Favorite Characters: Jughead Jones (Riverdale)

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.