“Tales in a Jugular Vein” is one of the most fun episodes that Riverdale has done in years, and one that’s an absolute love letter to the pulp horror that helped the genre get to where it is today. However, the events that surround the show’s seventh and final season–where the cast have magically been sent back to an alternate version of the 1950s, something that only Jughead is cognizant of–facilitate the perfect opportunity for Riverdale to embrace its comic roots, albeit through a wildly different genre and style. Ī Tales from the Crypt tribute already snugly fits within Riverdale ’s uniquely weird wheelhouse. Meanwhile, anthology horror has never been more popular on television and if any supernatural-adjacent series is designed to tell spooky tales around the metaphorical campfire, it’s Riverdale. What started as a double-dog-dare of a premise that was ostensibly, “Archie Comics, but Twin Peaks ,” will have produced more than 130 episodes across seven seasons that have included some particularly big swings and stylistic experiments (musicals have become a yearly tradition on Riverdale ) over the years.

The CW’s Riverdale –against all odds–has become one of the most bizarre and unabashedly genre programs that’s currently on television. ‘Riverdale’ told four pulpy tales of terror in the style of ‘Tales from the Crypt’ that become a meta commentary on genre, violence, and censorship.

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