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Five Thoughts on Riverdale‘s “Destroyer”

By | March 25th, 2021
Posted in Television | % Comments

Welcome back all you Riverdale fans! It’s bottom of the ninth. We’re down one field goal and need to score a bogie to clinch this win. The other team is getting their hooker ready and warmed up to prevent us from scoring that last three pointer. So we’re going to go out there! And we’re gonna fight! AND WE’RE GONNA WIN! STRONG SIDE! LEFT SIDE! STRONG SIDE! LEFT SIDE!

LET’S GO BULLDOGS!

And as always, spoilers ahead.

1. FBI Don’t Care Anymore

Of all the plot threads Riverdale has been exploring since its time skip, you’d think the one with Truck-Kun and the true-crime mystery that involves a relative of a central character would be at the top of my list. Unfortunately, the show has managed to make the entire thing insufferable to the point where I was writing in my notes “when can we get back to the football game.” We all knew exactly how that plot was going to play out and yet I was STILL hoping to go back to it.

I mean, the fucking chutzpah of Ms. Smith and Glen as well as the writers trying to put all this guilt on Betty for a sister who, based on what they’ve chosen to show us, has shown zero remorse for the shit she put her family through or empathy for what Betty had to suffer. I know I say this every week but Polly being the focus of all this grief, without exploring the complex networks of grief, anger, and disconnect that can come from a less than beloved family member being suddenly whisked away.

I’m not oblivious to what the writers are trying to do. Betty is famed as having made terrible choices all episode. Lashing out at Glen, lying to her mom about the blood, threatening the truckers, beating one within an inch of his life and getting ready to murder him in a scene that was pure, distilled deranged fan turned serial killer, all this is driven by her grief over the possibility of Polly’s death being certain and the trauma she suffered at the hands of TBK. These choices are having their repercussions and she is indeed too close to effectively investigate rather than become Judge Betty, though Glen is clearly framed as “the bad guy,” which is nonsense. He is an ass though.

Moreover, Ms. Smith has always been a character of big emotions and almost certainly needs professional help that she is not seeking, what with the whiplash mood changes she’s exhibited for every season since the first, and so her lashing out at the end tracks with how she’d react to feeling given false hope.

That said, it’s all so frustrating to watch because the show refuses to reckon with Polly’s choices, with Ms. Smith’s choices, and with Betty’s relationship with the two of them after all these years. Because of this, Betty’s crusade has no emotional resonance, good or bad. Plus, it all happens in one episode and so nothing has a chance to sit before any interesting development is instantly negated for another shock twist. Fuck am I bored with Betty’s plot. Let’s hope next week gives me something to latch onto.

2. FOOBALL! FOOBALL! FOOBALL!

Now, you may not know this from my intro but I actually enjoy watching football and other sports. The joy of spectatorship with friends is a universal concept and football makes a good vehicle for it. Do I actually watch the NFL or college football regularly? With all these comics to read? Puh-leeze. But when I’m watching, I get into it. So, with that in mind, is it any wonder that I was literally on the edge of my seat during the big game?

Y’all. I cannot express how successfully Riverdale got me to invest in a scene that couldn’t have had less tension in it and also totally doesn’t understand how football works; come on, you all saw that clothesline. That’s at least a yellow card right there. There was no way we were going to end the game without a touchdown from the Bulldogs AND YET here I was, leaning forward, pen in hand, about to fall off my couch as Britta bolts for the endzone as one of the ten other players takes down the charging Stallions. And when Britta did that SPIN?! I almost jumped up and cheered.

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Should it have worked? No. Did it though? Like a Denzel Washington speech.

3. John Carpenter’s The Lonely Highway

I find it hard to believe that the Lonely Highway is really such a thing. Sure, things can change a lot in 7 years but Riverdale treats the Lonely Highway like it’s always been a part of the town. Maybe that’s just me reading into things because of the long history of the Mothmen though. Regardless, this stretch of road seems to be a focal point for the “death” of Polly – till we get a body, I REFUSE to believe – as well as for one of Jug’s students, Lerman Logan. He’s plagued with strange dreams and sleepwalking that is so bad, his parents have to lock him in the basement at night. That’s pretty far afield, even for Riverdale standards.

Again, this is another plot that works on paper but in execution felt lacking. It accomplishes its task – seeding the mystery of the Mothmen, getting Betty to believe they might be real/might have something to do with Polly, and hammering home the reasons people might want to leave Riverdale that aren’t related to Hiram – but it’s otherwise forced and ultimately meaningless, just meant to give a bit of drama to the episode. This comes mostly in the form of the parents. Were it only Lerman’s dream, the creepy drawing on the paper, and him going missing, I think that would’ve been great and more than enough to justify the story but I guess the writers didn’t think so.

Maybe it’s because they needed to give an explanation that wasn’t related to the mothmen being, you know, REAL? Riverdale has flirted with the supernatural for five seasons now and I want it to be real this time. I WANT TO BELIEVE.

4. The Kevin Conundrum

Riverdale, like Kevin, hasn’t really known what to do with this character. For much of his time on the show, he’s been little more than a gay best friend trope or a victim of The Farm, which does a great disservice to who Kevin could be, and I think this season is starting to reckon with that now that Kevin is a far more central character. Do I particularly like the way the show chooses to handle it? Ehhhhhhhhhhhh on the whole yes but that scene in the sauna felt gratuitous. I guess I’m not sure I really trust Riverdale to handle a scene like that, the “gay panic leads to violence” scene, with tact and nuance.

On the one hand, I’m glad the show isn’t painting a sunshine and rainbows picture of Kevin’s life and the world we live in. It is sadly a very hateful place. On the other, it felt exploitative and like there were better ways of having Kevin come to the realization that he might have internalized shame about his sexuality from his family/the world around him and that, combined with some other fears surrounding the responsibilities of monogamy with Fangs, might have cause him to blow the whole thing up. Kevin & Sheriff Keller having a heart to heart was excellent, so was Kevin’s own grappling with his fears and struggles, and I’m always here for more Kevin growing as a character with more screen time, but this didn’t gel.

I guess you get a “You Tried?”

5. Once a Bulldog, Always a Bulldog

Reggie, Reggie, Reggie. What turned you into Hiram’s capo? Why you siding with the evil empire? You clearly have some kinda conscience and you still love your friends enough to not want to beat their kneecaps in with a baseball bat so what’re you doing? I suspect we’re setting the groundwork for him to turn traitor on Hiram and either work under him to undermine him or Reggie will completely defect. I mean, did you see him rooting for the Bulldogs to remain a team?

That’s the Reggie we knew and loved and I hope we get him back.

That about does it for now! What did you all think of this episode? Who’s ready for Mothman’s appearance next week? I know I am. Think Jelly Bean or Skeet Ulrich will make an appearance again? Let me know in the comments and I’ll see you all in a week for the mid-season finale. Until then, stay away from the truckers lest Dark Betty find you.

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Best Line of the Night:
Archie: “Doesn’t matter how good or bad we are. It’s about the game.”

Reggie: “Keep telling yourself that loser.”

Reggie (to the rest of the football team): “Loser. Loser. Loser. Loser.”


//TAGS | Riverdale

Elias Rosner

Elias is a lover of stories who, when he isn't writing reviews for Mulitversity, is hiding in the stacks of his library. Co-host of Make Mine Multiversity, a Marvel podcast, after winning the no-prize from the former hosts, co-editor of The Webcomics Weekly, and writer of the Worthy column, he can be found on Twitter (for mostly comics stuff) here and has finally updated his profile photo again.

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