I finally got caught up on "Riverdale," a Netflix gem. It was wild. A lot of things happened, most of which I never saw coming. If you haven't seen the second season, or the first season for that matter, turn back now, there are spoilers ahead.
The plot of the second season was insane, including multiple murders, a serial killer who ended up being Betty's dad, Betty's creepy estranged brother who turned out to not be her brother but still a creep, Cheryl's lesbian reveal, the return of Hiram Lodge, a musical (not creepy, but definitely uncalled for), and finally Archie's arrest for a murder he didn't commit.
Like I said, it was wild.
By the final episode, I was on the edge of my seat, wondering what more on earth the writers could drag these kids through. Can't they ever catch a break?
While there were a number of things that I felt should have been different about the show, my biggest problem was with how Betty ended up.
Poor Betty. Throughout the whole season, Betty is manipulated by the Black Hood into doing horrible things. The Black Hood blackmails her, making her betray her mother, isolate herself from her friends, attempt to bury Archie alive, and take Chic to his death. The Black Hood convinces Betty wholeheartedly into thinking that she really is as evil and dark as the Black Hood. This leads her to have a false perception of herself. She goes too far as to participate in elicit activity online, just like her "brother" Chic, as well as trying to get in with the South Side Serpents by performing their outdated and sexist dance number.
Betty is told she is evil, so that's what she becomes. She covers up murders and manipulates people herself. When she realizes that her father has been the Black Hood all along, Betty is traumatized (even more than she already was).
From the beginning, all Betty wanted was someone who understood the "darkness" inside her. She fed into her father's lies because they made her feel understood, when really they were destroying her.
In the last episode, Betty expresses her feelings to Jughead, asking if the Black Hood was right, that she really was evil, and if she would eventually turn into a murderer like her dad. Jughead reassures Betty that just because she sometimes does bad things, she is not a bad person.
This gives Betty the confidence she needs to go to Hal's prison cell and tell him that she no longer believes the lies he's been telling her. She declares an end to the "darkness" that has been running in their family, which angers Hal immensely.
Looking past the fact that it should have taken Betty ten times longer to overcome the trauma she had just experienced than it did in the show, Betty's strength in being able to tell the Black Hood to his face that she was no longer subject to his lies and that the "darkness" had no hold on her.
As a Christian watching the show, I couldn't help thinking how this "lesson" could apply to one's walk with Christ.
The villain of the show, the Black Hood, repeatedly says that he is trying to "cleanse Riverdale of sinners." This convoluted perception of sin being "fixed" by killing all sinners in town is ridiculous and brings into perspective that everyone in town is a sinner, even sweet Betty Cooper. No one is an exception. Everyone is human.
We are all sinners. Satan reminds us of this all the time. He makes us feel alone, he might even make us emotionally hurt those we love. Satan guilts us into thinking that our sin is who we are. Despite our broken human tendency to sin, we don't have to live in this sin forever. God promises forgiveness and grace and a chance to be His child. He promises to free us from the bondage of sin.
We are all a bit like Betty. We all have guilt. We all sin. We all have a "darkness" in us. We all have scars. It's human nature. Satan tells us that these things, our sin and guilt, define us, but God tells the truth. God says that He loves us and that we are His children. He hates sin, but when we repent, He forgives us and allows us to be defined by our place in His kingdom instead of our place here on Earth. We are saved. We are loved. We are free. We still sin, but our sin does not define us. Jesus' death and resurrection allows us to tell Satan he has no hold on us. We are free indeed.
