The CW is no stranger to shows with some very odd elevator pitches, but Riverdale is definitely in its own league. Updating the Archie Comics characters into modern day sexed-up teens turned heads back in 2017, but that first season had way more going for it beyond that. The end result was definitely absurd, but also weirdly compelling thanks to its cast and the show’s ability to throw curveballs on a consistent basis.
It didn’t take time for Riverdale to become established as a show that would define the CW, not unlike several Arrowverse shows and Supernatural. If it wasn’t being talked about in a “what the hell is going on over there??” sense, it was being used as a derogatory shorthand for something that was trying to play in similar spaces, but not entirely working as well. Try as you might, you couldn’t really mimic Riverdale, a show where KJ Apa’s Archie Andrews went from having stage fright to punching ice to save a drowning Cheryl Blossom to starting a student-run militia to cope with the fear of his dad being shot in the span of a season and a half of TV. And it was equally impossible to really branch it out into a larger universe—outside of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, which itself was kinda gonzo. Folks loved the specific brand of nonsense that Archie Andrews and co. were involved in.
There’ve been many videos on the delightfully stupid material within Riverdale, from lesbians becoming bee queens and cosmic witches to grown men running drugs to support their nana. There’s parts of it we all know, either by watching the show or via cultural osmosis. And since it’s coming to an end tonight with the series finale, fittingly titled “Goodbye, Riverdale,” it’s time to look back on some of the most memorable moments of that wacky show. It’d be wrong to say we’ve all got one Riverdale Moment we’re forever cursed to remember, so let’s get it all out here in the comments below.
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