Riverdale: 5 Things It Gets Right About Being A Teen (& 5 That It Doesn’t)

The labyrinthine universe of Riverdale is not without its oddities and complexities. Since the show is supposed to depict teenagers, one would assume that the plots would be teen-centric, but Riverdale famously takes many liberties with its characters and the realm of reality. Archie, Veronica, Betty, Jughead, Kevin, and the others may be high schoolers, at least till season 5, but much about them was not relatable to a young adult at all.

That’s not to say that the spooky Archie-retelling does it all wrong. It does nail some aspects of teenage life right on the head, which balances out the things that they get totally wrong about teen life.

10 Got It Right: Discovering Or Struggling With Sexual Identity

It was heartening to see Riverdale deal with Cheryl and Kevin’s sexuality in a way that felt real. Both the students wrestled with their sexualities and the desire to be accepted, with Kevin cruising Fox Forest and Cheryl fighting with her mother about it.

There are also characters like Moose, who stays in the closet, and this is a realistic representation of what being gay in high school is like for some real-life teenagers.

9 Got It Wrong: Owning Bars

Veronica’s speakeasy on Riverdale, La Bonne Nuit, started off as an innocent, no alcohol joint for students to come and dance off their academic woes, but it became an alcoholic bar fairly quickly, which didn’t make sense. Veronica may have been a kingpin’s daughter, but a teenager can’t procure a liquor license, let alone run a secret bar.

Moreover, Veronica also started an ill-fated maple rum business with Cheryl in the show, which again, just doesn’t add up, considering they were both in high school.

8 Got It Right: Not Getting Into College

Archie and the gang were barely shown studying, but the consequences of this were depicted very clearly in Riverdale. Archie evolved from a music-loving jock to a criminal in juvie, and he couldn’t bounce back from that in the academic department.

His answer to not graduating and getting not getting into college was simple: join the military. This is a route many teenagers take straight out of high school, so his departure from Riverdale High to the armed forces made sense.

7 Got It Wrong: Getting Hired By The FBI

One of the few things that didn’t make sense about Betty was that she helped the FBI on Riverdale. Even before she had an insider in the form of Charles at the FBI, she and Jughead were sleuthing around and meddling with criminal cases, right from Jason’s death.

But many fans of the series felt that this was completely unrealistic and in no town would such young, impressionable minds get so close to traumatizing crime and tampering with evidence the way they do on Riverdale.

6 Got It Right: High School Cliques

The ability to lump themselves into certain groups is a special talent that teenagers have, and Riverdale captured that pretty accurately. Especially in the first two seasons, the Vixens hung out with each other, the Jocks were one solid clique that stood up for each other (even when it was creepy), and Archie, Betty, Veronica, and Betty were one gang in themselves.

Perfect harmony amongst everyone is nearly unheard of with high school teens, and even the division between the North Siders and South Side Serpents, while vindictive, was more grounded in reality than most of the show.

5 Got It Wrong: No Awkward Puberty Phase

Every single teenager on Riverdale looks like a model, and it doesn’t hurt that the actors are way older than teenagers. There are no awkward or gangly looks served here and no one is going through a growth spurt or has bad acne.

But this is just entirely unrealistic, as high school students are going through puberty and experiencing many bodily changes. No one at Riverdale High seemed to be struggling with puberty and instead, everyone is well-dressed and perfect looking.

4 Got It Right: Slut-Shaming

In season 1, Riverdale tackled the topic of misogyny and slut-shaming in the school, especially at the hands of teen jocks like Chuck, who protect each other at any cost. They kept ledgers of the girls they had sex with and spread vicious rumors about them and their sexuality.

Polly, Ethel, and many others were named and shamed, and Betty herself was shamed by Veronica at the Lodge cabin. Unfortunately, this phenomenon is very real and troubling in the world, and the show depicted it well.

3 Got It Wrong: Committing Crimes And Getting Away With It

Nobody commits as many crimes as the teens of Riverdale. Some of these offenses include evidence tampering, blackmail, intimidation, arson, maiming, fraud, and straight-up murder. It also doesn’t make sense that Cheryl could burn down Thornhill and get away without even a rap on the wrist.

But somehow, the only teen who gets juvie time is Archie, and it’s for a crime he didn’t even commit, so it only seems fair to assume that laws bend for the teenagers of Riverdale, except for poor Andrews.

2 Got It Right: Sex

For all the surrealism in the show, it gets one crucial point right, sex is on many teens’ minds. Teen shows tend to sanitize this facet of some young students’ lives and certainly not every teen relates to this aspect of the series, but this is the phase when some discover intimacy. Veronica and Archie often have sex and Betty’s kinks are explored too.

Many fans like that Riverdale is a sex-positive show that delves into this aspect of the main characters’ lives, including that of teenage pregnancy.

1 Got It Wrong: Moving In Together

There is nothing overtly wrong with teenagers moving in with each other, but it’s not very common. Most teens live with their parents, and while relationships are acceptable in American culture, many continue to live with their parents until college.

In Riverdale, Cheryl and Toni live together, and Jughead and Betty also cohabitate. Living together as a couple is a huge responsibility, which most teens leave for later years.

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