The CW has released a preview for “Chapter One Hundred and Nineteen: Skip, Hop, and Thump!”, the second episode of Riverdale‘s seventh and final season. The episode is scheduled to air on Wednesday, April 5th. The season premiere revealed that while our heroes are back in the 1950s, it is far from an idyllic setting and from the looks of things next week, there are more complicated interpersonal issues to deal with as well. You can check out the preview below and then read on for the episode synopsis.
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“RIVERDALE SOCK HOP — Riverdale High’s sock hop is around the corner and Archie (KJ Apa) has his sights set on taking Veronica (Camila Mendes) to the dance. Betty (Lili Reinhart) is confused when Kevin (Casey Cott) appears uninterested in taking things to the next level with her. Elsewhere, Jughead (Cole Sprouse) takes aim at Pep Comics, and Toni (Vanessa Morgan) attempts to convince Cheryl (Madelaine Petsch) to let Fangs (Drew Ray Tanner) perform at the sock hop. Ronald Paul Richard directed the episode written by Ariana Jackson.”
Why are the 1950s the right setting for Riverdale‘s final season?
Speaking with ComicBook.com, showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa explained why the 1950s was the perfect place to go for Riverdale‘s final season and it comes down to the idea of the era being so iconic for the characters as well as being a good place to center this last big villain.
“It is true, though the Archie started publishing much earlier than the 1950s, the decade that most people associate with Archie comics is the 1950s for whatever reason. The Archie comics, they’re so nostalgic, and I think when people think of time periods, they think of the 1950. Through the lens of nostalgia. So that was one big thing,” Aguirre-Sacasa said. “Absolutely. And even when we’ve done their iconic comic book costumes from the past, even though they were technically the 1940s, whenever anyone would write about it, they’d say, ‘Oh my God, they’re wearing their 1950s outfits.’ So, it was sort of like, ‘Okay, well, that is … ‘And even when we were pitching Riverdale, and this is true, when we were pitching Riverdale to try to do a TV show, the executives would say, ‘Wait a minute, wait a minute. Is this a show set in the ’50s?’ And it’s like, ‘No, no, no, it’s set in present day.’ So, there was that.”
He continued, “The other big thing that felt really resonant is the 1950s were when the modern idea of the teenager was born. Teenagers really didn’t … Teenagers as we know them, and as consumers of popular culture, as consumers of movies and television and comic books and things like that, that really … The birth of the American of the modern American teenager was the 1950s as well. So, it felt like, “Oh, well that’s Archie.” I mean, that is Archie. So, it felt like this is the time period, this is actually the time period. So those were also things that kind of resonated with us and why we landed on this time period. Also later … and the world is roiling later in the ’60s with counterculture, with the civil rights movement, with the sort of a gay liberation movement and things like that. And it felt like in terms of our thematic, which is the wholesome sweet innocent facade, and then the darker, more dangerous, more fraught themes and issues bubbling underneath, it felt like the ’50s sort of suited that to a T.”
Riverdale airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on The CW.
