How are Riverdale’s new villains affecting the show?

How are Riverdale’s season six villains affecting the show? In the aftermath of Hiram Lodge’s exit at the end of season 5 and off-screen death, season 6 needed to break away from its constant use of Hiram Lodge as the show’s antagonist.

Hiram’s actions most often had consequences for Riverdale as a town and personally for Archie and Veronica. But, the change in villains has created a shift in storytelling.

Not only have Betty, Archie, and Jughead all gained superpowers from the explosion at Archie’s house, but new villains have been running wild in Riverdale.

The season’s new villains are the Trash Bag Killer, Abigail Blossom, and new-to-town Percival Pickens. Throughout the fifth season, the Trash Bag Killer was referenced as a killer Betty had tracked down and eventually was held hostage by. Although Betty escaped with her life, her memories and trauma of the events followed her afterward.

In season 6, Riverdale may have unmasked the Trash Bag Killer as a random, unknown man with no specific connections to Betty or anyone else in town previous to him capturing her a few years previously.

His actions of killing Glen and attacking Archie caused Betty to briefly leave town to force the Trash Bag Killer to follow her out of town. Although Betty returns home claiming to have lost him, there are still plenty of episodes left in the season and more opportunities for his return.

Meanwhile, Cheryl Blossom is trapped in the depths of her mind while her ancestor, Abigail Blossom, possesses her body. Although Riverdale’s season 5 finale made it seem that Abigail’s return would be dangerous for Archie, Betty, and Jughead, if not the entirety of Riverdale, she has not done that much.

Abigail is a clear threat to Cheryl, has spoken briefly to Toni and Fangs, and locked Nana Rose away. But otherwise, Abigail has yet to bring any harm to the rest of the town. Given how her backstory is portrayed in Rivervale’s “The Witching Hour(s),” showing Abigail’s past with Toni’s ancestor, Thomasina Topaz, Abigail’s interests may be more than bringing Riverdale to its knees.

But, given Betty’s ability to see auras, Jughead’s capability of reading minds, and Toni’s feeling that something is off about Cheryl, Abigail may have less time in control than she hoped.

The final of Riverdale’s newest villains is Percival Pickens. Percival is a mystery to the town. He is new but has already broken out of his shell, revealing to have written a scathing article referencing Riverdale as being the worst town in America.

Archie takes a direct insult to this, confronting Jughead and asking about the anonymous author. When Archie discovers Percival is behind the article, Archie grows angrier, given Percival is so new to town and would not understand the heart and soul of Riverdale.

Riverdale wants Percival to be a mystery. Who is he? What does Percival want? What is he doing in Riverdale? How can Percival influence other people’s minds? It is even revealed that there is no paper trail for the man, and it is as if he only began existing once crossing the town line. That may not even be far from the truth, given Riverdale’s recent storylines of superpowers and magical body possession.

Still, Percival can get into people’s heads, influencing the homeless people to leave town even though Archie, Jughead, Toni, and more are working toward building homes for them. Percival Pickens could even tell when Jughead was trying to dive deeper into reading his mind.

The Trash Bag Killer, Abigail Blossom, and Percival Pickens strive to make their mark in Riverdale. While each of them has taken to making a different character’s life difficult, they are each a part of the desperate change Riverdale needed in the aftermath of Hiram Lodge.