I've become very paranoid."

I ask what she thinks about that F-word: fame. She changes the subject. "Cute boots," she remarks. I am flattered and launch into a monologue about how much I love Primark, specifically the one in Madrid, before realizing what she's done and ask her once more to talk. About. Fame. "It's so weird," she says, finally. "I don't really think about it until I'm around people. I don't think about it until I see young women, because those are the people that recognize me. Then all of a sudden, I become very aware."

True to her word, I notice Reinhart physically tenses up every time a teenage girl — or worse, a group of teenage girls — nears us. But when she's not on high alert for high schoolers, Reinhart is unguarded to a degree I would not expect from any stranger, much less one whose privacy is under constant scrutiny. For starters, she texts me directly, rather than having an assistant or manager handle our communication (standard for most celebrities).

Later that night, we decide on a meeting location for the next day. "As long as we go somewhere with eggs, I'm happy," she texts, before we settle on Dialog Cafe in West Hollywood and push back the time — neither of us feels like showing up before 9 a.m. Reinhart has an ease and openness in conversation that makes talking to her feel more like a slumber party than an interview. She volunteers thoughts on cute babies (just her goddaughter, for now), romantic love (something she prefers to fall into rarely, and fiercely), taking a spouse's surname (she favors hyphenation), and being the "grandma" of her friend group.

"When I get drunk, my friends act like it's a national holiday," Reinhart says. She offers up snippets from her camera roll and Instagram direct messages: photos of the hot-air balloon ride her boyfriend, Cole Sprouse, took her on for her birthday, and a dog she wishes were up for adoption — a shaggy shelter pup with no eyes. And just when I think I couldn't feel any more like the real-life Veronica to her Betty, she asks me if I want to go shopping.

Reinhart leads us by memory through a sprawling Barnes & Noble, up to two flights of escalators, then over to the left and back toward the windows, until we end up in the self-improvement section. Reinhart used to come here with friends, back when she first moved to L.A., and spend time poring over books like The Secret Language of Your Name. She tells me the provenance of her given name: Daniel and Amy Reinhart of Cleveland fell in love, got married, and named their second daughter after the actor Lili Taylor. There wasn't any special connection. "They just liked the spelling of her name. It's the French spelling."

Reinhart drags a dictionary-thick tome from the shelf. "This is a book that I own," she says, handing it to me. It's as weighty as a textbook — it has to be, because it guarantees deep and profound knowledge about absolutely everyone, based on their date of birth. She helps me look up mine, which is hilariously titled the Day of Sensual Charisma. Hers is September 13, which the book has ordained the Day of Passionate Care. She reads the entry aloud. "Resilient determination. That sounds about right," she says. "This part is very true: ‘They may face great obstacles to their success, but not for a moment will the outcome be in doubt for them.' I always knew this is what I was going to do. I never had a plan B." It might be difficult to imagine what the aforementioned "great obstacles" have been, considering the fact that she had landed her role on Riverdale by the age of 19.

But being young and female in just about any work environment can have its dark side. Reinhart was 16 when an adult work associate attempted to force himself on her. "I felt physically pinned down to the ground while someone dry humped me, basically," she says. She has spoken publicly about the assault before — but in retrospect, she believes those statements were premature. "I think I shared my story…before I had really understood it," Reinhart says. "I kept thinking of it as something physical, but it was more so a psychological abuse...that spanned a couple of months. I went along with it and was trying to get his approval because we were working together…. I wanted my work environment to be easy."

She was also a minor at the time, being exploited by someone in a position of power. It's clearly difficult for Reinhart to recount. When trying to recall details — how long it went on, whether verbal abuse was involved — she speaks evenly, but frequently pauses and tells me that that time in her life is "blurry" or that she's "locked it away." "What makes me hopeful is people like [Supergirl and Glee actor] Melissa Benoist sharing her story of domestic abuse with the world, because I think she helped a lot of people by doing that. When people come forward about a sexual abuse experience or physical abuse or them struggling with a disorder, they're encouraging other people to not suffer in silence."

Another personal obstacle Reinhart has been vocal about is mental health. She recently read an article she can't get out of her head, about a child under the age of 10 who ended his life after being severely bullied. "Now more than ever, we need to be bringing the idea of mental health into schools and teaching it," Reinhart says. "It's about communicating clearly." She recalls experiencing crippling anxiety when she was growing up. "I felt very alone. But I was not being bullied, which made it really hard for my parents to understand," Reinhart says.

Her high school experience couldn't have been more different from that of Betty Cooper, who drifts easily between cheerleading, running the school newspaper, and solving mysteries, with a cadre of unusually attractive friends by her side. "I went through a semester when I didn't have any friends in my lunch period, and I didn't want to sit in a huge cafeteria by myself, so I would find classrooms to go sit in alone, or spend time in the bathroom, just chilling," she recalls.

By the time Reinhart began working (she supported herself as a waitress and a Pier 1 sales associate before she landed Riverdale), she was just trying to get through the week without having a panic attack.

Now that time in her life is growing distant. And she'll get to go to prom for the first time, on this season of the show. "Three and a half years ago, I had no money. I didn't have a love in my life like I do now. I didn't have any sort of confidence that I was on the right track, and now I have those things," Reinhart says. And her momentum shows no signs of stopping. The week after our interview, she filmed her first commercial for CoverGirl, which recently signed her as one of its faces. A forthcoming collection of her poetry, Swimming Lessons, will hit bookstores this May.

Pay, or equal pay, has been an issue and probably will continue to be. But Reinhart is prepared. "Cami [Mendes, who plays Veronica] and I have had to deal with that from Riverdale," Reinhart says.

"Going into projects in the future, I'm much more aware of it. So is my lawyer." She's also learned from the experiences of women like Michelle Williams and Taraji P. Henson. "I was taking notes," she says. "Taraji Henson had said something like, when she renegotiated for Empire, she knew her value to the show. She knew what that value was, and she demanded it." Reinhart pauses, choosing her words, sounding more sure of herself with each sentence: "I do know the value that I bring as someone who attracts an audience. And I'm not going to accept less than what I think I'm worth. And it's okay to fight for what I'm worth."

Source: Allure

[bran-who-writes-theoretically]

Julie and the Phantoms

~What I want~

-Y’all didn’t ask for this but guess what here are my thoughts anyway. They are based in nothing and are solely what I want. So here’s everything (I hope) in no particular order.

1. Let’s talk about Juke just to get it ~out of the way. TBH I cannot get around the age gap between Madison and Charlie. It’s so hard for me to see past it. I’m only a few months younger than Charlie and I literally could not imagine dating someone who was even in high school at all. I understand they wanted the guys to look the same age through the series so they had to cast older but.... eh. The only way I could really accept Juke would be if they kissed in the series finale just before the guys moved on. But really? I’d love to see them realize that they can’t be together because he’s dead. It would be SO interesting to see that, them having to stomp out the crush because it could only end in hurt for them both. I’d love to see them become super close/best friends. They have a connection, it just doesn’t have to be romantic. Also I’d really like to see her maybe end up with Flynn??? That would be so refreshing. You almost never see queer leads for kids shows and that would be awesome (P.S. even though it’s fine to ship Juke, even though I personally don’t, do NOTTTTTTTTT. I repeat NOT! Ship Madison and Charlie. I’ve seen other actors in older fandoms stop talking to each other because of fans shipping them. Please don’t do this to anyone. Remember he’s 21, and she’s 16).

2. Ghosts. They need to stay ghosts. Trust me, I want them to come back to life as much as y’all, but I don’t think there are any ways that they can bring them back that doesn’t feel like a cheat. Plus, I really really want the heartfelt goodbye from the guys in the last episode before they move on. What can I say? I love my bittersweet endings. Could you imagine the material they could give us? They could even bring Julies mom in to help the boys cross over.

3. I NEED to see more of the guys in the 90’s. I have a ton of questions. Some of which are: was Bobby always kinda to the side? How long was Luke gone? I want to see Reggie and Alex’s life. Who’s house was the studio at? (We can cross out Luke and Reggie, we’ve seen their houses/where they were.) but I have my own theory that it was Alex’s house before Julie’s family solely based on the reason that that’s why the guys were in there and why Alex lingers. But then that poses the reason why did his parents leave the house? Maybe because it was too hard to live there when they lived there with their son? But then that poses the question if they “forgave” him for being gay?

4. Reggie, I know he wasn’t intended to be, especially since I heard the “that was pretty hot!” scene was improvised, but I need him to be bi so bad. I am not sure I’m right, but I only have seen three (?) canonically bisexual characters on screen in my twenty years of life. And that’s Cheryl from Riverdale (😒) and my personal fav, Eleanor from The Good Place, and we also have a sprinkle of Korra in there. I literally cannot think of another. But lookie here! They’re all women, where are my bi guys (if you know any male bi characters? Send them my way👀). But seriously, Reggie has such potential to be great Bi rep! If I had seen a character like him I might have realized and accepted my sexuality way before I did. Because ironically I had a sexuality crisis at seventeen because a guy friend grabbed me by the shoulder and asked for my help not too different from Luke singing to Reggie lol!

5. Hollywood Ghost Club. I would really love to see more about it. I’m pretty sure I know what’s going on, Caleb most likely made a deal with the devil. But I’d love to see the guys and Julie help free all of the other trapped spirits he’s lured into the club. Also, on the topic of ghosts as a whole, I wonder if there’s any negative effects on a ghost staying non earth too long. It happens a lot in movies/books. They almost turn into a wraith, a darker version, only a shadow of themselves. I wonder if it applies here too.

6. Oh dang, CASPER. As per my previous posts as I was writing this, I was backhanded with memories of one of my favorite childhood movies, which I just recently watched again. Above I say maybe Julies mom could help them cross over. But remember how Luke promises to talk to Julies mom once they cross over? What if they do just that. A line that struck a chord while watching the movie was from the mother’s scene when she comes back: “let’s just say you know three crazy ghosts that kept their word.” And y’all, when she said that line not gonna lie I nearly cried thinking about that for the show. She also mentions that because her family loved her so much, she doesn’t have any unfinished business. I wouldn’t be surprised if she doesn’t have any unfinished business either. Casper came out in.... you guessed it.... 1995. So I wouldn’t be surprised if they got some inspiration from it. Not to mention that it’s also a kids movie that has some pretty serious moments that kinda shocked me with how sad they were rewatching as an adult. I guess that’s why I loved it so much.

7. Carrie. I really want to learn more about Carrie and Julies dynamic. We know they were friends (I’m assuming with Flynn too?) and had a falling out. But why? And in the last episode she’s clearly proud of Julie after the performance, so I really want them to make up and have her be part of the group again. And maybe learn the truth about the guys?

8. Willie and Alex, god I want them to be together so bad. Of course, Caleb owns willies soul, so that’s not great, so I’d definitely love that subplot of the group trying to free the ghosts of the HGC. We didn’t see Willie too much this season, so I hope we do get more time with him. Also, I absolutely need a big musical number like Perfect Harmony between Alex and Willie. The only time I’ve ever seen a scene like that between gay characters has been in Rock of Ages (an adult musical) with “can’t fight this feeling” and it was hilarious and I need something like it for this show because it would be super cute 🥺.

9. Not particularly a theory but I’m really wondering how long Caleb is going to be in Nick. Julie has already stated that she’s kinda over him, and that it would be unfair to lead him on... so what happens when he realizes she probably won’t take the bait. Other than that, I really hope Sasha has fun playing Caleb through Nick, it has the potential to be great.

10. I’m not exactly sure what their unfinished business is going to be, but I’m almost certain it has to deal with Julie somehow. But the ending absolutely has to be the guys moving on. The ending has to be big though. They have to play somewhere awesome and then they find out... they’re done here. I’d honestly like a whole episode just dedicated to their goodbye. The way I see it, the second to last episode can end with them smiling after the performance and then that smile fading just a little bit, because that was when they realized. Then the final episode will be then telling Julie (and anyone else who knows about them by then) and finally moving on. Here I’m torn. I’ve mentioned both above but let me get more in depth. Version one: the one I originally came up with. This dealt with when the guys are ready to move on, Julies mom would come and help guide them into crossing over. I really liked this idea for a while, until I watched Casper again. Version two: the one I now like better(?) is the guys moving on, and after they do, Julies mom comes back (where even Ray and Carlos can see her) because “let’s just say you know three crazy ghosts who kept their word.” Could you IMAGINE??? It would absolutely reduce me to bawling I want it right now. The reason I like this one a little more is because we can skip to a little while after everything, and she gets a sign from them (just like her mom sending her the flower in the S1 finale) to show that they are still watching over her. And then we fade to black.

So that’s most of my thoughts on this show, if there’s typos in this I absolutely don’t care at all I wrote this instead of doing college work.

[go-ldy]

what are your thoughts on the likelihood that the riverdale writers' room is taking advantage of our...unique world situation to refine or redefine their plans for the rest of s4 and the beginning of s5? (this feels like a leading question lol)

I have been contemplating this since yesterday and I am not sure that I have a very good answer. When the set first shut down early, I wondered if RAS would rethink the time jump plans. I thought that might be especially the case if season 5 ended up being only 10 or 12 episodes long. Maybe that will still happen depending on when they can start filming.

But it very well sounds like they could be filming again in Vancouver in the next month or so. I think that probably gives them enough time to do a full season (barring a second shut-down). RAS has already gone public with the fact that they are doing the five year time jump and I don’t really see him walking that back lol.

He said he was listening to Vanessa and that they would do more for Toni next season. Time will tell. I hope he has taken it to heart. I tend to be of the view that all secondary characters on this show suffer in terms of screentime and development, but Toni for sure sticks out more than anyone. I want more for her than another season of following Cheryl around saying “babe.” So I am hopeful. But also I will believe it when I see it.

Beyond that, I don’t know how much Riverdale plans things out? I mean, some things are planned out. Clearly Jughead’s death-by-Stonies arc was planned out but otherwise I get the feeling that Riverdale works by throwing darts at a board and occasionally someone being like: “YOU KNOW WHAT WOULD BE FUNNY?? EDGAR ON A ROCKET. THAT WOULD BE FUNNY.” I mean, correct. But also it is hard for me to predict their ~grand plans.

With regards to the Core Four, it would be tempting to say that RAS et. al. heard the blowback to what went down between Betty and Archie and are changing the ~plan. The thing is, though, these writers are incredibly tapped into fandom. They always knew what kind of push back they were going to get. And it made Riverdale a huge conversation piece for a few weeks, and I think they liked that too even if some of it was quite critical.

I have always felt like Bughead is the most protected relationship in Riverdale (YMMV on that, that’s just the sense I’ve had over the years). I’m still not entirely sure if they are gonna break up over this or not! Like, who knows!! Post-finale, RAS was talking about how their big challenge was going to be long-distance at difference schools and they would have big conversations about their “future.” LIKE, IS IT. IS THAT THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE. WHO KNOWS.

If Bughead do break up, my assumption is the plan was always to get them back together again post-time jump and I don’t think that would change. I was talking with @thatiranianphantom about this last night, and really there are two reasons for my assumption: (1)  This show is way too lazy to introduce OCs  and develop Betty and Jughead in relationships with other characters I mean it can barely manage romantic relationships outside of the Core 4 never mind characters they would have to create from scratch; (2) Riverdale honestly sucks at slow burn, and it moves at 100 miles per hour.

I feel like now I’m just rambling and not answering your question. I guess my answer is: I don’t think they have changed much although hopefully they do better for Toni (#justiceforToni) and possibly they will be constrained by real world events if the season is dramatically shortened.