Reggie Joins The Bulldogs On This Week’s ‘Riverdale’
by Rachel Bellwoar
If absence makes the heart grow fonder, then Reggie (Charles Melton) returning to Riverdale this week should be quite the love fest, except (going by this trailer), he won’t be returning but enrolling as a new student. In fact, all that ’50s Riverdale seems to know about Reggie is that he can play basketball, which makes Coach Frank (Ryan Robbins, sporting a Ted Lasso moustache but not the Ted Lasso kindness) very happy.
Given that Julian (Nicholas Barasch) is already fulfilling the role of high school bully, does that mean Reggie and Archie (KJ Apa) could be friends in this version of Riverdale? Archie and Kevin (Casey Cott) bonding last week was certainly unexpected but delicately handled, too, in that it’s unclear whether Archie ever really comprehended what everyone was insinuating about Kevin which, how could he? Nobody would explain what they meant, outside of making homophobic remarks and stereotyping, but given that he was having trouble understanding, Archie followed his gut instead of the crowd, and that’s not always common. Archie could’ve settled for not being one of the bullies. That he instead doubled his efforts to befriend Kevin, and didn’t leave it up to him to reach out, is pretty awesome, without feeling like the show trying to rewrite the ’50s. Hopefully their friendship is bigger than this episode and gets to be explored further.
Some other thoughts on last week’s episode:
- So far Kevin and Betty (Lili Reinhart) have managed to avoid getting sent to join Ethel (Shannon Purser) at the Sisters of Quiet Mercy. Sheriff Keller (Martin Cummins) and Alice (Mädchen Amick) seem to think parental disappointment will make their children see sense, but will their luck hold out, and how about Jughead (Cole Sprouse), as narrator, only seeing how Dr. Werthers (Malcolm Stewart) questioning Betty will benefit him and take some of the heat off? Fat chance.
- Getting a high school student to peer pressure his son into spending a night with a prostitute (Alaina Huffman) might be a new low for Sheriff Keller last week.
- Nicole Kidman isn’t the only star who can do commercials for movie theaters. Veronica (Camila Mendes) can, too, plus kudos to Riverdale‘s writer for naming the theater, Babylonium, after present day Veronica’s speakeasy.
Riverdale airs Wednesdays on The CW.