For all the US TV fans out there, Riverdale is a fan-favorite show right now. Based on the fictional town of Riverdale, the show explores the journeys of High school Students turned successful adults. With a new mystery taking over the town each season, Riverdale explores Cults, Murders, Monsters, Killers, Deadly Games, Supernatural entities and what not! (By the way, it also explores friendships and relationships but who cares about them among such mysteries!)
Riverdale features the-boy-next-door Archie Andrews, The next to perfect Betty Cooper, The Queen NYC Girl Veronica Lodge, Mr. weirdo Jughead Jones, Savage and influential Cheryl Blossom among others.
Talking about Archie Andrews, he is the teen jock of Riverdale. Fred and Mary's son, he has always followed his father's dream to devote his everything for the betterment of Riverdale. Archie has been best friends with Jughead and Betty since childhood. Betty developed feelings for Archie, which she ended up revealing to him during the semi-formal.
However, he didn't reciprocate her feelings and decided to stay just friends with Betty. This caused a temporary strain in their relationship. At the time, Archie was instead drawn to Veronica, who had just moved to Riverdale from New York following the arrest of her wealthy father, Hiram Lodge. During the course of the series, Archie and Veronica are in an on-and-off relationship. He eventually begins dating Betty as well.
Shortly after Hiram's release from prison, he began to take Archie in under his wing and mentor him, given his relationship with Veronica. However, as Archie realized that Hiram was guiding him down a dark path, their relationship soured. Hiram framed Archie for the murder of Cassidy Bullock, who mugged Archie, Veronica, Betty and Jughead while they were visiting Shadow Lake. Cassidy was actually shot by Andre, Hiram's capo.
Archie's Trial
Three months have passed since that fateful evening in the school gymnasium where Archie was framed by Hiram Lodge and arrested for the murder of Cassidy Bullock. It's now the summer before the gang's junior year of high school.
During the trial, Archie was represented by his mother, Mary Andrews. The opposing counsel's representative Ms. Wright focused on Archie's violent history with Nick St. Claire as well as the Red Circle. Mary shifted the focus on Archie's positive side and his helpful nature.
However, Archie states that it was Andre who did the killing. However, Ms. Wright insists that Archie pulled the trigger in her closing argument. The Judge reveals that the jury is still deliberating, but he's also dismissed them for the evening. They're sequestered and he's instructed them not to read anything about this case, nor to discuss it with anyone.
They'll reconvene all Tuesday morning after Labor Day. With that being said, the Judge advises Archie to spend the weekend with his family and loved ones.
Archie spends the weekend with his loved ones, i.e. Betty, Veronica, Jughead and his parents. Archie later gets a Southside Serpents tattoo from FP. However, Archie is merely an honorary Serpent. The first thing Jughead learned at Southside High was that you need to roll with a crew to survive. There are gonna be Serpents in juvenile detention. Archie needs to find them. That tattoo is going to get Archie in and offer protection.
Labor Day weekend is over and Archie must now return to court. Archie's trial is now in session. However, the jury could not reach a verdict. They were Six-to-six. With that, the jury is dismissed. Mary explains that the judge will declare a mistrial and they'll have to do it all again.
The State was prepared to offer a deal for a lesser sentence, Ms. Wright says. Archie can get time served plus two years in juvenile detention, if he will plead guilty to the crime. Despite his mother's counsel, Archie takes the deal. Archie explains that he can't put all the people he cares about through this again.
The court accepts Archie's guilty plea and he is taken directly from the courthouse to the Leopold and Loeb Juvenile Detention Center, where he will serve out his sentence beginning immediately. As he's being taken away, Archie gives Mary a hug and says I Love You to Veronica.
Leopold and Loeb Juvenile Detention Center-
Archie reaches there and meets his warden, Warden Norton. Archie was bunking with a fellow inmate named Mad Dog. He attempts to introduce himself, but Mad Dog isn't the slightest bit interested in becoming friendly with his new cellmate. However, he does warn Archie about his shoes and how they will draw unwanted attention to him.
Archie goes to the prison yard and finds the Southside Serpents of the juvenile detention center. He asks to sit. It's only when he flashes his new Serpent tattoo that they allow him to. Slash, one of the Serpents, asks about Archie's tattoo. Archie tells him that it was done by FP Jones.
They said that he could hang out with them. As it comes to Archie’s surprise, Joaquin is also locked up, and he knows that Archie is not really a Serpent. Joaquin outs Archie to Slash and the other Serpents.
And because of that, Archie has to earn their trust if he wants their protection. Joaquin pulls a shiv out of his shoe and hands it to Archie. To earn the Serpents’ protection, Archie must prove himself by stabbing a Ghoulie. The serpents paid the guards to turn blind-eye. Nevertheless, Archie refuses this challenge.
In the music room, Archie finds himself confronted by the Ghoulies, who stride towards him and surround him. The leader speaks out to him asking if he remembers them, but Archie has no recollection. The Ghoulie reminds him of the drag race – the day when Archie called the cops on them. He is the reason for their staying in the detention center. They then proceed to hold Archie down and beat him up. They took his shoes as well. After this, Mad Dog tells Archie that he is not a member of either of the gang but still no one messes with him. Mad Dog advises Archie to be an animal before they kill him like one.
Veronica brings new Blue and Gold sneakers to Archie. When he wears them, Joaquin warns him again but this time, Archie replies that he wants to live here and most of them won't even be here if this gang war continues. He said that He doesn't know the triumphs and defeats, the epic highs and lows of high school football, But he will.
At least for one afternoon, when all of them play one game to remind everyone that they're not animals. Not Ghoulies versus Serpents. No gangs. They'll mix it up for a clean, fair game. Mad Dog agrees with Archie. If they keep killing each other, the warden and guards are the only ones who win. Something that Mad Dog is very much familiar with. As an added bonus, Archie offers up his sneaker to MVP.
The inmates play the match with River Vixens cheering them on from outside of the prison fence. Warden Norton orders a riot in which the guards beat up the prisoners, hence putting the game to an end. When Archie returns to his cell, he notices Mad Dog is missing.
Warden Norton placed a sack over Archie’s head and took him to "the pit", which appears to be some kind of organized, underground fight club that pits prisoner against prisoner. In this particular fight, Joaquin is one of the fighters and he appears to be on the losing end of the fight.
When Archie refused his offer, Warden Norton, being aware of Archie and Joaquin being friends, blackmailed Archie to replace Joaquin. As Joaquin's life is threatened, Archie agrees. Archie is introduced to the other members of the fight club.
After a series of events, Archie plans a prison escape as he knows that they are going to end up dead due to fighting with each other if this continues. He, Joaquin and others try to escape when the electric fence comes down but are shot by rubber bullets by the guards. Archie is then branded with a searing hot branding iron. After his next fight, which he wins, he meets Veronica in the locker room.
Veronica tells him that while she’s been pursuing legal options, she keeps hitting dead-ends. Which is why she’s thinking an old fashioned prison break may be Archie’s only option. Archie recalls Warden Norton having him hose down the pool to get rid of all the blood a couple weeks ago.
There’s a drain under the ring, but Archie has no idea where it leads or if he can even get through it. But if there’s a chance, they have to take it. Veronica will do some research to see where the drain leads and tells Archie to be ready when the time is right.
Before his final fight, Joaquin stabs Archie as he cuts a deal with Warden Norton. A wounded Archie is escorted to the ring where he is surprised to see Mad Dog as his opponent. Archie’s been under the impression that Mad Dog was dead, asking where he has been, but Mad Dog only responds by punching Archie in the face. Archie grabs onto Mad Dog in order to talk to him without anyone noticing.
Archie explains that there’s a plan in place. Veronica will cause a commotion and Archie will make a break for the drain under the ring. He wants Mad Dog to join him. Mad Dog refuses to join but he agrees to help Archie to break out by giving him a head start.
Before long, Veronica executes her plan and the ring is filled with smoke. When it does, Archie makes his escape. He tries to take Mad Dog with him but it would never work. Mad Dog had tried to get through the drain before and failed. He tells Archie to go without him. He will stay behind and hold off the guards. Archie crawls through the drain.
When he makes it to the end, he finds Betty outside the pipe, picking open the pipe. He’s bloody and covered in sludge, but Betty helps him out the pipe. She’s overjoyed having helped free him. She notices his stab wound and helps to apply pressure. Archie is taken to Dilton's bunker.
After Betty, Veronica, Josie, Kevin and Reggie arrive to regroup with the others, Toni patches Archie up and tells him not to make any sudden movements.
Soon after these events, Archie and Kevin go to Shadow Lake to search for Cassidy's friends. They find the boys in wounded condition as Sheriff Minetta tried to murder them. The boys succumb to their wounds while Archie blames himself for all this. He decides to leave Riverdale forever with Jughead as his support system. He calls and breaks up with Veronica leaving her shattered and in tears.
So, to conclude, this was just one of the many many experiences the kids had when they were in Riverdale High. Now adults, The gang is still navigating with strange experiences such as Supernatural powers and Giant comets hitting Riverdale etc etc. As we await for the last and final Season 7 of Riverdale, we can't and won't stop binging the show's old episodes just to have some good old mysteries making us curious again!
