#4) jughead’s diner

[imreallyloveleee]

Where do you think it all went wrong with Riverdale?

honestly, part of me is like, the show's over and nothing but fandom matters. so who cares?

the other part of me loves to complain about Riverdale and will continue to do so until the day I die in the parking lot of Michael's Diner in Montgomeryville, PA at the age of 86. so, long-winded answer under the cut

I'm tempted to say it's the s4 b*rchie kiss. It was so wildly out of character for both Betty and Archie that it's laughable. You know how you can tell when something is just blatantly OOC with no justification? They...don't justify it. They find ways to dance around any interaction that might offer clarification. They mute the reactions of the characters who should be devastated by it. And then they jump ahead 7 years so it's easier to just handwave it away as something that happened a long time ago.

but the thing is, I did keep watching after that. I thought: okay, at least we should get an exes-to-lovers arc out of this, which is one of my favorite tropes. there is no way they would spend 4 seasons developing Bughead as this loving, supportive, communicative, sexy, and almost-unbelievably-compatible couple just to tear them apart and never do anything with that dynamic again. maybe it'll be even sweeter seeing them come back together after so much hurt and longing.

boy was i wrong!!!!!!!!!

so, the episode that actually made me stop watching for good, with the exception of some standalones like The Jughead Paradox and the finale, was the s5 musical. that was when i realized that this team of writers was 100% willing, maybe even eager, to completely drop storylines they themselves had been building over the course of a season - do a 180 with all of the characterization and relationships - and then act as though the buildup they wrote never even happened.

in this case, i'm specifically talking about the Bughead reunion storyline they dropped in s5. i'm not going to pretend like it was a GREAT buildup - and it was mostly on Jughead's side, Betty's character in s5 was basically an emotionless misery bot that had sex sometimes - but it was there. Jughead told Tabitha he had unresolved feelings around Betty. that's followed by an entire episode that lays out Betty & Jug's time jump relationship, and how Jughead still believes she's the one who saves him from himself. they work on a case together, they start opening up to one another. Jughead's so worried about her he can't eat.

and then...you know what happens.

(i'll also note here that there was random bts stuff that strongly indicated the musical ep storyline had a drastic last-minute rewrite: lili tweeted a blue dress, suggesting the song with that line was meant for her character; RAS said cole had to do last-minute recording sessions; supposedly crew members have confirmed this was the case, too. since none of it's 100% confirmed you can take it all with a grain of salt, but i believe it.)

it was so fucking insulting as a viewer to give my time and attention to a show made by people who would not only randomly drop the threads they set up, but torpedo them altogether, and then behave like the fans are the ones somehow at fault for expecting a story that actually follows through on its own emotional and plot beats. we're just shippers, so our opinions are dumb and biased! it's just a tv show, so who cares! get over it!

so, i stopped watching, because i knew they would continue to write without any thought or respect for their characters or their audience, and therefore inevitably write themselves into another corner. and, shocker, i was right. they did it again, whisking everyone away to the 1950s because actually resolving any of the scenarios they set up was ToO hArD. why bother when you could just make every single character Righteously Angry and Incurably Horny all the time, lecture the audience about social issues that have already been mainstream progressive for the last several decades, and call it a "love letter" to your fans?

[jupitermelichios]

so you've probably seen the news that riverdale ended with the main 4 in an actual, canonical, poly relationship

and that's amazing for a bunch of reasons, including the fact that the number of canon poly relationships on tv are miniscule and also it brings the number of canonically straight main cast members down to 1. Ethel is legitimately the show's token straight representation. love that for her

but to get the full impact of that news, you really also need to know that in order for the polycule to form:

Jughead's transdimensional angel girlfriend has to destroy multiple other timelines to create a new stable timeline for the polycule to live in. timelines destroyed include the one where jughead is immortal and trapped forever in a bunker underneath riverdale, and one where tony and fangs's magical timetravelling gay baby is fighting an evil wizard for control of a train full of evil ghosts

Jughead's magical transdimensional angel girlfriend then returns to the newly created main timeline, and restores the main cast's memories of all the other timelines, which she does by forcing them to watch the show riverdale. That is not a joke or a metaphor she even goes to the trouble to bring a colour tv back to the 1950s so they can watch in colour, except for Clay and Julian, because they did not exist in any of the previous timelines and they're sad about it and refuse to watch a show they're not in.

(Well, Julian technically did exist in the original timeline, but only as a ghost possessing a haunted doll, which doesn't really count)

(Also for some reason as well as the main cast, she makes dilton doily watch it, despite his only contributions to the show being a) dying as a human sacrifice in the og timeline, b) trying to blow up the planet and then dying because of it in the rivervale timeline, and c) gay kevin telling people he has the biggest dick in the 1950s tlmeline, and honestly, I feel like it would be kinder to just not show him any of that)

(ethel does not get to watch riverdale, because she did the only sensible thing any riverdale character has ever done and fucked off to a normal town to have an actual life, because as well as being the token straight character, she's also the token sane one)

After watching Riverdale, all of the main cast except Jughead and Betty decide it sucks and they hate it, and ask tabby to rewipe their memories and only give them the cute bits and not all the serial killers and shit, because the writers have run out of time for subtle metaphors and they weren't sure the audience had fully grasped that the entirely last season of the show is a weird metacommentary on the criticisms people have of the show riverdale so they're just straight up going to have archie andrews look straight to camera and say that the show should have been more like the comics

also I have no idea how only showing them the happy bits works, because that removes 90% of the entire plot so I assume they just have a bunch of completely out of context sex scenes and meals at the diner and nothing else. possibly also some musical numbers, idk if I'd count those as happy memories personally

Betty and Jug chose to keep their memories of the Gargoyle King and Betty's 2 long-lost secret gay serial killer brothers because they're edgy (and also because the writers are annoyed at all the people who say the show should be more like the comics, so they have the smartest characters say they liked the actually and everyone else is being a wimp about all the serial killers, because again, we have run out of time for subtlety)

Having had his memories restored, Jug's like "oh hi tabitha, my secret transdimensional angel girlfriend, I haven't seen you for months, I've really missed you. I'm so glad you're you're back. i love you so much"

And she responds by telling him that she'd chosen to write herself out of the timeline when she fixed in, and she has to return to the great big diner in the sky (not a joke, heaven is a diner in the riverdale universe and, it is heavily implied, also in our universe, so that's something to look forward to), so she freezes time halfway through kissing him and just nopes out of time and space. which is also how I would handle all break ups if I had angel powers tbh

since jug is now single, and all 4 of them just got multiple timeline's worth of fucking one another mainlined straight into their brains, the main 4 decide to all start dating

(they are probably inspired to do this in part by betty's sister, who in the new timeline is a burlesque performer who's stage name is Polly Amorous)

As far as I can tell from the last episode, they tell gay kevin about this and literally no one else, for reasons known only to themselves

also genuinely can't tell if this was the writers wanting a poly relationship for them, or if they just couldn't be bothered with the internet slap fights that would have followed them picking individual monogomous ships to be endgame

they also, hilariously, refuse to say that archie and jug are dating, I assume due to network restrictions, despite archie being canonically bi at this point, so betty's just like 'well sometimes I go to veronica's and we fuck, and the boys do... something we're not going to talk about'

the final episode of the show is a flash forward where as a now old betty is dying, jughead's ghost shows her memories of their teens, in which it's reveal that she has just straight up forgotten about being in a poly relationship

literally she looks at her teen self and is like "wow, I seem weirdly close to veroica jughead and archie" and Jug's ghost has to be like "because we were dating. how do you not remember that we were dating? what the hell? did I mean nothing to you?!"

also old betty specifically seeks out reggie and is like "hey you know how me and you dated, and you and veronica were together for years in multiple timelines, and you archie keep declaring your undying love for one another and nearly fucking, well we're all dating and we specifically decided not to invite you, sucks to be you" and walks away and I have no idea why she did it. justice for reggie

anyway RIP to the greatest television show ever made, it was so gay and so deranged and so meta, and there really will never be anything quite like it again

[mean-vampyre]

On April 4, 2003, Pop's Diner Theatre Company in Schaumburg, Illinois was scheduled to debut Lundin's new play, Dean's Weird Fantasy, which depicted Lawrence, Kansas' most famous resident coming out of the closet and moving to New York. The day before the play was scheduled to open, Jughead's Madhouse Magazines issued a cease and desist order, threatening litigation if the play proceeded as written.

[pyrojanis]

good morning pyrojanis how did riverdale end I stopped at like season 4

is that you?? it is.

anyway after season 4 things... escalated. but long story short in season 7 the year is now 1955, they get sent back in time as the only solution to riverdale not being obliterated by a comet!!

so yeah they're back in high school and normal riverdale things are going on like... veronica lodge owns her own business, as a teenager? there's a serial killer milkman and cheryl's parents are russian spies.

there's other little plotlines throughout the season which were entertaining. on the last episode betty is now 86 and all her friends are dead, but angel jughead let's her relive her last day of senior year. she goes through the day and the most shocking thing in that episode is that the main 4 (betty, veronica, jughead and archie) ended up in a polyamorous relationship. the final episode ends with betty and literally everyone in s7 at pop's diner

honestly hate to say it but i shed a tear after finishing it

[paperairplanesopenwindows]

2023 Tumblr Top 10

I forgot about the old way we used to do this! But someone posted their own on my dash! :)

I made 76 original posts this year and these were the most popular:

1. 636 notes - Dec 5 2023

2. 619 notes - Dec 5 2023

3. 547 notes - Sep 28 2023

Hey remember when Sophie’s feral gremlin children were like “hey mom :) pick out anything you want :) we want to cheer you up.” And Sophie was like “I want to kidnap this messed up lawyer.” And Sophie’s kids were like “ok!!!!!!! We love a kidnapping!!!!”

4. 113 notes - Mar 12 2023

My favorite Parker name headcanon is that Parker is just not good with names (see: not knowing Eliot’s name for a year) and so she just genuinely does not remember what her original name is.

5. 23 notes - Dec 26 2023

Tumblr Dashed - paperairplanesopenwindows - Marvel Cinematic Universe [Archive of Our Own]

6. 23 notes - May 29 2023

In the same episode Parker calls Tara “hot,” she also wears mint green patent leather Dr Martens. Conclusion: Gay.

7. 20 notes - Dec 17 2023

8. 16 notes - Aug 27 2023

Rivadale got polyamory this, Riverdale got polyamory that. Riverdale also cursed it’s entire cast to be stuck in a diner for all eternity with everyone from their highschool with evil (straight?)!Jughead watching over them so it’s very much “at what cost???” for me.

9. 15 notes - Dec 3 2023

10. 14 notes - Sep 6 2023

hey remember my viral uquiz “which of Sara’s blorbos from her shows are you?” You can now take the thrilling sequel Which of Sara’s polyamourous ships are you?

Created by TumblrTop10

[clueingf0rlooks]

my main Riverdale finale takeaways:

1. killing Fangs in a tour bus at 18 with an infant and a wife left alone is so brutal and unnecessary??

2. “86 year old Betty” on the brink of death looked like a very healthy 70yo (actress is 68, lol)

3. So..did Jughead die 2 years prior or did the show forget they’re the same age?

4. Archie you are a terrible poet and how are you even referencing these things if you only have the good memories?

5. Varchie both in Cali, Archie with an unnamed and unseen wife, no mention at all of Veronica’s love life, Betty confirming it is definitely NOT her that Archie married, manifesting Jug in her hour of need, Jughead regretting not getting married then playing the Bughead cue…could RAS not be a coward for 5 minutes and just give us a confirmed Bugvarchie endgame??

6. Speaking of cowardly, lol @ RAS saying they’re in a poly foursome but Jarchie are not shown at all.

7. Absolutely no reason for this series finale to be Bettydale and rob the audience of anyone else’s perspective.

8. Message of the show: despite the fact that you were all mostly miserable in high school apart from the 50s fever dream, and even though you all go on to live full happy lives, you all did indeed peak in high school and will spend eternity with your graduating class at a diner in the sky!

[lesbiandarvey]

this thing

tagged by @actingcamplibrarian to do this thing so!🫶🥂

3 ships: dan and casey sports night, destiel supernatural and ive honestly been going thru a bit of a jarchie riverdale phase atm

first ever ship, im pretty sure it was puck and sabrina from sisters grimm in 7th grade. also ten and rose doctor who when i was 15 was a formative phase for me

last song: ive had gods country ethel cain ft Wicca Phase Springs Eternal on repeat for the past two days, so

last movie: oh it was monty python and the holy grail

currently reading: nothing atm! i just read the jughead/jason blossom fic which was insane

currently watching: im watching s1 of riverdale rn and its crazy like i odnt know what show it is its certainly not riverdale but its nice to see the core 4 actually be friends

currently consuming some nice trader jos popcorn

craving? theres these burgers at the local diner with an onion ring and im starving

if anyone wants to do this consider urself tagged by me<3 but i am gonna make brigid do this @glitterdyke 🤠

[centravolonial]

astro's astronomical drabbles (4/?)

-. coffee chaos .- a riverdale (bughead if you squint) drabble

--- “Bye Pop!” Betty nods behind her with a warm smile as she strolls towards the door of the diner, turning her attention towards her scalding hot cup of coffee that she held cautiously within two hands. But just then, almost out of the blue, she hears the door latch unclasp, and within those seconds she shoots her gaze in front of her to meet uncomfortably close with Jughead Jone’s chest. They then proceed to CLASH  into each other before either of them gets even to move another inch, as Betty’s coffee goes FLYING out of her grasp, and directly onto her as a result. “Betty!- Holy shit I'm so sorry-” “OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD OH MY GOD- AHHH!!” Betty then proceeds to scream at the top of her lungs, and as the coffee scorches her skin through her clothes, she flails around with absolutely no direction at all. Meanwhile, Jughead suppressed his own urge to scream as he tried to keep his composure through the situation that seemed to be moving at a speed that nobody, let alone him, could comprehend. “Okay- OKAY- STOP SCREAMING!” He plants his hands firmly onto Betty’s shoulders, trying to hold her still and in one place so he can access this mess. “IT BURNS! IT BURNS!” Jughead then conjures up an idea, that he wasn't even sure of working himself. “Here- take this off!” He then proceeds to spin her around and pull her jacket off of her shoulders in a desperate attempt to help his screeching girlfriend. “THAT DIDN'T DO ANYTHING, DIPSHIT!” Jughead blinks, absolutely flabbergasted. “WELL, I DON'T KNOW!” 

Meanwhile, Pop stands behind the counter just- in total shock, watching this circus act unfold. ---

[riverdale-retread]

I posted 57 times in 2022

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I tagged 38 of my posts in 2022

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#riverdale opinion - 18 posts

#riverdale season 6 - 15 posts

#riverdale episode recap - 10 posts

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Longest Tag: 140 characters

#i've had notes on this forever and the airing of the season 6b promos in the us finally gave me the kick in the pants i needed to write this

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

what would the other riverdale characters' heaven be if they had died in the plague of the first borns?

the show picked the easier characters to construct heaven for. polly died after a miserable destitute single motherhood so her heaven would obviously be being mistress of a thriving thornhill with five babies. jughead suffered childhood food insecurity and career failure plus all his childhood intimate relationships betrayed him without exception so his heaven is as a successful aroace writer permanently residing in his favorite diner. we saw alice’s heaven when polly died - her three kids stepford-perfect while crowding ecstatically next to her as she plays mozart on the piano in a world where hal doesn't exist. kevin's heaven was shown in Vale to be as a Broadway star with Fangs as his manager boyfriend subservient.

but what is Veronica’s heaven? Betty's? Reggie’s? Cheryl’s? Tabitha’s?

15 notes - Posted August 7, 2022

#4

Riverdale S6 E2 (Rivervale Ch 2)

Happy New Year (this is being drafted Wk 1,  2022).  My ‘reading’ Rivervale as a fanfic of Riverdale continues!

Alternate Universes that fic writers come up with can be completely hypnotizing if you the reader are on the same wavelength. By the same token, fanfic using alternative universes can be utterly alienating if it’s not a thing you’re into.  For this installment, I must say that I was on the Read, Regret and Move On side of the dividing line for this AU that is Rivervale. Horror is not a favorite genre and because I find the myth of La Llorona as presented here kind of retrograde and boring. But! As a deliberate exploration of misogynist tropes that bind women characters in fiction this installment was very fascinating to analyze. 

16 notes - Posted January 3, 2022

#3

Riverdale S6B, Ep #101 (“Unbelievable”)

Hello people I am back. Spoilers and gratuitous longing for Sweet Pea follow. 

A bomb blew up the Andrews house to smithereens but the Cooper house is completely unscathed.  I don’t know why that strikes me as less creepy than the fact that Alice Cooper is wearing her hair exactly like her surviving daughter’s.

See the full post

19 notes - Posted April 24, 2022

#2

Riverdale Episode 6.5 (Rivervale Finale)

In the final chapter of this fanfic-within-the-canon that has been the ride through Rivervale, there’s a truly Herculian effort to resolve the in-AU storylines that have received varying levels of development, and an attempt to tie it all back to Riverdale, to which we will return. And a lot of it is very witty and so much of this episode encapsulates what I so love about Riverdale the show as a piece of entertainment. 

See the full post

19 notes - Posted February 23, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Riverdale S6B, Ep #102 (“Death at a Funeral”)

See the full post

22 notes - Posted April 30, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[celandineitsaflowerdickward]

Last little snuppet of the 4 bookmarks i made for the @riverdaleprideandjoyzine

jughead is hastily drinking one of the gorgeous milkshake designs by @alpacalypseartb 🖤🤍💜

[burnedparadisesimblr]

"I don't follow rules, I make them. And when necessary, I break them."

I’m awful at recreating humans as sims but I’ve wanted to make the Riverdale Cast for a while now!

Poses: ❤️   🖤   ❤️   🖤   ❤️   

Jugheads hat: 🧢

@burnedparadise-edits

[jupitermelichios]

What the fuck is Riverdale actually about anyway?

that's not an easy question to answer, but I've been asked it a lot, so I'm going to do my best.

disclaimer: while the plot summaries are accurate, my interpretation of the themes is just my interpretation. other fans might disagree, and that's valid. unless it's about season 6. if you disagree with me about season 6, you're wrong. archie literally sings bread and roses. union busting is compared to mass murder. that one's not up for debate.

Season 1

[ID: a promo image for riverdale season 1, showing the characters of betty, veronica, and archie in the diner, while cheryl, josie, and jughead pose dramatically outside the window. The words 'riverdale series premier tonight' are superimposed over the picture]

The Plot: the murder of a highschool student leads his classmates to discover that the adults in their small town are all hiding dark secrets. also there's a love triangle.

What it's actually about: mostly just that, tbh. there's not a lot of subtext in season 1. This is the season where they let showrunner Roberto Aguierra-Sacassa (he of glee and pretty little liars infamy) write stuff, before the writers all barricaded themselves in the writing room and started writing plots which are just about how much they hate him and his ideas

Season 2

[ID: a screencap, showing archie posing with the vigilante gang he starts. the gang is made up of shirtless men wearing red balaclavas. archie is wearing a blue shirt and his face is uncovered, because when you're bating a serial killer it's important to let them know what you look like]

The Plot: A serial killer, the black hood, begins terrorising the town. Jughead accepts his birthright and joins a biker gang. Meanwhile Veronica's gangster father begins trying to take over the town so he can commit crimes with impunity

What it's actually about: this season is mostly a series of increasingly self-aware riffs on different horror and thriller subgenres. It's the transition between the uninspired first season and the genre-parodies that make up the rest of the show, so it's not as tight as other seasons. It does feature an episode which is almost entirely just the writer being real pissed off about aguira-sacassa framing a teacher-student relationship as romantic and consensual in season 1, in which the teacher in question is shown to be a serial abuser and then immediately brutally murdered because of it, and ngl, that was pretty based.

Season 3

[ID: a screencap, showing the main actors playing their character's parents in a flashback to the first gargoyle king murder. the characters are dressed as fantasy stereotypes; a paladin, rogue, warrior-king, nobleman, and wizard. they are pointing their weapons at someone off screen]

The Plot: A new serial killer, the gargoyle king, begins terrorising the town and seems to be connected to a ttrpg which mind controls its players. Meanwhile a cult which claims to allow its members to contact the dead has started recruiting at the school. Also Archie is sent to prison for a murder he didn't commit and forced to participate in an underground fightclub but that only lasts like 5 episodes.

What it's actually about: wouldn't it be ridiculous if the shit people believed during the satanic panic was true? wouldn't that be insane? wouldn't it be unbelievable. wouldn't be insane if, say, a huge portion of trump voters still believed in the satanic panic? tell me you believe in the satanic panic, i dare you, i fucking dare you-

Season 4

[ID: a screencap showing the entire cast dressed as Hedwig from Hedwig and the Angry Inch, with blond wigs, blue eye make-up, denim miniskirts, and high-healed boots]

The Plot: Jughead gets involved in a murderous battle to become the new ghost-writer for a hardy boys parody that ends with him faking his own death. Archie starts a boxing club for underpriviledged youth but Veronica's dad keeps trying to shut it down because he thinks Archie might be going to uncover his illegal paladium smuggling ring. Veronica becomes a bootlegger and opens a speakeasy because she wants her dad to respect her and thinks the only way to get that is by being the fucking worst before she realises that actually he sucks and she shouldn't care what he thinks.

What it's actually about: rich people are the fucking worst and we should probably just kill all of them. Listen. Listen, they're evil. It's very important to all the writers that you know this. They're all evil.

Season 5

[ID: a screencap showing what is referred to in the show as mothman, a boney humanoid with no hair, ridges over its eyes, and boney stubs that may be the tops of wings growing out of its back]

The Plot: following a 7 year timeskip, the gang return to Riverdale as adults and try to stop the town from being discorporated and demolished by Veronica's dad to make way for a new property developement. Betty hunts a serial killer who's been targetting sex workers in the area. Also Cheryl starts a Maple Syrup-themed cult and controls bees with her mind.

What it's actually about: Honestly, this season is mostly just about genre parodies. They're good genre parodies, don't get me wrong, but there's not a lot of coherent theming.

Season 6

[ID: a screencap, showing archie topless and tied to a saint andrew's cross, wearing a crown made of antlers. cheryl is standing in front of him wearing a red robe, elaborate headdress, and holding a knife, as she prepares to sacrifice him to ensure a good maple syrup harvest]

The Plot: after riverdale colides with a parallel universe, the gang find they have developed superpowers which are all related to their key character traits, which they must use to battle an evil wizard called percival pickens who is trying to destroy the world using a magical train. the genre parodies get weird this season, because a lot of them are comics riffs rather than movie or tv riffs. also there's an extended alan wake parody.

What it's actually about: Unionize. Unionize right the fuck now. Why are you not already in a union? Don't you know joining a union will literally improve your changes of getting into heaven? Look at Archie Andrews singing bread and roses and tell me you still think unions are bad you coporate bootlicking piece of shit!

Season 7 (so far)

[ID: a promotional image for season 7, showing betty, archie, and veronica wearing costumes based on the archie comics of the 1950s. They are sitting in the diner, and Berry and Veronica are each holding one of archie's hands]

The Plot: as a result of stopping the evil wizard in S6, the gang are sent back in time to the 1950s with no memory of their previous lives, where they are once again in highschool. Jughead has been told by an angel to make the town more just as this will help the angel bring them back to their own time, but someone is commiting murders and framing kids in the highschool for them. also there's an extended reference to alex hirsch's fight with disney S&P over gravity falls, which I did not see coming

What it's actually about (so far): oh, you think this show would be better if it was set in the 50s? You do know the 50s were the fucking worst, right? You do know the apple pie america the archie comics are set in never existed, right? you do know people who insist the 50s were a great decade are all racist homophobic sexist pieces of shit, right? right?!

[raymondebidochonlifechoices]

S6b spoilers so far

In response to @crazymisscarly‘s post

1. We are going to be “totally unprepared for the rest of s6”. Thus spake Evan!

2. The old new couples (Barchie, Veggie, Jabitha, Tangs) are still on. Which is no surprise, as we pick up from 5x19.

3. There is a post of Jughead -in his Pop’s uniform- Tabitha and Pop at the Diner. Has Jughead resumed his old job to help out his girlfriend?

4. Jabitha are “still very much together”. They move in together “as a consequence from the PTSD from the explosion”. Don’t come at me: these are direct quotes from Cole (circa 6x9).

5. Bughead don’t have many interactions, at least not until 6x9 (see another of Cole’s interviews).

6. A time-loop plot is implied by Evan. Will there actually be one? Will it last more than 1 episode? Who knows?

7. Jughead, Betty and Archie suffer from “mysterious” / “arcane” sensory side-effects from the Dale/Vale explosions.

8. Jughead’s arcane side-effect seems to be hearing problems. Which seems quite natural after an explosion and not at all arcane but who am I to judge? Photos and dialogues seem to indicate that it comes and goes? Who knows? This plot will be explored in 6x6 and mainly in 6x7.

9. At one point, an ASL teacher appears.

10. At one point, something will happen with Jughead’s bike that will make Tabitha anxious.

11. Betty seems to be developing pyrokinesis?

12. Cheryl believes she’s responsible for said arcane effects (by unleashing Abigail’s curse). 10 bucks says she’s not.

13. The Ultimate Fight between Good and Evil teased in the Vale, will happen after all. This seems to be s6b’s immediate plot, as it’s what the writers are currently promoting. When this was supposed to be part of the Vale, they had teased couples choosing different sides. Current couples? Old couples? Who knows? Does it matter in the end? The fight will take place at the Diner. If they’d shot it during the Vale (as originally planned), it wouldn’t have lasted more than one episode (6x5). Will it last longer in the Dale? Who knows? 

14. An audition tape has been posted by b*rchiedaily where there is mention of a Ghost Train. I don’t remember much. In any case, it’s supernatural and it has to do with taking souls. Maybe it’s connected to the Ultimate Fight. Maybe not.

15. Cheryl mentions the need for an exorcism. Is it:

a. typical Cheryl

b. related to Abigail’s curse

c. related to the Ghost Train

d. Bret coming back from beyond the veil

e. Jason trying to have some peace and quiet at last

You decide!

16. There have been mentions of the Vale coming back in some way. Is it the arcane side-effects? Is it the fight between Good and Evil? Is it something else altogether? Is it another plot being dropped? Who knows? Who cares?

17. Percival Pickens, a descendant of General Pickers is Riverdale’s new resident. He’s Hiram 2.0 charming and manipulative and Archie’s new nemesis, as he wants to turn Riverdale into a utopia while pursuing a dark agenda. This must be one of those “fresh” storylines that the writers most certainly did not recycle from previous seasons, no, sir, not at all.

18. There will be a boxing scene. I bet there’ll be singing too. 

19. Penelope’s back! FINALLY! something interesting!

20. Hermione’s back. Probably for Hiram’s funeral, which takes place in 6x7.

21. Far less excitingly, TBL is also back. Will he wait for Archie&Co to finish their ultimate Good vs Evil battle or not? (He did wait for Betty to round up her Lonely Highway case after all ...) Who knows?

22. Betty cuts her hair. Or maybe it was just Lili.

23. Kevin grows a moustache. This will probably be Kevin’s whole plot line. I have no complaints.

24. Monica Posh might make an appearance or maybe it was just bts shenanigans.

25. I almost forgot: Archie and Glenn face off. 

There’s a strong possibility all of the above happen within the first two episodes.

Some of the sources:

6x6 synopsis, Jabitha & Pop at the Diner: ultimate battle, Veggie: ultimate battle, time-loop, Percival Pickens, Hiram’s funeral, Monica Posh?,  effing boxing, TV Insider Sprouse interview, Decider Sprouse interview, CBR Sprouse interview, Decider’s Battle of Betty’s Beaus & Trailer

There are also: a photo with info for scenes (ASL teacher, Jabitha and the bike) and 2 audition tapes (Betty’s pyrokinesis, Ghost Train) but I have no links. 

Feel free to add (and tag your spoilers)!

[go-ldy]

Bughead in 5x16

RAS said the theme of this season was trauma. For Betty and Jughead, it is also about addiction and "darkness" (I put this in quotes bc these writers love throwing around the word darkness even more than "endgame"). How did Betty and Jughead fare while they were separated for seven years? Not great, Bob. Not great at all.

Darkness: Neither of them did well at their respective universities, neither formed any lasting or meaningful social relationships, they both eschewed these "normal" experiences and retreated towards their baser instincts. Jughead turned to substance abuse to kickstart his writing career. Betty chased serial killers.

Addiction: Jughead to substances. Betty to serial killers (and like any junkie, she seems to need MORE - more danger, more adrenaline, more violence).

Trauma: Betty was kidnapped and tortured (mentally perhaps physically) by TBK. Jughead fell in the sewers and almost died from rabies and hallucinated a rat king.

Remember the faction who always claimed Betty and Jughead brought out the worst in each other? And that Jughead was somehow responsible for pulling Betty down into darkness and death?? Yeah, that does not hold up at all this season lol. Look at what they were like without each other, "hot mess" does not even BEGIN to cover it.

And listen, I agree that this season has been a slog and devoid of warmth and heart but if my otp is gonna be broken up for what feels like 1000 years now, might as well make it like this. Honestly so much better than if they were happy and formed meaningful relationships with other people without each other lmao.

Betty told Archie that Polly's disappearance would be the darkest thing she ever faced. She told him she did not want to pull him into that darkness. The next episode, who does she go to for help with Polly? Jughead. When she has a man kidnapped and tied up in the woods and at gunpoint, who unknowingly calls and snaps her out of the worst decision of her life? Jughead.

When Jughead is in the sewers with the Rat King and on the brink of death, who does he manifest to pull him literally and metaphorically out of the darkness? Betty.

When Jughead goes on his sobriety apology tour, who is his first stop? Betty.

When Jughead is about to make the biggest mistake of his career by plagiarizing someone else's novel, what pulls him out of it? Betty.

I love their scene in 5x16. It was so raw!! It reminded me of their diner scene in 1x10 aka the most peak bughead moment. Betty in 5x16, sitting across from Jughead, spilling her deepest secrets that she has been keeping carefully packed inside for years. Betty in 1x10, sitting next to Jughead in that diner, showing him the palm of her hand, spilling her deepest secret about her self-harm. And not getting judgment in return, only concern and acceptance.

And OF COURSE, our heroes are interrupted by a phone call before we can get to the end of that conversation, but it is enough. Jughead would have followed Betty out to the Lonely Highway were it not for Tabitha.

Far from pulling each other into the darkness, seasons 1-4 bughead kept the darkness at bay for each other. They were each other's safe space. Right or wrong, Jughead was the only person Betty opened up to about her self-harm, about her fears of ending up like her father. Investigating serial killers together gave them an outlet, and a safe space, and some measure of safety (they were not going at it alone).

Like, okay, this is Riverdale, and maybe reading any kind of intentional theme into the season is foolhardy but the story being told here just seems so obvious. And Riverdale is not a subtle show! It is a show where Jughead literally manifests a Betty to save him from the sewer/rabies/rat king! How anyone can watch that and be like "bughead is about to get the closure they need to move on" is beyond me - A MANIFESTED BETTY SAVED HIM FROM RABIES.

Thematically, we are being told and shown that Betty and Jughead give each other the love and acceptance they need to find happiness despite all the other shit going on around them. There is only one satisfactory way for that story to conclude and that is #endgame.

[doityourselfbombs]

Riverdale S1E1: The River's Edge

Riverdale is an unintentional piece of absurdist art masquerading as a teen drama and anyone who hasn't had the chance to experience it is missing out. here's all of the weird out of pocket shit that goes down in the first episode alone.

general rundown:

the show takes place in Riverdale, a small town that can't seem to move past 1960s nuclear family aesthetics. on July 4, twins Jason and Cheryl Blossom took a boat ride down the river and only one of them came back alive – Jason's body still hasn't been found, and nobody really knows what happened to him.

the five main characters:

Betty Cooper, heavily based on the "girl next door" archetype, who lives with her weird toxic journalist parents, has a crush on Archie, and has a sister who is staying in a group home after she got pregnant with Jason Blossom's kid and was disowned by her parents.

Archie Andrews, redheaded football star who decides he wants to be a mediocre singer-songwriter and is also having an affair with his music teacher.

Veronica Lodge, trust fund baby whose dad just got arrested for embezzlement and just moved with her mother to her parents' hometown. gives weird out of pocket speeches.

Jughead Jones, emo boy with a weird hat who writes extremely pretentious articles about the town and insists that he has no friends.

Cheryl Blossom, grieving twin, extremely overdramatic for no reason, head of the cheer squad. also notability Madeline Petsch is the only natural redhead on the cast so far.

a non-comprehensive list of all the weird shit that goes down in this episode

Jughead finds out his classmate has died and decides to go to a diner and write a pretentious article abt it instead of, idk, being normal

"six more reasons for you to take that ginger bull by the horns tonight" WHAT THE FUCK

Betty starts telling Archie that she has feelings for him and Veronica shows up in a full cloak for some reason

the Pussycats are always practicing in empty music rooms and seemingly never in class

"you're staring at our pussycat ears, which is rude... the pussycats are building a brand, creating a signature look, okay? we're telling a story." (they're literally just wearing cat ears at school)

"I've tried every flavor of boy but orange." -Veronica

the scene introducing Archie's affair with his music teacher has a lot of lolita inspired imagery and I find that very interesting

Fred Andrews gives his employees paternity leave what an absolute dilf

Cheryl exits a conversation by saying "follow me on twitter!"

it really adds to the absurdist aspect of this show that Archie (15) looks to be the same age as the adult teacher he's having sex with (and somehow the actors have an even larger age gap in real life than they do in the show)

at cheerleading tryouts, Cheryl says Betty and Veronica are missing "heat", so Veronica ends the routine by kissing Betty. I like to believe this was just Veronica finding an excuse to do this.

"check your sell-by date ladies, faux lesbian kissing hasn't been taboo since 1994" -Cheryl, a closeted lesbian (canon)

Veronica's first out of pocket monologue of the season comes after Cheryl rejects Betty from the cheer squad: "I know what you need, Cheryl. because I know who you are. you would rather people fear than like you, so you traffic in terror and intimidation. you're rich, so you've never been held accountable. but I'm living proof... that certainty, that entitlement you wear on your head like a crown, it won't last. eventually, there will be a reckoning. or maybe that reckoning is now... and maybe that reckoning is me. Betty and I come as a matching set. you want one, you take us both. you wanted fire? sorry Cheryl Bombshell, my specialty is ice."

Veronica talks like she's in a commercial at all times

Hiram (Veronica's dad) sends Hermione (her mother) a bag full of loose cash and honestly that's what I want in a husband

they keep Lili Reinhart in that tight Jojo Siwa ponytail for so much of this show that it's a relief to see her with her hair down

"can't we, in this post-James Franco world, be all things at once?" ????

Cheryl asked the pussycats to cover the song her parents claimed to be listening to the night she and Jason were conceived

Betty can't even tell Archie she likes him without reminding him that she's a cheerleader and he's a football player and therefore they MUST be meant for each other

"let's see who's riding the ginger stallion tonight" I think now is a good time to remind everyone that the Riverdale showrunner used to write erotic fanfiction abt the archie comics characters and is CLEARLY living out his fantasies with this show

Jughead finally decided to show up 40 minutes in

the Riverdale water polo team is called the Aquaholics ????

Kevin tries to go skinny dipping and finds Jason's dead body. end of episode

you can find more episodes here :)

[jabithajates]

top five jabitha has

Gotcha anon.

God I have so many but these are my top 5 in order that I’ve thought of on this Friday night:

5) Big spoon Tabitha and little spoon Jughead. When will we see it on screen.

4) Pop being the first honorary guest in their new apartment and getting served a nice Italian dinner they cooked together.

3) Jughead staying with Tabitha after the arson… 😏

2) Jabitha visiting Chicagoland is…my everything. I have so many good ideas for it. For now, I love the idea of them stopping for a kiss in the heart of the city on a busy spring night.

1) One of Jughead’s best monologues is at the end of 5x16 when Tabitha and Betty are on The Lonely Highway and he’s at AA, conflicted by his need to let go of control and his fear that something bad will happen…which kept gnawing. He looks so sick to his stomach during that meeting. I think it took everything in him to go to Archie’s instead of back to the diner to wait for them, wait for her, especially since he feels particularly responsible for sending her out there. Before Tabitha left to go get Betty, I can see him just sitting at the counter like he is in the episode, turning around and looking at her with large, worried, eyes as she walks to leave and asking her, “Please just let me know if you’re safe.” And she gives him a smile and tells him “Of course.”

She follows up on it and texts him updates throughout the night. He can breathe normally again when she finally texts that her and Betty are going back to the diner, but doesn’t think about sleeping until she tells him that she’s back in her apartment, deadbolt locked.