the CW network recreation of our beloved archie and the gang in a murder mystery setting is a guilty pleasure that most of us came to love and hate at the same time.

come on! archie, betty, veronica and jughead solving crimes and being teenagers. its television gold folks. but, after the first few seasons, there was a hard shift in how the show was going to be handled and that has created one of the most hilarious tv shows in the CW universe.

one of the most intriguing characters from the archie universe to come to life is Betty Cooper, the quintessential girl next door. while betty is always seen as the polite, sweet and shy, Riverdale’s Cooper was promised to be much more than the sweetheart vanilla vibe to the mean girl chocolaty Veronica Lodge. it was promised to be much more nuance and complex.

we received as was promised. we got a flawed, relatable, sometimes insecure, and sometimes mean betty cooper. well, at least in the first season.

but soon Betty Cooper becomes a caricature of herself and in many ways becomes a sad remnant of what we as viewers had come to love. so lets look at some of the moments that really don’t make any sense as a character even in a complex narrative that the network was trying to build.

Dark Betty

Dark Betty is a persona / alter-ego of Betty Cooper and is portrayed as an edgier and darker version of our sweet betty cooper. while it could have been a good way to show betty’s complexities and her struggles with her mother’s expectation to be a perfect girl, the show took it into directions that didn’t really serve to the growth of the character.

A Vague Moral compass

Betty sometimes comes off as very judgemental or self-righteous like judging Kevin for cruising in the woods. but her own actions can be very morally corrupt, whether it be blackmailing someone or just helping her bae arrange drag races with a rival biker gang. reminder that they are still all high school children! things get real very quickly.

Sexualizing Minors

ahem…let’s talk about the pole dance scene. betty, who is still a minor and in high school, strips and pole dances in front of some middle-aged men to become a member of a biker gang. jughead, whose father is leader of the Serpents, does not want Betty involved which is valid, because hellooo biker gang. but betty doesn’t really listen to him and goes on with the most awkward strip tease scene in the history of television. she is a child, ffs!

there you go, we do agree that we have a love and hate relationship with the edgiest betty cooper in the history of archies. what do you think? do you agree with us, or do you have another opinion? let us know by tagging us @liveaastey.

until next time, enjoy your weekend. 

live aastey.