'Riverdale' Season 4 dives into the dark side of Betty Cooper to convey one message: It's okay for good girls to be bad
"Shucks," says Betty Cooper in one of the stories from the comics and Archie's response is "Such language from the prim and proper, Ms. Betty! What's with the profanity, you sweet, yellow-haired child?"
Call it cheesy, call it fluffy, but what you can actually admit there was the fact she was an absolute sweetheart. For Archie, there was a perpetual dilemma: Betty or Veronica.
The former reminds him of sunshine. Again. Cliched? Agreed. However, this was a Betty we all read about and for the teens back then, Betty was your idea of a perfect girlfriend.
Betty was cute. Betty was insanely hot when she wanted to be. Unless you were an Archie stealer, you won't be seeing her seething mad or bawling in a corner. Betty was your cheerleader who wasn't afraid to toss the ball or give it her all to whack one out of the park.
She made the perfect brownies and packed the perfect picnic basket. Dates with Betty never had to be a plush affair. Soda, chips, and TV would be a great way. If Archie had to make her feel romantic, all he had to do was get that rickety old jalopy of his and take her to a place to peacefully watch the moonlight.
Except, this isn't the Betty Cooper (Lili Reinhart) we see in 'Riverdale'. A far cry is an understatement when it comes to comparing Betty of the comics vs Betty of the show.
And the series is a great representation of what it means if Betty had a dark side to her. Not just was she someone who almost scalded Chuck Clayton (Jordan Calloway) in the hot tub.
Add to this the habit of literally clawing her nails into her palm and her willingness to get violent when the situation demands, Betty can kill. All you have to do is just say Tangerine.
Season 4 has explored the darker side of Betty again and this time that persona is guilty of the alleged death of Jughead (Cole Sprouse). And she's got the serial-killer genes.
So it sure looks like the sweaters and the pony-tail might be the perfect guise for the violent killer inside of the teen. The mid-season finale, 'Tangerine' gave the audience a glimpse of Dark Betty.
While some were wholly against the fact that this trope had to be done with, the logic behind this madness is plain and out there for the world to see.
Call Dark Betty an anti-hero. She steps in each time there's trouble. This is a side to Betty that even she fails to understand, "Something is very, very wrong with me," she tells Jug.
"Like, there's this darkness in me that's overwhelming. Sometimes I don’t know where it comes from, but I think that's what makes me do things." And it did.
This is a perfect example of a teen drama that looked at exploring "a darker side" of a young woman who has enough pressures to deal with in her teen days.
Simply put, Betty Cooper in 'Riverdale' is a message. It is okay for good girls to be bad and there shouldn't be a reason to claim some form of mental issues or inner darkness and pain.
Almost every person has a dark side and 'Riverdale' does a great job in bringing this side into the light as it explores these aspects in detail.