In Its Final Season, Riverdale Has Once Again Failed Cheryl and Kevin

The CW’s Riverdale has kicked off its seventh and final season with a soft reboot of sorts. After Bailey’s Comet was put on a collision course with the town, threatening an extinction-level event, the characters channeled their respective superpowers into Cheryl (Madelaine Petsch) to super-charge her witchy talents so she could blow the comet to smithereens. Unfortunately, it didn’t work, so Tabitha (Erinn Westbrook)—Riverdale’s guardian angel with the ability to travel through time— transported Archie (KJ Apa), Betty (Lili Reinhart), and the rest of the gang back to 1955. Here, we find them as teenagers once more, their lives rebooted. 

In doing so, multiple timelines became tangled, and there have been some very noticeable changes from the characters and town we knew before. While many of the said adjustments have brought intrigue and excitement, one major alteration has caused quite a stir with many of the fans. That is, of course, the decision to have openly gay characters Cheryl and Kevin (Casey Cott) back in the closet and deeply struggling with their respective sexualities. For many reasons, this decision feels like a slap in the face. 

First and foremost is the fact that this is the final season. We’re preparing to say goodbye to these characters, and it’s already bad enough that we aren’t getting the actual versions of them to begin this season. However, many of the characters are still nearly perfectly in line with their present-day personalities. More often than not, at least in the first three episodes, the stories are already showcasing their growth over the many seasons of the drama by having them make vastly different choices than they did in the first season of Riverdale. They’re also much lighter characters, not bogged down by the immense trauma they were before, finally getting to enjoy the high school experience this time around (mostly).

However, that is not the case for Cheryl and Kevin. The writers’ choice to throw them back into the closet is a major regression for both characters, holding them back on many levels. One of the refreshing aspects of Kevin’s character in the Riverdale pilot episode was his being out and proud already, accepted by his peers and his family. Coming-out stories are very important, but that’s the most common story on television with LGBTQ+ characters. Some deviation from that standard was refreshing, especially to start the series with Kevin as a sophomore in high school finding himself and dreaming of a future after having already come to terms with his identity. 

However, in the ‘50s, Kevin has regressed to a point that seriously undermines the character. He’s not just struggling to accept his sexuality but has also fallen to toxic masculinity. The way he is treating his current girlfriend/former best friend Betty, including slut-shaming her in the second episode of the season, is terrible. She’s trying to move their relationship forward, unaware of the reasons Kevin doesn’t want to. Sadly, it’s beginning to ruin their friendship as we know it, which was pretty much Kevin’s only remaining saving grace after years of neglect and mistreatment from the Riverdale writers.

Furthermore, Cheryl had a coming-out arc in the second season of the drama which truly shaped the character and her relationships from that point forward. Cheryl struggled with accepting herself, especially as her mother was violently homophobic (and remains so in the ‘50s). Penelope (Nathalie Boltt) forced Cheryl into conversion therapy to fix her and cure her of her “unnatural” urges. Cheryl bravely overcame this, with some help from her literal soulmate Toni Topaz (Vanessa Morgan), and has lived proudly as an out lesbian ever since. 

In this new/old era, Cheryl is forcing herself to date Archie to satisfy her mother. Though her feelings for Toni are crystal clear, Riverdale has even gone so far as to have Cheryl and Archie seemingly sleep together at the end of the third episode. Cheryl returns home afterward to boast about it and get her mother, who is relentless in her attack on Cheryl, off of her back. Whether it’s true or not—as I’m holding out hope it didn’t actually happen—this also feels reckless considering how hard Petsch and the fans have fought for people to understand and accept that Cheryl is a lesbian and not bisexual.

Plus, not that Riverdale is known for making sense, but it doesn’t exactly add up when new love interest Clay (Karl Walcott) and Toni aren’t hiding their sexualities or their obvious feelings for Kevin and Cheryl. Technically, with a throwaway line, Clay and Toni aren’t “out” in the same sense, but they aren’t struggling like Kevin and Cheryl. They have both been very open and obvious about their feelings. 

It may be realistic for the era to have Kevin and Cheryl in the closet and bearding in these relationships, but nobody is watching Riverdale for realism. Considering the logic-defying reasoning for the characters being in the ‘50s to begin with, it could have easily been ignored to let Kevin and Cheryl continue progressing in their respective stories from the jump and have growth we haven’t already watched.

Additionally, with the current attacks on LGBTQ+ rights across the country, forcing their gay characters back into the closet—a feat that must be a first on television—is a very odd and tasteless choice to make. The timing of this story could not be worse. It is representative of how things are going backward all around us. Republicans are actively trying to shove LGBTQ+ people in the closet and lock the door from the outside, passing anti-LGBTQ+ legislation with relative ease in far too many states. Meanwhile, Hollywood is mass-canceling shows featuring LGBTQ+ characters (particularly those starring women). So, this Riverdale story is salt in the already-gaping wound. 

It’s hard to fathom the writers’ choice to do this, regardless of the outcome of the story or for the characters. It may play into a bigger arc for the season, as the characters’ way home is teased to be setting the wheels in motion so their town isn’t on the brink of moral and societal collapse in the future. However, with the writers’ incredibly poor track record regarding all of their LGBTQ+ characters and relationships, it’s doubtful they’ll do right by either the story or the characters. Frankly, this just seems like a means to an end to keeping the couples separated. It doesn’t seem like much thought was put into how this story impacts Cheryl and Kevin as individuals, or how it will further traumatize them when they inevitably return to the present with these memories, but that unfortunately isn’t anything new for the series.

How did we start the series with Kevin as an out and proud gay man to begin the final season with him in the closet and hating who he is? This change has shifted him into almost an entirely different character, changing so much of his personality to make it work. Moreover, why must we watch Cheryl go through the completely traumatizing process of coming to terms with her sexuality with a mother who despises who she is again? Cheryl has spent so much of the show completely haunted, and this would have been a great opportunity to allow her to enjoy life for once. 

In short, Riverdale didn’t need to go down this path. And while it may not seem like a big deal to some viewers, personally—and likely for many other fans that identify with these characters—this story feels wholly disrespectful, particularly after the way these characters, including Toni and Fangs (Drew Ray Tanner), have been treated for so much of the show. The growth of the other characters are being spotlighted, but Kevin and Cheryl are being held back and traumatized once more in Riverdale’s final season. Who’s surprised?

Jay Snow is a freelance writer. He has published many places on the internet. For more of his thoughts on television and to see his other work (or to simply watch him gush again and again over his love for the original Charmed) follow him @snowyjay.

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