Things have gotten even more dramatic in the Riverdale world since Archie and Betty threw Jughead the world's unhappiest birthday party. Fights broke out, relationships changed, and things got really, really real during a 20 Questions-esque game moderated by the manipulative Queen Bee Cheryl Blossom. Archie, Jughead, Betty, Veronica, and their friends are seeing things change at a rapid pace in their little town with pep; they’re not only going through quintessential high school problems like love, parents, and fitting in, but they’re also trying to solve a classmate's murder. Can you imagine going to algebra or cheer practice while a murderer is on the loose?
However, Jason Blossom's death wasn’t the centerpiece of Chapter 10. Instead, we saw the “Bughead” relationship questioned by both Jughead and Betty and found Veronica and Archie getting way, way closer. In a recent panel session with K.J. Apa and Cole Sprouse, Teen Vogue learned more about what the actors think of their characters’ motivations and love lives, and what’s in store for the besties in the next few episodes.
Riverdale cleverly toes the line between a noir murder mystery like Twin Peaks and a teen drama like Gossip Girl, and blending the two can be a challenge. How do they make the show a relatable must-watch show about teenagers while still playing to the dark, creepy drama of Jason Blossom’s murder? “I think the point is that the two are not so distinct,” said Cole, who plays Jughead. “The fact that this murder mystery can overly itself over this all-American party setting is important and it plays to the show. The show’s not selling teen problems as less than adult problems.”
He went on to say that the characters are still, despite some of their more adult behavior, teenagers, and “it’s important to note that Archie and Jughead and Betty and Veronica are still very much pursuing their personal desires.” In Chapter 10, we saw Betty throwing a party for Jughead despite his justified reluctance to celebrate his birthday, Archie saying yes to an all-school kegger without consulting his friends, and Veronica and Archie kissing after baring their souls to each other. Though the four friends are deeply intertwined, these choices are based on what they want for another person. “Archie saying yes to the party against Jughead's will, or at least his hawk eyes over Archie's shoulder, I had interpreted it as Archie still very much wanting to be the good guy that's kind of naïve,” Cole adds.
For his part, K.J. wasn’t that surprised by Archie and Veronica’s makeout session and subsequent sleepover. (He slept on the air mattress in his room, because Archiekins is a gentleman.) “I think that all started in the first episode when [Veronica] walked into the diner, and as soon as Archie saw her, he was like, ‘Whoa, sh*t,’” K.J. said. “I think for sure that’s something that will be going on in the future.” And for the record? He thinks their ship name should be #Varchie.
While Veronica and Archie have just started a possible romance, #Bughead hits a major fissure, with Betty and Jughead fighting about their differences during the birthday party. “When Roberto [Sacasa-Aguirre, the showrunner], Lily, and I were talking about the purity of Bughead, we said, ‘Well, it is a bit unrealistic,’” Cole said. “There has to be this tension between just how fundamentally dissimilar the two are,” given that Betty is painted as the polished girl-next-door and Jughead is an outsider; as such, that scene had both characters confronting their differences. “I think it’s one of those things where the argument led to a much more open form of communication that inherently strengthened the bond between the two characters.”
Jughead is one of the more complex characters of Riverdale, with a backstory that’s less than idyllic, and Cole plays him with a thoughtful edge. “I think he’s one of those characters [who] is a little bit vain and considers himself to be a little better than the people he surrounds himself with,” he explained. “When he’s thrown into this super-normal idea of an American party, that complicates a lot of that. He’s an introvert, so he’s nervous being around large groups of people.” As such, he takes it out on people who care about him, including Betty and Archie.
The other aspect of Bughead, is the fact that the comic book character of Jughead is asexual, and that the pairing of Jughead and Betty has left a lot of viewers feeling erased and unrepresented. In a recent Reddit AMA Cole noted that “Riverdale is a new universe, and we first need to think of Jughead as a human agent within his environment, his decisions about his sexuality are going to be informed by his upbringing and his immediate and long-term desires."
What’s more, he told the A.V. Club that he believes Jughead’s relationship with Betty might not preclude an asexual identification down the line. “There’s actually a very long-lived trope with Betty and Jughead very early on in the digests in which Betty is trying to vie for Jughead’s affection and Jughead is just kind of continuously refusing, but saying things like, ‘Look, if I didn’t hate women, trust me, Betty, I’d be with you,’” he explains. “Which, of course, became kind of a reference for the kind of character Jughead would eventually become. And the argument of Jughead’s sexuality has not hit a wall because he’s now with Betty on the show. Jughead’s sexuality becomes, already in our discussion of second season, becomes something of further investigation. The community exists and I believe that kind of asexual aromantic representation is desperately needed in film and television and especially in mainstream media, and I hope to be the person to bring that to life and to realism.”
It should be noted that, according to researchers, people who are asexual don’t go from feeling sexual attraction to feeling none; it’s a sexual orientation that has always been there, but like other sexual identities, might need some self-exploration to realize, especially if you are a teenager like Jughead. It remains to be seen how Riverdale will approach the topic, if at all, but we’re glad the issue is still being discussed by the team.
Archie isn’t without his critics, either, but on a much different scale: some fans have pointed out that our red-headed hero is, well, a little too gullible to be a credible character. K.J. and Cole are well-aware of the criticism, too. “Archie remains a fundamental tether to the characters of the comics, in which he’s sort of this guy who ends up in these situations and is totally unequipped. I hope that people catch that storyline,” Cole said. “We try to keep all those tethers with the characters, whether it’s Betty or Veronic or Jughead or Archie’s clumsiness or naiveté.”
K.J. agreed, acknowledging that the character of Archie is the most — shall we say optimistic? — of the core four. “He thinks the best of people,” the actor said of his redheaded character. “I think that is also associated with the problems he’s dealing with,” K.J. said, adding that “All his mates are going through things with their parents, like [Jughead’s dad] going to jail and stuff. And although Archie is trying to help his friends, the whole football and music thing was the main storyline for him starting off, until his mum comes home and all the stuff with Jason.”
But he also has his own relationship woes, and they extend beyond kissing Veronica Lodge a second time. He initially threw the party as a way to win ex-girlfriend Valerie Brown back, but she rebukes him, noting that he is both a mess, and was a pretty thoughtless boyfriend.
K.J. recognizes that, too. When asked if Archie should maybe just take time to be single, he laughed and added, “I think so. Yeah.”
Related: How Riverdale Made Veronica Lodge a 'Reformed Mean Girl'
