Riverdale S3, Episode 6 review – Manhunter
By Tribute on December 3, 2018 | 2 Comments
Spoilers below!
Why, why, why do the kids keep fornicating in Dilton’s Bunker? First it was Betty (Lili Reinhart) and Jughead (Cole Sprouse). Now it’s Archie (KJ Apa) and Veronica (Camila Mendes)?
Gross! I bet even the Gargoyle King wouldn’t approach that bed.
On the one hand, I’ve really been enjoying this season of Riverdale. The prison escape episode was a highlight not only of this season, but the entire series. On the other hand, it still feels like the scope of this show has gotten too big.
Riverdale is supposed to be a high school show, and yet all I’m seeing are bunkers, prisons, jails, mayoral offices, speakeasies and railroad tracks.
I don’t know, it just feels like the Riverdale writers are writing themselves into a corner. I thought this show was a coming-of-age story for the four leads. Jughead was supposed to learn to come out of his shell and make friends. That’s what his birthday party in season one was for.
Betty was supposed to become more assertive and overcome her self-harm behavior. What happened to that?
Cheryl was supposed to be the villain you loved to hate.
In a future feature, I will contrast Riverdale with another television series based on Archie Comics characters, and what Riverdale can learn from this series.
So why do I think this show is being written into a corner?
First, there’s the Gargoyle King and the entire G&G plot. By making this plot line so grandiose and supernatural, it’s inevitably going to lead to a pretty over-the-top climax.
How do you recover from that climax? Do you really think we’re going to go back to the Riverdale of football, music, dating and Pop’s? Keep dreaming.
Secondly, our characters’ interpersonal dynamics have to be put on hold for plot contrivances.
The “goodbye” in this week’s episode between Archie and Veronica felt so meandering. This is just a way to drive another wedge between the two and make their love a triumph over some kind of forced adversity.
Secondly, it’s likely a way for Jughead and Archie to travel to either Chicago (where Archie’s mother — played by Molly Ringwald lives), or to Ohio to introduce us to Jughead’s mother and sister.
The great irony of the Gargoyle King being built up as an unstoppable force of evil is that the scariest villain of all in Riverdale was in season one… and it was Hiram Lodge (Mark Consuelos).
It was the presence of his absence that made him so eerie. Everybody talked about him. Now that he appears in scenes with clumsy dialogue, he just feels incompetent. He’s been bested countless times.
“But he’s being depicted as a two-dimensional villain.” No he isn’t. Villains need clear motivations, and Hiram’s motives have ALWAYS been unclear.
There is NO justifiable reason for many of his crimes. This makes him an annoying, unsympathetic mustache-twirling villain. He has no mystery to him.
Mark Consuelos is the perfect actor for this part. It’s a crying shame what the writers have done to him. They use him too much.
Look at Mary Andrews. Now that is a character with some mystery. She’s used sparingly, which makes her presence feel welcome, ethereal and cherished.
The episode ended with Betty being dragged off to the Sisters of Quiet Mercy. BOO! BOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!
THIS PLOT WAS LITERALLY DONE LAST SEASON WITH CHERYL!
Are you freaking kidding me? Is this just a seasonal occurrence now? Next year it’ll be Veronica’s parents sending her to the Sisters?
Shame on the writers for rehashing the exact same plot. Hey, good news, the kids already have experience breaking someone out of there! Piece of cake!
I have about a million suggestions, but here’s one: less kidnapping and criminal justice — more high school!
Leave your thoughts on this week’s episode in the comments. ~Yanis Khamsi
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I read everyone of these reviews. It’s so nice knowing my performances are being notified so keenly. This writer seems really smart and he’s so funny!
Totally my type 😉
I hated the sisters of quiet mercy rehash! Our lord and saviour Jesus Christ was the Passover lamb who for all of humanity! Why trivialize his church like that!
May the writers of this show all burn in hell for all eternity!