Riverdale: Season 3 – A Review

My darling readers!
I can’t help but keep on watching this train wreck called Riverdale. I thought season 2 took the cake in terms of weirdness but the writers seemingly wanted to top that with season 3. So, let’s get down to it!

The Plot:

While the rest of Betty’s family (that isn’t in jail for being a serial killer) is emerging themselves in a weird cult called “the farm”, Archie is facing trial for a crime he didn’t commit.
In the meantime, Riverdale has to deal with a bigger problem: the mysterious Gargoyle king. Supposedly a figure from the game Griffin’s and Gargoyle’s he has become all too real…

The Rating:

Oh boy, where do I even start?
There’s a shitton of stuff going on in this season and absolutely nothing of it makes any sense.

Before I properly start the review, let me give you a little recommendation. Do yourselves a favor and check out the cast interviews on Youtube. Nobody hates Riverdale more than them (especially Lili Reinhart) and it’s hilarious to watch.

The biggest problem this season was (which already was a problem – if a bit less pronounced – in the last season) that nothing makes sense. According to the cast, the writers make up the story as they go along, which explains why things seem so off and not thought through.
Many of the ideas might actually be promising but the execution is so sloppy and flawed it eradicates any chance of turning out well.

Well, there were a few moments that I liked, so let’s talk about those before I get to negative. We get another musical episode (why is absolutely beyond me but whatever) and it’s Heathers. I loved the original film, so thumbs up for this choice. Furthermore, we get a flashback episode. Alice tells her daughter about the origins of G&G when she was a teenager. It’s a Breakfast Club rip off thingy where teenagers who seemingly have nothing in common bond during detention. I liked the style of the episode and that in the flashback all the now grown-up characters were played by their kids. For example, young Alice is portrayed by Lili Reinhart who plays her on-screen daughter. It wasn’t too inventive but I liked it.

However, those are just about the only good things about the season. As you can tell from my description, there’s a lot of sub-plots going on – and I haven’t even mentioned the speak-easy Veronica is running or the bat shit crazy prison. I think one of the biggest problems is that the season are too long. While the first season (which was the best one) had 13 episodes, the following season all have 22. I can’t be bothered to be interested in such a flimsy story for that long. And you can tell that the writers have trouble stretching the more than thin plot for such a long time. I think if they’d cut it to 15 episodes we could get a story that actually makes sense and drop some of the annoying sub-plots.

I won’t even go into detail on all the super weird scenes included in this season, but let me name a few! Archie getting mauled by a bear? Veronica running a speak-easy that gets turned into a casino? Secret Bunkers? The Sisters of Quiet Mercy (again) drugging teenagers? And a lot more!

Riverdale has become a train wreck that I can’t help but watch. It’s cringy, weird, and doesn’t make sense but at the same time and want to know what happens next. As bad as the show is at times, it is entertaining and gets you hooked.

Did you watch the season? Let me know in the comments what you think!

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