Riverdale was the town with Pep! But now it is known for being moody and having a lot of really messed up things happen in it.
Archie Andrews is the leading man in this town and he is also the one who never seems to learn from his mistakes, leaving viewers baffled and yelling at the screen every time he does another stupid act that messes everything up. A young man who cannot seem to pull it together no matter what the stakes are, Archibald makes the wrong choices the majority of the time. Here are all of the biggest mistakes he has made that affected more than just him on the show.
Protecting Ms. Grundy
Right off the bat, Archie was sleeping with his teacher and was in love with her. He was also protecting her and hiding the fact that they were together on the day that Jason Blossom was murdered. Hiding information that could be very essential to everyone in solving a mystery is exactly the type of character trope viewers had no idea would become a normal occurrence for this new Archie Andrews.
Breaking Up The Pussycats
This is high school, but Archie really is a selfish character if there ever was one conceived by a writers' room. The writers probably just did not want to immediately give audiences Archie and Veronica so they instead started Archie off with a smaller character.
But they also made Archie come off as very self-absorbed and not attentive to the feelings of those around him for his second relationship-based storyline of the first season. Having him break up the group (albeit briefly) and then also had him break up with Valerie and show how shallow his feelings were in the first place.
Archie & Betty Kiss
In season 2 Archie pulled the ultimate worst move and used the ultimate vulnerability of fearing for one's life to share a kiss with Betty. Now fans of the show will argue that this was a mutual kiss and of course it was, Archie would never make any woman do anything — especially one of his best friends. But when someone is constantly getting calls from a serial-killer that is stalking the whole town and you are closing in, and you say "I just need you by my side" what are viewers supposed to think that means, Archibald? Just when both couples were looking good, the writers threw that wrench into both relationships.
Archie "Undercover Agent"
Take this as a lesson kids, when some guy comes out of nowhere in a suit and just says he is a government agent that wants to help with no official paperwork, don't just believe them. This is a classic dumb Archie move, the fact he did not see this for what it actually was, which was a ploy by Hiram Lodge, was so ridiculous. There were viewers at the time this plotline was playing out that did not even think he was an agent at all and that was plausible because he never really showed much proof to Archie: it was all sort of hearsay and a badge.
Archie Takes The Deal
Archie was so quick to go to jail it was almost laughable, viewers now know it was just to set up his place in the seasons' storyline.
Still, it feels like the writers sort of bungled the way they handled this, trying to make it so the viewers felt as if Archie was thinking about those around him. This is a selfish character and that has been established over many seasons, he also does not learn from many of his mistakes. So this sudden swerve did not feel super realistic to viewers,
Archie's Prison Break
One of the more ridiculous plotlines on this list had Archie coming up with a way to break out of jail after so willingly deciding to take his plea deal. While it felt more like a filler episode it still affected all of the people that Archie considered close to him on the inside and he wanted to proceed forward regardless of how it would hurt anyone. Not the type of person to think about the repercussions of his actions ever, he pieced together the dumbest plan ever and, of course, it did not work.
Archie Fights & Fights
When Archie started fighting in prison viewers knew this was going to be at least a half-season long arc and while it was divisive among fans of being a good plotline or not, one thing cannot be debated: there was not one good thing that came out of the whole storyline except the shirtless scenes themselves. All Archie did was negatively impact every single person that he had around him with his fights. But he would not let that deter him from hurting people, in fact, it seemed to push him even further into the fighting.
Archie: Failed Vigilante
This story has actually played out multiple times, The Red Circle, and in the season airing right now he was running around with a black mask for a little bit.
Obviously fans just love seeing Archie go out and do this because watching it backfire is almost comical at this point. For all of his strength, the young man does not have the most brains, and that is something vigilantes need to have. With his most recent run of vigilante work, he was only protecting the kids that were coming to the rec center, so it pointed to him being the masked man.
Inviting Uncle Frank To Stay
Losing someone in your life is extremely difficult and the writers have been doing a great job showing the stages of grief with Archie. A huge shoutout needs to go to actor KJ Apa for portraying all of the raw emotions throughout this plotline so authentically. But filling the hole in his heart with an uncle that he never really knew helped absolutely no one.
Anything With Hiram Lodge
If Hiram & Archie are in the same scene than Archie is making a mistake and viewers know that. Hiram can manipulate Archie into seemingly anything he wants, whether it is for his own good or hurts him. The toxicity of this relationship on-screen is something that fans more have to endure than they enjoy watching.