#so long riverdale

[madchenlover]

madchenamick I had to say goodbye to #riverdale today. Holy fruck was it hard 💔

[ginalover]

ginagershon I wanted to Congratulate, and wish a fond adieu to all of you lovelies in the Riverdale family- it’s so sweet seeing all of your posts- I’m so happy to have been a part of this wacky world for a little bit of time- I loved playing the naughty Gladys Jones , and it was really wonderful getting to hang out and become pals with some of you- I do hope I see you somewhere sooner than later- what an amazing group of people you put together @writerras ❤️❤️❤️- thanks for letting me play along. Forever , Mama Jones!! #riverdale #thejoneses ❤️👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏❤️❤️

[dxnyarya]

roberto agurre sacasa is never letting anyone forget that riverdale is his magnum opus, his most beloved piece of work, his babygirl

[superm4ks]

Crying

Been off and on for like 2 days tbh yk what finally got me to stop and Im kinda grateful for because like Zhou gone haasbands over Val gone Lew did niki proud Max won his fourth in a row PREGNANT and then u have fucking. Mclaren .. wcc winners ended like a 20 something year old title drought dethroned merc and rbr dominance wid a p1 in the last race and Zak Browns stupid ass actually came on the radio and said 'simply lovely' wid his full chest like I was in the midst of actually weeping and just stopped and burst out laughing because like how do you fuck up SO badly that u turn such a monumental turn around for the once and future Malboro demon into like Verstappens possible copyright infringement like thank you so much

[rythmicjea]

Daddikins and The Slaughter

A bit of housekeeping first. I've been agonizing on what my second entry in this series would be. I wish that I could say that I had a whole bunch of these lined up ready to post. But, all of my ideas revolve around a central theme: Two Sides of the Same Coin. So, before I get into all of those, and my break down of their romance, I want to isolate the situations where they are on the same side. Also, I made a few of the gifs in this post. They're shit. I know they're shit. Just go with them lol. And this is long. Holy hell it's long. It's longer than some of the short stories I've written.

The Opening Game

Archie

Hiram is considered to be the "main villain" of the series up through, and including Season 5. In these five seasons, the show posits that Archie is Hiram's archnemesis. Here's the thing, Archie maybe Hiram's opposite, but he's also a reflection of all of Hiram's insecurities. The biggest question is why a middle aged man would do everything he could to destroy a teenager. Hiram wasn't necessarily trying to destroy Archie himself. He was trying to destroy everything that Archie represented in himself. Archie is the character that most represents Riverdale itself in the show. Everything that the town can be. And Archie isn't afraid of being who he is no matter if he may stumble or fail along the way. To Hiram, that is unacceptable. He can't afford failure. He can't afford to make any mistakes. Everything Hiram does is to capture and destroy Riverdale as a whole because it encapsulates everything he is not. It's also why he can't condone a relationship between Archie and Veronica; because, Veronica is an extension of Hiram and Hiram can't let someone like him be involved with a person who represents everything he is not.

Jughead

Unlike Archie, who can be molded into Hiram's image, Jughead cannot. Hiram knows from the get go that he can't control him. Jughead is Hiram's opposite. Where Hiram is wealthy, Jughead is poor. Where Jughead lets morality dictate, Hiram has no scruples. There is a spot for everyone at Jughead's table, but Hiram believes that the boy shouldn't even be breathing the rarefied air that surrounds him.

For all of their differences, it's not the superficial contradictions that make Jughead an adversary. Again, unlike Archie, it's their similarities that birth the true rivalry. Hiram isn't dumb. He's incredibly cunning. Unlike Jughead, whose intelligence doesn't come from his parents, Veronica's comes from her father's. But, Jughead is a teenager and for as smart as he is, he doesn't have the life experience that Hiram does. He still holds onto an optimism that his exterior doesn't always emulate. Hiram recognizes and respects Jughead's royalty (and yes, Royalty is going to be one of my next entries); and, to take down a royal opponent you have to play a game of politics and subterfuge. This is why the matchup between Hiram and Jughead is of The Game of Kings.

Veronica

Hiram's villainy against his daughter doesn't come out immediately. He still sees her as his "little girl", "princess", and "mija" for the first few seasons. He relies too heavily on the blood between them to extract what he wants out of her and to manipulate her onto his side. As he tells Archie "fathers are forever". This... this is pure hubris. When a child cuts ties with a parent it's all "But it's your mom/dad! You only have one!" and not "Wow, what did that parent do to make their child walk away from them? How bad was it that their own child left them?"

One of the persistent jabs at Veronica's character is that she insists on telling him her plans to defeat him and then is surprised when he listens and turns the tables on her. For all of her acumen, Veronica is still a child. The main characters are still only children. They are teenagers thrust into a world of adult problems. Then, they are expected to solve all of the town's issues when it was never their job to begin with. But, Veronica, as Mrs. Burble points out is obsessed. She is obsessed with making her father proud of her. She wants all of her accomplishments to be recognized on their own merit without his interference.

Even though it takes many years, Veronica ends up severing ties with him completely. Going so far as to hire a hitman who is successful. That should tell you just how villainous Hiram Lodge was that his own daughter took such extreme measures.

The Middle Game

Hiram's True Rival(s)

The true opposition to Hiram's town domination has always been Jughead and Veronica. Sometimes separately and sometimes together. Unlike Archie, Hiram can't control or manipulate Jughead onto his side. And to an extent, he can't do the same to his daughter. He tries his best and for a brief moment, he succeeds. But, she always finds a way out of his clutches.

The Prince

There's more than one way to execute your opponent. Jughead put Hiram in a position that he never expected. For all of his underhandedness and corrupted ways, Hiram wasn't ever able to bring Jughead down to his level. Hiram buys the Riverdale Register, Jughead publishes in the Blue and Gold. When the Register becomes the Lodge Ledger, Jughead creates the Riverdale Choice. Jughead helps lead the protests on Pickens Day and then Hiram retaliates by severing the statue blaming it on the Serpents. It's when Jughead refuses to kill the article on him that Veronica's vision of her father begins to become unrepairable.

The first time Jughead meets Hiram, they speak about family. But, before Jughead can continue any meaningful dialogue, Hiram cuts him off. Hiram employs these little mind games throughout the series. Jughead might have come off as dramatic when he said that Hiram was "trying to buy [his] silence again". But, he was right. And I believe the majority of viewers knew that, even if they didn't recognize how.

Hiram realizes that for every move he makes, Jughead successfully uses the high road against him. Hiram is not a shortsighted individual. In Chapter Twenty-Nine: Primary Colors we see the trap that's been laid coming to fruition. Now, Hiram never expected Jughead to go on a hunger strike or for anyone to follow him for that matter. He asks Archie about it and Archie (oh you lovable himbo), thinks he takes Hiram off the scent.

For all of Hiram's diabolical scheming, there is one thing that sets him apart from other villains. And that is, he keeps himself incredibly composed. In fact, the first time we ever see him get angry is in the second season when Jughead first starts writing about Hiram's exploits. I think every fan remembers where he slams his hand against his desk yelling "JUGHEAD JONES!" In fact, you can probably count on one hand the amount of times Hiram actually gets angry. And if it's not him lashing out about his own insecurities, he's lashing out about Jughead.

The Knight

Jughead discovers Hiram's plan for the Southside very early on. But, he has absolutely no support. Even when he proclaims he's going on a hunger strike, his best friend laughs. Then, to his surprise, Jughead has far more support than anyone expected. And, Jughead correctly knows that it's in no one's interest to take down "a bunch of teenagers trying to save their school". So, Hiram gets Archie to do his dirty work. He pits the best pals against each other.

The knight always gets romanticized in literature, history, and in this game of black and white. But simultaneously they remember and forget the knight always makes a turn. A change of course.

Season two isn't the best season for Archie's character. There's a lot of attempts at ambiguity. He thinks he's trying to play both sides, but he isn't. Archie is always categorized as someone who is steadfast and true. He is the moral compass for the town. But with this, he lets Hiram direct that turn and it puts everyone in danger.

But, there's something I find really interesting in the costuming that you can see in this scene in particular. Whenever Jughead needs to be The Leader/The Prince the prongs of his beanie are curled outward making the famous crown more prominent.

Jughead in the shot below is acknowledging that Archie, his once white knight, is gone. He doesn't know when or where he lost him, just that he's gone. But, he accepts the sacrifice of his own piece for what he hopes will be a win in the end.

The Rook Pawn

There are several times that Hiram throws Veronica to the wolves. Far too many for a father to do to his own daughter. But, it all starts with her rebellion. At first, she wants to be part of her parents enterprise. She doesn't realize just how deeply her family is committed to this life of crime. Like Jughead, there's an innate optimism that she can change her family's legacy.

In 2x16 we see the start of Hiram's plans to sacrifice his daughter. And it's this episode that Veronica starts to realize that she is unprotected and begs for help. She realizes that she's not a backrow piece. She's a pawn. She might be her father's favorite pawn, but she is still a pawn. A piece to be maneuvered for his own gain. She lists three names, Ethel, Betty, and Jughead. Betty is her best friend who just left her high and dry as her running mate because Veronica lied to her. She put her parents first and has realized that mistake. She's known for some time that her parents are the reason why Ethel's life is in shambles and she wants to make amends. But... why Jughead?

The deification of parents in Hollywood

Like I'm a criminal too...

Why is it so important to Veronica that Jughead doesn't see her in the same light as her parents? Because she, unlike Betty and Archie, and unlike the Serpents, can see the game the two are playing. She has been witness to Jughead's hunger strike, read his articles about her father, and arbitrated the negotiations between the two kings. And, yet, she's afraid. She's afraid that she brought this blight onto the town. In season five she says that it's her fault. It's her father and she needs to be the one to fix it. Children of narcissists learn from a very young age that it's their job to regulate the emotions and behaviors of their parents. Veronica never wanted her father home. She begged her mother to find a way out from under his thumb. Her actions of trying to impress him is a tactic to regulate her home life.

In the comics, it's well known that Veronica and Jughead are classified as "Frenemies". Do you want to know a secret? *beckons you over and whispers* They date several times in the comics and there are tons of panels where Jughead is lusting over Veronica unironically. In the second episode of season two Jughead is a friend to Veronica. He gives her cliche advice because it's what worked for him and his father. Children of addicts are special. They have to make their home safe for themselves. They put a burden on their shoulders to cure their parents. Because if they can do that then they don't have to carry the weight of the responsibility of surviving anymore. Trust me when I say, that all children of addicts blame themselves for what they went through at some point in their life.

Hollywood loves to deify parents. They can't do anything wrong. And if they did then they had a good reason for it. Play some sappy music in the background and they make you forget just how horrific their actions were. Jughead, when he gives this advice to Veronica, doesn't know Hiram. He says "I won't pretend to know what lies inside your father's heart". And when he says if there's a chance that her father is trying then it's only respectful to recognize that. He doesn't say she has to meet him halfway. How much effort she wants to put into it, is for her to decide.

But when Jughead realizes who Hiram is and the extent of his control he backpedals faster than a cyclist in the Tour de France. He does everything out in the open too. He does it so Veronica can see. He fucked up by giving her bad advice. If he had known what her father was truly like he never would have said such things! He would never tell her that she was at fault for his actions. He would never say that her father's mess was hers to clean up. Because he recognizes a traumatized person, because he's been traumatized. What he would say is that he was at fault for not knowing things sooner. (Oh you sweet summer child...)

When Jughead challenges Hiram to come to the trailer park, so that the two royal lines can broker an accord, she doesn't sit with her father. Jughead doesn't sit next to her because this is not a 'both sides made mistakes' issue. This is Hiram against the Jones'. So, Veronica sits between them - like a moderator or negotiator. She doesn't fully realize it yet, but this physical separation is the beginning of a crack. It's small. But it's enough.

That's why, when she announces her candidacy for Student Body President, Jughead perks up when he hears her parents are against it. Because that means she's thinking for herself. She's acting on her own. And Jughead presses on that crack making it deeper.

So, when she says that she doesn't want Jughead to see her as a criminal, her subconscious is coming to the surface and she is recognizing the truth around her. It's a truth she doesn't want to be apart of. So while Jughead has been trying to atone for his mistake, by exposing Hiram; Veronica changing course is her way of atoning to Jughead for what she believes is her fault.

One of the most beautiful things about their interactions is that Jughead never blamed Veronica. He might have been upset with her because outwardly she was so dedicated to her family, but he never once thought that she was responsible for Hiram's actions.

When they go low, we go high... Riot Night

The Bishop

Hiram has a Bishop - Penny Peabody. And he uses her to destroy the newly crowned Prince. And this is where Jughead realizes the real game he's been playing. The entire time he believed that it was two kingpins moving those under their leadership, using their own resources, to bring the other down. It's on Riot Night that he finally sees that he's never been on the offensive. Where he entertained the possibility of Hiram and FP playing the Kings on the board, he now understands that Hiram was never on the board to begin with. And Jughead was a pawn who made it to the back row. You see, in chess, a pawn can be elevated to "Prince" if they make it to the back row of the opposing side. Jughead was someone who begrudgingly took up his mantle in the Serpents (he moved from pawn to prince to king). And Hiram used this to his advantage.

Even at the last minute Jughead still didn't figure it all out. But he did realize the one thing no one else did. When confronted, Hiram tries to deflect; but, it's what Jughead says that is the most haunting. He notes how much Hiram is spending on all of this. But it's not the amount spent - it's the worth that those he bought represents. In business, the most valuable item is that which has not been obtained. Without Jughead, the Serpents would have rolled over. There was enough heat coming down on them to make them leave. So, when Jughead says "but you couldn't buy us", what he means to say is "you couldn't buy me."

It's in this moment, when he's cornered and in check, that he realizes he was Hiram's opposition all along. Jughead knew he was a thorn. But, he believed himself to be outside of the fight. An objective observer. This realization is what inspires the counteroffer to go to the slaughter for his gang, his town, and his father. Hiram knew the only way he could ever defeat Jughead was if Jughead sacrificed himself. He used Jughead's innate goodness against him. And Penny noted it all. "The sacrificial lamb arrives..." Jughead figured that no bloodshed would follow his sacrifice, but Hiram knew that without Jughead's leadership, the Serpents would implode. Getting Jughead out of the picture was Hiram's entire goal.

Deflection, Attack, Refute, Valve, Opposition

Like all villains, Hiram has a pattern. Surprisingly, Hiram's is well known in the psychology world: DARVO.

Deny

Attack

Reverse Victim

Offender

For those who are unfamiliar with this the titles are pretty self-explanatory. But, Hiram executes these with precision. Jughead says himself that Hiram is 10 steps ahead, because he is. Knowing when a teenager is going to zig instead of zag isn't that difficult; but, making that zig look like something it's not, is.

Deflection

Hiram likes to isolate his opponent first. But during that isolation he builds you up. He appreciates what you have to offer. He loves listening to your ideas. He makes you feel welcome in his world. That's how slimy he is and it makes the skin crawl once you know this. The diabolical part of this is the "Deny" aspect. He denies his involvement because he makes his victim come up with the idea. He gives them the authority to act out their deepest and darkest desires. This is how he keeps his hands clean.

Attack

Surprisingly, his attack, looks like denial, but it's really a withdrawal. Take the Dark Circle. Archie came up with it, Hiram facilitated it, but he maneuvered behind Archie's back to take it away from him. And he did all of this, so that at the debate, Hermione could truthfully say that Archie started it. Because he did. The nuance of the situation doesn't matter.

When it comes to Jughead, his actions are far more psychological. He calls Jughead "the other one" when he introduces Archie and Jughead to the new sheriff. He does this knowing it will diminish Jughead's efforts. But, Jughead, always knowing he's underestimated takes it in stride which just further upsets Hiram.

Refute

In Veronica's case, he serves his daughter up on a silver platter to be auctioned off to the highest bidder of 'The Families'. And when she puts in the work to get her idea off of the ground, he plays the victim. He makes it seem like she is the bad guy for thinking that her efforts could be successful. Because, if she fails, what would happen to Hiram? Later he throws out that she chooses others "over blood". No, she chooses others over him. He acts like she has made the ultimate betrayal when really, he has always been the betrayer. This is especially evident at the beginning of Season Three when Hiram refuses to withdraw his attack against Archie and says that it is her "punishment" for picking "that boy over blood".

Valve

Ultimately, his goal is to make those he is attacking into the offenders. "I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for those meddling kids". Sound familiar? Hiram is just a business man taking advantage of good land deals so he can elevate his project that will elevate the town. He doesn't understand why this petulant teenager is trying to stall progress! Why is he the one being vilified when everyone can prosper? His Mija is just a child! He's looking out for her and her well-being. Of course he would take the money she earned and put it in a trust. She's not old enough to understand the responsibility that comes with such a large sum. Ignoring the fact that when her would-be rapist kidnapped and tortured her boyfriend, Hiram did nothing. Instead, he's absolutely okay with Veronica selling herself for Archie's freedom.

Opposition

He doesn't send Jughead or Veronica to be slaughtered, it was done of their own volition. They decided to do that. Their choices lead them to that outcome. Except, his game of psychological warfare in the form of systematic torture and corruption of the town drove them to do it.

The End Game

Tick Tock, Daddy... Tick... Fucking... Tock...

Season five and six Jeronica is SO underrated. I know that it seems like their relationship in season seven came out of nowhere but if you don't think that they were coded from the pilot, then you have recognize that the groundwork was being laid since they all came back to Riverdale. But I argue this groundwork goes back even farther. As early as the season finale of season two.

It's Veronica who is the first to stand with Archie to save everyone from being bussed out. She wants to buy the Whyte Wyrm to save Jughead from Hiram. And when she finds out that Hiram fired FP from Pop's she realizes the "bigger, smarter play". Jughead really doesn't have that strong of a connection to the Wyrm. Yes, it's Serpents territory. Yes, it's the last piece of the southside that Hiram needs. But it's in this moment that Veronica realizes that Pop's is the Heart of Riverdale. In my analysis of Archie's dream, at the beginning of season five, I present that Jughead is Riverdale's conscience. And Veronica is the first to realize this fact. So, because her friend loves this diner, and this diner is everything to the town, she lovingly takes it over.

Hiram's deception of still owning Pop's is the first time he sacrifices Veronica. The second time is when he destroys her rum business because he can. He uses his position as Mayor to literally break the law because she beat him at his own game. So, he topples the game board. The third is when he sabotages her self-esteem by greasing her entrance into Harvard. He even tries to sacrifice her for his own good in season seven! He gets her to perjure herself with an affidavit by saying she was with him in Cuba. But, to me, what he does in Season 5 is the worst one and one he both succeeds and fails at, at the same time.

From his intro we all knew that Chad was a version of her father. The saying that "girls marry boys just like their father" exists because it's true. Chad is stalking her, harming her, defrauding her, and abusing her (love bombing is a form of abuse). Every trick that Chad employs is the same that Hiram did to Hermione. So, Veronica, innocently believing enough time had passed, goes to her father for help. And Hiram turns her away. Why does he do this? What could she have possibly done to deserve him turning his back on her? She set a boundary that she would not clean up his mess and save him when he willingly and stupidly put himself in danger because of his machismo. I repeat, as a teenager she refused to be a parent to her father. That's the reason why he won't help his daughter get out of an abusive marriage and he actively helps Chad hunt her down. This is when he succeeds at sacrificing her. Hiram fails when she successfully defends herself against Chad and eliminates the threat he poses.

Just like the end of sophomore year when Jughead almost gave his life to save everyone he loved, history repeats itself with Veronica fighting for hers against her husband and exiling Hiram.

Check...

The Heart and The Conscience...

The conscience is when the brain agrees with what the heart wants. Jughead and Veronica work separately to take her father down. They both almost die in the process. Hiram willingly sends his daughter and the rival prince to their own demise to keep his control. To quote Jess, that's some Shakespearean shit. If Veronica is Cordelia then Jughead is Hamlet. But, if they had worked together from the beginning? Archie never would have been arrested, they never would have been in danger, Veronica never would have put the hit out on her father, and Hiram would have been gone by the end of season two.

Season Three

In Season Three, Jughead investigates the Gargoyle King and he suspects it's Hiram. But he can't go after Hiram the way he did the previous year. He knows what will happen if he does. He still never comes down to Hiram's level but he's far more covert and direct than he once was. He was a pawn who elevated himself to Prince and then took up the mantle of King. This time, he knows he's on the board but instead of moving everyone else, he knows better now. He knows to make sure everyone's playing the same game.

That's why Hiram could never really affect Jughead the way he wanted. Jughead used his resources against him not wanting to get too close. But in their Junior Year, Jughead has to take a more personal approach. There's a discomfort and an anger when he does this. He can't obfuscate the fact Hiram has gotten to him, but it's far more complex than it once was.

This is the same with Veronica. The first episode has her disowning herself from her father. "You don't have a daughter anymore." She feels more inclined to manage the carnage but neither have the fortitude to do what they did the second half of their sophomore year. And they don't have the wherewithal to aid the other's help. It's why in season three we begin to see Jughead pick up the pieces from when Hiram shattered Veronica. Even when dating Archie, Veronica's only protector was Jughead. But that's for another post 😉.

...and Mate

If their dynamic with Hiram teaches us anything it's that together, Jughead and Veronica are absolutely unstoppable. For as cerebral as Jughead can be, he is the heart to Veronica's conscience. Jughead is emotional and prone to letting them cloud his judgement. It's a real and honest portrayal of the complexities of teenagerhood.

Where Jughead is emotional, Veronica is analytical. She's the embodiment of the sexism women face every day. Women can't be emotional or they won't be taken seriously. They have to work twice as hard to get half as much. Nothing, not even for a Princess, is handed to them. Veronica rarely lets her emotions get the best of her, and the first time she sheds a few tears it's Jughead's name on her lips. Not because he caused them but because she's not ready for him to see her vulnerable. She's not ready to confide in him. She's not ready to apologize for her parent's actions because she still believes it's her fault. That's why, after he's almost killed, Veronica vows to make things right. She still wants to atone.

I mean, when you break down the series finale you realize that the writers couldn't say it outright, but Jughead and Veronica became the most influential couple the world had ever seen. Name a more powerful couple than a studio president and a publishing mogul. I'll wait...

And, as always, I love feedback. Do you agree? Disagree? Let me know your thoughts!

Bisous, Bisous... Votre Auteur.

[aerilune]

Just started a fun new netflix show, can't wait for it to inevitably be cancelled !

[satelliteinasupernova]

Happy last day of riverdale!!

[thepostofficesketch]

I maintain that Riverdale was Good Television

[cherryliqueurkinks]

femslash february: valentine's edition

An assortment of bite-sized smut in a heart-shaped box for you to indulge in each day until Valentine's Day! Each day will relate to at least one of three prompts below - feel free to play along or share ideas and requests per day.

overstimulation | mind control | shower/bath sex

edging | double penetration | age gap

pool/hot tub sex | teasing | orgasm control

thigh riding | breast play | office sex

degradation | student/teacher dynamic | have to be quiet

filming/photography | car sex | mirror sex

public sex | cunnilingus | clothing kink

leather/latex | stripping | face fucking/sitting

anonymous sex | floor sex | prostitution

corruption | manipulation | captivity

hair pulling | blackmail | intoxication

outdoor sex | piercings | camming

rough sex | uniform kink | praise kink

temperature play | bondage | anal

[naivety]

archiephd -> naivety cause i missed her

[wallbeatjournal]

can i tell you all about my conspiracy theory that roberto chose to do heathers as the season 3 riverdale musical specifically to SEO-bomb and suppress out of google-documented existence that horrible right-wing heathers 2018 miniseries that was developed as probably the most blatantly contemptuous cash-grab riverdale rip-off of all time so far

heathers the edgy tv reboot was essentially the evil (straight, boomer-oriented) version of riverdale that tvland funded. it came out in 2018, was hated by everyone and undoubtedly flooded the riverdale media team's google alerts during its whole short and notorious run

and nowdays. well. guess how many qualifiers you have to add to your google search to find reviews of that horrible 2018 heathers reboot where all the minorities were the real bullies because they could cancel people. it's a lot of qualifiers if you don't want to just see chapter fifty-one: big fun

[thursdayforeverafter]

who wins the psychological problems olympics, betty or cheryl?

oooh tough one! cousin v. cousin battle

to me it really depends on what you consider as their psychological problems. are we talking about how much they suffered and what psychological problems they hypothetically would end up with? or are we talking about the way the given traumas present themselves through the characters in the show?

interestingly enough despite the show running from the late 2010s to the early 2020s, we don’t get an actual mention of any dsm-certified mental illness until archie starts seeing dead soldiers post-The War and gets diagnosed with ptsd. (i don’t even remember if that was said outright but i do remember in s6 they use armchair psych terms in reference to archie’s sexual abuse from s1).

anyway a case could be made for either; our introduction to betty is of her being reminded by her mother to Take Her Pills without any later reference to what those pills might be or why she was taking them; i think it was a 50s-housewife-valium habit she was trying to pre-install in betty just to make sure she didn’t end up like polly. that being said, however, i do think that betty has, AT LEAST, some garden-variety anxiety disorder/some other mild form of clinically diagnosable mental illness - what with the pills and physical manifestation of unconscious self-harm. on the trauma end, factor in hal’s grooming of her to carry on their serial-killer legacy and the memories she repressed of her childhood, plus the fact that she was a victim of every major riverdale event (black hood, gng + THE FARM, stonewall prep death fakeout, polly’s disappearance, TBK, percival and rivervale) not to mention alice’s ways and behaviors that she was subject to. still, nothing about betty changes. the black hood and then TBK become representative of her “darkness” and what she could do if she “gave in”, but that’s always been like betty’s narrative thread, that if she ever Let Herself Go you would see Terrible Things Happen. so really, post-all this trauma, what’s really changed about betty? the answer is nothing! despite having endured ALL of this, betty remains the girl-next-door, albeit with a different job (but still an extension of her childhood interests!) whatever you want to call it - shoddy CW character work, jughead’s fucked up narrative keeping her in the girl-next-door role, or even meta commentary and the implication of Cycles in this Town, betty doesn’t change. she still wants to investigate, she still wants to date archie, she’s still the only “sane” one left. she has all this trauma, all these things that happen to her, and yet they exist outside of Betty as a being.

cheryl on the other hand has her traumas stacking like jenga. obviously her family was very much steeped in gothic horror from the jump, because even though riverdale is set in 2017, they did not bother modernizing the kind of strange context provided for the blossoms, and mind you, this is before the ghosts and the transgender twin-dolls and witches were all apparent. like from the very start there is this weird anachronism of the blossoms, who are like holding onto wealth from early colonial times and have like a house built like a crypt but also a teenage daughter who is the head cheerleader at the local public highschool (speaking of, why did cheryl and jason not attend stonewall prep?). not to say that maple syrup barons (?) don’t exist in today’s day and age, moreso that cheryl and her family contain weird multitudes. like what i’m trying to say is that cheryl’s original characterization as the mean rich girl struck by tragedy is the combination of two tropes at once - both regina george and jane eyre at once, but they exist like, separately from each other. unlike betty, however, over time the two become intertwined - cheryl hosts highschool parties at her gothic mansion. she crushes on a girl and sends her a pig’s heart . and as for the things she’s suffered. well. the weird insular nature of the blossom family makes it that her best friend and only confidante is her twin, who dies a violent death at the hands of her father, who then commits suicide, leaving her with her mother who hates her. this, then followed by the discovery of her own repressed homosexuality, plus her mother’s rejection of it, attempted murder of her and her subsequent conversion therapy at the soqm — the stakes for cheryl just keep stacking. this is also only around season 2 - we aren’t even talking about her extended family that come to visit, her stint with THE FARM, jason’s taxidermied body in the living room, the insanity that is nana rose. abigail blossom, julian blossom, the Haunting of Thistlehouse…

cheryl literally attempts suicide at the end of season one. like actively, you know what i mean? I think the key difference between cheryl and betty is that despite them literally having the same hereditary emotional abuse issues in their respective families (family?), betty is given a “normal” to return to. if her house is insane at any given moment, she can run to one of the other core four, and they help each other cope through other various insane behaviors (ie. investigating murders and leaving to cabins in the woods and whatever) and you know what they say! a problem shared among a sexually-charged almost-polycule is a burden halved! even that time penelope and hal trapped them in the woods, they had each other to go through the trials with. veronica drank poison for her. “as friends”!

on the flip side, every day of cheryl’s life is quite almost like that time the corefour polycule was trapped in the woods in that penelope tormented cheryl for the entire time they lived together. no friends, no one who knows her reality EXCEPT jason, who gets murdered by their father. cheryl never really had a normal or even an IDEA of normal to return to, because once she lost jason, realistically she had nothing left to live for. of COURSE people thought she was fucking her brother, the toxic codependency is intrinsic to cheryl’s personality and up until jason dies, i doubt she was known as anything but the girl obsessed with her brother. jason is replaced by ronnie is replaced by archie is replaced by josie is finally replaced by toni, who then is subject to all of cheryl’s insanity. cheryl, who doesn’t actually recognize that keeping her dead brother’s body taxidermied in a wheel chair is not “normal” behaviour, because she has no idea what normal is thanks to her parents’ wealth shielding them from both CPS and her peers, meaning she doesn’t have a baseline for “normal”. if alice cooper did one thing right as a mother, it’s that she was so bent on suburban normalcy for her family that it helped betty realise she was facing emotional abuse and that she needed to get out/confront alice, which is what she does several times. the blossoms’ wealth made it easier for them to isolate cheryl entirely meaning that she, now, is learning how to function thanks to toni and occasionally betty and veronica. betty can re-set every time something bad happens. cheryl just keeps stacking her stuff.

tldr: cheryl wins. by a long shot. the girl was born to be mentally ill, unfortunately. suits her though!

[girlblocker]

ok here are my riverdale webkinz assignments

betty (this cat is blonde & could have serial killer genes)

tabitha (magic looking fish. This fish can time travel)

Veronica (bug… could be poisonous like her s6 powers)

Cheryl (certified horse girl & it’s on fire)

Toni (serpent leader)

jughead(got rabies from a rat)

Archie (got top surgery from a bear attack )

gay Kevin (gay)

[doctorcurdlejr]

Holy fuck how has nobody ever fucking mentioned that TWENTY ONE PILOTS is playing right before Archie's highs and lows of high school football speech 😭

[theultimatewildcard]

What do you think of hirarchie now? Do you think of hirarchie now?

i think of hirarchie every day, anon. every day.

what specifically do i think of it now? so so many things it's hard to put into words, it's such a layered dynamic and represents so much in the show. for now i am focusing on the abuse/reshaping hiram forced upon archie and his immense impact on archie's life and self-conceptualisation of his identity , so basically attempting a mini-essay version of my greatest achievement in amv creation (my hirarchie would've could've should've by t swift amv). so if this doesn't make sense. basically just watch that.

i think what makes hirarchie so compelling is that hiram is possibly the single most impactful character on archie's entire life and plot throughout the show. he is constantly getting groomed and exploited by authorities (grundy -> hiram -> the army), but hiram is the longest running of those and continues to plague archie even in his dreams well into his 20s after not seeing hiram for years!!

we watch archie go from a kid who just loves music and his friends to a young man who conceptualises his entire self through violence and his capacity for evil, largely (or perhaps entirely) due to hiram's influence, intentionally trying to disassemble archie and build him back up in the attack-dog image he sees fit, starting immediately in season 2 when he suggests archie take the black hood issue into his own hands, and continuing to reinforce this over and over (making archie his capo, sending him to juvie fight club, assigning him a fantasy identity and defining him through violence with the red paladin boxing match, being the reason archie missed senior year and couldn't graduate, which is what lead him to joining the army, etc etc etc)

all the riverdale kids experience extreme trauma but i think archie's hiram-related trauma is the clearest narrative line, you can really follow it through and see all the direct lines and echoes of hiram in archie's mind and choices as he grows up and into adulthood. it's just so clear and satisfying as a piece of the riverdale trauma plot/symbolism puzzle, and there is always more and more to unpack upon every rewatch.

and that is without even touching on the many other things going on with hirarchie - the fact that hiram is the one to instigate this rivalry with a TEEN basically over masculinity, the (sexual) grooming subtext that is constantly lurking right there, the #cycles we see in their life parallels, the veronica of it all, etc. these things all tie in to each other and you cannot really ever have any one without the others but i haven't had breakfast and we would truly be here all day.

[uglygirlstatus]

TOMORROW....ITLL ALL BE OVER :(

I’m very genuinely not okay about it. I started Riverdale when it first came out (buzz was huge in my high school during my gr 12 year because classmates were having public Cole Sprouse sightings in the city) but I dropped it at some point during s2. I didn’t like it at first (my teenhood was spent raised on Steven Universe discourse so the show was needlessly edgy and sexy and ‘problematic’ in my eyes) to the point where I got in an argument with my friend who was telling me it was good writing and I was telling her she was objectively incorrect. (Years later I messaged my friend to formally apologize and admit that I was wrong. She replied back to say she didn’t remember the argument and also didn’t care because she stopped watching after s1 and also that that was the first time in our 10 year friendship that she ever heard me admit I was wrong)

I started watching again in 2020 when Netflix dropped the 1.5x speed feature bc I thought that would be a fun way to experience the show and I started it from the beginning again w my sister and mom with a renewed mindset. We rang in 2021 with a three hour Riverdale watch session running over the midnight fireworks outside. We eventually had to banish our mom from watching with us because she didn’t Get It. Asked too many questions. Called it Stupid too often. We weren’t there for that anymore. We were along for the ride. My sister moved out and then so did I (not because of the Riverdale hate. To be clear.) but as season 5 and 6 and 7 aired we watched the new episodes every week together on facetime. Eventually we dropped the 1.5x speed thing in order to properly savour and enjoy it. I talked to all my middle aged coworkers about it against their will. I witnessed literally anything anywhere and thought to myself “just like Riverdale”. Fresh off a nervous breakdown and still trying to cope with the ongoing Covid isolation of 2021, the weekly Riverdale watch sessions were literally the highlight of basically every week for me. and even as life started sucking less over time, Riverdale was still there brightening every week and I loved it and it was Television and it was everything. The last of its kind. I will miss it forever. Probably just never gonna watch tv ever again