‘Riverdale’ EP Greg Berlanti On Musical Episode Paley Preview: “It Fit So Well With The Characters & The Storylines”
March 25, 2018‘Riverdale’ EP Greg Berlanti On Musical Episode Paley Preview: “It Fit So Well With The Characters & The Storylines”
The CW’s Riverdale has long teased an upcoming musical Glee-esque episode, and today they previewed it to fans at PaleyFest. Set to air on April 18th, the episode has almost the entire cast singing and dancing as they put on a high school performance of Carrie.
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“It was something we talked about even in Season 1 to do a musical episode,” showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacada said during a panel discussion after the screening. “We ran out of time, and we were doing the second season, and we planned the musical for halfway through, but we just kept pushing it and pushing it, so it was, ‘We’re either doing it now or not doing it.'”
“He had a love for it,” EP Greg Berlanti added, “and it really just fit so well with the characters and the storylines that they were doing.”
Riverdale – based on the Archie comic stories – follows the lives of teens and their families in a fictional and fantasy-ridden small town, and the musical episode provided some great revelations for fans, including: the return of the Black Hood; the reconciliation of Betty (Lili Reinhart) and Veronica (Camila Mendes); Archie (KJ Apa) finally standing up to Hiram (Mark Consuelos), and perhaps most notably, Cheryl (Madelaine Petsch) covered in blood, in her Carrie costume, ordering her evil mother out of the family home. This last scene in particular expertly blended the Carrie and Riverdale storylines, since Cheryl’s mother had, during the last-aired episode, shipped her off to a nunnery for some gay conversion therapy after she began a romance with bisexual character Toni (Ashleigh Murray).
The storyline exploring Cheryl’s sexuality has, for Petsch, been a rewarding experience. “I don’t think it was a realization,” she said. “It’s something she’s known for a long time, that her mom’s pushed down.” Feedback from fans has been overwhelmingly positive. “I feel so welcomed by that community,” she said. “Unfortunately, it’s still happening, parents not accepting their children.”
For Aguirre-Sacada, that storyline was an obvious choice. “We had conversations about it early on,” he said. “It was something that we talked about when we introduced the character of Toni Topaz, a bisexual character from the comic books.” He added there was more to look forward to on that front. “The episode that you guys haven’t seen is really powerful. It airs this Wednesday, and it’s a powerful episode between Cheryl and Toni. We’ve been thinking about it for a while, so it’s nice to see it come to fruition.”
Another revelation in this musical previewed episode is the relationship between Alice (Mädchen Amick) and FP (Skeet Ulrich) and the set-up for that will apparently emerge next episode, Aguirre-Sacada said. “There’s a big episode for Alice, the serpents and FP, so if people are interested in seeing more of FP and Alice, I think you should watch this week’s episode.”
Riverdale airs Wednesdays on The CW at 8pm.