The
return of Riverdale brought the show
back to mind for me, and although the last couple seasons of the show haven’t
been as fun for me as its debut season, I still enjoy it, and the characters
are a big part of that. The “less fun of late” thing is unfortunately-true for
Jughead as well, since none of the Serpent stuff really interests me and that’s
been most of Jughead’s story for the last two seasons. However, Serpent
trope-iness aside, I do like the show’s take on the character (a few
Jughead-related spoilers.)
The
series initially takes a bit of a slow burn with Jughead. Even though he’s the show’s narrator from
minute one, we get hardly more than a glimpse of him as a character before
episode two, and even there, it’s basically just hints of what kind of person
he is. Clearly, he’s not the funny,
hungry slacker from the comics. He can
be nihilistic at times and he’s not much of a joiner, but a slacker he is not.
So what
is he? He’s weird, a little dark, and
(more than) a little pretentious. He
waxes about classic films and reads Kafka before bed, and he’s writing a book
about the death of Jason Blossom that he envisions as being the next In Cold Blood. He’s the sort of kid that the jocks are
suspicious of, which doesn’t bother him too much, as he’s never put much stock
in high school hierarchy.
While
he’s still Archie’s best friend, much more of Jughead’s time is spent with
Betty. They start out as friends/partners in crime-investigation when she cajoles
him into joining her on the school newspaper, enticing him with the promise of
uncovering Jason’s murderer. Before long, though, they’re in a serious
ride-or-die romantic relationship in which each regularly serves as the other’s
only-good-thing standing between them and all the craziness of their lives.
When the
show plays with noir/detective
elements, Jughead is usually at the center of it and it’s always fun. He takes the work seriously and follows each
trail of clues with the honest consideration it deserves, but he also just
vibes on this stuff. You can tell
Jughead is reveling in all the insane stuff going down in Riverdale and
picturing himself as a jaded detective, probably played by Humphrey Bogart.
Give me Jughead constructing a murder board or shaking down a suspect any day.
While Riverdale’s verson of Jughead is intense
and can veer into overwrought at times, I like that the show maintains its own
brand of Jughead’s knowing humor. He’s
usually good for an awesome dryly-sarcastic line or two, and he can do literary
reference, self-deprecation, and wry observation with equal aplomb.
Another
important aspect of Jughead is his deep-rooted family issues, and while the
sheer piling-on of all that heartache ranks pretty high on the angst-o-meter, I
never doubt of the sincerity of Jughead’s fears and anguish over it. Despite talking a good game of being
apathetic and not letting things bother him, Jughead hurts deeply, and the more he lets someone in, the more he’s (very
gradually) willing to reveal on that front.
But while
the show keeps that part of the plot from wallowing in too much angst (most of the time,) where they lose me is when
Jughead gets involved with the Southside Serpents, the local gang formerly run
by his dad. It’s a bummer first of all, since Jughead was previously so against
having anything to do with the Serpents, knowing the havoc it wreaked on his
family life. But also, nearly everything Serpents-related since season 2 has
been ridiculous, most of it not in Riverdale’s
good-ridiculous sort of way. “Legacy” or not, it’s goofy that adult gang
members would take orders from the teenage Jughead, and it’s absurd that
Jughead acts like he and the other teenage members are an oppressed minority
when the school bans gang memorabilia (dude, you’re in a gang, what did you expect Mr. Weatherbee to do?) Luckily, season 3
strikes more of a balance between intrepid-investigator Jughead and gang-leader
Jughead, and season 4 has yet to hit the gang stuff too hard. Is there hope
yet?
Before I
go, I do have to express my disappointment that one of the show’s most popular
characters isn’t portrayed as asexual, like he was in his own comic. Of course,
given the army of Bughead stans out there, there’s a distinct possibility that
Jughead wouldn’t be as popular without his romantic relationship with Betty
(though I maintain that the show could have split the difference and given us
an ace Jughead who was heteroromantic.) I’ve talked before about how I’ve come
to terms with it, but it is a shame.
Asexual Jughead Jones in the comics means so much to me, and it could’ve been
incredible to see another version of that character on a wild CW teen drama.
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