For all its downright amazing aspects (okay, really the only things amazing about this show are the reimagining of Betty and Veronica and the whole Jughead-as-a-goth thing), one thing Riverdale consistently tries and fails at is actual character development. Hermione Lodge? Totally up to her ears in her husband's dirty deeds and the show doesn't even try to cast her in a more sympathetic light (working at a diner and secretly making illegal deals is NOT an arc!). Reggie? He's the same alpha-douche he is in the comics with the added benefit of being portrayed as a dumber than usual douchebag. Even when the show tries to add depth to otherwise unnecessarily shallow characters (Fred Andrews?), it always comes off as half-handed and underwhelming before the writers seemingly realize that they like these characters to remain in a familiar rut. Then...the funeral happened and finally, mercifully showed us all that this show might finally have some legs to make older fans uncomfortable.
Okay, total confession: I'm totally in the whole camp that believes Polly (Betty's sister) is pregnant and away because of her "sickness" and the show itself hasn't really done a good job of trying to make that anything less than a really lousy red herring. And, while there are small bits of info regarding Jason Blossom as ranging anywhere between a generally bad person to a total future serial killer, the fact that his only confirmed (and definitively described) actions are almost exclusively noble tend to put a wrench in the whole "He was killed for being a total bastard" theory. Outside of some out-of-this-world twist meant to uproot the entire plot, it all still comes down to the idea that Jason abandoned his family for a probably noble cause (Polly) and was killed by someone who probably believed the less noble things about him (which could still be almost anyone directly related to the whole forbidden romance in the first place). The fact that Cheryl has finally become less of a basket case and accepted that her brother was less than perfect (even though the journal from the last episode kind of hints otherwise) and finally been given room to grow before her mother stamped it out also lends to the idea that maybe she's not just the bitch character in this scenario. What can I say? I love when characters finally show a little more life beyond their initial impressions and the CW isn't known for that kind of nuance.
As for bad, its still kind of sad that the show is skimping on actual answers 5 episodes in even without any real hint of the direction its planning on going. Instead of solving anything (I don't care if its unrelated to the main murder mystery), the show continues to pile on plot threads that, at this current rate, could cause the entire series to bog down into little more than a bad teen melodrama long before its first season is up. Dear writers, solve a few problems before you go on to others. If you want to make the murder mystery the big payoff, fine. But, for the love of God, please don't keep dangling so many bizarre plot threads (Hermione's activities, Betty's "problems", Archie's new music stuff) above everything else! You did fine when you finally got rid of the whole Grundy thing in the last episode (which probably should have happened an episode sooner). Please don't bog us down with something that feels so unnecessary and pandering toward future seasons you don't even have yet!
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