If you’re still sticking with Riverdale, one of the most deliciously ridiculous shows on TV, then you’re probably down for whatever else they’re going to throw at you.
So while you spend the next month waiting around for that big Gargoyle King reveal, you have a couple more novelty episodes to look forward to. And they’re going to make the flashback/musical/John Hughes tribute episode look chill.
“One episode we’re doing is an episode called ‘Bizarrodale,’ which … instead of Archie, Betty, Veronica and Jughead being the Core Four, it treats Kevin, Cheryl, Reggie and Josie as the Core Four,” says creator Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa in an interview with The Wrap.
“And it’s a really fun episode. A really fun episode,” Aguirre-Sacasa says. “I’m really excited about that one.”
Your lesbian ginger goth queen awaits.
He also confirmed that there’s a “noir” episode coming up, which will be in black and white.
“The show has always been noir and always trending noir. But we’ve got an episode coming up that is completely noir: how it’s written, how it’s shot, the plot of it. And it’s really fun.”
Expect Juggy’s tortured voiceover to ramp up a few notches for that one. At least we know Cole Sprouse can pull off that vibe, even if he might have to lose the crown beanie.
Aguirre-Sacasa didn’t confirm a full-on crossover with Netflix’s Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina, which supposedly takes place in the same universe – the next town over, in fact.
But he did tease that they’re trying to maybe, sort of, figure out how it might work if they were just like, “oh also witches and Satan and magic are totes real and live down the road from Riverdale BTW”.
And why not? Whether it’s the extremely-still-teenage Core Four heading off for wine-and-sex weekends at an upstate cabin like a group of 30-something couple friends, or the fact that this tiny town can apparently sustain TWO print newspapers, Riverdale has never remotely aimed for realism. Its embrace of the absurd, surreal and nonsensical is a flow you’ve just gotta go with.
Veronica has a speakeasy? Sure! The flashback episode set in the 90s looks like the 80s and also their parents were all in a band and witnessed a murder they’ve never mentioned despite all the other murder? Whatever!
If Sabrina proves anything, it’s that going full-on weirdo is way more fun than just talking about it and trying to fit in.
The biggest danger of those upcoming episodes, though, is that Cheryl, Kevin, Josie and Reggie are queerer, more diverse, snarkier and more self-aware than the original quartet – and might be way more interesting than anything the “real” Core Four have ever done or ever will do.