Riverdale: Chapter Thirty-Six: Labor Day

October 13, 2018 1:36 PM - Season 3, Episode 1

Archie makes a surprising request about how he wants to spend his final days of summer; Betty must deal with her problems head-on after a heated confrontation with Alice and Polly; Veronica pleads with Hiram to help Archie.

AV Club gives it a B+

posted by litera scripta manet (7 comments total)

I know interest in this show sort of stopped towards the end of Season 2 (including my own interest), but I figured I'd at least throw up a post for the first episode, and see if anyone else is still watching.

I wonder if the show will get back on track this season. I thought this was an okay start. Cheryl was a highlight, as usual. Archie taking the plea deal was incredibly stupid, but what else is new? I also thought it was super weird that his mother was acting as his lawyer, but I mean, it's Riverdale.

The cult storyline and the weird, spooky killer are all promising.

I guess the show has sort of forgotten about Betty being a cam girl or whatever, but I thought it was strange that Jughead didn't seem at all concerned about Betty forging prescriptions and tossing back what sounds like a lot of adderall. I mean, isn't forging a prescription for a Schedule 2 controlled substance like a really big deal?

Also, Riverdale apparently has a thriving drug trade. Why not just buy adderall from a classmate like I'm sure so many other high school kids are doing?
posted by litera scripta manet at 1:45 PM on October 13, 2018 [1 favorite]

Also, I'm not sure why I thought this, but for a long time, I thought Riverdale was set in the pacific north west. But apparently they're not very far from Quebec, so I guess this is in New England somewhere? I mean, that would fit with the whole maple syrup thing, so I guess that makes sense.
posted by litera scripta manet at 1:46 PM on October 13, 2018

I've always been a little annoyed by the whole serpents storyline, but in this episode I realized I'm just completely over it. It seems like that's going to continue to be a B or C story line with all of the principal characters in the gang to one degree or other, so I don't know. I'm starting to wonder why I continue to watch.
posted by willnot at 9:52 AM on October 14, 2018

Yeah, I was never a huge fan of the Serpents, and it's just gotten weirder the more that the focus has shifted to having literal kids run the gang.

At this point the main reason I'm still watching the show is because I really enjoyed the first season, and I keep hoping they'll go back to that. I honestly think switching from a 13 episode season to 22 episodes or whatever for the second season was not a good thing for the show. The show still has its moments, but in the second season, I was annoyed or disappointed or bored more often than I was actively enjoying the show.
posted by litera scripta manet at 10:07 AM on October 14, 2018

It's sad that FLT stopped the S2 recaps just when it started to get good again. This one was maddening because the injustice is all clearly due to Mary and Attorney McCoy being terrible, terrible defense lawyers (HOW THE FUCK HAVEN'T YOU CALLED VERONICA AS A WITNESS? EVEN WITHOUT TESTIFYING TO HER FATHER'S BUSINESS SHE IS THE CLEAR KEY WITNESS TO WHAT WENT DOWN WITH CASSIDY!!) but also Archie being a terrible client. See:

FOREMAN: We can't reach a verdict.
PROSECUTOR: Jesus, this case is weak as hell. Instead of risking it again, can I offer a wildly unfavorable plea bargain?
ARCHIE: I'LL TAKE IT!
EVERYONE: Archie, we all actually want to go through this again.
JUDGE: Son, are you aware that you're the dumbest boy alive?

Cult is a good place to take the Alice Cooper character, and definitely fits with both Polly, and where Alice was willing to go with Chic last season. She's hard as nails but deeply in need of a family connection and she's not gonna get it from Betty. It reminds me of how LaRouche and Scientology tend to attract pretty intelligent people despite what they look like to outsiders.

But yeah, what we get from the closing statements is that the State didn't prove any element of their case (except for, I guess, opportunity?) and they both the state and defense relied entirely on Character Evidence, which is unbelievably ridiculous (like, CXG season 3 finale ridiculous.) McCoy absolutely should have given the closing statement (how does it help to have his entire defense be his semi-absent mom saying he's a good boy?) and basically all of that just drove me so crazy that I'm having trouble thinking of this episode without frothing outrage.

But I'm always down for some Archery Cheryl. That's good stuff.
posted by Navelgazer at 10:08 AM on November 20, 2018 [1 favorite]

As for where Riverdale is, yeah, the maple syrup and adjacency to Quebec suggest upstate NY or New England. Kevin says he's cruising on redstatemeat.com which isn't dispositive but at least probably rules out Vermont. Not that this show is great with how people always say things (see: "makin' my bones") but it's probably not upstate NY as then Veronica would be saying she's going to "The City," not to "New York" all the time, so I'm guessing New Hampshire or most likely Maine.
posted by Navelgazer at 10:24 AM on November 20, 2018

Archery Cheryl is my favorite Cheryl, and I’m going to keep hoping against hope that the weird cult stuff is somehow going to be tied to the Cthulhu stuff from last season. Go big or go home, Riverdale. I believe in you.
posted by corb at 3:15 PM on December 13, 2018 [1 favorite]