Riverdale S2 ends
May. 17th, 2018 10:37 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
impySooooo... I bought Riverdale S2 and spent most of Tuesday catching up on the back half so that I would be able to watch the finale and then enter Tumblr, or the internet, without being spoiled.
I need not have worried about the finale doing much in the way of anything because S2 stuck to the same formula as S1. Resolve the big arc in the penultimate episode and then try and set things up for the next season in the finale. This... worked better in S1.
S1 ended with Fred Andrews being shot and the worry was whether he would live or die. I believe I made my thoughts on this quite clear at the time and it boiled down to Fred would live for two reasons. 1) He's the only decent adult on the show and 2) Luke Perry costs way less than Molly Ringwald and Archie needs a parental unit.
S2 ends with Betty's father having been revealed to be the big bad, The Black Hood (he shot Fred and wound up actually killing Midge in the musical episode, as well as offing a few others along the way) and the finale deals with the fall out of that. Sort of, but not really. Archie wins the student body election and just as he's about to be sworn in as president, Hiram Lodge has him arrested for a murder Hiram's bodyguard did. We're just going to ignore the fact that Ronnie, Betty, and Jughead can all attest he didn't have time or the gun to kill the kid, right? I mean... It's not as obvious as to how they'll weasel Archie out of the pickle he's in, but I'd bet this means the return of Mary Andrews or more screen time for the former Mayor McCoy.
Jughead's father steps down as head of the Serpents and instead of handing the reigns over to an adult, he appoints Juggie. Cuz school won't interfere or anything. Cheryl gets a Serpent jacket (red, naturally) because she's dating Toni and as a result of that has managed to save the Serpents a time or twelve.
We're going to take a moment and admit that Cheryl is the best thing about this show. Like, hands down, her over the top insanity is the best thing going for them. They've managed to almost harness it and make it work and fuel other things but they've been leaving her scenes on the cutting room floor and you can tell.
Oh, and Hiram is working with Penny (Serpent traitor), the Ghoulies (we need more gangs said no one ever), Penelope & Claudius Blossom (Cheryl's mother and uncle), and the new sheriff because they're all EVIL. Heh? Sigh.
I think it's pretty clear the writers have no set goal in mind other than rake in Hot Topic cash and sometimes this works in their favor and sometimes (frequently) it doesn't. I spent so much time during my binge thinking and saying, "Oh COME ON. I did a fair amount last night as well as I think Ethel should've won the Presidency because I think she'd make a better Pres than Archie. I mean, sure, she pretended to be the Black Hood to try and get Cheryl kicked out of the musical, but that was before anyone knew the BH wasn't actually dead and also she's not a completely horrible person. She's got layers and I'd like to see them do more with her. Also, she should've been Carrie but then I'd have to cry because Midge was Carrie and then she died.
Speaking of Midge, why the hell did they bother with keeping her alive? Based on the number of Cheryl/Toni scenes they've admitted or been busted leaving out of episodes, it's not like they're really being super gay friendly or anything, so it wasn't to make drama for Kevin/Moose. But they clearly killed her (fridged) to get Kevin and Moose together. I... you could've killed her way back when we first thought you were going to and other than the gasp of "ohshit, the body count is about to go up again!" at the end of the musical, nothing would've changed. Midge added nothing to the show until her last episode or two and then she was cute enough that you wondered why, oh why, they ignored her. It's a pet peeve of mine, really.
I need someone else to watch and go insane with me.
Not sure how I feel about the new Charmed. Especially with tales of the new cast being dicks to the old cast.
I need not have worried about the finale doing much in the way of anything because S2 stuck to the same formula as S1. Resolve the big arc in the penultimate episode and then try and set things up for the next season in the finale. This... worked better in S1.
S1 ended with Fred Andrews being shot and the worry was whether he would live or die. I believe I made my thoughts on this quite clear at the time and it boiled down to Fred would live for two reasons. 1) He's the only decent adult on the show and 2) Luke Perry costs way less than Molly Ringwald and Archie needs a parental unit.
S2 ends with Betty's father having been revealed to be the big bad, The Black Hood (he shot Fred and wound up actually killing Midge in the musical episode, as well as offing a few others along the way) and the finale deals with the fall out of that. Sort of, but not really. Archie wins the student body election and just as he's about to be sworn in as president, Hiram Lodge has him arrested for a murder Hiram's bodyguard did. We're just going to ignore the fact that Ronnie, Betty, and Jughead can all attest he didn't have time or the gun to kill the kid, right? I mean... It's not as obvious as to how they'll weasel Archie out of the pickle he's in, but I'd bet this means the return of Mary Andrews or more screen time for the former Mayor McCoy.
Jughead's father steps down as head of the Serpents and instead of handing the reigns over to an adult, he appoints Juggie. Cuz school won't interfere or anything. Cheryl gets a Serpent jacket (red, naturally) because she's dating Toni and as a result of that has managed to save the Serpents a time or twelve.
We're going to take a moment and admit that Cheryl is the best thing about this show. Like, hands down, her over the top insanity is the best thing going for them. They've managed to almost harness it and make it work and fuel other things but they've been leaving her scenes on the cutting room floor and you can tell.
Oh, and Hiram is working with Penny (Serpent traitor), the Ghoulies (we need more gangs said no one ever), Penelope & Claudius Blossom (Cheryl's mother and uncle), and the new sheriff because they're all EVIL. Heh? Sigh.
I think it's pretty clear the writers have no set goal in mind other than rake in Hot Topic cash and sometimes this works in their favor and sometimes (frequently) it doesn't. I spent so much time during my binge thinking and saying, "Oh COME ON. I did a fair amount last night as well as I think Ethel should've won the Presidency because I think she'd make a better Pres than Archie. I mean, sure, she pretended to be the Black Hood to try and get Cheryl kicked out of the musical, but that was before anyone knew the BH wasn't actually dead and also she's not a completely horrible person. She's got layers and I'd like to see them do more with her. Also, she should've been Carrie but then I'd have to cry because Midge was Carrie and then she died.
Speaking of Midge, why the hell did they bother with keeping her alive? Based on the number of Cheryl/Toni scenes they've admitted or been busted leaving out of episodes, it's not like they're really being super gay friendly or anything, so it wasn't to make drama for Kevin/Moose. But they clearly killed her (fridged) to get Kevin and Moose together. I... you could've killed her way back when we first thought you were going to and other than the gasp of "ohshit, the body count is about to go up again!" at the end of the musical, nothing would've changed. Midge added nothing to the show until her last episode or two and then she was cute enough that you wondered why, oh why, they ignored her. It's a pet peeve of mine, really.
I need someone else to watch and go insane with me.
Not sure how I feel about the new Charmed. Especially with tales of the new cast being dicks to the old cast.