Thread by @Astro_Latte

Riverdale Season 5’s Thematic Question & The Three Act Structure (a thread)

Since Riverdale S5 started a bit differently due to COVID, including three episodes that were supposed to be in S4 and extra-long hiatus, I wanted to take a moment to talk about story structure, this season’s thematic question, and how it’s playing out so far.

For the first time since S1, Riverdale finds itself with a smaller story ("Riverdale is in trouble!") lasting for a shorter number of episodes (16 vs. 22).

Riverdale loves to do things big, but it's at its best when its seasons are short and focused.

Stories traditionally follow a three-act structure where characters are tested and overcome whatever it is they're facing to reach a resolution.

To break it down: In ACT 1, you get your character up a tree, in ACT 2, throw stones at them, and in ACT 3, you need to get them down.

These are also where you’ll see the six stages of romance I’ve written about before:

- ACT 1 Romantic Stages: Lovers Meet, First Kiss/First Intimate Moment:
- ACT 2 Romantic Stages: Confession of Love, Lovers Break Up
- ACT 3 Romantic Stages: Proof of Love, Lovers Reunite

Even with the structure broken out, there is no story without a theme. A script's theme needs to carry both the story's weight and a connection to its audience. 

It will be the question every character is asked, and how they answer will change during the story’s progression.

The thematic question should have a positive polarity, what the characters do to grow, and negative polarity, what the character would do to regress. At the end of ACT 3, the characters should learn the lesson of this “theme” for a happy ending, if not then it’s a tragic ending.

Everything you’ve ever watched has a thematic question. Into the Spiderverse, for example, had: Do you fall when life gets hard or do you rise to the occasion?

These questions exist even for shows like Riverdale, where each season is a new crazy story and execution isn’t great.

Now that we’re over 60% through this season, we can see the thematic question is:

Do you remain complacent in what's familiar even if it makes you unhappy, OR do you take a risk and change in hopes of being better?

Every character's arc this season can be framed by this question.

Veronica even spelled it out in 5x05 and Jughead's narration throughout the season consistently goes back to this theme of change.

Cheryl's story:

Do you remain complacent in what's familiar even if it makes you unhappy:
- Stay in Thornhill and forge relationships through manipulation

OR do you take a risk and change in hopes of being better?
- Leave Thornhill and nurture relationships through kindness

Reggie's story:
Do you remain complacent in what's familiar even if it makes you unhappy:
- Help Hiram and resent his father

OR do you take a risk and change in hopes of being better?
- Leave Hiram and accept his father's apology

And Hiram pushed Reggie to the positive choice.

I held off on this thread until 5x12 because I was curious to see if they would trigger this choice for Reggie or Hiram.

They show Hiram pushing Reggie because he KNOWS that's the right choice, but he CHOOSES to keep hunting for palladium at the cost of his wife and daughter.

Now Hiram is alone - not even Hermosa is around, she just calls him - because he never changed even though he's unhappy. That's the tragedy. Hiram is the antagonist because he will never change, even if it costs him everything. He knows it but is still trying to have it both ways

Both Jughead and Veronica have either figured this out or are close to it.

Veronica has decided to end her marriage with Chad and Jughead is going to New York to get to the bottom of his trauma, so he can finally move on.

Archie and Betty are both still working through this for themselves.

In the case of Archie, the reason why everything has felt so off is that he can't let go of the past. He can't let go of this idea of who he or Riverdale was before the army.

He's having a hard time changing.

A few folks have pointed out in the scene of Archie and Veronica at Pop's in 5x11, Linda Brannon's "Baby I Can’t Let You Go" plays on the jukebox. It is a song about not letting go even if you're unhappy.

Notice how Archie is shot alone in this scene AFTER Veronica leaves.

For Betty, her change is about owning how her actions affect those around her, not her "darkness."

There have been 3 times when Betty has been faced with the thematic question and regressed:

- Her last fight with Polly
- Using Archie to "forget."
- Playing Jughead's voicemail

One of the last conversations Betty may have had with Polly was a fight.

Archie didn't feel good after that call, because Betty didn't open up to him and used him as a distraction.

Jughead's voicemail is damning, but not because she's a "bitch."

Betty's actions have reverberated into Jughead'ss relationships with Jess and now Tabitha. Even if Betty never intended to hurt them, she did - and she has yet to take responsibility.

But that last fight with Polly is driving her mad because now she never will and its her fault.

With the theme clear, I wanted to revisit the three-act structure.

This shows exactly where we are in the story and why characters like Betty, Jughead, and Archie will not interact for a few more episodes.

ACT 1: 5x03 - 5x07
ACT 2: 5x08 - 5x14
ACT 3: 5x15 - 5x19

As of now, we're at the tail-end of ACT 2. It's why Varchie, Barchie, Choni, Kangs, Jabitha - and yes, even Bughead - are parked at Romantic Stage 4: "The Lovers Break Up."

We still have two episodes of "rock-throwing" until we hit ACT 3 can finally see them get out of the tree.

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