S06.E11: Chapter One Hundred and Six: Angels in America

[AnimeMania]

RIVERDALE THROUGH THE YEARS — After learning that Percival’s (guest star Chris O’Shea) plan to reinvigorate Riverdale would lead to the demise of Pop’s, Tabitha (Erinn Westbrook) searches for a way to fight back. But when she is targeted by one of Percival’s accomplices, the incident sends her back in time and searching for answers.

Original Airdate: April 24, 2022   8:00-9:00 p.m.    CW

[Stats Queen]

This show has jumped both the real and the supernatural shark.

I record it on my DVR and half watch when doing something else. Tonight, I watched the first 5 minutes of this episode and it was beyond stupid.
 

Edited April 25, 2022 by Stats Queen

[the-grey-lady]

3 hours ago, Stats Queen said:

Tonight, I watched the first 5 minutes of this episode and it was beyond stupid.
 

Honestly? Erinn isn't a strong enough actress to carry an entire 45 minute show.

It didn't get much better after you turned it off. A few interesting/moving moments, but overall you made the right call. 

[ruby24]

Cole Sprouse's delivery of his "i'm an angel" exposition was hilarious. 

[The Wild Sow]

Soooo...Raphael the Angel showing his/her/its/their true form and driving Percy insane could only work once??

[Noneofyourbusiness]

17 hours ago, The Wild Sow said:

Soooo...Raphael the Angel showing his/her/its/their true form and driving Percy insane could only work once??

Besides the Christmas Eve thing, there wasn't really an opportunity to do it in the other two eras.

Edited April 26, 2022 by Noneofyourbusiness

[thuganomics85]

22 hours ago, ruby24 said:

Cole Sprouse's delivery of his "i'm an angel" exposition was hilarious. 

It was between that and the stache Casey Cott was rocking as 60s G-man Kevin that got the biggest laugh out of me for this one.  It's the little weird things that keep making me stick with this damn thing no matter how insane the main plots end up being.

I guess it was nice seeing Tabitha be front and center for once and Erinn Westbrook is likable enough in the role, but this was wild because they were basically taking their normal batshit insane Riverdale stuff and trying to actually tell a sincere story about the history of racism and the fight against it.  It reminded me of last season with Archie and his PTSD/time in the military.  The message is sound and maybe the writers' hearts are in the right place, but when you put it on this show, it just becomes a tonal nightmare.  Especially when it all ends with being just a set-up to show that Percival is some kind of immortal demon (?!) and the reason the gang is getting all these powers is because they are destined to fight him.  Yeah, don't even have the time to get into all of that right now!

I'm sure there are other stories about how you can't see an angel in their true form, but the stuff with Raphael driving Percival (and Kevin) insane just made me think of Supernatural.  Man, I can only imagine what the Winchester bros and Castiel would make of all of this.  They'd probably try to find a way to destroy the entire town.  And they'd be right to do so....

If this was a normal show, I would wonder if Veronica being separate from everyone else was due to something going on between Camila Mendes and the rest of the cast, but since it's Riverdale, it's probably just the show doing its normal, weird keeping the characters for whatever reasons.  Plus, I really won't be surprised if Veronica eventually gets powers.  Toni too.  Hell, maybe even Reggie.

[ruby24]

Poor Kevin. Destined to be a mindless, manipulated stooge in every era.

And yeah, I'm pretty sure they'll all get powers of some sort.

Edited April 26, 2022 by ruby24

[tennisgurl]

I don't even know where to start with this one, I'm still laughing my ass off at angel Betty casually flashing a polaroid of the Holy Grail like it aint no big deal, and the episode closing on "its a battle of good vs evil!" like this has become the Chronicles of Narnia all of the sudden, how the actors manage to say any of this stuff with a straight face is beyond me. Have the writers just gotten tired of this show and are trying to constantly find excuses to write other shows now? Its all silly period pieces and sleazy fanservice, like we are finally getting confirmation that this show only exists to get the cast into fetish wear and stupid mustaches. 

Show, could you please leave the real world tragedies out of your ridiculous tawdry soap opera please? Watching Riverdale trying to deal with real issues like racism and the assassination of MLK (or all things) just feels so awkward, its such massive tonal whiplash and they are so clearly out of their depth. Especially this season where they have decided that Percival is some kind of ageless demon taking advantage of prejudice throughout time to destroy Riverdale and where the main characters are all getting superpowers. Riverdale is in such a weird little retro surreal bubble, its bizarre hearing them talk about real world cities like Indianapolis and people like Bobby Kennedy like they all share a universe, even though I know that, intellectually, other places like New York have been seen.

We met Raphael in Rivervale right? So with him showing up, does that confirm that this is another pocket world? Or do angels exist in every point of the Riverdale multiverse? Or have we just finally gone totally off the rails and this show really is going to end up being an epic battle of good vs evil with our ragtag bunch of weirdos getting superpowers to defeat an actual demon?

Poor Kevin, stuck as a hapless lacky to any bad guy who shows up, no matter the time period.

Edited April 26, 2022 by tennisgurl

[rmontro]

17 hours ago, thuganomics85 said:

It's the little weird things that keep making me stick with this damn thing no matter how insane the main plots end up being.

Yep, and this week's big entry was Tabitha sipping a milkshake out of the Holy Grail.

The other thing for me was that cool looking radio in the 1968 Dr. King segment.  I wonder if it was authentic to the era, a prop, or just a retro looking modern product.  I want that radio.

[Trini]

9 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

... how the actors manage to say any of this stuff with a straight face is beyond me. Have the writers just gotten tired of this show and are trying to constantly find excuses to write other shows now? Its all silly period pieces and sleazy fanservice, like we are finally getting confirmation that this show only exists to get the cast into fetish wear and stupid mustaches. 

I admit I don't watch this show, but yet I keep hearing about all the crazy stuff they're doing. To me, it sounds like the writers are trying anything and everything to keep the actors engaged, and to keep them bailing; whether the stories make sense or not.

Edited April 27, 2022 by Trini
oy, typos

[secnarf]

7 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

Show, could you please leave the real world tragedies out of your ridiculous tawdry soap opera please? Watching Riverdale trying to deal with real issues like racism and the assassination of MLK (or all things) just feels so awkward, its such massive tonal whiplash and they are so clearly out of their depth. Especially this season where they have decided that Percival is some kind of ageless demon taking advantage of prejudice throughout time to destroy Riverdale and where the main characters are all getting superpowers. Riverdale is in such a weird little retro surreal bubble, its bizarre hearing them talk about real world cities like Indianapolis and people like Bobby Kennedy like they all share a universe, even though I know that, intellectually, other places like New York have been seen.

This exactly. Listening to those speeches from MLK and RFK, one of which is so familiar to me I can recite it from memory, I was having a hard time reconciling the very real events of 1968 with this good vs evil, angels vs demons farce that the show has devolved into. Having those speeches in the episode was almost like cognitive dissonance from the writers.

I watch this show on Netflix, and every time after I finish the new episode, it redirects me then back to season 1, episode 1, By The River's Edge. And every time, I think what a different show that was compared to what I just watched. So I already get some whiplash at the end of every episode - didn't need the additional discordance in the episode as well!

[the-grey-lady]

11 hours ago, secnarf said:

Show, could you please leave the real world tragedies out of your ridiculous tawdry soap opera please? Watching Riverdale trying to deal with real issues like racism and the assassination of MLK (or all things) just feels so awkward, its such massive tonal whiplash and they are so clearly out of their depth.

I agree completely. This show's attempts to deal with sensitive real life issues are clunky at best and offensive at worst. 

[the-grey-lady]

13 hours ago, Trini said:

To me, it sounds like the writers are trying anything and everything to keep the actors engaged, and to keep them bailing

Have you seen any of the actors' recent interviews? They seem like they are done with this show.

[SourK]

My favourite part was when the angel burned everyone's eyes. So holy.

I wanted to hate Tabitha's power, but I kind of like the restriction on it -- travel anywhere in time, but only in Pop's. I think it would have been cleaner if they'd just made a rule that she could only change things that happen in Pop's or she couldn't leave Pop's while she was time traveling, so it would explain why she couldn't effect world events without all of the convoluted reasoning, but it's an okay power.

This episode also briefly reminded me that I wish Betty and Tabitha had scenes together.

On 4/26/2022 at 1:58 AM, thuganomics85 said:

If this was a normal show, I would wonder if Veronica being separate from everyone else was due to something going on between Camila Mendes and the rest of the cast, but since it's Riverdale, it's probably just the show doing its normal, weird keeping the characters for whatever reasons.  Plus, I really won't be surprised if Veronica eventually gets powers.  Toni too.  Hell, maybe even Reggie.

I mean, Veronica's power is being rich, which I wouldn't underestimate. But I had forgotten until this episode that they didn't just tell everyone they had powers -- so, theoretically, nobody bothered to even inform her of what's going on, which I find really weird.

On 4/26/2022 at 3:44 PM, tennisgurl said:

Show, could you please leave the real world tragedies out of your ridiculous tawdry soap opera please? Watching Riverdale trying to deal with real issues like racism and the assassination of MLK (or all things) just feels so awkward, its such massive tonal whiplash and they are so clearly out of their depth.

The thing that bugs me is that I don't think they have anything to say about racism -- they just became aware that their show was racist, and now they're trying to be un-racist in the most basic, grade school way by saying positive things about black people and condemning white supremacists. Like, it's hard to disagree with the message, but the message is extremely superficial.

[the-grey-lady]

26 minutes ago, SourK said:

The thing that bugs me is that I don't think they have anything to say about racism -- they just became aware that their show was racist, and now they're trying to be un-racist in the most basic, grade school way by saying positive things about black people and condemning white supremacists. Like, it's hard to disagree with the message, but the message is extremely superficial.

Wow, well said.

[Dobian]

On 4/25/2022 at 10:58 PM, thuganomics85 said:

I guess it was nice seeing Tabitha be front and center for once and Erinn Westbrook is likable enough in the role, but this was wild because they were basically taking their normal batshit insane Riverdale stuff and trying to actually tell a sincere story about the history of racism and the fight against it.  It reminded me of last season with Archie and his PTSD/time in the military.  The message is sound and maybe the writers' hearts are in the right place, but when you put it on this show, it just becomes a tonal nightmare.  Especially when it all ends with being just a set-up to show that Percival is some kind of immortal demon (?!) and the reason the gang is getting all these powers is because they are destined to fight him.  Yeah, don't even have the time to get into all of that right now!

I get what you're saying.  I did like this episode a lot and think that Tabitha was able to carry an episode as the main character.  She's not as "Riverdale" as all the other characters, so it was easy to sort of pretend this wasn't a Riverdale episode while watching her time travel story.  This season must hold the record for the most things that Riverdale has borrowed/stolen from other shows and movies.  We have Kilgrave from Jessica Jones, Daredevil, Firestarter, Castiel from Supernatural, Superman, Annabelle.  Have I missed anything?

Edited April 30, 2022 by Dobian

[Lethallyfab]

There was the near-subliminal shot of Percival’s demon-form in white makeup taken directly from ‘The Exorcist.’

Echoing what everyone has said here, the show’s reach is exceeding its grasp and it is in no way equipped to be dealing with subjects like MLK’s death.

[Affogato]

On 4/26/2022 at 10:58 PM, secnarf said:

This exactly. Listening to those speeches from MLK and RFK, one of which is so familiar to me I can recite it from memory, I was having a hard time reconciling the very real events of 1968 with this good vs evil, angels vs demons farce that the show has devolved into. Having those speeches in the episode was almost like cognitive dissonance from the writers.

I watch this show on Netflix, and every time after I finish the new episode, it redirects me then back to season 1, episode 1, By The River's Edge. And every time, I think what a different show that was compared to what I just watched. So I already get some whiplash at the end of every episode - didn't need the additional discordance in the episode as well!

I don’t see how they could have had her travel back in time in a black owned diner without encountering many of the things she encountered. I thought it was done well enough as a part of a whole. But I also like Tabitha and Jughead. 
 

Angels in America was a miniseries about people with aids, which I find an odd choice as a title, though. 

[Chicago Redshirt]

On 5/6/2022 at 8:21 PM, Affogato said:

I don’t see how they could have had her travel back in time in a black owned diner without encountering many of the things she encountered. I thought it was done well enough as a part of a whole. But I also like Tabitha and Jughead. 
 

Angels in America was a miniseries about people with aids, which I find an odd choice as a title, though. 

Up till now, the character we know as "Pop," Tabitha's grandfather, started Pops. (Or at least, that was the impression I was left with). Which would probably mean that if he's now like 70, the diner would most likely be like 40 years old, give or take, since Pop would have needed time to get the money to launch it. Which would mean that it would have gotten launched in the 80s.

But they retconned things so that it was actually Pop's dad or another relative who started it, so they could have the diner exist in the 50s or earlier. 

IIRC there really was just one angel seen over and over with different guises. Which there was really no in-universe reason for the angel deciding to switch from one Riverdale character to another.

Edited May 26, 2022 by Chicago Redshirt

[Affogato]

5 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

Up till now, the character we know as "Pop," Tabitha's grandfather, started Pops. (Or at least, that was the impression I was left with). Which would probably mean that if he's now like 70, the diner would most likely be like 40 years old, give or take, since Pop would have needed time to get the money to launch it. Which would mean that it would have gotten launched in the 80s.

But they retconned things so that it was actually Pop's dad or another relative who started it, so they could have the diner exist in the 50s or earlier. 

IIRC there really was just one angel seen over and over with different guises. Which there was really no in-universe reason for the angel deciding to switch from one Riverdale character to another.

 This show mixes old things with new, and it makes enough sense that sometimes Pops was started in the 80s and sometimes you walk into 1944. It is always now in comic books. Also this is almost certainly not the main timeline. 
 

checked. Archie Comics started 1939. So this was Pops through the ages. 

Edited May 26, 2022 by Affogato