Riverdale season 6 spoilers follow.
Since the series returned from a spooky alternate reality, Riverdale has seen the previously-absent supernatural take up residence in the real world.
Archie, Betty, and Jughead all have powers now, while Cheryl has been rudely possessed by her ancestor Abigail Blossom, who is intent on seeing Archie, Betty and Jughead dead for the role their ancestors played in Abigail being burned at the stake.
Meanwhile, Veronica Lodge, the other member of the "core four" that the series has always prided itself on, is getting the short end of the stick on all accounts.
These recent goings-on have further isolated Veronica. Not only is she isolated from the core four, but also from everyone else in town too, which is absolutely unacceptable for one of the series' leads.
The show has never done a good job of treating the core four as equals, but Veronica has always been the one left on the outside, the only one without childhood history to fall back on with the other members.
While the other three members of the core four are, for once, on the same page, using their powers to try to stop Percival Pickens from destroying the town, Veronica is left alone.
It wouldn't have been difficult to include her in this supernatural twist either. She just needed to be near Archie's house when it exploded. This would have brought Veronica in on the story while solidifying the friendship between this core four that has almost always been, well, non-existent.
Since the return from "Rivervale", Veronica has hardly interacted with anyone but Reggie. In season six, episode six, Veronica's moment of reconnection with Betty (shown in the trailer for the episode) is cut. The two still have a scene together, but any glimpse of a remaining friendship is wiped away.
Likewise, after Veronica later announces Hiram's death at a town council meeting, her scene with Archie, who is trying to be there for her, is simply used to have Archie unknowingly make Veronica feel guilty for her role in Hiram's death. It's very surface-level, which should not be the case given their deep history and Archie's insider knowledge of Veronica's very complex feelings for her father.
No effort has been made to even feign a friendship between the core four now, despite recent stories providing the perfect opportunity to do so.
While the others are dealing with the powers, Veronica's had to deal with two major emotional setbacks. First, her father's death, which was just about as complicated as their relationship. Veronica was forced to deal with her father's death alone, with nobody to help her through.
Then, with her father's death in the rearview mirror, Veronica essentially became the town pariah.
Alice publicly putting Veronica on blast and placing the blame for what Hiram has done to Riverdale on her shoulders is unacceptable. (And, feels like the pot calling the kettle black considering Alice's ex-husband and oldest child were both serial killers that tormented the town for months, yet nobody ever placed that on her.)
Through it all, nobody has come to Veronica's defence, not even Reggie. The town is in agreement with Alice's assessment. The other members of the core four are preoccupied and in their own world, not even recognising how vital Veronica could be to their cause considering the information she provided about Percival not existing before he arrived in town.
It's utterly baffling that Veronica, having tried so hard to stop her father during the years of his rampage on the town, is being torn apart because of her last name.
The way Riverdale season six is treating Veronica is infuriating and simply wrong. Since her relationship with Archie ended, so have her interactions with basically anyone else in Riverdale.
The writers used Archie to connect Veronica to the core four for multiple seasons, and the series (and characters) are suffering for it now. Her father was the person she shared the most screen time with otherwise, and now he's dead.
Veronica has been the outlier on the core four for too long, and this would have been the time to change that and bring her further into the fold, developing her friendship with Betty, a new kind of relationship with Archie, and maybe even actually having a friend in Jughead.
Instead, the writers have only heightened what they've always subtly done: Veronica is on the outside, while Archie, Betty, and Jughead are the "real" core group that the writers care about.
Veronica has already proven that she has just as much to offer, which makes it even more frustrating that she's doing nothing except being emotionally destroyed while sitting in her office at Babylonium.
In addition to having no decent relationships, Veronica hasn't been able to have a real emotional reaction to being ostracised or anything, really.
She's just tried to ignore the hurt she's feeling over the people in Riverdale, the town where she feels most at home, turning against her. Any emotions she's felt over Hiram have been suppressed by alcohol and not having anyone to truly share those feelings with.
This has been an ongoing issue for the writers, what with the storyline about Archie and Betty cheating and then them later reconnecting upon their return to town. Where Veronica could – and probably should – have had some emotional reaction, the writers refused, and it hurt Veronica and her relationships with others.
The only person left in Veronica's corner is Reggie, who isn't even fully in Veronica's corner anymore apparently. In Riverdale season six, episode nine, Reggie – like everyone else in town – uses Hiram's actions to belittle Veronica when she is genuinely trying to help him.
Veronica sees Reggie's father Marty is struggling and has an issue with gambling and when to stop playing, as she intervenes when he's already $7,000 deep. Thus, Veronica tries to do the right thing and bring it up to Reggie, so they can help him. But, when she does, she's immediately met with anger and misplaced blame, accused of trying to ban Marty from the casino.
Even later, after Reggie takes care of his father's debt and arranges a new deal, he completely shuts Veronica down when she tries to inquire about the situation, throwing in a low blow during their conversation once again to purposefully make her feel bad.
If this is the future for Veronica and Reggie then, please, shut it down now. Veronica has already had to deal with enough toxic masculinity for her lifetime and just got out of an abusive marriage. She needs someone to genuinely support her and help her become the person she wants to be, not someone who's going to take out their frustrations on her, which is precisely what Reggie is doing.
Plus, Reggie's presence in Veronica's life is currently dragging her down a dark path that's far too similar to the path that her father went down. If the Veronica from the early seasons could see herself now, she would likely be disappointed, since she's just as mixed up in shady business as Hiram was.
Given the series is likely to end in the near future, potentially even after the next season, this treatment of Veronica needs to change immediately. The chance to show Veronica with a chosen family that she loves, operating her business in a way she can proudly stand behind, and in a healthy relationship are all fading away.
Compared to the others, Veronica seems to be the character the writers have no idea what to do with or where her future is heading (aside from Kevin, of course, but he's always been the weakest link).
Veronica deserves better, and it's time that Riverdale finally does right by the "core four" in its entirety.
Riverdale airs on The CW in the US. In the UK, you can stream via Netflix.
Berlanti Productions/Archie Comics/Warner Bros./CBS Television Studios Riverdale: Season 1
Berlanti Productions/Archie Comics/Warner Bros./CBS Television Studios Riverdale: Season 2
Watertower Music Riverdale: Season 1 (Original Television Soundtrack)
Watertower Music Riverdale: Season 2 (Original Television Soundtrack)
Watertower Music Riverdale: Season 3 (Original Television Soundtrack)
Funko Pop! Riverdale: Dream Sequence Veronica Pop! Vinyl Figure
