'Riverdale’ is a Dark Drama Beneath Neon Lights

The season two premiere of “Riverdale,” our decade’s gritty answer to “Gossip Girl,” demonstrates that the writers at The CW have elevated teen drama to an art form. Bathed in fluorescent diner light, the show’s high schoolers face a mix of personal anguish and occasional murder. “Riverdale” ultimately succeeds by using murder mystery to highlight the struggles of modern teen life.

The episode wastes no time reorienting the viewer to the conflict of last season. In his typical melodramatic fashion, Jughead says, “Jubilee was supposed to change everything. Be a new start. But when we woke up the next morning, Riverdale was still, at its heart, a haunted town.” The show throws us directly back into the action with a clip of Archie’s father being shot and rushed to the hospital. The rest of the episode slathers on the suspense, offering limited information and many flashbacks, and leaving the viewers unsure of his fate.

Of course, no attempted murder occurs in a vacuum, and it follows that the rest of the characters respond to the assault in their own ways. Jughead turns to his dark past and his father’s gang involvement to uncover information. Veronica lashes out at her parents, accusing them of foul play in their business dealings. Normally, these plot devices would be unnecessarily heavy and out of place in a show about teenagers, but the highs and lows of the murder mystery seem to reflect the tumultuous nature of youth.

And for all the commotion going on in the small town, “Riverdale” never loses sight of its audience. Familiar themes emerge throughout the show: young love, angst, fitting in. Family drama seems to be a favorite of the writers as well, with strained parent-child relationships abounding in the town. “Riverdale” is the quintessential teenage experience cleverly masquerading as a detective mystery.

The general campiness of the plot devices and immaturity of the characters show that the writers are very much in on the joke. The strife that Archie faces with his father, for example, is punctuated with a session in the shower with his girlfriend followed by an unnecessary fight which is equally inappropriate given the situation. Cheryl, resident queen bee of the school, whispers to her mother that “If you breathe, it’s because I give you air” after burning her mansion to the ground. Jughead, the resident voice of reason, upon hearing the owner of a local diner refer to the murderer on the loose as an “angel of death,” responds with, “You sound like the cranky old guy in the ‘Friday the 13th’ movies.” The show counterbalances its darkness with general teenage absurdity as a reminder that this is, above all, a show meant to entertain young adults.

On paper, the “Degrassi”-meets-“Twin Peaks” concept of “Riverdale” seems to be a recipe for disaster. In practice, however, it’s unexpectedly compelling. The writers at The CW have managed to reconcile the two genres and construct a show which capitalizes on their overlap. This is the high school experience, with all of its highs and lows, playing out with high drama, and it makes sense that viewers are flocking to watch.