So, let’s discuss the most recent episode of Riverdale involving Carrie the musical.
A dark take on Archie comics, Riverdale has been one of the most popular shows this past year. Last year, the show went into its second season, and I have honestly found several problems with it. It feels like everything including the kitchen sink has been thrown into this show. From the anticlimactic reveal of the black hood to the regressive state or omission of the characters (WHAT HAPPENED TO VALERIE?) the second season of Riverdale had proved to be somewhat disappointing.
Due to my geeking out over everything musical theatre however, I was excited to hear that in one of the Season 2 episodes, the characters would put on Carrie the musical. If you are not familiar with the story of Carrie, it follows a young girl with telepathic powers who is driven to the edge by her abusive classmates; the perfectly dark musical for Riverdale high to perform.
I was interested in seeing how they incorporated the music into the show. After watching it, I am still not sure how to feel. While I enjoyed the parallels made between characters such as rich girl Veronica Lodge and her Carrie persona Chris Hargensen or “good” girl Betty Cooper and her character Sue Snell, as well as the way it was used to show the surprising death of Midge Klump, the way the songs were shown was…interesting.
As opposed to us seeing the cast performing the musical, we are brought through the rehearsals leading up to opening night. A problem for me (besides the very obvious autotune) was that only a few of the songs from the musical are used and they are performed out of order (see this Riverdale snippet).
This is not the first musical episode of Riverdale, as Josie and the Pussycats would often perform in previous episodes. It is no question however, that this episode was done differently. While the musical aspect of this episode was used to progress the characters well, I feel that they could have done a lot more with the actual musical.
But, that’s just my take on it. You’ll just have to watch and make your own opinion. Maybe we can expect a musical return from Josie and the Pussycats instead next time.
Riverdale airs on Wednesdays at 8 pm on The CW.