Riverdale: Is Archie vs. Hiram great entertainment or a problematic plot?

The penultimate episode of Riverdale arrived with a bang and gave us three major stories to sink our teeth into, including an Archie and Hiram showdown. But we need to talk about that boxing match.

There have been a lot of things that have happened throughout the third season of Riverdale. Not only did we see Archie on the run, but we also saw someone try to kill Hiram Lodge. And now we finally had a true show down between these two rivals.

In a series that defies reality in so many ways, the fact that Archie and Hiram went head-to-head in the boxing ring is actually not a surprise. But, that doesn’t mean the whole thing is not problematic.

Listen, we love seeing the wildness that is Riverdale, but we can’t forget that technically Archie is a teenager under the age of 18. And that means there really should not be a boxing match between him and Hiram who is the adult in this situation.

At the same time, if it hadn’t been for Veronica arriving with the law in the nick of time, things could have been much worse for Archie as it looked like Hiram was ready to do serious damage with his fists. But not a single person in that room was stepping up to stop the fight. And this includes Archie’s mother.

Honestly, I’m starting to wonder if maybe there needs to be a parental training course in Riverdale. Like, seriously, who not only allows their teenage son to get in the ring with an adult, but also just sits by and lets him get wailed on long after the fight was supposed to be over? And let’s not even get started on the fact that Hiram Lodge is himself a parent and started this whole war with Archie even though the teenager was dating his daughter.

I love the way Riverdale is like a soap opera based off of a long running comic book series, but at the same time some of these story lines just leave me wondering who thought this was a good idea. Then again, I can’t imagine another way we could have Archie and Hiram going up against each other, considering the only thing they really have in common is the wrestling and boxing.

Hopefully this boxing match wraps up enough of the current story between these two for now that we don’t have to see Archie getting pounded on again for a while. But at this point, we can’t imagine that this is the last we will see of Hiram Lodge. So, was this boxing match even worth it? I don’t know, but it certainly made for an interesting story and visual.

The season finale of Riverdale airs on The CW on May 15, so it may be a while before we learn what comes next for both Archie and Hiram in their longstanding feud.