It’s Riverdale’s season three episode five: this season and the murder mystery are slowly beginning to shape up. The episode was really focused on the main characters and how they are reacting to this difficult situation. It could have been a powerful episode, but it ended up being overdramatic. I didn’t like many aspects of the episode, but let’s summarize what happened.
The Lodges welcome a wealthy family in Riverdale and Veronica has to deal with their son, a guy with whom she flirted in New York. Things take an awful turn when he tries to force himself on both Veronica and Cheryl. Betty continues to receive a phone call from the murderer and he starts asking requests. She will have to publish an article against her mother, she will have to cut ties with Veronica and Jughead or he will kill Polly. Betty searches comfort in Archie. I was surprised by Archie's reaction: he was obsessed by this situation and now can we believe that he is almost relaxed about it?
The episode ends with Betty’s meeting with the killer: he tells her that they are the same. As everyone was expecting it, Jughead kisses the Southside serpent girl. I didn’t enjoy this episode: the story was so predictable, and I didn’t find any juicy plot twists or crazy moments. The first four episodes were more convincing, and I hope the writers won’t push too much the accelerator on the dramatic turns.
The show is also giving less and less space to the secondary characters. I don’t see the point of creating a narrative universe with so many possibilities in the storytelling if you don’t give enough margin of expression to each of them. A Tv Series like Grey’s Anatomy has always found the right balance and I believe that Riverdale should work on that.
All in all, the episode was pretty weak. I hope they will find a more honest and authentic way of developing these rich and complex storylines.
And you? What do you think of “When a Stranger Calls”?
