A couple of years ago I burned a DVD of all of the Riverdale edits I had reblogged at some point in my Riverdale career. A lot of great content has been made since then, and while mindlessly updating the edits folder on my hard drive, I got to thinking. Which edits are fundamental to my viewing of Riverdale?
This isn't me saying that these are the only good edits or these are my favorites. I have plenty of others that I watch over and over again. The edits I've chosen are special because they shaped the way I watch the show. If you want to see more edits I've enjoyed, visit my Tumblr, or, you know, spend the majority of your teenage years on the front lines like I did.
doctorcurdlejr: King
An easy indication of if an edit is good is if it's the cause of your #1 most listened to song of the year (shout out 2022). In all seriousness, it can be hard to find Beronica edits—or anything about the women in Riverdale, if we're honest—that are compelling and over the three-minute mark. This hits it out of the park.
Not only does the song fit the characters, but the edit fits the mood of the song with lingering glances and a little help from the moody post-timeskip color palette. The slow tempo is a tool, not a challenge to work around, and the end product hurts. The best part about it is that it's not about Beronica—it's about the intersection of the two characters and how they grapple with the roles they've been forced into, and part of that just happens to be their unhappy heterosexual relationships. It understands that even if they could get out, they wouldn't escape the rules they've imposed on themselves.
fizzlehead: Runs in the Family
I couldn't not include this. It's probably the most well-known edit in the Tumblr circles, and while it isn't as popular as other works on YouTube, its numbers are more than respectable. It has the "Big 3": a popular song, relevant lyrics, and easily digestible verses that can be divided between characters. While that accounts for some of its popularity, none of that matters without its fundamental understanding of who Betty is. She's framed as the protagonist, and the tone changes to match that, becoming frantic as she runs across the frame and from responsibility. My one gripe is the beginning of Veronica's verse, but no song can be a perfect fit and the clips used are surprisingly apt. Somehow she manages, in her misery / strips in the city / and shares all her best tricks with / me more than makes up for it.
greatkateweathermachine: I Bet on Losing Dogs
If
I had to choose one Jarchie edit to save in a fire, this would be it.
Most edits focus on the early seasons, which makes sense because of the
larger fanbase and insane gay Jughead moments, but ignore the pivotal
moments post-time skip. This edit switches back and forth between
seasons—take the closing shots, for example. We see Jughead hugging
Archie before he reluctantly backs away, toward the bus that will take
him to war and the show away from its high school premise. Cut to the
first episode—the birth of Jughead as we know him. Time is a flat
circle.
The
thing this edit does the best is show that Jarchie is less of a "ship"
than an undercurrent throughout the show. It never goes anywhere, but it
doesn't have to because Jughead and Archie acknowledge there's
something between them, even if they won't name what it is. Jarchie is
doomed. Archie is the story, Jughead is the author, and the town is the
editor, and while it may be successful at scrubbing out a relationship,
there's no getting around the fact that Jughead is there for every major
moment in Archie's life.
hefoundme: Megatron
https://www.tumblr.com/urdeadbestfriend/682972847858204673/hefoundme-all-he-did-was-try-his-best-to
Okay, so this one might not be on the same level as the others. It's not meant to be serious. It's still the edit that my Riverdale-hating friends ask me to send them at least once a month and we quote every time we meet up in person. It's short, sweet, and so fucking memorable because THAT'S HIRAM! This and the CMBYN x Hirarchie trailer are relics from another time, before the Spring 2024 Riverdale Tumblr culling, when people who casually watched the show while it aired moved on, and everyone else simultaneously decided to post dubcon Hirarchie. I can't even count the number of times a friend has turned to me and quoted Veronica's incredulous "Daddy?" It has reach.
jerrydevine: Gloria
A lot of viewers fall into the trap of FP = bad and Fred = good, which makes every character involved less interesting and realistic. Jughead and FP hated each other and hurt each other, and they got over it as much as they could. "Gloria" is an amazing song choice to show the mix of pity and resentment Jughead feels, as well as his knowledge that he's headed down the same path. Have you had enough? becomes a damning statement because "enough" doesn't exist. The two of them are forced to live the same charade until their bodies can't carry them any further. As with a lot of my favorite edits, it includes the nuances of post time-skip Jughead, but it still maintains the complicated feelings he had as a teenager. As much as he tries to hide it, there's still a child trapped in him, and he longs for paternal reinforcement. The Lumineers were made for the Jones men.
julietophelia: Kill v. Maim
https://urdeadbestfriend.tumblr.com/post/696402106023821312
It feels unbalanced to include two Hiram edits on this list, but his presence is what shapes the show. He changes Archie and becomes a tool to measure his change throughout the seasons. His flair for the dramatic makes him a perfect candidate for popgirl songs, toeing the line of irony that Riverdale was based around. Like "King," the song's different sections create "acts" to break up the narrative. I don't have as much to say because it feels obvious that I would include this. It's essentially a "best of" compilation of one of my favorite side characters.
philcollinsenjoyer: What's New Scooby Doo
This was the edit that made me get seriously back into Riverdale. A lot of the edits on this list center around desperation and yearning—it's important to remember that at the end of the day, Riverdale is fun. Let's watch our favorite characters get put in wacky scenarios and clap and cheer at the screen. It includes some great moments from season 4, which is often overlooked because of its bottle-episode feel and the fact that it was awkwardly shortened by the start of the pandemic. The beat matching up with Betty's head tilt gets me every time. Serious Riverdale wouldn't exist without this, and I wouldn't want it to.
saintjock: The Execution of all Things
https://www.tumblr.com/saintjock/776582917037113344/its-the-guilt-and-forever-wakefulness-of-the
This one is a recent underdog addition. I've been watching it a lot over the past couple of months, and every time I'm struck by how smart the construction is. The original footage doesn't look like it came from a 1080p rip, which makes sense with how the main TV footage Discords were shut down in early 2023, but the use of color and grain filters makes it seem completely intentional. The text in the middle of the screen elevates everything because of how relevant the lyrics are to what's happening on screen. There are multiple sections that I have to play over and over again every time I watch it.
It's steeped in a sense of nostalgia that's only grown since the show ended. There are iconic moments, as well as beautiful shots that a lot of creators overlook. It's eye candy and so, so heartbreaking.
somanypetals: The End Times
Speaking of eye candy... Jesus Christ. It's more than a little intimidating on the first watch, and it takes dozens of playthroughs to fully appreciate it. I'm sure there are moments I still haven't noticed. Every moment flows perfectly into the next. I love how nothing is chronological. Time is warped so aesthetics can take center stage, and isn't that what Riverdale is about? From Archie fighting in the "Great War" to every anachronistic piece of technology, Riverdale's timeline has always been a tangled mess. Here, it's thrown into a blender to be served up like one of Pop's favorite milkshakes.
Although I organized this list alphabetically, it feels fitting to end on this note. Every season is represented, and the closing shot is Jughead walking away from the Sweet Hereafter, shut out of heaven and forced to wander forever. This was a goodbye to everything the show stood for. Are you waiting for some kind of meaning? because it's not coming unless you make it. We used to be so close, at one point in time.
Honorable Mention: "Jugchie"
Jarchie has always existed and will always continue to exist👍
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