Distributor: Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
Episodes: 13
Duration: 40 min (per episode)
Riverdale: Season1 (DVD) – Series Review
If we had to describe Riverdale in only a few words, we’d say that it was about a bunch of teens trying to discover who killed one of their classmates. While that is certainly true, there is more to it than meets the eye, as the characters of this series are based on the characters of Archie Comics. They first came to life in the 1940s as comic book characters, but now, more than seventy years later, they got their own television series, being Riverdale. The readers of the original stories might have gotten a bit old to enjoy this series, but for the teens of this day, it promises quite a good story.
Riverdale is a small town in America, where uneventful life goes on as usual, until the sudden death of Jason Blossom (Trevor Stines) on the fourth of July. Jason was quarterback of the football team at Riverdale High, and twin brother of Cheryl Blossom (Madelaine Petsch), the captain of the cheerleading squad. Jason drowned in the river after running away from home, or so it is assumed, as his body has not been recovered.
Around the same time, Veronica Lodge (Camila Mendez), the daughter of a millionaire who is in prison facing embezzlement charges, arrives in town together with her mother Hermione (Marisol Nichols). When Veronica walks into Pop’s while best friends Betty Cooper (Lili Reinhart) and Archie Andrews (K.J. Apa) are having a milkshake, Archie is immediately captivated by her appearance, much to Betty’s dislike, as she has feelings for him. Nonetheless, Veronica turns out to be quite nice, and she and Betty become friends. The talk of the day is of course Jason’s murder, as they are all devastated by what happened, but when Kevin Keller (Casey Cott), one of Betty and Archie’s friends, finds Jason’s body by the riverbank with a bullet through his forehead, things start to get really creepy, really fast.
Archie, Betty, Kevin, Veronica and their friend Jughead (Cole Sprouse) start to investigate the murder of Jason themselves, suspecting everybody, including Cheryl, Jason’s parents and even their own parents. What they don’t know about each other though, is that they all have secrets of their own.
The storyline of Riverdale is definitely not bad, even though it might be a bit typical for a teen series. Defying the police and running their own investigation, we’ve all seen it before. Nonetheless, the story itself is kept quite interesting with lots of twists throughout the thirteen episodes. The only thing we didn’t really like is the amount of romances going on in this first season, but hey, they are young and they go after what they want, whether it be a boyfriend or girlfriend, or finding Jason’s killer. That must count for something, no?
All main characters in this series are still in high school, making the actors quite young. Almost none of them have any experience in a big series, but that didn’t seem to matter, as the acting was certainly on point. Lili Reinhart was very enjoyable to watch as the perfect girl-next-door Betty, and also Camila Mendez proved she was right for the role of Veronica Lodge, the spoiled daughter of a millionaire, who goes after what she wants, even when it means breaking the rules, but always for a good cause.
We were surprised to see that there are quite some extras included in this DVD release of Riverdale’s first season. During the series, Archie discovers his love for music, and even writes his own songs. In the extras, you’ll be treated to his songs once more, so you can listen to them as many times as you want. Next to that, there are also some deleted scenes and a gag reel. Also an interview with cast and crew at Comic Con 2016 is included, as well as some more information about how it all came to be. This last extra was very interesting we found, as it focuses more on the series being based on the Archie Comics characters, which have been around for many decades already.
Conclusion
All in all, Riverdale is a nice series to watch. It’s predictable in some ways, unpredictable in others, and carries enough drama to be worthy of the teen drama genre. The acting was quite decent, and the extras certainly add something to your experience. We were not completely blown away by it, but teens will certainly love it.
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