Riverdale #9

Good Story, Not Even Slightly Canon-Compliant

Why do I keep hoping these will live up to the promise of being suitable in canon? They never do, and this is no exception.??

We're at a point where apparently Jug has been??betrayed by Archie, which implies late season two. Except Jug is talking about taking long bus rides to see his dad who's in prison. Also, he??claims his family used to have a truck just like the $20,000 one being offered as a prize... which is extremely impossible seeing how season one said he and Jellybean would hide in the back because the family couldn't even afford enough drive-in tickets. Like heck they had a truck that valuable! Oh, and apparently he ‘needs the truck' to have for his dad post-prison so they can ‘go visit the family in Ohio.' Why? Motorcycles, of which they each have one, are just fine with better gas mileage and FP has a truck still. In the show it's parked right by Jug's motorcycle in yard.

Likewise, Archie claims his dad has been driving a jalopy and needs the new truck.??No, he hasn't been, though;??that's the car they're fixing up together. Fred has a truck. In fact, Archie uses it to drive him to the hospital after he's shot and he and Jug borrow it in season two to go to Greendale.

You know what there isn't room for at the implied canon??point, as well? A ridiculous town-wide contest to win a truck. You know what Jughead wouldn't be doing? Calling Archie “Benedict Archie” as if he's Cheryl or Veronica. And you know what Cheryl wouldn't be doing? Calling Ethel fat in a dehumanizing way - literally calling her a cow once -??or competing to win a truck of all things.

This is more like fanfic than anything else. As a canon story, which it's marketed as, it's a total failure.??

However, since it's actually kind of nice as a standalone “inspired by, but not part of continuity” tale, I'll be kind and rate higher. It really was nice seeing Jug and Archie work through their issues and Betty and Veronica come together. And Ethel definitely deserved the break she got.??

They really should just call this an alternate universe, and fix the problem there. I wouldn't be so annoyed if it weren't impossible to fit these between episodes.??But then, the show itself doesn't even care about continuity anymore so I guess it's no surprise they don't mind having holes in the stories marketed as canon.