As a very dark adaptation of the classic Archie Comics and characters, the CW’s Riverdale has actually received a lot of praise. Despite a drastic departure from the source material, Riverdale has garnered a lot of success, as well as a very large following of fans. Furthermore, certain core elements of each character remain, no matter how significant other changes may be.
In regards to Archie Andrews in particular, he still presents himself as a kind-hearted, morally strong character that is easy to root for. However, despite his best efforts, Archie has repeatedly made his fair share of mistakes on the TV show. In fact, at times, Archie has come close to being a full-blown villain. As the show’s fourth season continues to unravel, here is our list of the 10 worst things Archie Andrews has ever done.
Ignores Jughead
Throughout the entire first season of Riverdale, Archie’s best friend, Jughead, was in an incredibly unfortunate situation. Not only did his mom want little to do with him, but his father wasn’t exactly the best role model either, considering how he was the leader of the Serpents at the time. Because of his complicated history, Jughead actually found himself homeless for a brief period.
While his supposed best friend was going through this, Archie found himself constantly worried about football, music, working for his father, and his romantic life. Though it makes sense for a teenager to be concerned about those things, the fact that Jughead’s well-being wasn’t at least on Archie's mind doesn’t support his “golden boy” attitude that he is typically associated with, and instead makes him a very poor friend.
Escapes Prison
During the first half of Season 3, Archie found himself in a juvenile detention center as a result of his dealings with Hiram Lodge. For all the horrible things that Archie underwent at the center, it would make sense that Archie would want out, especially considering his innocence. Furthermore, even after escaping prison, living as a fugitive proved to be rather tedious for Archie.
Needless to say, fleeing to Canada and getting mauled by a bear certainly led to a darker direction for his character. Despite the fact that Archie never belonged in prison in the first place, escaping seemed to cause more problems than it fixed, making this one of the more unwise decisions the characters of Riverdale have pulled off.
Confides in Laurie
Considering Hiram’s widespread influence that Archie was well aware of, confiding in Laurie Lake is something that he should have known better than to do. Shortly after escaping prison, Archie and Jughead find themselves in a small town not far from Riverdale. Here they seek refuge and eventually are taken in by Laurie Lake and her sister.
The only problem was that Hiram Lodge actually owned the entire town. Therefore, as soon as Laurie figured out who Archie really was, she immediately reported him to Hiram. While Laurie and her family were also being threatened by Hiram, redeeming her to a degree, it still wasn’t Archie’s smartest move to confide in her, especially considering his proximity to Riverdale.
Fights With His Father
Before his unfortunate passing, actor Luke Perry was one of the most celebrated aspects of Riverdale. As Archie’s father, Fred Andrews, Perry offered a lot of great advice and a generally strong moral direction for the younger characters of the cast. However, despite his skills as a parent, Archie and Fred still clashed every so often. While it makes sense for them to do so since Riverdale is a teen drama, there were certainly times when Archie was in the wrong, or even the villain when rebelling against his father.
For example, during Season 2, Archie accepted the car from Hiram, despite knowing how his father felt about it as well as his desire to work on Archie's first car together. No matter how rebellious Archie has been throughout the series, he has definitely crossed the line in regards to his relationship with his father.
Fights Nick St. Clair
In all honesty, Nick St. Clair deserved just about everything that happened to him. However, in going after someone who was still so powerful, Archie created more problems than Nick was worth. While it was nice to see Nick get manipulated and beaten by the teens in Riverdale, he still made for a rather formidable antagonist.
The repercussions that the teens faced as a result of his feud with Archie especially were pretty great. Though he is one of the more evil characters on the show, Nick eventually got what he deserved, but not before putting up one of the more intense fights the show has featured.
His Relationship With Ms. Grundy
At the very start of Riverdale, it was revealed that Archie was romantically involved with his music teacher, Ms. Grundy, someone who was also much older than him. While it made sense as to why the two were attracted to each other, their involvement was still wildly inappropriate. Due to the nature of their relationship, Archie and Ms. Grundy actually withheld information on Jason Blossom’s murder for a time.
Likewise, the longer their relationship went on, the more complicated it got, especially with school back in session. Though Ms. Grundy hasn’t been a part of the show for some time now, her relationship with Archie was never a wise decision, nor did much good come from it.
How He Generally Treats Women
Archie has been romantically involved with what seems like every female character on the show. Though he is typically seen with Veronica and the two make a great pair, Archie has been involved with Betty, Ms. Grundy, Josie, and Laurie, just to name a few. Furthermore, Archie not only dates a lot of the women in the show, but he has a tendency to take them for granted.
His entire relationship with Betty in the beginning feels as though he is just making excuses. His relationship with Ms. Grundy was inappropriate and forced her to leave town — though as an adult, she was the one who was in the wrong. But no matter how hard Archie may try, he just can’t seem to stop making mistakes. Likewise, almost every problem in his romantic life is caused by his own actions, making it hard to see why so many girls keep falling for him.
Forms the Red Circle
When the Black Hood’s reign of terror in Riverdale was at its highest, Archie took it upon himself to form the Red Circle, a group of mostly football players who decided to take the law into their own hands to help protect the town. However, despite Archie’s good intentions, things very rapidly took a dark turn.
The Red Circle soon became just another gang in Riverdale, even forming a rivalry with the Serpents. Eventually things got so bad that Archie attempted to disband the Red Circle. After this attempt, the group simply just reformed, without Archie as leader, under the name of the Dark Circle. Though Archie was attempting to do something good, the Red Circle ended up creating more problems than solving them.
Works for Hiram Lodge
Working for Hiram Lodge would prove to be one of the worst mistakes Archie would make on the entire show. As time went on, Archie invested more trust in Hiram than he should have. The deeper he got into Hiram’s life, the more problems Archie would have in the future. By the time Archie realized that he wanted out of this business relationship, he was so deeply involved that Hiram could easily turn everything against him.
Because of the things Archie had done, Hiram was easily able to frame him for murder, getting Archie locked up and effectively ruining his whole life. Even after Archie was incarcerated, Hiram continued to make his life as miserable as possible. Despite his father’s warnings, Archie would definitely regret getting so close to Hiram in the end.
Continues to Interact with Hiram
Even after everything Hiram had done to him, Archie once again got involved with Hiram Lodge. After making a safe return to Riverdale, the two would start to interact with each other once again. In fact, Archie would even accept an old boxing gym from Hiram. However, despite the terms of their arrangement, Hiram would once again prove to have ulterior motives.
Considering the history between the two, trusting Hiram Lodge again in any sense was incredibly stupid of Archie. He very easily could have reset the cycle that got him incarcerated. Though the relationship between him and Hiram is a bit more complicated now, it is incredibly difficult to understand why Archie would remotely consider accepting anything from Hiram after everything he had done.