Riverdale, you’ve been keeping the show secret.  Only one preview of what the 1950s look like.  And to give us an exact date of when the time switch is even more so.  Now, the 1950s has always been seen as a simpler time in most people’s mind, but was it?  Let’s take a look and consider how the outside real 1950s will fit into the little we know of Riverdale 1955.

Comics

If you think this will be like the comic strip in the 1950’s, let me clue you in.  I went back and read some of the strips of the 1950s and early 1960s.  In those strips we have a Veronica who lived in Riverdale almost all her life.  Hiram Lodge was wealthy but wanted his daughter to have regular friends.  Archie’s dad didn’t work construction and Mary was a stay-at-home mom.  Betty’s mom didn’t sit on the news desk and no hint of the serial killer aspect of dad.  Kevin, Cheryl, Toni, and Fangs could not have been free in their sexuality.  In fact, none of them were in the comic circa 1950s and 1960s.  Sabrina didn’t show up until mid-1960s. And I will stop there.

The Year 1955

Mickey Mouse Club debuted on ABC.

The Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc allies aligned. 

Rosa Parks sat at the front of the bus and got arrested for not knowing her place (the back) .

Disneyland opened in California.

McDonald’s was started.

Rock and Roll idols were Elvis Presley, Bill Haley, The Platters.  (Note:  Haley would die young in a plane crash.)

Polio vaccine was declared safe.

And on September 30, 1955, James Dean (mentioned and mourned on the show) died in a two-vehicle accident in California.

The Riverdale Angle

We know the series will begin on the date September 30, 1955.  That was stated by Mary Andrews.  We also know that the gang is back in high school.  This we got from the finale of season six.  The trailer has shown Veronica arriving in a convertible from Los Angeles, a movie star.  Kevin and Betty are a couple but both seem confused.  Sock-hops will be seen.  Archie and Cheryl are engaged.  New character will be Julian Blossom.  And Fangs will try to become a rock and roll (rock ‘n roll) star. 

Let’s deal with the elephant in the room first.  This would be Julian Blossom.  The first time we learned about Julian Blossom was in “Chapter Sixty-One Halloween.”  Did I mention he was a doll?  Seems Penelope was supposed to have triplets but Cheryl “absorbed” the Julian embryo.  I honestly think that Julian may be the “big bad” for this season. 

Why?  Here’s my main reason.  If you have seen any of the graphic novels of the new Archie line, you may have caught the “Blossom 666” series.  I admit to being curious because of the “666” number attached to the graphic novel and got it.  The series is about the fact that the Blossom parents were to have the antichrist.  When the children were born, Julian, the eldest was taken away to be raised in a deprived background and prepared for the role.  When he returned, it was a battle to see who would reign supreme.  And the battle was to the death.  Well, Cheryl and Jason decided it should be one of them.  Julian eventually was killed and we see him in the morgue one minute then gone the next.  So, will he be this season’s Devil/Cult Leader/Hiram Lodge?

Another thing we see is Kevin and Betty.  Betty  does seem to care about Kevin but it looks awkward (which is true to form).  Thus we will have the struggle over sexuality come into play.  How can Kevin be true to himself if he is faking it with Betty?  How long can Betty be part of a one-sided relationship?

Let’s move on to the other elephant in the room.  What exactly are Jughead and Tabitha’s roles.  We know from the Season Six finale, that every vision Tabitha had seen of Bailey’s Comet but two had Jughead dead.  I will admit, when Tabitha got off the bus in the promo, I wondered if it would be a Rosa Parks minute, but apparently not.  At this stage in the real 1950s, schools were segregated but the preview doesn’t seem to use that angle.  Tabitha, as Riverdale’s guardian angel, will team up with Jughead, who is the only one who knows that Bailey’s Comet sent them back in time.  What will they have to do to save the town and save the gang and return to the future and the Riverdale we all know.

Another thing of note:  both Ethel and Dillon are in the promo commercial for the season.  What role do they have to play?  Dillon is seen in a basketball jersey.  When last we saw him, he was trying to destroy the universe by sending it into a spiral.  Ethel was helping but turned away and helped “Bunker” Jughead and “Sterling” Jughead.  Her role in Rivervale was to keep the “Bunker” Jughead company and provide food since he had to keep writing.  Hmm!  Is this “Bunker” Jughead’s solution to save Riverdale?  I’ll have to make a note to watch for this.  And the role they played in Rivervale?  Is that why both are back?  Does the gang have to turn Dillon back to genius who doesn’t want to destroy the world.  And just whose blood is Ethel covered with in the promo.  I know Archie is tied to a buzz saw (think “Perils of Pauline”) but was Ethel there?

Riverdale, congratulations on keeping as many things secret as you have.  I hope you can get Mark Consuelos back for an appearance as Hiram Lodge but I’m doubtful as he and Kelly will be doing “Live with Kelly and Mark.”