Riverdale’s crossover Rivervale brings in Sabrina and more weirdness

RiverdaleThis is again the most popular TV show. It’s a series that has been wildly unpredictable, Rivervale — the five-episode alternate universe spinoff show, airing now — feels particularly audacious, introducing a new horror concept each episode with little to no narrative throughline otherwise.

So far, we’ve had cameos from the Midsommar cult, La Llorona, the Devil himself, and even Sabrina the teenage witch, now returned from the dead (or, at least, alive). All of this could threaten to swallow the story in another production. However, in Riverdale it’s just another Tuesday.

The season so far has been filled with characters who have passed away, cars that were haunted and pregnancies, and a number of immortals (more in the second). As the five-episode run starts to come to its close, we’re left reflecting on what we hope will come back with us to the regular world of RiverdaleWhat should always remain in the realm of Rivervale.

[Ed. Note: This discussion contains spoilers (insofar as one can spoil the thrills of Riverdale) for the four episodes of Rivervale that have aired so far.]

Zosha: This is a great place to begin. RiverdaleComing into Rivervale. Personally, I will ride with RiverdaleThe end of Dr. StrangeloveIt is also to be used to refer to any of the inevitable outcomes in our world. This is why it’s often my favourite thing to watch on television. It can be both fearless and absurd at the same time, so it’s often also one of my most favorite things. And ultimately the thing I’m most afraid of is that it will one day bore me. How about you two — what’s your relationship with RiverdaleWhat was it like?

Petrana: This is the season I viewed. Riverdale and enjoyed it a lot, but I dropped off around the second season because it just felt … like too much. At that time, it was still a little serious and had not reached the same level of “WTF” that we all love.I gave up and only took it in through pop culture. It was becoming more unbelievable to me that Betty had the serial killer gene. A drug was called “jingle jangle”. Archie was able to fight a bear. Cheryl tried to fake stigmata to rise to sainthood?

It is the promise of an Sabrina crossover is what drew me back in for these few episodes — I love supernatural stuff, so I was pleasantly surprised with how fun “Riverdale, but with paranormal elements!” ended up being.

Colin Bentley/The CW

Joshua: What’s one step down from “ride-or-die”? That’s me and Riverdale. After Day One I was completely committed, however around season 4, I began admiring and my devotion to the show started to fade. Riverdale at a distance, occasionally dropping in for the odd musical episode or when I caught wind that there were murderers afoot wearing the faces of these characters’ classic Archie Comics counterparts. I’m a “ride-with-a-reasonable-amount, at a responsible hour” fan. Despite that, I do enjoy this. RivervaleKick the show off season 6 with? J’adore. This is the last time I want it.

What about you? Do you think it will be difficult for you two to get back to Riverdale when your Rivervale spooky experience is done?

Petrana: I don’t want it to end at all! It’s strange, but it is true. Rivervale is hitting a specific niche of TV I didn’t realize I was missing: episodic, paranormal segments, where each subsequent episode has little-to-nothing to do with the previous, but still carries on a similar thread. In this case, it’s the fact that it all takes place in the same town, with the same characters. They’ve really leaned into the Twilight Zone Jughead takes on Rod Serling’s character. Each new episode has introduced some incredibly powerful and destructive plot element — the third one was basically about an impending battle between angels and demons taking place at Pop’s Diner?! — only to just completely vanish in the next episode. Some characters even go to heaven, but no one ever comments. HowThey are where they go. It is possible to be true of nothing, so everything could exist! Is it possible to come back from this?

Zosha:It has surprised me more than I expected! I’m all in on RiverdaleHowever, at the beginning this portion of the show appeared to be designed solely for Sabrina’s magical world. I wasn’t convinced. Amazing Adventures of SabrinaFeeling wobbly. RiverdaleBecause the rules of fantasy require clearer guardrails than soaps, it was nearly impossible to be brazenly steady. The only thing that would penetrate was introducing supernatural elements. Riverdale’s teflon armor.

But I really should’ve given this show more credit. While I’m not so in love with how fast the show drops its plotlines — I wish there was a little more connective tissue between the plot points, if only because the show has earned the ability to address just how batshit it is that this town has now lost several loved ones (to become a ritual sacrifice, or a supernatural entity) or is wary but not surprised at all the supernatural developments. It’s a joy to see when. RiverdaleThe needle is drawn on self-awareness as well absolute Galaxy Brain development.

Perhaps most bizarrely is how extraneous Sabrina’s whole thing ended up being for this season. She came in for five minutes of screen time, and one of the most confusing reveals in the show’s history, and that was it!

Photo: Kailey Schwerman/The CW

Petrana: My biggest question going into this was “how is Sabrina alive?” and they just … really handwaved it and didn’t answer it at all! She literally just goes “I was dead once,” and then comes in to do some magic spell with Cheryl. Actress Kiernan Shipka weighed in and basically just said, “It’s very unlike Sabrina to just kind of chill in the Sweet Hereafter. I think she would get bored,” which, like, okay go off queen?? She still comes in five minutes, even though she knows Cheryl.

It was disappointing, and I didn’t like the bizarreness of the episode where Cheryl plays three Blossom women in three time periods who all end up the same woman. She gets accused of being a communist, attempts to murder a man, and makes out with Thomasin Topaz (1800s Toni) and Bitsy (1950s Betty) — and then in modern day, transfers her soul into her dying Nana’s body so that … Nana Rose now inhabits Cheryl’s body? This episode will be aired in a different way. Rivervale, but considering that none of them have remotely picked up on where they left off, maybe it doesn’t matter?

Joshua: It You can also see it hereI have no idea how this worked. “Cheryl” a vessel for Abigail? What do you think? Or is it the exact same character, just filled with 200 years worth of trivia? Are you a totally different person? Are I stupid for caring? What will happen if any of these things carry on to the future? Riverdale proper?

RiverdaleIt is a show that insists on the continuation of the series at all cost. I love that. Six seasons in, the show has no shortage of off-the-wall ideas to try, and few rules it won’t bend or break. Ultimately, this makes me wonder why I fell off to begin with — was it exhaustion? Are you what I’m looking for? MoreAre there rules or are they less important? Sorry to fill this response with rhetorical questions, but I’m trying to figure out if I like RivervaleIt is because I am sick of it Riverdale, or because it’s good at something that Riverdale proper hasn’t been in a little while now.

Photo: Shane Harvey/THE CW

Zosha:Strangely enough, one of the most interesting points I see is RivervaleIt seems that with every episode, the shine fades a bit more. First episode was just plain eerie with the reveal, while the second was fun and creepy and kinda sad meditation. The episode that saw a man get axed to the death is here. AndCheryl has three distinct sorceresses. And there’s a Red Scare plotline, And two tragic queer love stories, AndIt was a guest appearance from another sister program, which surprised me at the dryness of it all. It was aired in a similar time frame as season 5. Although it was wildly successful, the show never managed to change its tone into something as compelling as the original. Is it possible once you’ve known the epic highs and lows of high school football you can never feel pure joy again?

I don’t think so; as I mentioned before, every time someone gives up on Riverdale my love grows stronger. It is a mystery to me how I will put toothpaste back into the tube once it’s all over. Riverdale season 5 left Betty and Archie in mortal danger (bomb under the bed), Veronica and Reggie looking to turn Riverdale into Big Business (sure), and Cheryl casting a curse on the town after discovering her ancestor was killed for witchcraft by everyone else’s ancestors. Other than a mention at top, there is not much else. Rivervale, we’ve largely abandoned that, making it hard to sort out what will be coming back with us when we enter Jughead’s paradox next week.

It seems to me that Nana Rose might stay dead, but Archie and Toni certainly won’t (this five-episode series has been notably Archie-lite, presumably to give KJ Apa some paternity leave, but no matter how much people care about other ships it seems like we can’t write him off in a significant, non-ritual sacrifice way)? It is impossible to predict whether the normal wild adventures will be as exciting after such a long period of story-telling about supernatural stories. It’s odd how quickly I’ve acclimated to Rivervale’s plotlines, even as I struggle to make sense of its history within the show. Riverdale celebrates its 75th Birthday in Season 1, so is Rivervale canonically more old than Riverdale?

RivervaleIt has given life and energy to the series in fascinating, diverse ways. This feels like comic shows are getting closer to emulating comics. What we have here is a limited series AU, where everything is topsy-turvy as a means to highlight different parts of the characters we “know.” It’s wildly common in comic books, and even Archie Comics, where (despite his squeaky image) Archie has fought the Sharknado and Jughead has traveled through time. Perhaps RiverdaleWe will only have to begin to lean into everything its comic legacy can allow us to. (Though ideally I hope for More creepy and bizarre mysteries, à la the Gargoyle King and even the twisty Prep School murders, whether its conclusion will satisfy me or not.)

Joshua: Yeah! Rivervale’s kinda-sorta anthology structure has made it feel moreThe comic-book version RiverdaleIt hasn’t been in awhile. Going off your point, Zosha, I think it’s because it pares these characters back to their essence: Archie wants to do the right thing (it gets him killed), Jughead is a writer, Betty a cop, Cheryl a … witch? And as goofy as that may be, you don’t have to square these essentials with whatever the season-long arc is doing. There’s no tension between writer Jughead and Southside Serpent Jughead. Veronica is able to be a woman who has ambition and does not have to side with Archie romantically or ideologically.

It would be great if Riverdale uses whatever shenanigans it needs to bring us back to the “normal” universe while also retaining this kind of focus, I’ll be okay. But I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t miss Rivervale.

Petrana: It is my hope that you find this helpful. RivervaleInterludes allow for shorter adventures in speculative fiction. Riverdale possesses the ability to embrace their differences and go wild. My closest analogy is American Horror Story centering on a different story each season, while using the same actors and loosely being in the same world, but that’s not even comparable to what RiverdaleJust did. That’s the best part. RivervaleThe reason it did so was that the characters and relationships already in place were used. Riverdale in order to totally switch genres and have some fun (so… maybe it’s more like the paintball episodes of Community? I digress).

I don’t know if I’ll return to Riverdale Correct, but what if? Riverdale Decides to do Archie’s AfterlifeI’m open to any wild move outside the realm of soap operas, so sign me up. Archie and his friends will be getting more AUs. KJ Apa might be around next time.

Zosha: I just can’t believe we didn’t touch on the fact that they played a slowed-down acoustic cover of “Nightcall” not once but Do it twice.