Riverdale: The New Breakfast Club

Now that “Riverdale” is officially on Netflix, it is the perfect television show to binge-watch, whether you're procrastinating or just browsing. Adapted from the “Archie Comics,” “Riverdale” takes a dark, offbeat reimagining of the popular series. The new teen drama immerses itself in the eerie mystery of Jason Blossom’s (Trevor Stines) murder. It has all of the desirable elements of a teenage drama—a striking cast, high school stereotypes, (scandalous) romantic relations, social pressure, and popular trends—without being too corny.

The heart of “Riverdale” lies within the cast: Archie (KJ Apa), Betty (Lili Reinhart), Jughead (Cole Sprouse), and Veronica (Camila Mendes). “Riverdale” spins the classic whodunit mystery into a compelling coming-of-age narrative. These quippy teenagers confront the somber calling of the adult world. Entangled in the adults’ thick web of lies, they unravel the truth thread by thread.

The television series chucks away the comic’s old cliches for a noir Breakfast Club meets “Riverdale” ambience. Older readers of the “Archie Comics” would blush at this radical reimagining of their beloved classic. This new Archiverse is filled with not only shadings of incest and inappropriate student-teacher relationships, but a web of corruption from embezzlement to drug dealings.

As the comic book title suggests, “Archie Comics” centers around the typical all-American boy Archibald “Archie” Andrews. The comic’s main plot line consists of Archie chasing after Betty and Veronica. The love triangle is present in almost every digest and double digest. There are sometimes additional love interests, like Cheryl Blossom and Valerie Smith. The comics focus on Archie grabbing lunch, going to the beach, ogling at other girls, and other typical teenage outings.

“Riverdale” transformed the Archiverse’s plot beyond the gang’s innocent small-town shenanigans. They took the comic’s famous landmark, Pop’s Chock’lit Shoppe and turned it into a more sinister-looking diner where the teens not only bond together, but discover the town’s grim secrets. In both “Riverdale” and the comics, Pop’s Chock’lit Shoppe serves as a center of civic life for the teens to foster their friendships.

The meaningful friendships give the audience the impression that the cast members are real and dynamic characters. For instance, in the show, Archie and Jughead’s brotherhood creates a heartfelt response. Impressively, “Riverdale” creates another unexpected dynamic duo. In the comics, Betty and Veronica were eternal rivals for Archie’s love. Fortunately, “Riverdale” steps away from this stereotypical trope, and instead makes Betty the sugar to Veronica’s spice. This notion is revealed through several different scenes, in which they work together to achieve common goals. Their feminist approach is conveyed as they attack the controversial issue of victim-blaming; in one episode, they led a group of victimized girls to expose the football team who objectified hem.

No worries if you didn't read the comics though, because the plot is simply too good to pass up. From the same network that produced “Gossip Girl” and “Vampire Diaries,” you're bound to fall in love with the characters and their dilemmas. Much like with “Gossip Girl” and “Vampire Diaries,” there are also major similarities between “Riverdale” and “Twin Peaks” as well as “Pretty Little Liars”; the pilot episode starts off with the popular kid being missing and the whole town being shaken by it. Not only that, but it is filled with redheads, which is pretty rare in the showbiz.

The cast is pretty dreamy, from nostalgic ‘90s stars to rising actors and actresses. These ‘90s stars include Luke Perry, Mädchen Amick, Casey Cott, and Molly Ringwald, all of whom are parents to the main characters. Rising actresses include Camila Mendes, Lili Reinhart, Madelaine Petsch, Shannon Purser, and Ross Butler. Cole Sprouse is also reintroduced to the showbiz, as he debuts as Jughead in this series. Some of the rising actors and actresses are relatively underrated and use this chance to introduce themselves to the media. Nonetheless, there is great chemistry between all of the actors and actresses on stage. Like Cole Sprouse said, “We all showed up on set and it was magic. As a cast, we get along like peas in pods.”

As the comics were written in the late ‘30s, CW made changes to create an adaptation that diversified the cast. Josie and the Pussycats was an all-girl rock band featured in “Archie Comics”; two-thirds of them were white in the comics, but all of them are black in the television show. Reggie Mantle was a sarcastic womanizing jock, who was also white in the comics, but with Ross Butler casted as this character, he is breaking Asian stereotypes and giving Asians the representation they deserve. The LGBTQ+ community is also represented as well—in the comics and in the TV show—with Kevin Keller as the first openly gay character. Though Kevin is seen as the “gay best friend” archetype throughout the TV show, he also plays a critical role in the development of the plot. Like the other straight main characters, his romances are caught in the adults’ lies, thus normalizing his gay sexuality. Though there have been many changes made to “Archie Comics,” “Riverdale” is definitely more inclusive of underrepresented groups, forming connections between its characters and audience.