It's Outrageous 'Riverdale' Isn't Giving Cheryl Blossom More Screen Time
There’s something criminal happening on Riverdale this season. No, it’s not anything the Black Hood’s doing. So what if a masked murderer is running around town stalking people? That’s far from Riverdale‘s biggest problem. I’m talking, of course, about this season’s total neglect of Cheryl Blossom.
Cheryl Blossom is the most interesting character on Riverdale, full stop. Jughead’s beanie, Archie’s abs, and Betty’s fluctuating ponytail cower in the presence of Cheryl’s fire engine red-hued locks. She’s the queen bee—a star who says lines like, “You stuttering sapheads are too dim to exercise your own rights” with such intensity and seriousness, it’s scary.
Cheryl had a beefy narrative last season because the central mystery was about her murdered twin brother, Jason Blossom. But in season two, she’s been completely relegated to supporting status. In one episode, her sole purpose was to help Veronica and Betty catch Kevin cruising for guys. In another, she was just Josie’s sidekick. Hell, she literally had zero lines in the episode from November 1. That’s outrageous. It’s offensive.
Sure, things started out promising: Early teasers indicated Cheryl and her mother, Penelope, would have friction over the fire at Thornhill. But those scenes have been few and far between. Instead of a rich mother-daughter plot, we’ve watched Cheryl and Penelope eviscerate each other with some biting lines and then walk away. They’re fleeting moments—and Cheryl deserves better.
She deserves just as much time as Jughead, who we’ve watched scribble pretentious prose into his typewriter for what feels like hours on end. Or Archie, who’s spent more time pouting this season about the “Red Circle” than Cheryl has talking. In fact, it’s high time for these two to play second-fiddle to Cheryl and her adventures. I’m not kidding: I want Cheryl to spend six episodes planning a ridiculous society called the “Blue Triangle” or some shit and have Archie just aimlessly walking in the background. Betty and Veronica can stay, because let’s be real: The female characters are the best part of this show. Jughead, however, is out. Bye! As Cheryl would say…
Real talk, though: It’s disheartening to have a dynamic female character like Cheryl thrown to the wayside in favor of storylines about hunky jocks. On the exterior, yes, Cheryl may seem a bit archetypical: She’s the mean girl. The Blair Waldorf. The rich cheerleader who fat-shames her classmates and bullies the less-popular girls. But as each episode from season one passed, we learned that wasn’t her at all. Like Blair, she was vulnerable and volatile and absolutely the product of her dysfunctional upbringing. She was interesting. There were so many layers to her that we slowly started peeling off. That’s not happening in season two, though. Instead, Cheryl is just a tool to keep the larger narratives going.
But I have hope going into the latter half of this season. Madelaine Petsch, who plays Cheryl, told us that Cheryl is getting an “unexpected love interest” this season. She’s yet to have one, so that must mean it’s happening in the forthcoming episodes. Plus, there are plot points from the former half we still haven’t seen fully-fleshed out: the aftermath of her almost-assault from Nick St. Clair, her obsession with Josie, her complicated relationship with her mother. There are plenty of places Riverdale show-runners can take Cheryl. Let’s hope they deliver.
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