RIVERDALE (Episode 18)

I fancy myself as the type of person who is not manipulated by media propaganda, but stands firmly anchored on God’s all-knowing, all-loving, and unchanging truth.   I research my facts, and formulate my thoughts through logical reasoning.  I am well aware of the media’s slick and tireless attempts to deceive people into supporting evil, with the shrewdness to cater to our strongest sensibilities and deepest emotions, to the point where our thoughts become twisted to believe that right is wrong and wrong is right.

 

Thus, it is to my own shame that, while watching Episode 18 of RIVERDALE on the CW Network, last night, I somehow let my guard down.  How, in less than an hour, was I deceived into HATING a new character so much, that I was happy to see (spoiler alert) when Betty (Lili Reinhart), under duress, cooperated with the show’s central villain (The Black Hood) to put a hit out on him?   Read on.

 

To give some background on the show, for those who are not familiar, RIVERDALE is based on the characters in the Archie comics.  There is a character on the show known merely as “The Black Hood,” whose actual identity is the central mystery surrounding this season of the show.  The Black Hood has attempted to murder Archie’s father, Fred Andrews (Luke Perry.)  The Black Hood had murdered Miss Grundy (Sarah Habel), one of the former teachers at Archie’s high school, and shot at Moose (Cody Kearsley) and Midge (Emilija Baranac), both of whom survived.  Suddenly, the Black Hood has started to make some phone calls to Betty, who has the Chordettes’ “Lollipop” as her ring tone.   The Black Hood is forcing Betty to do some terrible things, with the threat that Betty’s older sister Polly (Tiera Skovbye) would be murdered, if Betty does not cooperate.

 

Archie (KJ Apa) is romantically involved with Veronica (Camila Mendes.)  Veronica’s parents are about to enter a major business deal with a family from another town, where they once lived.  That family has a son named Nick St. Clair (Graham Phillips) who is Archie and Veronica’s age, and a childhood “friend” of Veronica’s.   From the moment Nick enters the scene, he just emanates sleaze, at least from a male perspective.  He appears to be the type of cocky jerk who would knowingly and shamelessly try to seduce another man’s girlfriend, fiancé, or wife, without a second thought.  Men can identify these types of scumbags instantly, by the expression on their faces.  For some reason, many women, especially fans of gangsta rap, tend to have a more difficult time seeing past these scuz buckets’ charm and appearance, a fact that makes these men all the more despicable to decent men.  In talking to her other friends, Veronica praises Nick to the skies, something that naturally would make Archie’s radars go up.  When Archie is in the room with Veronica, Nick proceeds to make flirtatious comments towards Veronica, as if Archie and his relationship with Veronica mean nothing.  Nick proceeds to influence Veronica, Archie, and many of their friends, to take Jingle Jangle, the drug of choice among the teens in Riverdale.  When Archie and the other friends eventually leave the room, leaving Nick and Veronica alone, Nick tries to aggressively seduce Veronica, to the point where it becomes sexual assault.  Nick even badmouths Archie to Veronica and suggests that Nick’s parents won’t make the deal with Veronica’s parents unless Veronica gives in to Nick’s sexual demands.  Veronica has none of it, as she slaps Nick across the face.  I must say, as happy as I was that Veronica did not yield to Nick’s advances, I was hoping she would kick him where it counts, instead of a mere slap to the face.  Regardless, Nick’s behavior triggers extremely angry emotions both in  any man who has ever witnessed another man trying to hit on his girlfriend, fiancé, or wife, and in any woman who was ever a victim of aggressive unwelcome sexual advances. 

 

The following day, Nick tries to pass himself off as a decent guy to Veronica, even apologizing for his behavior, the typical male reaction when the woman doesn’t give in, sexually, hoping that if the aggressive behavior doesn’t work, playing the “I’m really a decent guy who made a mistake,” card might work.  Veronica is cordial to him and understanding, which undoubtedly would have made Archie furious at them both, had he known.

 

Cheryl Blossom (Madelaine Petsch) takes notice of Nick and is not the least bit subtle about her attraction towards him.  Nick reciprocates the attraction, but discreetly slips a date rape drug into her drink.  Josie (Ashleigh Murray) & the Pussycats, Valerie (Hayley Law) and Melody (Asha Bromfield) are performing a song live, with Veronica, when they notice that Cheryl appears drowsy as Nick is guiding her away to a hotel room.  They quickly follow, as Nick places Cheryl down onto a bed, with plans to rape her.  Veronica, Josie, Valerie, and Melody arrive in time to prevent the rape from happening, as they aggressively gang assault Nick, much to the delight of all the fans watching the show.  The only downside for me was that Archie wasn’t there to get any shots in.  Still, I can understand from the perspective of female viewers, especially those who have been victimized themselves, that seeing the heroes all being female was likely a very empowering moment that I would not deny them.

 

Meanwhile, the Black Hood has told Betty to publish a scandalous article about her own mother, Alice (Mädchen Amick), to sever ties with Veronica, and to break-up with her boyfriend Jughead (Cole Sprouse.)  These are all heartbreaking moments, as Veronica and Betty were best friends, and the relationship between Jughead and Betty was a highly likeable one.  Nevertheless, to stop the Black Hood from committing more acts of murder, Betty succumbs to the Black Hood’s requests.

 

In the final scene of the episode, Betty receives another phone call from the Black Hood.  The Black Hood is angry with Betty, because Betty had informed Archie about the phone calls.  The Black Hood claimed that Polly would now be killed.  Betty begged the Black Hood not to harm Polly.  The Black Hood was willing to negotiate, telling Betty that if Polly was not to be the next victim, Betty would have to declare who the next victim would be…

 

It is at this moment that many RIVERDALE fans, including me, were manipulatively drawn into absolute darkness and evil thinking.  While some of us may justly support capital punishment for SOME convicted felons, suddenly we found ourselves not only supporting, but excited about the prospect of cold blooded murder by a serial killer, as long as the victim was the exact person who Betty named and revealed the location of, “Nick St. Clair.” 

 

Wow!  I realized what had happened to me, before the ending credits finished, but how did that happen to me?  I considered myself better than that.  The reality is that I was manipulated in the exact same way the media deceived so many decent people into hating Donald J. Trump.  They played upon our emotions and sensibilities, in order to get us to hate a fellow human being.  Granted, in the case of Nick St. Clair, it is a fictional character, but did we not all identify him with someone we once knew or knew of, someone real?  Love and forgiveness, found by God’s grace is the answer, the only way to healing.  With today’s media, and current levels of hatred that it has provoked and is provoking among Americans, our guards must be up even higher, as we pray for God’s protection against the snares of the devil.  We should pray for the redemption of all our enemies, by the grace of God who wills for all to be saved and come to knowledge of the truth.  The writers of RIVERDALE were able to present a story with such a strong emotional pull, that in less than an hour, the viewers aligned themselves with the mindset of the central villain, a cold blooded serial killer.  That is scarier than any fictional horror story ever written.

 

This was more than merely an episode of a television show.  It was a social experiment in using media to manipulate and control minds, even of people who are hyper-alert to the ways of media propaganda and deception.  Even my wonderful wife(who consented to me writing this), who is always kindhearted to everyone, was drawn into the same trap as I was, in hoping Betty would answer, “Nick St. Clair.”  Excellent acting, directing, and writing from all involved, but at the same time, terrifying to see how quickly and easily our minds were drawn in a direction that we would not willingly choose to take them.

 

I am looking forward to next week’s new episode of RIVERDALE on the CW Network at Wednesday, November 15, at 8:00P.M. EST.