Welcome back all you Riverdale fans! Did you expect to cry? I didn’t expect to cry. Why did I cry? God dammit Riverdale made me cry…again! What a way to start season 5 proper.
As always, spoilers ahead.
1. High School Pulp 5: Freshly Squeezed
One thing I should have anticipated but somehow did not, is that “Graduation” really, really feels like the final chapter of the season that began with “In Memoriam,” complete with sudden Luke Perry cameo from, I think, a scene from a previous season flashforward/dream. While I can make broad proclamations about how things may or may not have changed due to the early completion of the previous season, this episode definitely used to be the season 4 finale and they did not do much to change it. This is a good and bad thing.
On the one hand, there was a full season hook built right in with the 6 year time gap, which remains an effective hook as a single episode cliffhanger too. The episode itself was an effective cap on the last four seasons of mayhem and madness and provided closure and catharsis for a lot of the characters. It created a firm breaking point from the high school years of our central cast and they did a damn good job of it. Why change what is otherwise an excellent episode.
On the other hand, it feels like a finale and so having it be the third episode in, the narrative weight just doesn’t hit as hard. There’s the constant dread, waiting for the other shoe to drop, rather than the exhalation and release of tension that should be happening. Sure, the last two episodes were pretty tense but that is nothing compared to those episodes having directly followed up on the last seasons’. Now, this may be a moot point for anyone streaming the show, and they may end up treating season 5 as the truncated one (which it is, let’s be real) but as a firm believer in analyzing media through the lens of its presentation and collection, it still matters.
Does this make “Graduation” a bad episode? No. It just makes it misplaced.
2. *Frankenstein Voice:* ~Book: Smart. Army: Strong.~
So…that happened. After all that hemming and hawing about the Naval Academy and Archie being wishy-washy about it all, he goes into the Army after seeing a photo from 1945? OK. So. This is stupid. I get it, I get why he does it and why the writers wanted him to do it — drama with Veronica, PTSD storyline later on down the road, a reason for him to keep missing those meetups — but come on. The “the Army provides direction” horsecrap isn’t a good fit for Arch. I don’t get why they kept forcing him into this role and leaving behind his musicianship.
I’m just a little bitter about it. Just a little. But whatever the case, I did like everything around the decision. Archie being held back a year was a good move and so was having Principal Weatherbee be kind, you know, like someone in his position should be. There is a Mitzvah in Judaism that one should not take actions that would cause another public shame. Archie being allowed to walk with his friends despite not having fulfilled the requirements accomplishes that by not singling him out in a time of great strife. Arch has had it rough and while it may be his own doing that kept him from graduating, it doesn’t do to rub salt in the wound.
3. American Maple
There was a lot of melodramatic crying this week and normally I roll my eyes a little but damn it got me. Every single one of those crying scenes got me. Betty confessing to Jug, Veronica leaving Archie at the bleachers, Betty confessing to Veronica, FP when he has to leave with Jelly Bean, the slow falling apart of Cheryl & Toni due to the Blossom’s toxic name, all of it was fantastic and I won’t hear any complaints.
…But can we talk about Cheryl for a sec because she has gone through the most change throughout these four (and a chunk) seasons. She went from HBIC and Murder Suspect #1™ to…whatever happened to her in season 3 and now to the great Blossom reformer, with a quick pit stop in plausible denial murder town. It hasn’t always been the smoothest ride, and I will accept that half of that bumpiness is down to characters being allowed to fail in their arcs, but I’m glad we got here.
Continued belowShe’s still got her better-than-thou attitude, complete with her “I will be the only one in red at my graduation” gown, and her odd relationship with Mumsy – Nightmare Child is said in such an endearing way here and I do not know how to feel about it – and that’s great. Cheryl is a more interesting character this way and I can lament the villain we lost while celebrating the complicated character we got instead.
4. I Love You, Betty Cooper
Oh man I did not expect the Bughead stuff to completely blow up. Will they get back together? Is it over? Is their friendship irreparable? We won’t know until next time but considering Jug was alone, and not with Betty, in the final shot, it seems that they didn’t get together again, despite Jug clearly still being in love with her. This is good drama and I am here for it.
For the record, I still think Betty & Jug getting together in the way they did stunk since Zdarsky & Henderson made it canon that Jughead is Ace in the comics and Cole Sprouse was even pushing for that to remain canon. That said, the way the relationship developed made me change my tune (mostly) and it doesn’t sit right to blow it all up here. Am I excited they did? Hell yeah. Especially since we’re jumping forward 6(!) years, skipping the entirety of the college years and not doing the Buffy thing, which is probably for the best. This will only provide more questions and chances to explore missing pieces in their lives. Why wouldn’t I want that from this show?
5. 10 Things I Buried For You
TIME CAPSULE!
I love these kinds of plot devices and I’m wondering if we’ll see them unearth the next 19 episodes or if that’s just there as a way of symbolically tying up the previous four seasons and leaving their high school years behind them.
The thing “Graduation” gets that most shows/movies that deal with graduating High School don’t is how completely different things are after High School. There’s always the cliche of the group who says they’ll be together forever and then smash cut to them running into each other ten years later having not said a word in between but that’s usually played for laughs. “Graduation” understands that we genuinely mean the things we say at the end of High School and that the realization that, over time, that meaning slips away is crushing.
The time capsule is them putting a marker, saying this is what was important to me and what I think will remain important in the future. It is what I want others to remember me by. And many times that’s all we carry with us of our High School friends. High School is the end all, be all for most Americans during the years they live it. Friends feel as close as family, sometimes closer, because you’re literally spending more time with them in the same place every day than the people you live with. You eat with them, laugh with them, fight, get angry, do stupid shit, get together, learn, and just…live with them. For four years straight.
And then it’s over.
It ends and the words and people that meant so much to you are suddenly far away. They’re suddenly strangers and the effortless interactions you once shared become too difficult to maintain. Some remain in passing, some are strengthened, and others are forgotten as suddenly as they were met. One day, you find yourself reflecting back and it all hits you in waves and symbols. Memories fragmented into single items in the time capsule of your mind. It is sad. It is nostalgic.
It is life.
That about does it for now. What did you think of the finale that wasn’t a finale? Are you excited to see the cast jump forward 6 years?? I, for one, want to know why Arch was wearing WWII era gear in the preview. Until then, stay sappy y’all.
Best (Paraphrased) Line of the Night:
Chery: “My HBIC shirt. Since I never found anyone worth passing it onto, in it goes.”
