Sure, Riverdale is more self-aware than the teen dramas we're used to, but alas, tonight's perfectly average episode reveals that it can't avoid all of the genre's missteps.
In the month since it has debuted, Riverdale has repeatedly proven that a scorched earth policy is these characters default setting. Narratively this was a smart move.
It's laser-focused, using the destruction of a Riverdale landmark to tell a variety of stories about moral and cultural decay, personal compromise, and the limits of loyalty, all wrapped up in the show's acute portrayal of teen angst.
Cole Sprouse's Jughead is such a terrific update of the character -- still wry and food-obsessed, still "moral and apathetic," but in a way that feels current and real, and very much at home in this new, darker version of Archie's gang.
'The Last Picture Show' is a pretty great episode, deepening our understanding of the town's dynamics and laying foundations for further plots beyond the whole "who killed Jason Blossom?" hook.
