WIT: What I Thought About Riverdale Season 6
I finally got around to watching season 6 of Riverdale.
I haven’t done a WIT in a while. The last one I did was way back in July of 2022. I also haven’t watched Riverdale in a while. The last time I watched the show was also way back in July of 2022, and that was season 5. Since then, the show has concluded with its seventh and final season ending in August of 2023. I’ve got a lot of catching up to do.
So I finally sat my ass down and watched season 6 of Riverdale. All I can say is…
HOLY SHIT.
This season was off the fucking rails, and I loved every crazy second of it.
Since I haven’t done one of these articles in almost two years, let me recap what WIT is.
WIT, short for “What I Thought“, is a series where I review TV shows. Except, unlike my normal reviews, WITs consist of short to-the-point blurbs about things in the show. Basically, they’re a compilation of all the various idle thoughts I had while watching the show.
So without further ado, here’s what I thought about season 6 of Riverdale.
1. Jughead as Rod Serling
Having Jughead imitate Rod Serling during the Rivervale arc was surprisingly fun to watch, and I could see Cole Sprouse actually hosting The Twilight Zone, or at least a similar series.
Cole Sprouse has really come a long way as an actor since the days of The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, and his performance as Jughead Jones is testament to that.
2. Veronica fucking up Reggie’s ride over a picture.
The one downside to dating latinas: They’re crazy AF.
3. Why does Kevin always get screwed?
Man sold his soul to the devil. He put his Broadway dream on hold to be his dad’s deputy. He got mollywopped with a hammer. He tried to screw over Fangs and Toni. Again he falls for some mind control bullshit.
I’m tired of seeing Kevin Keller get fucked over. He’s a decent guy with a good heart, he doesn’t deserve to be shit on at every turn. If Kevin doesn’t get a happy ending with Moose in season 7 I’m going to burn the studio to the damn ground.
I will say though, I’m happy Kevin got more musical numbers this season. Casey Cott has an amazing voice.
4. The guy playing the devil reminds me of Tom Ellis
Louis Cypher’s actor definitely watched Lucifer to prepare for his role. I can’t blame him, Tom Ellis is a phenomenal actor.
5. Pop’s Diner is the same diner from Resident Alien
It took me six seasons of Riverdale and three seasons of Resident Alien to finally realize this, and I feel like a damn idiot. On top of that, Pop Tate’s actor also played Sheriff “Big Black” Mike’s father in a few episodes.
Maybe the final season of Riverdale ends with the town renaming itself Patience, and we find out that it wasn’t actually in upstate New York, but Colorado.
6. Finally, Sabrina has come to Riverdale Rivervale
Finally, the crossover we’ve all been waiting for!
I don’t know why I got so hyped over this, I still haven’t watched The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. Kiernan Shipka is fucking hot though, so I should definitely get on this soon. And Kiernan Shipka should definitely get on me.
7. Episode 100
Holy. Fucking. SHIT. Where do I even begin? I could probably give this episode its own article. I’ll try to keep this brief though.
Jughead seeing those comics must have been freaky.
Lol at Reggie questioning why he looks different on two covers. When this happened, I thought it was just going to be nothing more than a funny little nod to the fact that they changed Reggie’s actor in season 2. But then those magnificent bastards on the Riverdale writing team went and actually brought back the original actor and had the two Reggies meet. Not only that, they even made Veronica suggest what we were all thinking when she was alone with them.
I’m also glad that Dilton Doily finally got the sci-fi plot he deserved, even if it was only for a moment.
Jughead’s afterlife was a nice little nod to classic Archie, complete with “Sugar Sugar” playing on loop.
This was a terrific episode, and the writers really pulled out all the stops here to make a memorable 100th episode.
8. Big Booty Barb lives again!
Yeah, this joke has long since run its course. I’m not even sure why I thought Shannon Purser was attractive. Though it did look like she lost a little bit of weight, so maybe one day we’ll get the Big Booty Barb we deserve.
9. Capeshit? In MY Riverdale?
Apparently the magic stuff and everyone getting superpowers annoyed a lot of viewers. Those viewers are retards, this is classic Archie shenanigans.
A lot of people really don’t realize or appreciate just how much Riverdale actually draws from the comics. Most of these people haven’t actually read the comics and don’t know much beyond the love triangle between Archie, Betty, and Veronica. South Park once said The Simpsons has done everything already. Archie Comics has done everything about three times over in its 80+ year history. Including giving them superpowers.
Anyone complaining about magic in a show based off Archie Comics is a moron. Sabrina the Teenage Witch has always been an established part of Archie’s universe, and considering the Riverdale team also made Chilling Adventures it should have been obvious that a crossover was inevitable.
10. Veronica’s mom is a reality TV star.
Great to see Marisol Nichols back for an episode. Turning her into a Real Housewives caricature was perfect for her character, and I’m surprised they didn’t do that sooner.
11. Glenn’s heel turn
Straight outta left field with that attempted rape. I get that they wanted to give the Trash Bag Killer a reason to kill him, but still, I don’t think he deserved to become a scumbag.
Also, I’m disappointed that we didn’t get to see the superpowered ass-whooping that Archie gave him. In fact, it seems like there were quite a few scenes this season that prematurely ended, mostly with Archie using his powers. Super strength isn’t that hard to depict.
12. The Holy Grail and the Spear of Destiny
Only Riverdale’s writing team could find a way to work Biblical artifacts into the story.
13. Percival is a better villain than Hiram.
I loved Mark Consuelos (no homo), but Hiram Lodge wore his welcome out as a villain, and I’m glad Mark left the show.
Percival Pickens was cold, meticulous, and calculating. Hiram was also cold, meticulous, and calculating, but more often than not he let his ego and pride get in the way. This worked for Hiram, because as a businessman you’d expect him to be prideful, and his lack of humility contrasted with Archie’s own humility and sense of justice. Hiram also still cared quite a bit about Veronica (as we hear in his final message to her after she has him killed), and as such showed a little bit of restraint when it came to dealing with her friends.
Percival on the other hand is a sorcerer from an alternate universe. He doesn’t have the same attachment as Hiram (and of course his powers), so he didn’t care about holding back.
There wasn’t anything wrong with Hiram, but by the fourth season he just didn’t seem like a real threat anymore, and started to become more of an annoyance. “Hiram Lodge is trying to take over the town again to line his pockets.”
It got old, and I think if Hiram had been the big bad of season 6 it would have been ridiculous even by Riverdale standards. Seriously, how much more shit were you going to let him get away with before you said enough’s enough and picked him off from 500 yards or hid a bomb in his car?
Percival was a breath of fresh air, and provided the perfect foe for Archie and his superpowered friends.
14. I fucking love Dr. Curdle Jr.
I’m going to say this every season.
I really love this character, and I love how his actor goes balls to the wall in every scene he’s in. This guy is always dialed up to 11, and I can’t get enough of it. I wish Dr. Curdle had his own series, it would be like House, but somehow even more awesome.
15. Finally, Sabrina has come to Riverdale.
Finally, the actual crossover we’ve all been waiting for!
In case you haven’t figured it out yet, I’m writing this as I watch each episode. That’s why I didn’t comment on this back in number 6.
Having Sabrina show up for a full episode was awesome, even if all she did was some basic necromancy. If Sabrina had decided to actually do something about Percival the season would have ended right there because she’d have mopped the fucking floor with his pasty British arse.
I’m also glad she didn’t fuck her dead boyfriend while he was in Jughead’s body. Don’t do Tabitha Tate dirty like that.
16. Jughead’s afterlife
In episode 100 we get a brief glimpse of Jughead’s version of Heaven, basically 60’s Pop’s Diner and everyone in their classic outfits from the comic books.
The Sabrina episode shows a little more of this afterlife, and also includes one little detail that I absolutely fucking loved: Jughead’s posture.
In the comics, Jughead is a dopey looking lanky guy who’s always slouched over. Obviously Riverdale‘s Jughead is a lot different from comics Jughead (as I’ve both complained about and praised in the past). But for just one moment, when Sabrina sits down with Jughead at that booth in the afterlife, we see Cole Sprouse do a classic Jughead pose almost perfectly:
Cole Sprouse nailed that trademark Jughead slouching flawlessly, and even though it was the most minor of details I thought it was incredible and shows the attention to detail that both the actors and the writers have actually paid to the source material.
17. Baby Anthony is immortal.
Behold, the power of having three gay parents.
18. Betty’s final battle with the Trash Bag Killer was anticlimactic
I don’t know what I was expecting, but I was hoping for something a little more than TBK basically letting Betty kill him. I get that it was meant to get inside Betty’s head and cause her to doubt herself later, but there could have at least been somewhat of a fight. It also kind of sucks that we never learn more about TBK, like why he killed or who he was outside of being a serial killer. Hell, the only time we get to see his actual face is when he infiltrates Archie’s work crew. I wish they had expanded just a little more on TBK rather than unceremoniously kill him.
Also, there was apparently a serial killer IRL named “The Trash Bag Killer” who was active back in the 60’s and 70’s. TIL.
19. That timebomb prop sure is getting a lot of use.
That thing has appeared so much this season I’m surprised it wasn’t listed in the main credits.
20. The final battle with Percival was surprisingly fun to watch
The weird Scarlett Witch shit with Cheryl was kind of cringe, but the fight with Percival was actually entertaining. Him and Archie slogging it out then the rest of the main characters coming out with baseball bats and rolling on his ass hood-style was cathartic af. Watching Jughead trick him into leaving his body while the Rivervale alternates ganked his ass like the booth was a prison shower, that was even better. But then Tabitha pulling him into a time loop and turning him over to the Devil?
Percival got the ending he deserved. Props to Chris O’Shea for playing this villain so well.
21. “That’s queerbaiting, Veronica!”
Madelaine Petsch and Camila Mendes realized that scene where they “had to” kiss was just fan service.
Also, there’s no way this show isn’t for men. In fact, I had this very conversation with my girlfriend, and she insists that men are the primary demographic for the show. There’s so much lesbian sex in this series it could qualify as softcore porn.
And that’s okay with me.
22. 1955
OH SHI-
So over the span of six seasons we’ve went from a murder mystery to a high school drama to a sci-fi series with religious undertones. I can’t think of any better love letter to Archie Comics than what Riverdale has given us over the years. I’ve said this many times over the course of these WITs, but so many people don’t realize just how wild Archie Comics really is and how much they’ve done during their 80+ years in publication. They really are great comics that are about so much more than Archie not being able to decide between Betty and Veronica, and I urge anyone who enjoyed Riverdale to give them a shot.
I can’t wait to dive into season 7, because I just know that shit is gonna be wild.
