Riverdale

Overview

Archie Comics enters TV and while the show is much better than the really horrible TV movie (don’t look it up), it’s a dark ‘subversive’ take on the world. Everyone has hidden secrets.

They kept gay Kevin Keller, but Jughead is no longer asexual (or perhaps is not yet asexual), and the very first episode gave us a faux-lesbian kiss with Betty and Veronica. After one season it was too-soon-to-tell.

Season two got better with the addition of Toni Topaz as an out bisexual recurring character and the coming out of main character Cheryl Blossom. By the end of season two Toni and Cheryl were in a cute and unique relationship. Sadly Riverdale jumped the shark not long after and has been pretty weird ever since. How weird? Well, Cheryl kept the stuffed/taxidermied body of her dead twin in the basement.

The series continued to get even weirder and weirder, complete with allowing possession by queer ancestors so they could have sex and save the world from a meteor. And then they were all rocketed to the 1950s.

The show ends with Riverdale as a town, lost in time. They reboot from the 1950s and live out their lives from then on, ending happily.

Technically everyone dies of old age at the end, but also everyone lives again forever in Pop’s diner, as 17 year olds.

Queer Plotline Timeline

In season one, Cheryl’s actions towards girls was a bit off. She was close friends with Josie McCoy, harboring what appeared to be a crush, but nothing was said. In season two, we meet openly bisexual Toni. Midway through the season, Cheryl tells Toni she was in love with her best friend in Jr. High, Heather.

In season one and in season seven there were hints and suggestions that Betty might be queer. In season seven she fantasized making out with Veronica, but that is not confirmation she is or isn’t queer, just sexually repressed since the fantasy occurred while Betty was a teenager in the 1950s.

Notable Queer-Centric Episodes

Season 2, Episode 3 “Chapter Sixteen: Watcher in the Woods” – Toni makes out with Jughead, but says she’s more into girls.
Season 2, Episode 14 “Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Hills Have Eyes” – Cheryl admits to Toni she’s always been into girls.
Season 2, Episode 16 “Chapter Twenty-Nine: Primary Colors” – Toni rescues Cheryl from a gay conversion institution.
Season 6, Episode 99 “Chapter Ninety-Nine: The Witching Hour(s)” – Cheryl tells a story of her ancestors, all of whom are super gay witches, and are punished for it. Bitsy (Betty’s ancestor) is strongly implied to have been in love with Poppy (one of Cheryl’s) but choses to be with her husband in the end. It’s unknown if this just a phase, a cry for affection, or actual love, as the episode leaves it to the viewer. (This episode takes place in RiverVale, and may or may not be canon.)