The Funniest Riverdale Memes

Who would have thought that Riverdale would be as successful as it has been? When the idea of a serious, teen drama involving Archie and the gang was first announced, people remained cautiously optimistic. When it was announced that it would involve the murder of a prominent character in the first episode, and that the rest of the season would style itself as a Twin Peaks-style mystery, one that enveloped the whole town and soaked the drama in a dark and deadly atmosphere, people were confused and completely sceptical. When it turned out to be good, however, people were legitimately shook.

Riverdale has defied the odds and risen up in people’s estimations to become one of the best teen dramas currently on television, and fans either straight up love it, or love it as their weekly "guilty pleasure." It’s entirely deserving of the praise, too, mixing emotional teen angst, high stakes drama and a self awareness not seen in many shows of its kind. The core cast have also captured their characters perfectly, and while they may have strayed from their comics counterparts, they’ve made the Archie gang their own. So to celebrate our love of the show, here are 15 of the funniest Riverdale memes!

15 CALCULATIONS

With the mystery of Jason Blossom’s murder finally solved at the end of season one, we all thought that we’d have a break from unknown killers for a while. That all changed, however, in the final moments of the season, when a masked assailant stormed into Pop’s Malt Shoppe and shot Fred Andrews.

Once season two kicked off, we started to uncover a much deeper mystery: rather than be a random failed robbery of Pop’s, this appears to be a serial killer out for bloody revenge for reasons as yet unknown. Just who is this masked murderer, and why does he want Fred Andrews dead? Could it be that he actually wanted Archie dead instead and Fred was an unlucky bystander, or does it have something to do with Fred’s construction company and the newly returned Hiram Lodge? There are just so many questions!

14 NEGAN LOGIC

Ah Reggie Mantle, who among us hasn't wanted to hit him with a baseball bat? Well, maybe not Riverdale fans, seeing as he’s not that awful of a human being and he’s so pretty, but certainly fans of the original comics know Reggie to be Archie’s biggest rival and an all-around huge jerk. Still, it’s safe to say that in this scenario, Reggie probably didn’t deserve a bat upside the head.

Archie, having been thoroughly spooked by the attempted murder of his dad, is easily frightened at the moment, and even more so when Reggie decides to play a “prank” on him and nearly gets beaten. What follows is this little bit of logic from Mr Mantle, which to most people makes perfect sense. The Walking Dead’s Negan, however, is not most people, and he’s never faced a situation that couldn’t be solved with his partner in crime, Lucille.

13 EAVESDROPPING

When you find a show that you love, you want nothing more than to find like-minded people to share your joy, your pain, and your endless fan theories and ships. That’s one thing that the internet does right: if you’re part of a very specific fandom, you’ll be able to hop online and find a home. There’s something to be said, however, for the joy of a random IRL encounter.

Maybe you’re in the local store, or comic shop, or bar, and your ears pick up on a seemingly innocuous word. You put it out of your mind, but you hear it again: a select quote or catchphrase, the mention of your favorite character, or the familiar hatred of a character that you also despise. That’s when you know: those are your people, and it’s all you can do to not rush into their conversation and make it your own.

12 TWEETS

It’s always great when the cast and crew of a show join in on the community fun, and Camila Mendes proves here that she’s definitely up for a laugh or two. Mendes plays the socialite Veronica Lodge, newcomer to Riverdale and love interest of Archie Andrews, and for seemingly her entire tenure on the show, she’s been convinced that her father Hiram Lodge is behind even the most inconspicuous of conspiracies.

Whether it’s the murder of Jason Blossom or the attempted murder of Fred Andrews, Ronnie has thought more than once that her recently incarcerated father was involved. These tweets, therefore, show that Mendes is fully aware of her character’s addiction with father-blaming, but with Hiram now a presence on the show, it’s only a matter of time before she’s proved correct.

11 COMICS COMPARISON

For a show like Riverdale, this meme was bound to happen. When you produce a show based off a comics property, comparisons are inevitable, but when the product strays so far from the original source material those comparisons can be pretty comical -- one look at Jughead’s nose is all you need to prove that theory.

It’s possibly due to the iconic nature of the core cast of the Archie comics, or it could be the opposite: that they’re entirely too generic, but either way Archie, Jughead, Betty and Veronica have been molded to fit many different genres over the years, be it comedy, horror, superhero or -- thanks to Riverdale -- emotional teen drama. They’ve also had some hilarious crossovers over the years, meeting everyone from Predator to The Ramones, The Punisher to Sharknado.

10 NOSTALGIA

Can you imagine a Riverdale: 1985 series? Well, if you can’t, let this meme help you out! One of the beauties of the show is that it seems to be going out of its way to cast actors that were once known for their own teen (or at least younger) performances in the roles of the parents of the main, school-age cast.

Obviously there’s Fred Andrews, played by Luke Perry of Beverly Hills 90210 fame, but Madchen Amick -- before playing Betty’s mother Alice Cooper -- played (and continues to play) Shelly Johnson on Twin Peaks. F.P. Jones -- Jughead’s wayward father -- is portrayed by Skeet Ulrich, perhaps better known as Billy Loomis in the original Scream movie. Even Archie’s mom Mary Andrews has made the occasional appearance and is played by ‘80s megastar Molly Ringwald.

9 PIZZA BATTLE

If there’s one thing guaranteed to turn friend into foe, it’s fighting over the last slice of pizza. We have a feeling, though, that these two would find any excuse to fight. Ever since Veronica Lodge joined her mother in returning to their home town, she’s wandered the halls of Riverdale High School like the queen bee. Ask anyone there though, and they’ll tell you there’s only one girl at the top of that particular pecking order, and that’s Cheryl Blossom.

Cheryl’s had a tough 12 months though, all things considered. With the death of her brother seemingly only the start of her problems, it was soon revealed that not only had Jason gotten Betty’s sister pregnant, but that his death was at the hands of his and Cheryl’s father Cliff Blossom. So maybe she deserves that slice of pizza after all.

8 I'M WEIRD

“In case you haven’t noticed, I’m WEIRD. I’m a weirdo. I don’t fit in, and I don’t WANT to fit in. Have you ever seen me without this stupid hat on? That’s weird.” With those immortal words, both the worst and the best Jughead scene was unleashed upon the world, leading to an abundance of “I’m Weird” memes, with that wonderfully bonkers speech attributed to everyone from Louise Belcher to Yu-Gi-oh.

Here, though, the meme is given a little twist, and it’s lifting from a little later in that speech, and echoing all of our thoughts when our selfies fall flat with zero comments and likes online. More than that, it’s funny to think of Jughead caring about whether or not people like his selfies, after all, he doesn’t WANT to fit in!

7 NO LOVE FOR OLD GRUNDY

Poor Miss Grundy, she never really stood a chance. It’s not like she had many likeable traits to begin with, of course, seeing as she’s a cougar at best, and a sexual predator at worst, preying on a young Archie Andrews and abusing her role as teacher in order to carry on an illicit affair with someone way too young.

What could maybe, perhaps (but almost certainly not) be forgiven as a one time only slip in moral judgement (again, unforgivable) is wiped out at the start of season two, where we see her committing the same crimes upon another unsuspecting youngster, before facing the final, fatal judgement at the hands of the mysterious masked killer. Even before that though, throughout season one, her appearances were met with a cringe-inducing shudder.

6 POOR MIDGE

When your source material is eighty-plus years of comics, it’s safe to say that you’ve got a wealth of characters to use. It’s also true though that for the majority of those eighty years the same core cast have received the majority of the attention and storylines. That’s not to say that there isn’t a robust cast of secondary characters to mine though, and there was a hope that Riverdale was going to capitalise on that in season two with Midge and Moose.

Midge Klump and Marmaduke “Moose” Mason date back to 1951 and 1949 respectively, so they have a long history in Archie Comics. While Riverdale has been great with it’s references to the comics, it seemed like no sooner were Midge and Moose introduced than they were killed off by the masked murderer stalking the town. They survived, but for an episode ending cliffhanger it was pretty tense.

5 DIGLETT?

It seems hard to imagine these days for most pop culture lovers, but when the original Pokemon cartoon came out the 151 pocket monsters were largely unknown to the audience, making this between-the-commercials game a fun and educational part of the experience. Pretty soon you could merely look at the shadows and know your Abras from your Zubats, which makes memes like this all the more hilarious, when that expectation is subverted.

It’s true that when we were first introduced to Cheryl Blossom she was either a prime murder suspect in the case of her brother Jason, or a stuck up Mean Girl, or both. Whatever you thought about her, chances are you wanted to see her brought down a peg or two. Even so, this Pokemon prank, were it to happen to her for real, would probably be a step too far.

4 BUGHEAD

When Jughead and Betty first got together in season one, there was no one on either side of the TV screen that wasn’t shocked. For comics fans, this has never even been considered, due to the fact that not only is Betty in a perpetual love triangle with Veronica over the love of Archie Andrews, but thanks to more recent confirmations, Jughead is actually asexual. If you lived in the magical-yet-deadly world of Riverdale, you were perhaps even more shocked, seeing as Betty has been crushing on Archie for the longest time and Jughead is his (self-professed) “weirdo” best friend.

It’d be difficult to maintain a love triangle on a show like Riverdale for too long, though, without seriously demeaning the characters of both Betty and Veronica, so it makes sense that they’ve steered away from that (for now). Plus, there are plenty of “Bughead” fans out there now!

3 RELATABLE

In a moment that is entirely relatable to most of us, Jughead reveals a personal fact about himself that draws us all together under the universal love of food. This is another one of those moments that Riverdale does really well, namely its ability to function as a completely independent and unique take on a decades-old comics franchise while still dropping easter eggs and references here and there.

In the case of Jughead’s perpetual, insatiable hunger, that’s lifted straight from the funny pages. You’ll rarely see Jug without a burger in his hand in the comics, and there have been countless tales told about his almost inhumanly large appetite. While the Riverdale apple falls far from the Archie Comics tree, there are still hints of its legacy.

2 ICEBREAKER

There’s nothing like a good pun, and you know what they say: this is nothing like a good pun. We’re kidding of course, but seriously this one’s pretty bad. Taking still photos from the climactic action scene that drew season one to a close and mixing it with a candid shot of KJ Apa sporting Archie’s cast, this meme saw its moment and decided to take it.

It’s good to bring a bit of levity to those final moments of last season. In one of the most tense, action-packed scenes of the show so far, Cheryl walked out onto the thin ice of Sweetwater River to die alongside her beloved brother, leading to Archie punching through the ice to rescue her when she fell in. Tense stuff, which is perhaps why this meme is so forgivable.

1 GET OUT

It’s one thing to say that Riverdale isn’t your thing. Teen drama isn’t for everyone after all, and a show such as this that mixes teen angst with the murder, betrayal and hyper-stylized mystery of a show like Twin Peaks makes it easy to see it being a little divisive. There’s also a dark sense of humor and a self-aware dramatic flare that might not suit everyone’s tastes, but what you can’t say, and what no will be able to agree with you on, is that Riverdale is boring.

In the first season alone you had a murder mystery, shady deals, biker gangs, extortion, secret pregnancy, illicit teacher/student affairs, angst ridden weirdos, father/son violence, suicide, depression, homes burnt to the ground, windows smashed in, plot twists, possible twincest, unlikely romances, sexy cheerleaders, “Dark Betty” and topless Archie. All of which is to say Riverdale is never boring.

What are your favorite RIverdale memes? Let us know in the comments!