Riverdale season 2 trailer analysis: Is Archie’s dad alive?
In looking back at it once more now, that sentiment rests … but there are also still questions. For example, we have a warning within this clip about the “angel of death” coming to town. Is this said Angel perhaps spending a little too much time here? The entire first season was themed around the death of Jason Blossom, and then in the finale, Jason’s father committed suicide with the grief and revelations looming large all around him. Meanwhile, Cheryl Blossom burned her house down and Archie’s father was shot. Such a nice, happy finale (obvious sarcasm) for a show based on a comic strip that was often so light and happy.
What we appreciate is that the show won’t be forgetting what happened to Jason — or that this is a town where fathers kill their sons — based on the trailer. What we worry about is that we’re getting near Murder, She Wrote territory. We understand that this is a reference perhaps too dated for the majority of the Riverdale faithful, so let’s explain — this show was set in a relatively small community, and yet there were murders happening almost every week. By the time the show was over, there were all sorts of rumors about whether or not Angela Lansbury’s leading lady was running around killing all of these people only to frame other people for it. If you kill too often, things become weird and comical — Riverdale isn’t a show with that sort of energy. You also become a little too much like Pretty Little Liars, which is a good show. Still, you don’t want to become that either. Preserving your own identity and style is key to having a long life on the air.
One of the elements in the whole incident with Archie’s father that is so interesting, beyond the fact that the man is still alive, is the way that Archie reacts in the trailer to Jughead’s question. He clearly knows more than he is letting on, so why keep it a secret? Much of that could just be the result of trauma, and not that Archie has something to hide — which is by far the easier assumption to draw based on what you see here. He may be trying to block out what he saw, or afraid that ratting out the guilty party will lead to them eventually coming back. The thing that you have to effectively remember is that Archie is not a kid who is prepared to be able to handle this sort of thing. He’s still in high school, and you cannot expect him to act rationally in the way that adults would in this situation. He’s gone through so much the past year that he may be shutting down.
Also, there’s the other issue here of Cheryl Blossom, who is not acting rationally because A) she’s not getting the help that she needs and B) she’s had a whole chorus of trauma her entire life. When you spend your entire time around people who are terrible, that often does make you unable to properly function.
Have any further takeaways from the Riverdale season 2 trailer? Check that out, complete with bloopers, below! Also, you can visit this link to secure some additional insight right now when it comes to the series. (Photo: The CW.)