Riverdale: Faster, Pussycats! Kill! Kill! Books Included
March 3, 2017 8:14 AM - Season 1, Episode 6 - Subscribe
In the 6th "chapter" of the Riverdale saga, Valerie's efforts to help Archie's musical ambitions leads to not one but two major fallouts, Betty and Jughead's investigation brings them face-to-face with Polly, and Veronica gets bounced from conflict to conflict.
A.V. Club review: A- -- "As the weeks go by and Riverdale goes deeper into the maple syrup-covered mysteries of the town, only one thing remains constant: Archie Andrews is the weakest link."
Den of Geek: "Yeah, so we need to talk about that kiss." (To which I ask, which one?)
A.V. Club review: A- -- "As the weeks go by and Riverdale goes deeper into the maple syrup-covered mysteries of the town, only one thing remains constant: Archie Andrews is the weakest link."
Den of Geek: "Yeah, so we need to talk about that kiss." (To which I ask, which one?)
Sorry, but Jughead is the weakest link. I don't know whether it's the writing or the acting, but he is so very much more punchable than anyone, and that's Reggie's job.
Also, Betty is still totally Polly's dissociative personality. It's just more Fight Clubby now.
posted by Etrigan at 4:02 PM on March 3, 2017 [1 favorite]
Also, Betty is still totally Polly's dissociative personality. It's just more Fight Clubby now.
posted by Etrigan at 4:02 PM on March 3, 2017 [1 favorite]
> Also, Betty is still totally Polly's dissociative personality.
Yeah, I was a bit thrown by the shot of the Sisters of Quiet Mercy Home for Troubles Youth's exterior in the grey driving rain followed immediately by Betty talking to Polly in the perfectly dry, sun-dappled Garden of Deliverance out back.
posted by EXISTENZ IS PAUSED at 12:04 PM on March 4, 2017 [3 favorites]
Yeah, I was a bit thrown by the shot of the Sisters of Quiet Mercy Home for Troubles Youth's exterior in the grey driving rain followed immediately by Betty talking to Polly in the perfectly dry, sun-dappled Garden of Deliverance out back.
posted by EXISTENZ IS PAUSED at 12:04 PM on March 4, 2017 [3 favorites]
The electric Dylan line was the best so far. Uhhh, I'm not sure who that is.
Anyway, this show is enthralling.
posted by Literaryhero at 4:47 AM on March 5, 2017
Anyway, this show is enthralling.
posted by Literaryhero at 4:47 AM on March 5, 2017
Also, I don't think it's exactly accurate to call what Dylan did at Newport "bombing"...
posted by Ian A.T. at 7:16 AM on March 5, 2017
posted by Ian A.T. at 7:16 AM on March 5, 2017
> The electric Dylan line was the best so far. Uhhh, I'm not sure who that is.
I also enjoyed Jughead's 'You haven't gone full Yellow Wallpaper on me yet, have you?' as he climbed through Betty's window.
> Anyway, this show is enthralling.
It really is, and I'm not sure I understand why I like it so much. I'm attracted to its Twin Peasiness and the Gregory Crewdson/It Follows gothic aesthetic but there must be more to it than that.
posted by EXISTENZ IS PAUSED at 12:03 PM on March 5, 2017 [2 favorites]
I also enjoyed Jughead's 'You haven't gone full Yellow Wallpaper on me yet, have you?' as he climbed through Betty's window.
> Anyway, this show is enthralling.
It really is, and I'm not sure I understand why I like it so much. I'm attracted to its Twin Peasiness and the Gregory Crewdson/It Follows gothic aesthetic but there must be more to it than that.
posted by EXISTENZ IS PAUSED at 12:03 PM on March 5, 2017 [2 favorites]
Okay, it suddenly hit me why I'm not as into this show as I feel I should be -- it's the imbalance of its two halves.
First, we have a murder, that also appears to have a classical gothic hidden pregnancy slash insanity subplot, and there seems to be a longstanding fight over a fortune involved. All perfectly good plotlines.
Then we have a high school, complete with angst over who's in a band and who's the captain of the football team and who likes who but not just likes but, like, likes likes.
And it really throws the "Archie has stage fright!" plot under the proverbial school bus when the other plot of the night is "Betty's sister has escaped from the sanitarium and is pregnant, presumably with the bastard scion of the family that runs the town!"
So they're trying to have the over-the-topness of a Buffy the Vampire Slayer without realizing that all of the typical-high-school-angst parts of BTVS were also heightened. So it wasn't just "Xander wants to be cool!", it was "...while everyone else is fighting off an apocalypse!" It wasn't just "Buffy needs a date to the prom!", it was "...oh, and wild dog-beasts are eating people; and by the way, the boy she likes is a 200-year-old vampire!"
They haven't really hit that balance that makes me want to care about the relatively banal stage-fright plots as much as I care about the totally bonkers pregnant-woman-escaping-from-the-asylum plots.
posted by Etrigan at 1:44 PM on March 5, 2017 [6 favorites]
First, we have a murder, that also appears to have a classical gothic hidden pregnancy slash insanity subplot, and there seems to be a longstanding fight over a fortune involved. All perfectly good plotlines.
Then we have a high school, complete with angst over who's in a band and who's the captain of the football team and who likes who but not just likes but, like, likes likes.
And it really throws the "Archie has stage fright!" plot under the proverbial school bus when the other plot of the night is "Betty's sister has escaped from the sanitarium and is pregnant, presumably with the bastard scion of the family that runs the town!"
So they're trying to have the over-the-topness of a Buffy the Vampire Slayer without realizing that all of the typical-high-school-angst parts of BTVS were also heightened. So it wasn't just "Xander wants to be cool!", it was "...while everyone else is fighting off an apocalypse!" It wasn't just "Buffy needs a date to the prom!", it was "...oh, and wild dog-beasts are eating people; and by the way, the boy she likes is a 200-year-old vampire!"
They haven't really hit that balance that makes me want to care about the relatively banal stage-fright plots as much as I care about the totally bonkers pregnant-woman-escaping-from-the-asylum plots.
posted by Etrigan at 1:44 PM on March 5, 2017 [6 favorites]
Huh, and that's sort of what I like about it. There is something so essentially teenaged in treating bullshit high school drama with exactly the same importance as actual crime.
I'm glad the mystery is advancing and love the gothic asylum-y home for pregnant girls, but I preferred the Josie and the Pussycats plot this week. And every week! (But I never found BtVS better than hit and miss, so certainly mileage may vary.)
Archie is sure dumb as a box of rocks. I guess he is mostly a stand up guy when things are pointed out very clearly to him, but he has never thought about anyone else's perspective even once.
I love the Pussycats, and Val is way too good for Archie, but I assume their budding romance will keep her more involved in the show than she would otherwise be, so I'm all for that. I think my biggest laugh this week was the extreme close up of Josie's Cover Girl mascara during her reconciliation with Val. I look forward to Jughead name checking Betty's preferred shade of lip gloss the next time they make out, or whatever blatant product placement comes next.
In general my biggest annoyance with these teen shows is how every relationship has to be romantic for maximum teenage drama. I would have been thrilled with an asexual Jughead. So I was surprised to find I liked Jughead better in wooing Betty mode than I do in omniscient voiceover mode. But I suspect that's mostly because I really hate the voiceovers.
This show continues to grow on me. I hope we see Kevin's love interest whose name I forget next week.
posted by the primroses were over at 10:12 AM on March 6, 2017 [2 favorites]
I'm glad the mystery is advancing and love the gothic asylum-y home for pregnant girls, but I preferred the Josie and the Pussycats plot this week. And every week! (But I never found BtVS better than hit and miss, so certainly mileage may vary.)
Archie is sure dumb as a box of rocks. I guess he is mostly a stand up guy when things are pointed out very clearly to him, but he has never thought about anyone else's perspective even once.
I love the Pussycats, and Val is way too good for Archie, but I assume their budding romance will keep her more involved in the show than she would otherwise be, so I'm all for that. I think my biggest laugh this week was the extreme close up of Josie's Cover Girl mascara during her reconciliation with Val. I look forward to Jughead name checking Betty's preferred shade of lip gloss the next time they make out, or whatever blatant product placement comes next.
In general my biggest annoyance with these teen shows is how every relationship has to be romantic for maximum teenage drama. I would have been thrilled with an asexual Jughead. So I was surprised to find I liked Jughead better in wooing Betty mode than I do in omniscient voiceover mode. But I suspect that's mostly because I really hate the voiceovers.
This show continues to grow on me. I hope we see Kevin's love interest whose name I forget next week.
posted by the primroses were over at 10:12 AM on March 6, 2017 [2 favorites]
I'm glad you wrote that, the primroses were over. I was trying to write basically the same exact thing but couldn't quite get the words right. I also agree with your annoyance, although I don't think that I had actually formulated the thought properly until I read what you wrote.
posted by Literaryhero at 1:39 AM on March 9, 2017
posted by Literaryhero at 1:39 AM on March 9, 2017
For a boy who spent the summer getting hot and heavy with his music teacher, and finding his inspiration as a musical artist, I'm surprised he had the inclination to cover his room in the latest DC Comics advertising posters.
I like to imagine that he simply couldn't stand to look at the old "New 52"posters he had up there, but, since his only musical influence appears to be Ms. Grundy, he couldn't replace them with band posters or anything, so he simply had to go down to the Riverdale comics shoppe and get all the latest DC Rebirth swag.
posted by He Is Only The Imposter at 11:25 AM on March 9, 2017 [2 favorites]
I like to imagine that he simply couldn't stand to look at the old "New 52"posters he had up there, but, since his only musical influence appears to be Ms. Grundy, he couldn't replace them with band posters or anything, so he simply had to go down to the Riverdale comics shoppe and get all the latest DC Rebirth swag.
posted by He Is Only The Imposter at 11:25 AM on March 9, 2017 [2 favorites]
I would have been thrilled with an asexual Jughead.
I don't think we can rule that out yet. I mean, he's clearly not aromantic like he was in most of the comics. He wants to be in a relationship with Betty, but I don't know if he'll want to take that past kisses and handholding. I'm wondering if he'll discover his lack of sexual feelings later, as Betty gets more sexual. (All of which might take a while with Betty's mystery solving obsession/downward spiral, which Jughead seems happy to follow her on.)
posted by Margalo Epps at 10:24 AM on March 12, 2017 [1 favorite]
I don't think we can rule that out yet. I mean, he's clearly not aromantic like he was in most of the comics. He wants to be in a relationship with Betty, but I don't know if he'll want to take that past kisses and handholding. I'm wondering if he'll discover his lack of sexual feelings later, as Betty gets more sexual. (All of which might take a while with Betty's mystery solving obsession/downward spiral, which Jughead seems happy to follow her on.)
posted by Margalo Epps at 10:24 AM on March 12, 2017 [1 favorite]
I loved sweet, guile-less Fred spilling the beans to Veronica in front of Hermione.
I loved Myles, with his sky-high and unfair demands/expectations of Josie (and calling out Archie for not knowing Josephine Baker in the middle of dinner - followed by the revelation that Archie doesn't know Bob Dylan.
I loved how Josie's parents are almost, but not quite, on the same page in re: grooming her for fame, with The Mayor seeing only her daughter and believing everyone else to be disposable (but remember the branding) and Myles' recognition of Valerie's talent as something they need to hold onto and exploit (but remember the branding.)
I love how, over the past two episodes, all four of our main female characters have suffered the wrath of their parents for being fiercely independent, in different ways, none of them just. And I loved how Val and Archie kissing hit that note on a thematic level, i.e. "here's something some of your parents might lose their shit over, but the kids are alright and know better." That was skillful.
But more than anything I loved how that Donna Summer cover was both good and the perfect chilling soundtrack to Betty and Jughead finding the stashed car.
And the blood on part of (just part of) the shattered glass of Polly's window was a super-creepy touch.
posted by Navelgazer at 10:55 PM on March 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
I loved Myles, with his sky-high and unfair demands/expectations of Josie (and calling out Archie for not knowing Josephine Baker in the middle of dinner - followed by the revelation that Archie doesn't know Bob Dylan.
I loved how Josie's parents are almost, but not quite, on the same page in re: grooming her for fame, with The Mayor seeing only her daughter and believing everyone else to be disposable (but remember the branding) and Myles' recognition of Valerie's talent as something they need to hold onto and exploit (but remember the branding.)
I love how, over the past two episodes, all four of our main female characters have suffered the wrath of their parents for being fiercely independent, in different ways, none of them just. And I loved how Val and Archie kissing hit that note on a thematic level, i.e. "here's something some of your parents might lose their shit over, but the kids are alright and know better." That was skillful.
But more than anything I loved how that Donna Summer cover was both good and the perfect chilling soundtrack to Betty and Jughead finding the stashed car.
And the blood on part of (just part of) the shattered glass of Polly's window was a super-creepy touch.
posted by Navelgazer at 10:55 PM on March 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
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posted by filthy light thief at 9:08 AM on March 3, 2017