#its all about beronica. everything is about riverdale

[fadeintoyou1993]

[uglygirlstatus]

Curious to see how you’d rank every Riverdale musical episode

this ask has been in my inbox for months because I could not make up my mind whatsoever and had to rewatch all musical eps 2x each to decide.

Splitting rankings into categories for my own sake: Songs (ranked on both quality and integration), Plot (entertainment value of the storyline points featured), and Iconry (ratio of special/memorable/iconic lines and scenes)

#6. American Psycho

Songs ⭐️⭐️

Plot ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Iconry ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I remember somehow being underwhelmed when I first watched this because I had really hyped myself up after reading the episode description. But now in a post-50sdale world, I realize how lucky we were with this one. We got SlaughterCon, Cheryl and Kevin hexing Toni and Fangs, Betty being gay, Kevin not warning Betty in advance that he added a bit to his musical number where Doctor Curdle Jr dresses as TBK and then getting visibly annoyed with her when she interrupts it fearing for his life, Betty finally killing TBK and he’s literally just wrapped in duct tape and garbage bags, AS WELL AS Archie’s Labour Union all in one episode. However, since this IS a ranking of musical episodes, I’m afraid I can’t let the incredible plot compensate too much for the lack of strong musical bangers.

Stand out lines:

“It’s your dad’s knife. I bought it on eSlay.”

“Betty Cooper, are you hot for agent Drake?”

“You’re one of us. An American Psycho.”

Not a line but shoutout to Lili Reinhart’s boobs in You Are What You Wear.

#5. Carrie

Songs ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Plot ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Iconry ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Cheryls heavily autotuned explosion into “THATS NOT MY NAAAAAAAME” will forever tickle me. And her finale drenching herself in blood and coming to her mother with the candelabra to threaten burning down their mansion for a second time is one of the top ten Cheryl Blossom moments for all time. Everything about the presence of Alice Cooper also kills me like she is IN this high school musical. Madchen I could listen to pitch correction software fighting for its life against your dulcet tones forever. I read in a Twitter thread by the duo who produces all the Riverdale music that Madchen had literally never sung in her entire life prior to this episode. And they still gave her a solo. Amazing. The plot doesn’t carry as much weight for me in this one but the I love the integration of the music, and it also gave us the first ever Beronica duet and Fifi appearance. Oh and rip Midge!

Stand Out Lines:

“I will not succumb to thespian terrorism!”

“I’m not the same girl who burned down Thornhill.” “Sure you are!”

“Nightmare child, what do you want from me?!”

#4. Next to Normal

Songs ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Plot ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Iconry ⭐️⭐️

This one has real emotional impact okay. It was genuinely moving. I love when the musical episodes tackle a huge range of plot lines and still try to apply the niche musical choice of the season to each of them. We have Cooper grieving & family choreography and spite-Jabitha and Cheryl attacking her mother with song & holy water and Varchie being useless and Britta becoming Cheryl’s little child servant/protege. Reggie is there too. Also all of the music hits for real. It’s a shame that “I Am The One” and “I’m Alive” had so much cut in the ep because the spectres of Polly and Charles are killing it on the harmonies in the full versions. I could listen to Lili Reinhart sing all day long. Above all though I think my favourite part is the uncanny photoshop of Alice and Betty and Polly in front of the Next to Normal Broadway poster.

Stand Out Lines:

“YOU’VE GOT SOME NERVE JUGHEAD, AND I’M JUST ALL NERVES!”

“I’m gonna eat in the garage.”

“You remind me of Hiram Lodge.” “I don’t know who that is. But please, have a Swelligrino for the road.”

#3. Heathers

Songs ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Plot ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Iconry ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Guys It’s so crazy that Midge literally died in the middle of our musical last year. Anyway time for Heathers! Something fun about this episode is that I first watched it before I was fully Riverdalepilled and was still foolishly rolling my eyes at the show while I watched with my mom and sister. I was like “guys Heathers is actually a great musical, it’s going to be hard for me to see what Riverdale does to it”. We began watching and very soon my mom and sister were commenting on the music. It quickly dawned on me that they were complaining about the aspects of the show that were more or less unchanged from the original musical. And I had a great epiphany moment where I realized 1) Heathers is sort of bad 2) if I loved Heathers the musical in earnest then why should I not love Riverdale? Heathers was actually PERFECTLY CRAFTED to be performed by the Riverdale cast. Anyway. This episode had a lot going for it. Lodge divorce arc straight into Veronica partying. Kevin’s sudden perm. Toni’s threesome fake out. Our favourite Chad Michael Murray Rhythmic cult clapping. And of course KJ Apa doing this

Stand Out Lines

“Did you have a lobotomy for breakfast?”

“Here I invented red. I AM red. *snaps*”

“Evelyn called a closed rehearsal for select members in the Gargoyle Chamber.”

#2. Archie the Musical

Songs ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Plot ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Iconry ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This one had EVERYTHINGGGGGGGG. Fun with the meta narrative and original songs mixed with covers taken from various obscure and specific sources and by far some of the most fun choreography and sets of all musical episodes since they were able to be so free with it. Seeing Gay Kevin back in his natural habitat of directing the school musical was so heartwarming. Jughead and Reggie quitting immediately. Archie going left. And Archie going right. Bisexually. Julian demolishing Archie vocally every chance he gets. And knowing it. Also every single facial expression and mannerism that Julian has in this episode is god tier. Actually kj apa too. Actually also Lili and Camilla. SANDWICH? The loudest in-song sound effects we’ve ever experienced. Archie the happiest he’s ever been in his life on the back of Toni’s bike. BERONICA - PRIMAL AND INTENSE! My review is barely coherent because this one does fill me with silly giddy joy. Plot loses a star because how the hell are we expected to care about Gay Kevin’s divorcing parents. I know “ohh suffering isn’t a competition ohhh” Ethel just watched her parents get murdered by a milkman and no one sang for her.

Stand Out Lines:

“I don’t wanna be a drip, but it’s super distracting when my understudy is singing literally at the same time as me!”

“You completely captured the longing of being in a queer, interracial relationship in the 1950s.”

“Maybe there are other more emotionally complex mountains to climb.”

“The new Archie, Julian, he’s even better than the real Archie!”

#1. Hedwig and the Angry Inch

Songs ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Plot ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Iconry ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

On a 9 hour flight to Europe in the Summer I had all the Riverdale musical eps downloaded to rewatch and then noticed that among the plane’s complimentary movie selections was the original movie of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, which was pure kismet. I decided to watch the movie for the first time prior to rewatching the Riverdale ep and I was blown away. Knowing the context of all the songs and musical they chose to include in the episode made everything so much more insane. The song about feeling like a stranger in your body after surgical malpractice being used for the Bughead conflict over Juggie prioritizing mysteries over finishing high school and Varchie conflict over Archie not telling Veronica about her dad’s epic fail at the gym. 20? something year old gay Kevin proclaiming WE ARE GENERATION Z before jumping into Random Number Generation. The BIZARRELY spliced version of the best ever rendition of Origin of Love all for BARCHIE FODDER?!? Actually all the rest of the songs were perfectly fitting no notes. Anyway hallway full of students in Hedwig drag one of the top Riverdale shots ever though I forever mourn KJ Apa’s absence. At least he got to kiss a man in this one. The plane hit turbulence while I watching the Midnight Radio scene but I was so happy witnessing it in that moment that I thought to myself “it would be ok if I died right now”.

Stand Out Lines:

“Writing a book report? Now I know how Sisyphus must have felt.”

“It celebrates identities, genders, expressions of all kinds.”

“[scoffs] How queer-phobic of you.”

“There’s a problem that comes once you get caught up on your homework. Your mind wanders and evil creeps back in.”

I was convinced Archie the Musical would come out on top for me due to the obscene level of euphoria I felt upon first experiencing it but after intensive review I do have to say Hedwig wins. Ultimately I miss the original timeline that much and I am all for the events that eventually tear apart everyone’s relationships and most of all it gave us Origin of Love full version Riverdale cast edition. But know that it is so so so so so close between the two. And honestly really all 6 are close in my heart as this exercise reminded me just how much the musical episodes are to watch and rewatch.

[bireggiemantle]

okay so. I have a beronica jennifer's body au now because what is high school age beronica if not the pinnacle of a toxic codependent frenemies situation. (au description below the cut)

in this au veronica is needy and betty is jennifer. it takes place around early season two. the drive in is about to close for good and as one last hurray, a small indie band decides to put on a concert there. betty's been following the band for a while now, so she's excited to go, and makes it into a night out for her and veronica. unfortunately the venue catches fire, and in the midst of the chaos the band manages to persuade betty to leave with them. veronica tries to protest, but betty insists that she can take care of herself, so she gets into the van with them.

obviously they end up sacrificing her for the promise of fame and success, but unlike jennifer, betty fights back. she gets as far as wrestling the knife from the singer and stabbing him in the leg, but ultimately it isn't enough, and they kill her on the banks of sweetwater river. since betty isn't a virgin though, she lives, except there is now a succubus inhabiting her body.

on the walk home she runs into kevin, who's out in the woods because grindr isn't a good enough in riverdale I guess. bettys overwhelmed with this weird hunger, and since nobody except her knows where kevin is, the demon takes hold and she kills and eats kevin.

the next day comes and the entire town appears to be on hold. it's a suffocatingly silent memorial for all the people that died (notably, midge is one of them) and more than that, it's a day dedicated to wallowing in fear. jason blossom's death is still fresh in their minds, fred andrews is hospitalized over potentially a fatal gunshot wound, and now a fire took the lives of multiple high schoolers during what was supposed to be a fun event.

I think betty ends up killing moose in a similar way to how jennifer killed that jock in canon, and shortly after his death both his and kevin's bodies are found. this causes the blackhood to put a temporary hold on releasing his letter, because hal doesn't want his own threats to be muddled with the cannibalistic killer terrorizing the town.

another notable thing with this au is that I think betty treats this demonic part of herself as it is a separate entity entirely, and uses it as a scapegoat for all for her bad actions, like a more extreme version of dark betty. it's easy for her to act like the only reason she's capable of killing people or manipulating people is because of the succubus, especially since she doesn't want to grapple with the notion that she might not be a good person.

betty ends up killing jughead as the colin stand in. she's starving, and desperate, and shortly after the vughead hot tub kiss she lures him into the woods and snaps. it isn't like the other deaths aren't serious, but this one really hits hard.

betty doesn't know how to handle her guilt, so she creates an even starker divide between herself and the succubus, acting like she had no choice in the matter and that jughead's death couldn't be her fault. this helps her deal with the grief.

its around this time that veronica really starts to figure everything out, and after betty tells her about the initial sacrifice, veronica is 100% certain that betty is the one responsible for what happened to kevin, moose, and jughead.

cue the winter dance.

its been a while since betty's killed, and that deep seeded desperation is poking through again. she and veronica have gotten into a few huge fights prior to this, and the tension between them is high, so that combined with her hunger convinces betty to pursue archie as her next victim.

hes in a pretty fragile state since his best friend died about a month ago and similarly to needy and chip in canon, veronica broke up with him for his own protection earlier that week, so it's easy for betty to lead him away to the river.

veronica confronts her there, but it's too late. archie bleeds out, and veronica realizes that this isn't betty anymore, and that she can't be saved.

unlike with needy I don't think veronica is discovered right away. since alice isn't home, veronica has time to leave, but she just doesn't. all of her friends are dead, and she had to watch betty spiral into madness before taking betty's life herself, so the guilt and the grief and the loneliness gets to her, and she accepts defeat, laying besides betty's corpse and crying until alice finally shows up and finds her.

-

that's the rough description of the au! sorry it's so long, it follows the movie almost plot for plot so there's a lot to cover lmaoo. if you guys have any questions about it feel free to lmk! I always love talking about my aus :)

[littlelittlebear]

Two Drifters | 3/3 Jeronica Secret Santa

@fangstomysweetpea oh my god.... its finally time!!! 

The moment i’ve been aching for is finally here and i am HYPE

Happy Christmas my dear Tumblr-friend, I hope you enjoy this jeronica playlist/au/riverdale rewrite.

A couple things first, the descriptions on each song are just an outline as to whats happening in that moment/what the song calls for. Also, this is like a story, so its not really something you can play on shuffle lol. I’m confident you didn’t really need these “instructions” lmao, just want you to have a bomb-ass jeronica experience XDD

Also, you don’t have to “follow” the descriptions when you think them out, you can completely take the reigns too if you’d like!

So.... here ya go!!

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1MflcKtyBDRjnP0giX03X4?si=ZcsD0GfxR0KevhgDpTZVKQ

And here are the descriptions-

Oxford Comma-

Locking eyes for the first time… wow. Just- everything is in slow motion.

Baby Doll-

Slow dancing in Pop’s after the dance. (V goes to Pop’s instead of Archie)

Can I call you tonight?-

Jughead and Veronica’s moments of glee when they finally set up a date with each other. Veronica squeals and jumps up and down, Jughead punches the air, they both fall down on the bed with blissful looks on their faces. Two cinnamon rolls.

“So, I’ll call you tonight?”

“Yes! *Too enthusiastic- calm down Veronica* Yes. Call me tonight.”

*Que music*

Just Like a Movie-

Jughead calls this their theme song one day when they’re just hanging out in the student lounge as a joke.

Scrawny-

Veronica calls this Jughead’s theme song in response, they have a good laugh and Jughead rolls his eyes at the lyrics A LOT.

Space Girl-

Jughead calls this Veronica’s theme song- because she’s “oUt oF tHiS worLD!”.

She smacks his arm for being so cheesy.

Good Morning-

The morning after they do the “horizontal tango” with each other for the first time, they dance in Veronica’s kitchen, knowing all the words- only to be interrupted by an amused Hermione Lodge.

Unforgettable-

Their first Christmas together, spent snowed in at The Pembrooke. But honestly, they don’t mind.

Shake it out-

Jughead and Veronica cry together after her parents blackmail them/force them to break up. #parentssuck.

Your star-

Coping with the breakup, newsflash- they aren’t, or when they are... they don’t go the healthiest route. So. Much. Angst.

Rare-

Veronica changes up her style a little bit, which really is just lower cut tops, just trying to forget about Jughead- does a lil sexy performance singing to this at a pep rally.

Out the door-

Jughead never leaving the depressional stage of grief.                                

+ Exchanging broken looks that just scream “I’m not over you.”

I can’t get you off my mind-

Drunkenly hooking up at a party because their tension recently had just been… w o w

Drugs-

Sneaking around- sexy times ;)

Why Do You Love Me-

Having a screaming match, then a very angry/hot makeup session, then very angry sex XD

The Wind-

After some hOrIzOnTaL TaNGo at Sweetwater River, they admit that they can’t keep away from each other, saying that they love each other for the first time- followed by Veronica crying tears of joy cuz she’s never done that before- and that they’re going to work everything out, together. They just hold each other after that.

“I love you, Princess.”

Veronica props herself on her elbow to face him (they were laying down before)

Jughead sees her widened eyes. “Y-you don’t have to say it back, I know its ha-“

“I love you too, Jug”

You and I-

Montage of working at Pop’s for summer, ending with a jam sesh in Jughead’s trailer- Veronica just in his shirt and Jughead just in his sweats. FP comes in, surprised to see Veronica, but welcomes her easily. FP and Veronica bond, and he embarrasses Jug with some baby photos. While Jug’s probably beet-red, he can’t help but completely oggle at Veronica- happy that they don’t have to hide from his dad anymore.

Start a Riot-

Jeronica send a little message to Hiram through security cameras (they just make out lmao), showing that he can’t keep them apart. They then proceed to trash Hiram’s jingle jangle lab. :)

Moon River-

Slow dancing after having been crowned homecoming King and Queen. And of course, because Veronica is 1/2 of this relationship- this becomes their song.

“That’s us.”

“What do you mean?” Veronica asks, confused.

“The two drifters in the song. ‘Two drifters, off to see the world.’ That’s us”

Veronica’s eyes start to gloss.

“I absolutely love that. And you.”

Teenagers-

Being the badass power couple they are, being 100% team Serpent against the Bulldogs during the riots. Its all one long shot too- no cuts :))

A Sunday Kind of Love-

Looking at each other in slow motion (wow- I really love putting stuff in slow motion) when Veronica is officially named Serpent queen, they’re absolutely smitten with each other. Cut to them dancing in the Wyrm to the song, discussing how they’re going to make their big debut as Riverdale’s resident power couple… second to Choni of course.

“So… now that I’m your queen, I was thinking had a debut of sorts. Just to educate the public of this new order.” Veronica jabs, only kind of joking.

Jughead laughs, but it sounds more of a huff.

“Could you settle for a hand-in-hand entrance at school? Or would you be more comfortable with a red carpet event?”

Glory-

Veronica and Jughead walking into school as Serpent Royalty with matching Serpent jackets- no special colours thank you very much. You can bet your ass its in slow motion.

Worlds Apart-

Veronica crying at Jughead’s bed-side after the Ghoulies fuck him up.

Boss Bitch-

Veronica gets revenge on the Ghoulies and Penny Peabody with the help of the female Serpents, the River vixens, Hermione, Betty, and Alice.

Le Symbolique-

Veronica and Jughead reunite from his state of unconsciousness, this whole sequence is in slow motion, with a lot of white lighting/glare. Jughead almost died and just that thought alone KILLED Veronica.

“Jug I was so scared-“

“Shush Ronnie, let me look at you.” His teary eyes trace over Veronica’s face with a beaming smile, before he brings his girlfriend closer and kisses the top of her forehead.

Harmony Hall- 

Some core four bliss before it gets chaotic again, with a side of Jeronica and Barchie cuddles.

Not Your Barbie Girl-

A River vixen performance, Jughead is so fricken in love with Ronnie right now cuz she’s just RADIATING empowerment.

Therefore I Am- 

Jeronica sends Hiram to jail again after a bomb ass one liner from Veronica:

“Mija, you have no idea what you’re doing.”

“Only one thing’s false in that sentence Hiram, I’m not your Mija anymore.”

(HELP ME I CAN’T WRITE)

*Proud Jughead smirk*

This Life-

Veronica meeting JB and Gladys, them getting along great- just a wholesome Lodge/Jones get-together.

Don’t Call Me Angel-

Veronica changes her name to Luna, fully emancipating herself from Hiram, and this gets Jughead really turned on XD

Sway With Me-

La Bonne Nuit’s first successful night, Josie, Veronica, Toni, and Cheryl perform. Veronica somehow convinces Jughead to dance with her in public. Think Moulin Rouge’s Diamond Dogs type editing.

My Oh My- 

Getting screwed over my Hiram, Veronica is in a TON of debt and needs some “stress relief” with Jughead. He obliges. Happily.

HIP-

Veronica and Cheryl start their rum business, Jughead helps and oml he’s so proud of her. Btw, Cheronica are HUGE badasses right now.

Bury a friend-

Surviving Eversgreen Forest and Penelope Blossom…

Youth-

The core four are free from the forest, successfully escaping Penelope Blossom. Jughead and Veronica share a tearful but happy kiss, laying down on the back of a truck.

Don’t Take The Money-

The core four hang out at pops and promise to have fun this senior year, Jughead steals Veronica’s cherry from her milkshake, but being so vulnerable to Midget’s (He calls her Midget. Yup.) puppy dog eyes, he makes it up to her by sharing his fries. 

“And for a brief, shining moment, we were kids again.” all that good shiz

The Four Seasons: “Winter”-

Jeronica hangs with the Stonewall psychos.

(Online Love)-

Veronica and Jughead FaceTime and Veronica has this vibe like she’s the montage of the hero’s dead girlfriend in a movie. Like her hair is all splayed out on her pillow and she’s all smiley-

“You look like an angel right now- with your hair like a halo and how much you’re smiling.”

Veronica laughs

“Well it’s your fault I’m smiling you idiot.” Her voice softens towards the end of the sentence.

“I love you too, Ron.”

El Tejano-

Party at Stonewall, Jeronica are absolutely WASTED. Fun fact- Jughead get’s really into PDA when he’s drunk

Burned Out- 

Oh shit… I guess Jughead is dead now. (dw, Betty’s still the one who “kills him”)

Claire de Lune-

Just kidding, he’s alive, and he and Veronica have a really cute moment in the bunker. Veronica starts reading his novel, per his request, and he just starts playing this on the record player and she smiles but her eyes are still on the book. He just kind of watches her, and when she starts beaming at the book he can’t help but kiss her right there. Then they just cuddle and little bit, Veronica on Jug’s lap, reading the book some more.

Girls Like GIrls-

Veronica has to prove Jughead is dead, so she and Betty kinda sorta… make out. Like, a lot. Betty is dating Archie at this point, and he’s the one who gets “mad”. But basically Betty and Veronica end up making out again cuz they spot Donna watching them. Veronica is a bi con, and Betty might be too but everyones in denial so *shrugs*.

Dream Lover-

(Time skip, because I’m lazy) Jughead’s alive again, sadly, his spot at NYU was taken by well, Veronica. Luckily, after pulling some strings, she surprises Jug with a full-ride acceptance letter from NYU starting second semester.

Magic Moments-

Yay! Prom! Barchie gets crowned king and queen (Beronica was kind of forgotten about, but thats fine, because we’re here for Jeronica first). While Betty and Archie are totally lost in each other, Jughead and Veronica are just kind of joking around on the side. While it’s Barchie’s moment, Jeronica is still looking pretty damn cute rn. Also, this becomes Barchie’s song!!

Oxford comma-

The song comes through the speaker at prom, Jughead invites Veronica to dance. As they sway, they gaze at one another like they’re seeing one another for the first time, to the song that started it all. 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

And thats it! Thats Jeronica’s story from season one to season four, I hope you have a very merry Christmas and I hope you liked your presents! Also, if anyone feels like adding on to the dialogue or using any of the points in a fic or even making a whole ass fanfiction- please do!! I didn’t do this justice with my mediocre quotes so it would actually be preferred XD.

And again, happy Christmas :))

[soyforramen]

Daffodils and Hyacinths

Or that Beronica Flower Shop/Tattoo Shop AU no one asked for.  (Cross posted on Ao3)

The second to last thing Veronica expected when she moved to the sleepy town of Riverdale was for the shop owner across the street to show up with homemade cookies.  It was such a quaint and nostalgic image that she had to suppress a laugh least she offend the women.  Instead she thanked her and wrote the whole incident off.  Even if they were neighbors of a sort that didn’t mean they’d ever mean anything to each other.  In New York Veronica hadn’t been able to name a single one of her neighbors.  Why should this town be any different?

-

It only took a few glasses of wine after the local town meeting, and Veronica found herself leading Betty through the flower shop.  Her neighbor’s quirky arrival last week with a basket of cookies, initially seen as a power play to prove to the town how kind and benevolent Betty was, had turned into a tense sort of friendship.  Veronica was cool every time Betty had made a point of waving good afternoon.  And the few times they’d run into each other at the only grocer in town, Betty had made a genuine effort in asking how Veronica was adjusting to life in the small town.

Veronica, a consummate city girl, did her best to rebuff Betty’s attempts at friendship - an indifference borne largely to bearing the Lodge name for so long - but it didn’t take much for her resolve to break down.  Betty, it turned out, was one of the rarest people in the world - someone who didn’t try to act like someone they weren’t.

And thus an odd friendship was struck up, one that was set in stone tonight as they both stood against the ridiculous zoning ordinances balefully aimed at the lower income neighborhoods in this ticky-tacky town.

Both bemoaned the tragedy of white gentrification afterwards between shots of tequila and three bottles of wine.  Unwilling for the night to end, Veronica asked Betty to join her at the flower shop.  A simple, innocent question that nonetheless brought a pretty rose blush to her cheeks that climbed downward through the night.  

They raced through the shadows of the shop, hands clasped together like narcissus and chinodoxa blooms in spring.  Giggling at the strange shapes the grow lights cast along the walls, Veronica lead her to the office door.

“I keep a bottle of rum in my desk,” she said breathlessly.  As she stepped through the door, her fingers automatically reached towards the leaves of her own personal plants.  “My grandmother’s secret recipe.”

“So much color,” Betty murmured.  She slipped off her jacket and set it on a chair as the hothouse humidity took its toll.  “I never realized orchids came in so many different colors.”

“One for each of my exes,” Veronica said as she pulled out the bottle of rum.  She gazed lovingly at each and set two shot glasses on the desk.  “They love the grow lamps.”

She held out a shot glass and felt a tremor when Betty’s fingers grazed hers.  Veronica watched as Betty threw back the shot, the muscles in her long throat working against the sharp flavor.  

“What is that?”

“Cardamom,” Veronica said as she sat on the corner of her desk.  She sipped at her own rum and let the flavor roll around her tongue.  

“Why flowers?” Betty asked as she reached for the rum bottle.

The question made Veronica pause.  It was a question she’d never been asked; a question she’d never thought to ask herself.  After all, flowers were one of the few ways her mother showed genuine affection.  Perhaps it was even how she showed love.  Almost before she could walk, Veronica knew that flowers meant different things.  Lilies for purity; blood red poppies for refusal.  Lavender for admiration; buttercups for childish ingratitude.  Veronica had been around flowers and plants her entire life, reading their meanings was as easy as breathing.  The thought that she could ever live without them was anathema.

The language of flowers was the one gift from her mother that really had any meaning in the long run.  It was a practice that Veronica had lost herself in many times, one that no one seemed to understand.  

But to tell Betty all of that, to open up to that kind of vulnerability?  As much as she might like her, as much as she might trust her, Veronica was not ready for that sort of confession.

“Why tattoo’s?” came her response.

Betty chewed on her lip and stared with unfocused eyes at the long-out-of-season Bird of Paradise - Veronica’s daily reminder that she was in this tiny town because she valued her freedom above all else.   At first, Veronica wondered if she’d committed a faux pas; perhaps she wasn’t the only one who had trust issues.  But after a while, she came to realize that Betty was also weighing how honest, how vulnerable she wanted to be.

“I like the pain,” Betty finally admitted.

She gazed at Veronica, already defensive against any sort of judgment or condemnation.  When Betty didn’t find it, she continued, her voice relieved.

“I was always the good kid.  My sister was wild, and when she ran away the whole family fell apart.  Dad moved away, Mom joined a cult.  My brother went to live halfway across the country.  In less than a year I lost my whole family, and I was just so angry.  Both my parents hated tattoos; they said they were trashy and vulgar.  So…”

Betty tugged at the neck of her sweater, and Veronica eyed the soft skin.  In soft, looping script along Betty’s collarbone read, “my life is my own.”

“My senior year of high school I lived with the one person who meant the world to me.  But he’d gotten into Yale and I hadn’t, so we got matching tattoo’s.”   Her fingers caressed the space over her heart, and Veronica longed to know what lay under all those layers.  It was one more puzzle piece to the enigma that was Betty Cooper.  But just as Veronica had her secrets to keep, so, too, did Betty.

“After that, it just became an addiction.  The steady pain of the needle, the infusion of ink.”  Betty rolled up her sleeve and set her arm on Veronica’s lap.  Veronica traced the delicate lines along the snow globe that depicted the sleepy town.  From the town square to Pop’s Diner, it seemed the only thing missing was Betty’s own tattoo parlor.

“My grandfather helped build Riverdale, and when he passed my mother gave away everything to the cult.  So I got this instead of his snow globe collection,” Betty said, sadness etched in her eyes.  She laughed despite it.  “You can only imagine how my mother took it when I showed up to his funeral in a sleeveless dress.”

Veronica’s lips quirked into a smile, her fingers dancing across Betty’s skin.  Carefully, Veronica raised Betty’s tattooed arm to her lips and pressed her lips against the skin of her wrist.  The faint aroma of rosewater greeted her.  When she glanced up, Betty drew a sharp breath, but that rose pink flush at the base of her neck was back.  Encouraged, Veronica leaned forward to press a kiss along Betty’s collarbone, then another at the base of her neck.  

Betty pulled away, only to meet Veronica’s lips with her own.

-

Riding a wave of romanticism - one that had started with a hothouse tryst a few weeks ago and seemingly had no end in sight - Veronica picked up dinner from the only decent restaurant in town.  She knew Betty’s schedule was tight, but fifteen minutes together was enough to make her day.  Besides, Veronica had become accustomed to idling in the tattoo shop while Betty worked, the soothing pastels and new art calm enough to make Veronica forget about the barrage of legal notices in her mail box.  And if that wasn’t enough, Betty always kept a  stash of rotating pulp mysteries beneath the register.

But when she walked into the shop, Veronica’s stomach dropped.  A pink-haired woman sat far too close to Betty to be anything but a customer.  She leaned forward to whisper something, and Betty let out a peal of laughter.  Veronica set the food down and watched, irritation rising climbing like ivy in her throat.

When the woman finally left, Veronica made her way over to Betty’s station as casually as she could manage.  She knew she was being unreasonable; after all, Betty was allowed to have friends Veronica didn’t know about.  It wasn’t as if they were dating.

“Who was that?” Veronica asked, her eyes locked on a photo of the old Riverdale rail station.

“An old friend,” Betty said.  She wiped down the station, seemingly unaware of Veronica’s frustration.  “I think you’d like Toni, you two are a lot alike.”

That turn of phrase sparked a fuse and Veronica couldn’t help but grip the pearls at her throat.  Despite the innocent, entirely plausible explanation - and Veronica’s bone deep conviction that Betty wasn’t that kind of person - the afterimage sat at the forefront of her mind.  The pair were too casual, too close emotionally, for Veronica’s demons not to flare up.

“What’s up?” Betty prompted.  “I thought we were going to meet at the Wyrm later tonight.”

Veronica shrugged, still playing at nonchalance, and walked towards the waiting area.  She picked up a magazine and flipped through the pages to keep her hands still. On every page, Toni’s smiling face, inches from Betty’s, stared back at her.  They’d been dating a few weeks, and yet Veronica had never felt that sort of closeness with Betty.

It was the realization that Veronica wanted that sort of connection was frightening.  She was a Lodge, after all, and love was never an option.  Not unless it came with strings and attachments, political and social gains otherwise closed off to her family.  As a Lodge, hers was a morbid, skeptical view of love.  And how could it not be, after all the role models she’d had in her life?

And yet, what she had with Betty felt more solid, more real.  It was a mutually beneficial relationship where Betty expected nothing more than a little of Veronica’s time.

“I closed up early,” Veronica finally said.  She dropped the magazine on the table and forced as much carelessness into her voice as she could manage.  “I thought we might eat in tonight.  I didn’t realize you had company.”

Betty grimaced - apparently Veronica’s attempt at nonchalance had fallen flatter than a late May rain garden.  A pang of guilt went through Veronica; yet she couldn’t help but twist the knife.  It was the only other hobby her mother had shared with her.

“V, you know I’m booked solid -“

Veronica waved her off and pulled on her jacket.  “It’s fine.  I’ve got things to take care of.  Enjoy dinner.”

She stormed out of the door, ignoring Betty’s call.  Something broke against the wall and Veronica forced herself to keep moving.  

Whatever this was had taken root deep within her very cells, but a few days in New York would be more than enough to uproot it.

-

It had taken a week before Betty showed up in the flower shop.  The look on her face told Veronica not to try and pretend they weren’t anything more than neighbors.  Despite Veronica’s refusal to take any texts, calls, or dms from Betty, it seemed the stubborn blonde worked on an entirely different plane.

“What’s going on?” Betty asked, ignoring the customer Veronica was helping.

Veronica finished setting the baby’s breath among the white roses - a strange, uninspiring choice for a get well bouquet - before acknowledging her, a move that only served to irritate Betty further.

Thankfully, Betty waited until they were alone to round on her.

“Why have you been ignoring me?”

Veronica lifted a shoulder in a half-hearted shrug.  A coy move, meant to signify her own feigned indifference.  Betty crossed her arms and fixed her with a stare.

With a sigh, Veronica said, “I don’t know.”

“Seriously?”

“Look, this isn’t easy for me,” Veronica snapped.  She picked at the left over cuttings. Idly she arranged and rearranged them into strange shapes that seemed to reflect her own indecision.  “I’ve never had… I’ve never …”

Somehow, despite all her own musings on the subject, the words about why Betty affected her so much wouldn’t come.  

“Who was she?”

Betty quirked an eyebrow.  “Who?”

“That woman with the pink hair.”

“Is that what this is about?” Betty sighed and walked towards a nearby plant stand that held a range of hyacinths.  Her hand grazed over the yellow petals as she regarded Veronica.  “Toni and I grew up together.  Now she’s engaged to my cousin.”

The air went out of the room and Veronica sagged against the table.  She felt as foolish, as silly as she knew she was being.

“Oh.”

“Veronica,” Betty began, her hands still grasping the flowers, “if we’re going to make this work -“

The world shifted, and suddenly all Veronica could see and hear was Betty.  It couldn’t possibly be this simple.  It never was.  Betty was after something, and now that Veronica had misstepped it would finally come to light.

“-you have to talk to me about these things.  I don’t want to lose you over something as stupid as jealously.”

“That’s it?”

Betty gave her a sharp, bewildered look that sent waves of guilt through Veronica.  Veronica dropped her eyes to the cuttings in front of her.  It was strange, truly, how much she wanted Betty to understand.  They both came with familial baggage; the only question was whether that baggage would match in the long run.

“I’m sorry,” Veronica said with a wince.  “It’s just… everyone’s always had these … expectations of me.  There was always something they wanted.  Comes with my father’s legacy I suppose,” she scoffed.

When she looked up, she was startled to find Betty standing in front of her.  With a gentle smile, Betty took up Veronica’s hands in hers.  

“The only thing I want from you is a little of your time,” Betty said.  With a sly grin, she added, “And maybe that yellow flower over there.”

Veronica huffed out a laugh.  “The hyacinth?”  

Betty nodded.

“No, not that one,” Veronica said.  She slipped her hands from Betty’s and walked to the far aisle.  It was easy to know what she was looking for, even though she knew the meaning would be lost.  

When she set the plant in front of Betty, Veronica’s heart fluttered at her smile.  

“It’s gorgeous,” Betty murmured.  Her fingers toyed with the long yellow leaves.  “A daffodil, right?”

Veronica nodded.

“What does it mean?” Betty asked.

“New beginnings.”  Veronica bit her lip, oddly shy.  “And forgiveness.”

Betty grinned and leaned over the counter to press a kiss to Veronica’s forehead.  “You won’t always be able to buy me off with flowers.  And you promise to talk these things through with me in the future.”

“I promise, so long as you give me a chance.”

-

Late one evening, as the neon lights cast a blue and red glow across Betty’s bare skin, Veronica lay her head on Betty’s chest, her breath heavy and her skin still flush with sweat.  The sound of her heartbeat lulled Veronica into a meditative state as a contented drowsiness began to take hold.

“I’ve got issues,” Veronica breathed.  Her confession, honest and vulnerable, slipped out of her without a second thought.

Betty’s chuckle was laced with sleep.  She wrapped an arm around Veronica’s shoulder, her long fingers tracing patterns along the skin.  “We all have issues V.”

Veronica raised up on her elbows.  Betty’s hair fanned out around her, a pink halo in the neon light, with her eyes half closed in satiety.  

“Give me yours, then,” Veronica said with a sudden protectiveness.

“Only if you give me yours,” came the swift reply.  

Veronica held up her pink, and Betty grasped it with her own.  Sealed with a kiss, Veronica settled back against Betty for the long haul.

[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.

[satelliteinasupernova]

I was stoked for the zone until I found out it had Bughead and Varchie with different people. It already feels like everything is falling apart, the show ruined Bughead, some people hate Betty, everyone hates Archie. I thought the idea was dope with stories about the POC and queer characters tho. I know the multishipoers are happy too, and that is good but I don’t want one more thing with my OTP split. Its not you, its me I guess.

As the person who is currently assembling this zine. 

1) based on what submissions we received, the only non varchie or bughead cour four ships featured in the zine are beronica and cheronica. This wasn’t necessarily our goal, but it’s how things shook out.

2) they are ALL written by people known for writing bughead or varchie within the fandom. Legitimately, the core four section is full of some of my all time fav fic writers. (it also includes several ace jughead/bughead submissions, which personally warms my little ace heart)

3) Each of the five sections are organized and divided by color. I intentionally designed the zine so that the sections would be easy to find or easy to skip

4) And I’m going to bold this part, because this is the point where I find the “I don’t want to support non bughead & varchie ships” starts to feel like a stretch to me

The Bughead section includes:

Six fic works by very lovely and well-known bughead fic writers, Five bughead artworks (PLUS four works in the queer core four section that feature bughead)

/There is a lot of bughead in this zine! The organizers are super big fans of bughead!/

The Varchie section includes:

Four super sweet varchie fics written by ppl who are very active in the varchie fandom, Two varchie artworks provided by gogenevieveart and myself

Look, at the end of the day, if it’s not your thing, it’s not your thing. But do realize you are letting a few queer exploration fics get in the way of something I think you could really enjoy if you looked at it from a different perspective.

This zine IS themed around Pride, and on the aspects and characters of Riverdale that are overlooked, including queer readings of the main characters, but it is also themed about Joy and the aspects of Riverdale that we really love.

But, if you still really think this zine won’t spark joy for you, ce la vie.

[andsmile]

I agree that this whole situation is different from One Tree Hill /Brucas /Leyton not the cheating part obviously because cheating is cheating. What Im trying to say Lucas cheating on Brooke with her best friend Peyton happened in season 1 while they him and Brooke were a relatively new couple (OTH s3 different story). Still no excuse to cheat but there's a huge difference from the two shows writers. It's a little too late for RD to do this cheating story in s4.

Welcome to my OTH ted talk, and I care a lot about OTH (it’s my favorite show), so it pains me when people make this comparison. I am a Brooke/Lucas shipper but I have watched OTH a thousand times (and I was watching in 2005 while it was airing, before endgames were set on stone) and I think I have some property to talk about this lol.

So, the thing with OTH is: first of all, it’s character-driven, not plot-driven like Riverdale, which means the plot stems from the build-up of characters and relationships. Everything a character says or does has consequences and continuity. Riverdale, as we all know, is not that show.

The fundamental part - the build-up of the love triangle - is completely different. I’m talking about s1 here, btw. What happens after is another story.

Lucas starts OTH in love with Peyton since he was a kid. There are about 8 episodes of a slow, careful build-up to Leyton’s ship with some ICONIC moments like “your art matters, it’s what got me here” (that are brought up throughout the entire show). Lucas loved Peyton but he didn’t really know Peyton, however, they get to know each other and it only affirms his feelings. She has a complicated life and he sees through a lot, and she opens up to him like she hadn’t to anyone (but Brooke). So, Lucas and Peyton hook up and the feelings are there for both of them, but Peyton gets scared and Lucas gets hurt.

Brooke is at first a rebound therapy to Lucas. We all know it! Me, a Brucas shipper through and through, I KNOW she was at first. He likes her, but he’s not in love with her like he is with Peyton, and the audience knows it. We’re all expecting the moment Peyton will give into her feelings and drag Lucas back with her. 

That’s the brilliance of how OTH played this triangle though: when the cheating happens, you’re holding your breath. You’ve learned how to cheer for Leyton but you’re also very much in love with Brooke too and you see how much the three of them have their own thing going on, so it’s HARD to see it. It’s hard to watch it. That’s what’s gut-wrenching (not this BA mess).

Brooke and Peyton have been friends for years and years, to see Peyton throwing that away is HEARTBREAKING, and we get to actually SEE all of it. We see how much Lucas KNOWS he’s screwing up, we see how much Peyton feels guilty, how HARD it is for them to hide their feelings and not hurt Brooke. They have a whole affair behind Brooke’s back but they suffer through every step of the way.

Ultimately, when Brooke finds out, Lucas and Peyton have all the chance of being together but they both feel SO SHITTY for how they acted and what they did to Brooke, who was nothing but kind and true to them, that they decide NOT to be together. When this cathartic thing happens, their characters grow: the hurt Brooke goes through has her no longer feeling inferior to him. Good guy Lucas realizes he’s actually not such a good guy and that he should do better. Emotional problematic Peyton realizes she needs to be selfless.

So, the big difference between what’s going on in Riverdale now, is:

1) Archie and Veronica have had ups and downs but they’ve been dating for years now. It’s not a phase or something that happened as a rebound.

2) It’s not a triangle: Jughead exists. Betty is also dating him (continuously!) for years now. In fact, Betty and Jughead happening had the same cathartic feeling: character growth. Characters going forward instead of backwards. Growth!

3) Even if BA do go on with their cheating plot, it’s not the same as BLP, because LP had one thing that BA doesn’t: BUILD UP. Who saw this shit coming if it wasn’t for spoilers and the annoying amounts of BA promotion? The casual viewer must be completely confused right now. They’ll see those flashbacks that happened 3 years ago and be like: “wait, what?” Of course, some BA shippers will say it’s always been them etc, but whoever really watches this show knows that this makes absolutely no sense. BLP made A LOT OF SENSE. LP had FEELINGS for each other. BL had not been dating for long. BL started as a rebound. You were EXPECTING it to happen. It was heartbreaking, but no one said “oh, what the actual fuck” when it happened. Everyone went “oh, fuck”.

4) After the cheating Leyton spent 2 entire seasons as friends before they even thought about jumping back into that ship. And as much as I LOVE Brucas and will ship them to the rest of my life, it’s undeniable that Leyton had substantial content during those seasons. Again, WRITING. BUILD UP!

5) It’s not a love triangle! I repeat, it’s not a triangle! BLP was a love triangle, but this isn’t. This is about friendships on top of it all. The Core 4 is a character on its own, in Riverdale. The craziest plots only “worked” so far because of how strong the Core 4 are. There is no Bughead without Varchie, Beronica without Jarchie, B/rchie without J/ronica (not meaning ships). Breaking up the Core 4 is indeed the most powerful thing that can happen to this show. Even if you want it to be JAB or BAV, it CAN’T be. Veronica and Jughead are equally important in this (as much as the writers don’t give Ronnie too much to do). The whole foundation for a plot-driven show is ruined. 

6) Lucas ending up with Peyton made sense. If Lucas ended up with Brooke, it would make sense. If Brooke and Peyton said fuck Lucas, it would make sense. What won’t make sense? BA ending up together (unless they go completely rogue and have JV end up together too) because Beronica can’t walk back from that and Jarchie can’t walk back from that. The friendship between Bughead can’t walk back from that. The Core 4 either ends this show as a Core 4, or it ends as nothing. And without the Core 4, this show has no foundation for its crazy plots.

OOF. Sorry if I wrote too much. I can write even more! lol

[nomadicbeard]

Hi! I saw on one of your posts you said that you used to be a stucky shipper. I actually started off as a stony shipper but then absolutely fell in love with stucky but I like both . I was just wondering what made you "jump ship" on stucky lol. Sorry if this comes across as annoying or anything im just curious!

Hey! As you can see a couple of people have asked me this over the last couple of weeks and I’m really lazy and haven’t got around to responding yet, but the people deserve an answer so here we go. Before we start a quick disclaimer: I’ll only be talking about the ships themselves, not the communities or any of the discourse surrounding them. This is not a ship-bashing of any kind and please do not take it as such, it’s just my own personal experience surrounding these characters and these relationships. 

 Buckle your seatbelts kids, this is a long one.

I first got into Marvel c. 2015. I’m European so I’d never really watched any marvel movies before that, I watched Age of Ultron on a plane and remember being vaguely aware the Steve/Tony was a thing (what is pretty interesting is that to this day I have no clue where that knowledge came from) but was mostly just excited by the superhero stuff. I then got home and watched The Winter Soldier and fell in love. I love the Winter Soldier, it’s probably still one of my favourite marvel movies (it got kicked out of its top spot by Black Panther last year unfortunately) and to me no other marvel movie could hold a torch to it at the time. So I came onto tumblr, searched up The Winter Soldier and was just inundated with Stucky stuff, as expected. I rolled with it, got invested just from constant exposure (it was also around the height of the Stucky ship) and as far as I was concerned, that was that. I was super into Stucky for almost six months and was pretty much your average shipper, I didn’t understand stevetony, loved Steve Rogers, was close to creating a Stucky sideblog wit some ridiculous pun as my username, I was gone over this ship.

Then one day, I sat down and read the man on the bridge by boopboop on ao3. You’ve almost definitely heard of it, but it was the most popular fic in the Steve/Bucky tag on ao3 at the time (for some reason I had just never got around to reading it until then, it was long and I didn’t have the stamina I have now). It was your pretty standard Stucky fic, Steve gets Bucky back, they have to deal with his trauma which results in Steve and Bucky declaring their long lost love for each other etc. etc. What was different about this fic, was that it was all told from Tony’s point of view, and since Steve and Tony were on the same team at that point, their dynamic was a huge part of the fic. And I found myself falling completely in love with Steve and Tony’s dynamic. I went back to the fic for this post (and god it is a good fic) and pulled up the first couple of chapters and instantly just found so many instances of that dynamic

(grade A stevetony arguing over each other’s safety with a side of flirting from Tony)

(Idk why but the image of Steve and Tony not going to sleep, but rather staying up and brewing coffee together was such a vivid one when I first read this fic, I still remember it to this day. )

(Tony picking Steve flowers while trying to desperately play off that he didn’t aka. Tony caring while trying desperately not to care)

(Everyone knowing that Steve would definitely come to Tony, apart from Tony himself.)

Now obviously, this is a stucky fic and I went into it knowing this, but I found when Steve and Bucky finally got together I felt honestly a bit bored, a bit cheated. I had no idea why at the time. I remember very clearly x-ing out of the fic at the end and feeling really uneasy, I came onto tumblr, went straight back into the Stucky tag and all was well.

When I next went back onto ao3, I started out with a couple of oneshots in the Stucky tag, but for some reason it wasn’t working for me anymore. I remember sitting there, a little bored, not at all invested in this relationship and just missing something. I figured I was probably missing Tony’s presence in the fic and so filtered in Tony Stark’s character tag. I read a few of those and all was well but I realised the same thing was happening as had happened in man on the bridge, the moment that Steve and Bucky got together, the fic lost something for me. Desperate at this point, and a little annoyed at myself I conducted an experiment and went into the Steve/Tony tag on Ao3 and as they say, the rest is history. If you go onto older posts on my main blog there’s a pretty drastic, almost overnight shift c. January 2016. I have to admit, I expected Civil War to be a conversion so I enjoyed stevetony without consequence for five months, while still labelling myself as a Stucky shipper because I expected to be pulled back to Stucky after civil war, the reality was that somehow I came out of civil war shipping stevetony harder than ever before. From there, I spent two years reading my way through the stevetony tag on ao3 and finally set up this blog in 2018, with a really obscure reference as my username and it’s been stevetony til I die ever since.

I just couldn’t read Stucky anymore. That’s what I mean when I say on this blog that stevetony has ruined me for every other ship, because it has. Steve and Tony’s firecracker dynamic pulled me away from what was fast on its way to becoming my favourite ship in 2015, all because they had a bit of banter on the side in a fic. It’s kind of depressing really, the sort of hold that Steve and Tony’s dynamic has over me, 

It’s strange you say you fell in love with Stucky, I fell absolutely out of love with it. I have thought a lot about how I ended up falling into stevetony and why I was so drawn to them instead of Stucky in the first place and I think it all comes down the the story itself. To me, Steve and Bucky’s relationship carries much more weight as a friendship, I still have no doubt that Bucky is one of if not the most important person in Steve’s life, but having that be a lifelong friendship is way more powerful and impactful to me, (especially since what I know I misconstrued to be Steve’s obsession with Bucky is actually Steve’s obsession over the past. I’m not saying Bucky isn’t dear to Steve and he does want to obviously rescue him, but looking back on it there’s more to Steve’s obsession with Bucky than just love, it’s a fear of change and it’s him desperately trying to hold onto a past that’s gone.)

Conversely, I feel like adding a romantic element to Steve and Tony’s relationship enriches the story being told, if you look at something like civil war (either MCU or 616 tbh) in the context of Tony being desperately in love with Steve, it makes a lot more sense, especially with things like The Confession in 616 or the stuff brought up in that strange conversation in the conference room in the MCU. There’s lines from Steve like “I’m home/you gave me a home” or even straight up “he loved you” and his tormented behaviour throughout infinity war and endgame that just really makes you wonder, not to mention lines from others like “you two still gazing into each other’s eyes/sounds like both of you got into bed with the wrong people” and they did have to share a bed at Clint’s farm after all lol. The tragedy of their story is heightened if you look at it through the context of them being absolutely in love with each other, just never having actually got around to telling it to each other’s faces. This tragedy is heavily implied in The Oath/The Confession in 616 when they confess their deepest darkest secrets to the other’s comatose/dead bodies, and apparently it’s always been that they love the other person. Actually you could easily introduce a romantic element by making relatively few changes to the MCU, but that’s a post for another time (I have a long and comprehensive list in my notes app on how little you actually need to change to make that happen, it’s literally the matter of a few lines of dialogue and one major story change at the end of IM3, an interesting thought exercise to say the least).

Finally, there’s a quote that came up on my dash the day I made that fateful venture into the ao3 stevetony tag, “your soulmate isn’t someone who comes peacefully into your life. It is someone who makes you question things, changed your reality, somebody that marks a before and after in your life. It is not the human being everyone idealized, but an ordinary person, who managed to revolutionize your world in a second” to this day, it resonates so strongly with me about stevetony. It’s everything I love about this ship just compressed into a quote. 

So yeah it was basically a bunch of happy coincidences, but thank god it happened. As a writer, stevetony has taught me so much about character and dynamic, stuff that is honestly invaluable. When you have long fics that basically detail the day by day life of Steve and Tony post-civil war in rural Italy and consists of them sleeping, crying and working through their repressed feelings (looking at you @silkspectred ), it is the characters and their unique dynamic that drive the entirety of the story. Steve and Tony, in the hands of a compelling writer, can keep me hooked over a frankly embarrassing number of words. I still have a bit of a special place for Stucky in my heart really, it did start me out in marvel after all and it was one of my first ever ships, but your first love is only so good until you meet your true love, not to get all sappy but stevetony has completely destroyed my ability to ship anything else. I might get a bit flirtatious with some other ships, like sambucky (I still love Bucky, and I love Sam!), or the riverdale ships (beronica and jarchie or bust), or even the game of thrones crack ships (daensa til the day we die), but I’ll always come back to stevetony.

So yeah this escalated into a far longer post than I intended to make but I’ve never really spelled out on this blog how or why I ended up jumping Stucky to Stony when I know it’s usually the other way around. I guess it just comes down to stevetony catching me out when I least expected it, and never having let go of me since. 

[rainious]

Beronica + serious fights or disagreements

Betty is her everything, until one day she's not. 

The finality comes when Veronica asked her over to talk about something important; her dad is coming home, and Veronica is terrified. But instead of Smithers letting her know that Betty's here, she gets a phone call, "Jughead needs me," Betty explains.

"I understand," Veronica says, even though she doesn't. I need you, hangs on the tip of her tongue but she doesn’t have enough gall to say it as they say their goodbyes.

It happens like that a few more times before Veronica stops asking altogether.

-

Her whole life people have made assumptions on what kind of a life she led. They’d assumed that she is Daddy’s perfect little girl who could get anything if she bats her lashes, and playing along with that misconception was always easier than revealing the truth.

Her father has been home for a few days now, and Veronica hasn’t been able to breathe properly since he stepped foot in Riverdale.

Where her father might have joined them in a home that isn’t his, her mother has all but left. Her face isn’t genuine as she moves around the apartment every day, watering the plants and fixing their meals.

Veronica’s been doing everything to snap her mom out of the haze she’s been in ever since they’d received the news that the court ruled in favor of the Lodges. She’s run up her credit card twice, stayed out until two am more times than she can count, spoken ill about her father when he wasn’t around, but none if it has done anything to take away the glaze that keeps her mom’s eyes from focusing.

“Mom,” Veronica whispers across the dinner table when her father steps out to take a call. “Mom, Mami.”

Her eyes lift to Veronica’s as a sharp warning before they fall back down to the meal on her plate that she’s hardly touched.

Suddenly, Veronica feels like the food in her stomach is enough to make her sick. “I’m going to my room,” she whispers, rising from her seat, and brushing past her father as he comes back to join them.

Tears are pooling in her eyes and she struggles to figure out why. She grabs her phone and her fingers dance over Betty’s contact before she realizes what she’s doing. She wants Betty, she needs Betty, she fucking misses Betty.

In the end, she decides against calling her estranged best friend. What would she even say? 

Hi, Betty! I know we haven’t spoken in a couple days but my mom looked at me funny, and now I’m on the verge of a breakdown. Or maybe, Hi, Betty! My life’s falling apart and you’re the only person who I thought to call. Or, Hi, Betty! You’re the first real friend I’ve ever had and now we don’t talk and I’m terrified I’ve fucked everything up.

Veronica falls asleep with her phone still opened on Betty’s contact.

-

Veronica doesn’t know how they ended up like this; making small talk. They sit in their third-period class together, waiting for the bell to ring. Veronica’s throat feels uncomfortably tight as Betty rambles on about the happenings of her life that Veronica is no longer a part of.

The pain of making small talk with Betty when they once would spill their lives out to each other is once she can’t bare. She puts on a smile that rivals the fabricated ones her mom has been wearing lately, and she decides she doesn’t want to have Betty anymore. Not like this.

Ironically, the smile Betty flashes her right when the bell rings looks a lot like her own.

-

Betty and Jughead break up, and Veronica finds out from Alice Cooper of all people. She calls her on a Thursday morning when school is canceled for the snow.

“She’s inconsolable,” Alice tells her over the phone. She sounds tired, yet concerned. It makes her ache for the mother her mom used to be. “Maybe you could try calling her?”

Veronica does try calling but her phone rings once before she’s sent to voicemail. Suddenly, Veronica’s inconsolable too.

-

“Veronica,” Betty says one day at lunch. The boys are still in line, getting their lunches, and the two of them are left with a rare moment alone. Their eyes meet, and a suffocating atmosphere soon settles in. “Are ... you okay?”

Instinctually, Veronica’s hand raises to touch underneath her eye. It's been hard to keep putting on makeup when the underneath her eyes are desperately darkening for help.

No, she nearly says. I'm not. I'm drowning, Betty, and you haven’t been around to help me breathe. 

"Of course," is just as good. “Are you?”

"Fine," is Betty's delayed response. It makes Veronica nauseous; Betty used to know when she was lying.

-

Things are the worst they've ever been with her father when Betty shows up on her doorstep, no warning from Smithers.

To be fair, he's never laid a hand on them, but he yells, and he’s stripped away their independence, and his presence is suffocating. She never realized how good it felt to breathe until she realized her father wasn't letting her.

Her mom is barely a person anymore. She cooks, cleans, and water the plants around the apartment. She’d come out of her shell so much when they’d first moved back to Riverdale, but that women is a stranger to them all now.

When he left, Veronica realized how much she’d become like him. That’s the reason that she’d sworn off how she’d climbed the social scene at Spencer; she won’t let her dad control her like that anymore.

Honestly, it felt so good when he was gone, and she felt so guilty for that. What kind of a daughter wishes for her father to stay in jail?

"Smithers," she'd asked a long while ago when she was still coming to terms with everything, "is my father a good person?"

His answer, or lack thereof, was telling enough. "Veronica." Betty's voice and glossy eyes draw her away from her thoughts. "I'm so sorry." But Veronica can't breathe because her father is around the corner listening. If nothing else, Betty's stayed safe from their separation. Even if it's cost Veronica heartache. So she bites back a sob that threatens to spill over and does what she has to. "It's too late, Betty." Betty's eyes, wet and wide, search Veronica's desperately for that truth. "You don't mean that. You can't." "I do and I can," Veronica says around a cracking voice. "Leave, Betty. We can't do this anymore." Veronica closes the door before Betty can properly respond. For someone who's hardly been her friend, the ache in her chest feels suspiciously like a breakup. "What was that?" her father asks when she tries to retreat back to her room. "Betty," Veronica sighs, pushing past him before her tears start to fall. -

Veronica’s best childhood memories were the ones where her father had to leave for business trips. Those were the times where she really got to know who her mom was outside of her dad. So when she hears that her dad is going back to New York for the week to take care of business, she’s ecstatic… until she realizes that her mom is going with him. The trust isn’t there yet, and Veronica’s sure he would take her too if she didn’t have school. But she does and he doesn’t, and she’s left alone in an apartment that doesn’t feel like home anymore.

There’s a knock.

She's expecting Archie when she pulls back the door, Betty's there and stepping into her apartment without an invitation inside.

It’s never been like Betty to give up.

Veronica shuts the door and turns to her warily. Where she expects a yelling match to ensue, Betty's arms are suddenly wrapping around her body wordlessly; drawing her against Betty's chest, her ear pressing against her thrumming heart. Harbored emotions suddenly erupt in Veronica, in Betty's arms. She can't help gasping against her rapidly tightening throat as weeks of repressed feelings surface.

Veronica returns the embrace, wrapping her arms around Betty and burying her face into her soft blue sweater, her lip wobbling. Betty’s hair is free from its usual ponytail and brushes against her forehead, calming her and overwhelming her all at once.

“Betty,” she says thickly. It's getting harder to swallow the sounds she struggles to keep quiet, harder to ward off the tears. "Veronica, breathe," Betty says, rubbing along her back. Veronica wonders if she's breathing at all when she sucks in a deep breath of air that sounds like a sob. The tears come before she can do anything to stop them. Betty hugs her tighter, making soft shushing sounds. It's the first time she's been held since the last time Veronica dissolved. Oddly enough, that'd been done in Betty’s arms too and was also caused by her father. Veronica composes herself enough to pull back from Betty's chest and asks a question. "What about Jughead?"Betty bites her lip. "He doesn’t matter anymore. You do." "Why?" Veronica whispers. Betty's hand traces her cheek and pushes dark hair behind Veronica's ear. "We can talk about that later. I’ve got you right now, okay? I’m sorry for everything.”

Veronica settles back against Betty’s chest and listens to her heartbeat thrum. “I’m sorry too.”

It’s the first time in a long time where Betty is the girl she first met in Riverdale all those months ago. Though this feels like the beginning of something new, and a start to dealing with the demons she faces in the form of her father, something she knows she can’t do alone.

-

When Veronica wakes up the next morning, Betty has a protective arm slung around her waist. Veronica breathes out easily, presses closer into Betty’s side, and lets herself fall back asleep.

It feels foreign, being able to breath easier again, but she’s hopeful that it’ll become familiar (along with waking up in Betty’s arms) again soon.

[torturedswiftie]

Wouldn't it be something if this show lasted 6+ years and the writers explored all of our favorite ships. Like season 1 would be Bughead and this journalistic fairytale would burn and then flicker out like a well lit flame, but still a flame can't last forever. Then season 2 could be Beronica and they would go on all these fantastic dates and learn so many things about themselves that these two best friends never would have thought possible. They will refine what girl power means. And this too will end. But these girls won't be shattered by it. No, it will have fused in them a bond so strong that together or not, cannot be broken. Season 3 or 4 would be Barchie. Betty and Archie finally coming to terms with their feelings for each other, exploring a child's dream of love and letting it consume them. And when it ends, it won't be because it didn't work out, because it did, effortlessly. But because there is a greater story to be told and greater love to come. I think a little Juronica could take place during this time too ;) a little wild and crazy fun for those two is definitely in the mix. The season after this would be Jarchie. These two best friends admitting to themselves that this is something they have to try. It's worth the risk, it's worth the flame burning out. It's worth all of it because after everything in their past, nothing else makes sense anymore. These two will fight for each other and let the chips fall where they may. And if it ends, it ends. And they'll journey on as they always do. And when the show comes to a close, in its final season, it won't really matter who ends up with who. Or if none of them end up with each other. What matters will be the connection forged between these four friends and the way every moment shaped who they are and who they will become. There will be boundaries broken, moments forever cherished, memories never forgotten and four lives fully lived. I'm here for these kids and their stories, their incomparable mark on this crazy world in this tiny town called...Riverdale.

[professorspork]

STORYTELLING TIME (bc the riverdale hiatus is boring): tell me about 2 of your fav riverdale ships, 2 of your fav characters, 2 of your favorite scenes out of all 7 episodes, and tell me about the pairing you last shipped/just started shipping. a detailed analysis, 10 paragraphs, i don't care. just tell me.

HECK YEAH MAN I CAN DO THIS FOR YOU

THANK YOU FOR THE OPPORTUNITY TO SCREAM

2 fave riverdale ships

let me tell you about BETTY AND VERONICA

listen, okay

l i s t e n

i was not going to watch this show.

(and then i saw josie mccoy’s face and was like BUT BUT BUT and a friend had to tell me she’s barely in the pilot and to calm down, and then i didn’t plan to watch it anymore)

and then i saw it

the world’s fucking tenderest kiss to maybe ever be on television, which is JUST UNFAIR FOR EVERYONE DON’T YOU THINK??

camila mendes has a talent, is what i am saying, and that talent deserves so much appreciation that it actually got me to watch this show

(THOSE LIPS. THAT THUMB. CHRIST.)

anyway. my favorite thing about the beronica kiss is that it has absolutely nothing to do with how much i ship it. it’s just a weird fever dream bonus to everything about them that i love.

VERONICA IS JUST SO INCREDIBLY IN LOVE WITH BETTY. FROM MOMENT ONE. the train to the rest of my life speech is legit some of the gayest shit i have heard in my damn life.

i love how dedicated they are to one another. i love how they balance each other out. i love that riverdale took the classic “naughty and nice” dichotomy they had from the comics and turned it upside down and shook it, and this is what fell out

they just so clearly thrive off of each other’s energy. i love that.

but you know what i also love?

let me tell you about VERONICA AND CHERYL

i honestly thought for a hot minute there that i wouldn’t have interest in this show beyond beronica

and then 1x05 blessed me and watered my crops and cleared my skin and SHOWED ME THE LIGHT

it turns out, veronica directing her attentions at literally anyone is kind of all i need, and cheryl’s my GOTHIC HOT MESS OF PURE EXTRA and i adore her, and i hope one day they move into a new mansion that has a name and adopt war orphans or something.

2 fave characters

obviously you can tell i have a lot of feelings about veronica lodge, so maybe this doesn’t need saying but sorry too bad buckle up because

LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT THE LOVE OF MY LIFE, VERONICA LODGE

ironically, i spent most of my life solidly team betty.

“but Leah,” you say, “you love poor little rich girls who are POPULAR but SAD ABOUT IT and SO MUCH MORE THAN THAT. cordelia chase! quinn fabray! glinda upland! summer roberts! you very clearly Have A Type!”

i know. i know i do. but i was BLINDSIDED man

i would die on a battlefield for veronica lodge.

because not only did this show give me “REGRETS HER MEAN GIRL PAST” veronica lodge. it over corrected so hard it gave me the bounty of MOM FRIEND VERONICA LODGE

MOM FRIEND VERONICA RUBBING CHERYL’S NECK THROUGH A PANIC ATTACK

MOM FRIEND VERONICA WRAPPING ARCHIE’S WRIST AND KISSING HIS BOOBOO

MOM FRIEND VERONICA IS NERVOUS BETTY DOESN’T GET ENOUGH SLEEP

MOM FRIEND VERONICA MAKING KEVIN PUT ARCHIE IN THE VARIETY SHOW BECAUSE JUSTICE FOR HER SMOL STAGE-FRIGHTENED SON

MOM FRIEND VERONICA LIKE “YEAH POLLY CAN LIVE IN MY HOUSE NO BIG”

the one thing i am weaker for than a sad popular girl is a girl who dances on the edge of the selfish/selfless line, who has such a big heart that she loves EVERYONE but maybe not quite as much as she loves herself. the rose tylers and rachel berrys of this world

oh wait there’s another thing i’m weak for and that is TINY BRUNETTES

veronica lodge was engineered in a science lab to hit every single one of my buttons, is what i am saying

now. i want to be very clear. i adore betty cooper, and no one on this show is more entertaining than cheryl blossom, and kevin keller is the most represented i have ever felt on television, but there was really only one other person i could say is my fave:

let me tell you about MY HOMELESS ASEXUAL SON, JUGHEAD JONES

“but Leah,” you say, “Jughead’s not canon ace in this show”

to which i say they can pry jughead’s lack of libido from my cold dead hands, until he says aloud on screen “i, forsythe pendleton jones the third, love doing the sex and it is my preferred method of having intimacy with my romantic partner” he can date whomever the heck he wants because, ASTONISHINGLY, ace people date! and kiss!

besides the point but aNYHOW

this kid is a fucking trainwreck and i love every inch of him

i love his ridiculous dedication to his aesthetic, i love his shitty novel, i love how much he loves his sister, i love his fwoopy bangs, i love how his reaction to being told his best friend is fucking their teacher is “wow dude sounds like you’re the victim of a sexual predator, do you need help?” rather than a high five, i love the way he delivers one-liners like he’s kind of trying not to laugh at his own jokes

riverdale isn’t riverdale without juggie

2 fave scenes out of all seven episodes

let me tell you about THE SCENE CONFIRMING KEVIN AND VERONICA’S QUEERPLATONIC LIFE PARTNERSHIP IN WHICH THEY GO ON MARRIED FRIEND DATES

honestly, and i truly have no excuse for this, you said “what is your favorite scene” and the VERY FIRST THING that popped into my head were these moments with ronnie and kev in the back of his father’s truck, which is ridiculous, mostly because they’re not even really a scene

but it’s just. it is so fucking satisfying, man. look at these precious babies. look at how many blankets they’re under. not only is her head on his shoulder (HERE’S ANOTHER LOOK FROM THAT ANGLE) but EVERY PART OF HER is touching EVERY PART OF HIM. he is SITTING on her CAPE. do you have any idea how much trust that entails?

what strikes me about this moment is that Riverdale is succeeding at convincing me that these kids--any of these kids, really, not just kevin and veronica--are friends. that they all enjoy spending time together, that if there weren’t a murder going on they would still see each other, and that they care about each other. ironically, on a lot of teen soaps the friendships are the first thing to be ignored or cut for time, because they’re not juicy and “don’t lead to conflict” (untrue). kevin isn’t even in the core four, and yet, here he is: taking out his best girl because there’s no other out kids except veronica at his school and this show cares about kevin and what kevin does! they could have had veronica suspiciously follow hermione to the drive in and start her conflict with her mom over fred andrews early, but no. they wanted her to have a night out with her gay husband buddy.

kevin and veronica are the kind of friends who made a marriage pact two days into knowing each other. kevin and veronica are the kinds of friends who meet each other’s eyes when they find the same things funny but it would be impolite to laugh. MY KINGDOM FOR AU WHERE KEVIN AND VERONICA BEARD FOR EACH OTHER BUT THEN, WHILE FAKE DATING, BECOME BEST FRIENDS. 

and like yes, unless veronica is actually queer (which she is) her calling kevin her best gay and--more than that--interrupting his interruption to be like “GAY THANK GOD LET’S BE BEST FRIENDS” is a little bit abhorrent. but looking past the ridiculous stereotyping, what strikes me most is that when veronica says let’s be best friends she means it. she’s team kevin now, ride or die. 

this moment shows riverdale at its best: taking a shit ton of cliched tropes but blending them in a new way and showing them with a lens of kind of delightfully unexpected compassion.

...anyway

it occurs to me that, despite finding my way back to it at the end, this is much less a rant about an actual scene and much more a rant about how much i love the friendship between veronica and kevin, but i’m sorry i love it that much. 

so i’m gonna try harder now on the next one

there are a lot of one-liners and moments i almost picked, even though, once again, those are not scenes (when jughead narrated that there were really only three kids in that booth and we all went IS JUGHEAD A GHOST, “slut shaming is when SLUTS get SHAMED,” “train to the rest of my life,” veronica’s face when betty comes out in the dominatrix gear, “that doesn’t SOUND like complete freedom,” PUSSYCAT RONNIE, fp jones saying he doesn’t want jughead to look at him like he’s garbage anymore....)

but then a dark horse candidate emerged:

let me tell you about the moment i realized ONE DAY I WILL BE ABLE TO LOVE ARCHIE

this show has an archie problem. so dedicated were they to proving that they weren’t going to do the classic love triangle, they made it so that archie barely interacts with half his friend group at all. isolating archie from everyone else with the grundy plot set this show back ages, and made archie almost totally irrelevant to the ensemble he ostensibly leads

but then we got this moment of hope:

“okay Leah yes we get it you like it when these idiot teens are friends”

DO YOU

DO YOU GET IT THOUGH

this was the first hint that this show would succeed at gaining my love beyond betty and veronica. and i didn’t appreciate it at the time aside from OH LOOK ARCHIE HAS A PERSONALITY I LIKE TODAY, THAT’S NICE, but in hindsight it really is quite significant. archie and jughead are supposed to be the heart of this show; it’s good to see them act like it.

and jughead is also a sarcastic little shit and he’s my son and i love him

A VERY IMPORTANT NOTE:

third place goes to the scene with betty, jughead and kevin rebuilding the murder wall and then trev shows up, which hilariously of all three of these might ACTUALLY be my real favorite scene of the whole show, for all the reasons i listed about a) the other two above and b) what i’m about to say below. sadly, though, this makes my love for it redundant and i’ve already repeated myself so much, so i’ll move on to...

the pairing i last shipped/just started shipping

well, let me tell you about BETTY AND JUGHEAD

i’m gonna be real with you i adore these two. i’m not fandom-y about them at all, because right now what the show is giving me is JUST RIGHT: two kids with chemistry who care about each other! we’re watching them take it slow and feel it out!

i dig the gentle vibe between them, and how they are interested in each other but mostly because they are both interested in JUSTICE and THE TRUTH and MYSTERIES

bless these idiot teen sleuths! i hope they get married and betty becomes a lawyer-slash-journalist and jughead becomes a private-eye-slash-novelist and together they start a firm called COOPER JONES INVESTIGATIONS and they solve crimes and are married, like Hart to Hart

anyway the point of this ask is that a few months ago i made a viral post about hatewatching riverdale because it’s trash but now i’m legitimately in love with it on every level so the joke is on me i guess

[lostinafictionaluniverse]

Riverdale 1 X 08 thoughts

Things that struck me during the episode, in no real order

- Juggie’s narrative calling Cooper’s the Stepfords of Riverdale, Alice being controlling even during the family portrait - boy, she never lets up does she?

- Juggie at Pop’s with Jason and Polly (Is that some kind of clue? Like he knows more than we think? And that he’s everywhere, just blending in with the background, apparently) This may become dangerous for him as he may witness/ hear something he’s not supposed to, that could make him a threat to the murderer? 

- Jason was supposed to deliver the drugs to an address upstate. Will this come into play ever? Is this the person FP is role-playing for? And is the jacket his collateral to use against the guy? 

- The ring went up in flames? Nah! I’m sure the ring has some role to play, Nana Blossom brought it up in ep 5 and now Polly is all broken up over it. It’ll show up, rings don’t get burned anyway. Maybe Jason stashed it in his jacket?

-  Juggie saying to Archie “you accidentally keep killing me” troubled me a lot, I think its foreshadowing for betrayal by Archie. Quotes Sartre, then brings up the Gordian knot. And his roommate/BFF/Bro doesn’t know who Dylan is. How are they friends again?

- Fred acknowledging that the drive-in meant a lot to Juggie was seriously so great!  

- Veronica talking about her elite lifestyle being invited to Oscar parties and Kevin getting starry eyed. And then about Hermione’s shoes as well. Kevin is a total fangirl.

- BETTY”S BOYFRIEND! There it’s finally said, signed, sealed and delivered!

- Archie’s expression was telling. NOPE Archie! And WTF, I noticed much later (thanks to some gifs) that Val was sitting right there beside him. This seems like a recurring theme with Archie. Sigh!

- Mama Cooper not pleased with Ronnie but Ronnie looking on like a proud mama bear when Betty stands up to her mom! I love supportive Beronica

- Polly asks for Penelope to be there at the shower. Something tells me Polly going to the Blossoms is a carefully laid out plan. But for what? Does she suspect they may have offed Jason and wants to find a few clues herself? Maybe Jason told her about something at his place and she wants to do some sleuthing of her own? Incredibly foolish of her if that’s the case. She should be thinking of her baby/ies. Okay, I had an afterthought. Polly was in the book with Jason. What if all Polly’s been telling them has been a lie, and is playing a long con? I don’t know what exactly, but it started out with Jason playing her. What if he never stopped and then she started playing him? Idk, I’m overthinking

- Fred confronting Clifford Blossom was ballsy or stupid or both. He had no plan, in fact, he was very Archie-like in his approach. Impulsive, and not practical which is a side to Fred that we haven’t really seen. So Clifford wanted to buy the drive-in and here comes the Maple Syrup reference for this episode! This is more ludicrous than Nana Blossom’s sex-predicting talisman!  

- Archie and his friends pitching in to help. Who in the heck was the fourth guy asking Kevin to join the football team? And biggest mystery - why no retort from Juggie at the “Some of us are bruiser studs” quip from Moose?? Missed opportunity for more Juggiesque witticisms.

- Archie and Juggie conversation, Archie is seriously someone without any sensitivity. I think he’s not a bad guy, he’s just not empathetic and sensitive to other people. It’s clear that he’s impulsive, he’s also self-involved though he can see the light, he needs it spelled out for him. And then there are those surprisingly mature moments like the one where he tells Fred he has to protect his legacy. But those are like lightning flashes, they quickly come and go.

-He jumps to blame Sheriff Keller, he brushes off Val’s advice and her plea to talk to her and just walks out of the room!  Impulsive. Brash. What was he even thinking going up to the bar and seeking out those Serpents? He would’ve gotten his ass kicked if it wasn’t for FP. 

-Listen to Juggie, Arch. And Betty too. They told him the Serpents were dangerous! What even are you thinking walking into that bar with your bright yellow Letterman jacket and picking a fight? Ronnie switching off at ‘construction’ and ‘site’ is so Ronnie

BTW, who are the Bulldogs? A rival biker/ drug dealing gang?

FP saves the day! (MUSTANG!! ) The dynamic between FP and Fred and wait - did Fred say you’re a Serpent again? Does that mean he’s been in and out of the gang? Perhaps he went straight for a while? And how long has he been an alcoholic? Has Juggie never had a normal family? Is that why he never brought his friends home? That could explain why his dad doesn’t know of Betty though it breaks my heart on a whole different level. 

- I liked the conversation between Hermione and Alice. I’m so eager to see more of the dynamic between the parents and how they knew each other. Jughead described Hal and Alice as high school sweethearts, so maybe the theory of Alice having been in love with Fred or FP falls apart. Then again maybe not, since Juggie may not have all the facts, except what Betty may have told him about her parents.

- The baby shower itself was a disaster except for 

’Our House’

Bughead kiss

‘Totally on my bucket list’

‘Nana Rose has dementia and gypsy blood’

‘Let’s find you a nice spot beside the food table’

‘This is occultism at its most ludicrous’

I’m so here for Alice- Penelope trading insults. Madchen is awesome, and Natalie does great too in her cool and bitchy Mama Blossom avatar

- Polly’s breakdown seemed real, but idk why I feel she’s playing everyone?

- Archie the impulsive airhead makes an entrance and Juggie’s face! Oh God! The way he looks at Betty! Kill me now

Sidenote: I think KJ does a better job at Angry/pissed off Archie scenes than any other. 

- Alice finding out about the ‘appointment’ Hal made for Polly to fix her ‘mistake’ - euphemisms abound! Truly this episode belonged to Madchen!

--Betty getting to meet her future FIL officially! Yayy! FP lied at first about Jason and then told them that he’s been running drugs. Juggie’s look of disappointment to discover that his dad is a drug dealer after all! (DAMN, he didn’t know, the poor boy was shocked when Betty told him Jason was running drugs for the Serpents! Oh the betrayal- I’m crying - fuck you, FP)

- ‘Its the DARK AGES, dad’

- He still believes his dad - because (and Skeet killed it, he’s just so effective)

- THE BUGHEAD KISS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The light, the open mouths, the face holding, her smile, the everything!!! I’m deader than dead

- Shit, Joaquin was playing Kevin all this while, but perhaps he likes him too?? I know this is a classic trope but WTH I ship it!

- FP saying ‘We all have a role to play, including me’ and then reaching for that beer. Does he mean he’s pretending to be an alcoholic? For some reason?? To protect his family cos he doesn’t want them to be with him, because he’s playing a dangerous game and they might get hurt?

- My theory is FP knows who offed Jason and the jacket is security for him against them (to use as blackmail) and also against Keller ( to whom he can offer it as evidence in return for immunity) Smart! I can see where Juggie gets his intelligence from!

- Juggie and Archie - bro moment. Archie hesitating (almost blushing) before he made that bro whisper was pretty cute actually. Jug had no such hesitation. But before, when they were making up after the Grundy fallout, it was Jug who didn’t want to hug in front of the whole town. I’m thinking his relationship with Betty is changing him, making him more open, less afraid.

- Polly, O Polly what are you upto? Its clear you have no love lost for the Blossoms. How can you think you’d be safer there than in your own home? After knowing Alice kicked Hal out? I think there’s something deeper going on here. That creepy look Clifford gives Penelope as he ushers Polly in? BRRRRR, gave me chills!

- Alice breaking down in Betty’s arms - slow claps for Madchen!!!!

[jasonblossomsghost]

STORYTELLING TIME (bc the riverdale hiatus is boring): tell me about 2 of your fav riverdale ships, 2 of your fav characters, 2 of your favorite scenes out of all 7 episodes, and tell me about the pairing you last shipped/just started shipping. a detailed analysis, 10 paragraphs, i don't care. just tell me.

Favorite Ships:1. JarchieliSTEN i love my sons sm. i love everything about their dynamic. the first episode where they were super angsty? beautiful. when they made up?? gAY AND BEAUTIFUL. when they snuck out to see josie and the pussycats play archie's song??? ALSO GAY AND BEAUTIFUL. last episode when archie was looking out for jug?? and jug moved in with him?? KILLED ME. i would Die for jarchie. 2. Beronicathis one is super obvious. the Gay Looks?? the kiss??? the way ronnie hit on betty practically right away??? they're in Love and im so happy for my babesFavorite Characters:1. Jughead Jonesaka the human embodiment of Teen Angst. i love him sm and he doesnt deserve anything hes being put through. i just want to see him happy and safe and warm and hopefully with a burger :(2. Cheryl BlossomCheryl is such a good villain and a super complex character. I thought she and jason were in some kinda weird horror movie incestuous relationship during the first scene and was like nOPE but luckily that wasnt a thing. her relationship with jason is so Pure and i wish her parents had died instead of jason :/ she may be awful to other people but idk. my heart hurts for her. i want her to find someone who loves her.Favorite Scenes: (i'm sorry if some of these are placed on the wrong ep. i have an awful memory)Episode One: The Beronica kiss (self-explanatory) and the scene where archie walks into the diner and finds jughead. idk it just really sets up their whole dynamic. also "he was looking for the girl next door. instead, he found me" sounds like something straight out of a nicholas sparks bookEpisode Two: the scene where jug and archie make up. ITS SO CUTE. like jug knew that specific look meant "hug?",,, dont get me started tbh. also the scene where ronnie gave betty roses and cupcakes. thats so nice and can you believe she did #that??Episode Three: The scene where betty and ronnie walk into the locker room to yell at chuck. honestly the whole anti slut shaming thing in this ep was amazing. and the scene where jug ate that dudes sundae. it was very film noir and also my boy got to eat

[eftulgent]

Riverdale review

So I just watched riverdale episode 1 and here are my thoughts on it!

Good things about riverdale:

- JUGHEAD k wow he was perfect wow cole sprouse good job and the hat and the angst and also pls keep fighting for jughead to be ace thx

- BERONICA wow i didnt even think of this in the comics (which i was a GIANT fan of) and i think thats the perfect and only way to deal with love triangles now so betty and veronica realize that they love each other and all their rivalry over archie was just to impress each other just like all our AU text posts wanting a tv show or book like that have talked about and so they go off together and Archie is just idk yet their chaperone

- Josie and the pussy cats wow yay strong motivated w.o.c. yay!

- Pop is also black yay!

- so much diversity!

- the scene between jughead and archie

- the scene between betty and archie

- betty and lili reinhart’s acting like you go great character

- also veronica you go her confidence and maturity and compassion

- the colours and retro vibes

bad things about riverdale

- mrs grundy like wtf was that thats illegal and creepy and what is she doing why did she offer him a ride how long did that relationship last how did it end why is she so slick-put together at school and like wearing heart sunglasses outside like why is she the music teacher i just want the elderly, sassy, english/history teacher back 

- but maybe w all the police investigation she gets taken away bye! and archie starts to respect josie and the pussy cats and then they're mentors for archie its a win win situation

- kevin although i love having a gay character his character is kinda irrelevant (so far)

- kinda all over the place

- want more comedy like its based on COMIC books

overall - its the pilot so everyone’s just getting the feel for everything and now netflix has taken it over so i think it'll become smoother as it goes on and theres definitely room for queer improvement (beronica more than just queerbaiting, kevin more prominent role, moose/reggie coming out arc expanded, jughead ace) and then mrs grundy goes bye we forget about that!

But i really like it so far and I am excited to see where it goes!!!