Riverdale, the town with pep! Jason & Cheryl Blossom driving through it, we see the small-town life. a church, a residence, a graveyard, various institutions and establishments, all as necessary for our story as each other, but some with bigger parts to play. the Blossom twins in their roofless car and strangely romantic atmosphere. focus on Cheryl's right white lace glove & red toe-less stiletto heel. they hold hands, ever so briefly. "are you scared, Jason?" he isn't, he smiles. it strikes me as strange that she would ask this in relation to going on a boat-ride in the morning of this july 4th, when the river is calm, the weather is pleasant. why should he be afraid? the shots of them in the row-boat on the river are perfectly tranquil. but then, thunder, Cheryl crying on the rocky bank. the storm doesn't seem to play a particular role in Jason's death, all we learn of it now is that Cheryl dropped a glove and that in his reaching for it Jason capsized the boat, panicked, drowned. she's deep in grief. Alice Cooper shows a distressing malice for the boy, though of course in the presence of only her husband, Hal. Jughead Jones is, as always, on the scene with his camera, and writing at Pop's.
the present, when Veronica Lodge and her mother Hermione arrive to town, is nearly two months later, at nearly the start of the academic year. the tragedy is still fresh in the town's minds. Hermione has a history in town, Veronica knows nothing of it. she's just a big city rich girl, though more relatable than that implies. she has the teenage angst that we come to Riverdale for, and when introduced to the idea of Pop Tate's Chock'lit Shoppe, what with its selling of hamburgers, she expresses the kind of confusion that any newcomer to Riverdale would.
we're introduced to Betty Cooper doing make-up in her bra, with Kevin Keller laying on her bed, schoolgirl style. the straight girl/gay friend dynamic is established instantly; they're talking about Archie Andrews. and establishing one of Riverdale's main themes: teenage sexuality. Kevin's, quite aggressively, encouraging Betty to make a move.
next, we see Betty with Archie at Pop's. Betty is so successful, such a perfect girl here. her internship having gone well, her literary hero having given her life advice, her just being so very sweet. Archie, by comparison, comes across as of a smaller world. not inferior, though he feels so. he's stayed in town, worked manual labor. he has also been discovering his artistry, writing lyrics, for songs to play on his guitar. "like [he'd] finally broken through to something real." he's so excited about it. as Betty says, it's amazing. as soon as she's expressed that, she starts asking the practical questions. Archie does not really know the answers. he's not telling others quite yet. Betty tries to start talking about how she wants to progress their relationship, but Veronica walks in, stealing all the attention. the girl from New York. Betty's the one that's gonna be giving her the tour of the school. "to be continued." Betty realizes that confessing to Archie may not be so successful, so she gives up, for the time being.
Archie's late on the first day of school. his dad, Fred, still brings up working with him after school. Archie is reluctant, makes excuses, valid as they may be. Fred doesn't push it. Betty's mom, meanwhile, is lecturing her on the importance of school & everything to do with it, telling her about preparing for college, even as she's still preparing for the first day of her sophomore year in high-school. comparing her to her sister Polly, said to be "ruined" by Jason Blossom, though the worst thing Alice can find to bring up about Betty is her missing of curfew by seven minutes. Alice doesn't do anything outrageous, but in subtle ways, she is consistently manipulative. refilled Betty's adderall, because it "seems [she] forgot to pick up [her] prescription." the adderall isn't specifically a large issue, it doesn't come up again, but it shows a lot about the kind of mother Alice is.
Archie's reading through his lyrics at his locker, working on them. Reggie comes up to him, starts talking about Archie's body, how he's "ready for football", asking if he's taking something. Archie lets him know it's from working construction. Reggie beckons Moose to join them, asks if Archie got a chance to "tap some cougar ass". Archie retorts, though with a smile. he himself isn't a shitbag, but he's not outraged by the culture by any means. Moose is an active participant.
Betty tries to start off the tour with history, potentially even touch on some heavy stuff, as the school's history starts in 1941. Veronica just makes a snide comment on the school's internal appearance and starts asking about the night-life. Kevin joins them and informs her of the existence of a strip club and a "tragic gay bar", as well as the weekly football games and movie nights, all in a manner that makes clear she shouldn't be excited about any of it. and she isn't. what she's excited about is Kevin's homosexuality. he takes her friendliness as an opportunity to enquire whether it's "true what they say about [her] dad", Veronica informs him she "stand[s] by [him]". this is also the moment she realizes that everyone already knows of what's happened with her father.
Archie approaches Josie and the Pussycats to ask to talk about his songs. Josie immediately starts going off on him, talking about their brand. and while she certainly has a point with regards to their signature look (the hairdos!), and a good bit of the rest of it, the condescending way she's talking to him makes clear the class distinction. Valerie seems quite done with her bullshit, but she doesn't as much as say anything.
Betty introduces the concept of the back-to-school semi-formal dance, Veronica is distracted by the "hottie" Archie. once she's established he's not Betty's (or Kevin's) boyfriend, she asks Betty to put in a word for her, followed by the objectifying "i've tried every flavor of boy but orange." Kevin quickly informs Veronica that while they aren't together yet, Betty and Archie are "endgame". so Veronica immediately switches to recommending that Betty ask Archie to the semi-formal. Kevin, though happy to have someone to help in encouraging Betty, lets us know that the semi-formal may be getting canceled, due to "what happened to Jason". Veronica, of course, does not at all understand the implication.
Cheryl is giving a very emotional speech, still in mourning garb. her veil falls at the top of her eyebrows, leaving her eye make-up, which primarily consists of just deep black spidery top lashes, unobstructed. the shot cuts a few times to different familiar audience members. Jughead is bored and annoyed. were he not dedicated to observation & reporting, he surely could not bring himself to put up with this speech. Cheryl announces, with a bunch of justification, that the semi-formal will not be canceled.
in another audience shot, we see Archie staring over at ms. Grundy. her staring back with a strange sense of sensuality. flashback to summer, similar staring, with Archie on the street & ms. Grundy in her car this time. she pulls up to him, expressing concern with regards to his walking in the heat. after looking him over & taking a moment to contemplate, she offers him a ride. then, rain on her car, them having sexual relations in the backseat. second time in this episode that adversity comes with rain, followed by the title card featuring similar weather.
after the assembly, Archie is chasing ms. Grundy down the crowded hallway, attempting to get her attention, having to resort to calling her Geraldine & grabbing her arm. she responds by acting as normal as she can manage, calling him mr. Andrews. she cannot manage to act very normal. she absolutely reeks of guilt. it's obvious she's not particularly remorseful, just extremely aware of how she would be judged, what would happen to her. she doesn't think Archie is. she's wrong, of course. the only thing he doesn't understand is the extent of power she has over him & just how very vulnerable that makes him. he is infatuated with her, and cares about her immensely. but in this moment, he just wants her to do her job. she lets him know he has to make an appointment during official office hours.
Hermione Lodge is trying to get a job with Fred Andrews, as "someone to help with the books". his previous guy is on paternity leave. she mentions that their children are going to school together, that they've got to tell them about their shared history, though it's nothing particularly significant. Hermione chose the rich kid. she asks about Mary, Fred informs her they've split, that she's in Chicago. Hermione really wants this job. but she's not getting it, not as the wife of Hiram Lodge, a man on trial for fraud and embezzlement.
Archie is showing his music to Betty and Kevin when Veronica walks up. as these are the only people she knows in school, she asks to sit with them. Archie's not quite ready to share his music with a girl he's only just met, so he closes his laptop. she still heard it, though. thankfully for him, everyone likes it. Betty, however, does not appreciate the way Veronica is complimenting Archie. she's jealous and she doesn't see Veronica as being genuine. which is understandable. the next words out of Veronica's mouth are about how strange she finds it that people aren't paying more attention to her. which is also understandable. but everyone's just too busy paying attention to Cheryl. Kevin's referring to her as a "widow" is affirming, lets you know the incestuous undertones really are there. it's just occurred to me that the reason Archie leaves just as Cheryl approaches their table is his guilt over not having told anyone about the gunshot he & ms. Grundy heard. what a beautiful piece of subtle foreshadowing. truly wonderful. Cheryl Blossom plays her role of mean girl so well. she's so insidious and so blatant all at once. i also like how she's had a whole outfit change, complete with switching from a rosy lipstick to a clear gloss. of course she wants to recruit Veronica to be a cheerleader, one of her River Vixens. her response of "is being the gay best friend still a thing?" to Kevin's "is cheerleading still a thing?" is so immaculate i scarcely know what to say. she really owned him. and she really does love cheerleading. Veronica, of course, is already an experienced cheerleader. and of course she will forcefully encourage Betty to try out for the River Vixens too. Cheryl makes it obvious what she thinks in the most insidious manner. she is quick-witted though, you gotta give her that. "Betty's already got so much on her plate..." while glancing at her lunch tray (which, by the way, contains a salad, an apple, and a muffin. alongside this fucked up tiny bottle of water.) is so very mean and also completely effortless. Veronica's encouragement wins out, though.

the first episode of Riverdale is perfect, i wouldn't change a thing. quite surprised to see how much of the world is established in it, how well we already know the characters, their relationships, their histories. it is done so seamlessly, we are so immersed that we don't even notice. of course i've seen the full series before (though much of it i've forgotten), and i'm not taking any cares to avoid letting that fact influence me. i try to stay generally chronological, i need to order my thoughts based on something, but if the mood strikes i will stray from that with no reservations. i don't think that detracts from what i'm saying, i think it rather adds to it. i know who these characters grow into, i include that knowledge in my dissection, and i can tell you that this episode sets them up for it in the most beautiful way. and just the pacing in and of itself is near magical. it is truly perfect. watching through regularly it just feels natural, but once you start to dissect each scene it really hits you just how much information they manage to pack in just a few minutes.