The link between gay sex and murder is a common TV & film troupe. Kevin is now a three-dimensional character – complex and imperfect – not just there for light comic relief. After a disappointing first season for LGBTQ representation, Riverdale is showing that it’s willing to take the lead on this topic in season two and it’s a promising start. To see Riverdale attempt to give more context to Kevin’s life and give him an opportunity to open-up about his struggles is an important milestone for gay teen characters. While things have improved a little in recent times, it is still commonplace for gay male characters in mainstream TV programmes and films to be little more than promiscuous, sex-obsessed beings. So even if something bad could happen, we go for it because what if, for ten minutes, or maybe even just for two minutes, we’re not alone.” Instead of slut-shaming Kevin, the show provided a real moment of human connection and understanding between the two characters and that deserves to be applauded. “I don’t know but guys like us, like you, in a town like Riverdale, you don’t have a lot of options. What is that?” Moose, to his great credit given he’s just been shot three times, tries to calm Kevin down by putting things into context for him. Kevin, who is clearly shaken up by his recent experiences, explains that he hasn’t been making the best decisions but, “I can’t stop myself but it’s like I don’t even care. The most revealing moment came in the scene in the hospital between Kevin and Moose, who hooked up together in the very first episode of season one. As a result, Kevin is alone and wants affection, at any cost. This is on top of years of living in a heteronormative society wherein homophobia is still rife.
This is impacted further by his straight friends getting into relationships, leaving him further isolated. With few openly gay men around, Kevin’s options are limited.
It’s an experience that many small-town queers will be familiar with. At all.Īt the heart of this storyline is Kevin’s profound feelings of loneliness, and as a result he’s becoming increasingly reckless with his own safety. Judging by the frosty reaction Betty receives in school the next day, he’s not very happy about it. Eventually Betty drops Kevin in the shit by telling his father, Sheriff Keller, about the cruising. At least in real life, what you see if what you get”. Kevin’s BFF and moral crusader Betty is worried about his behaviour and urges him to use “Grindem” (which we assume is the Riverdale version of Grindr – a popular hook-up app for gay men) but Kevin disagrees, arguing that, “Nobody is who they say they are online. You’d think that would be enough to put anyone off entering the woods ever again, but not Kevin, who goes back again a few nights later and finds himself in another dangerous situation. Kevin rushes towards the sounds of screaming and discovers Midge and Moose covered in blood. Eventually he hooks up with a fellow jogger but they are rudely interrupted by the sound of gunfire. When using a search engine such as Google, Bing or Yahoo check the safe search settings where you can exclude adult content sites from your search results Īsk your internet service provider if they offer additional filters īe responsible, know what your children are doing online.At the start of the episode, we watch Kevin going cruising (which, for those not in the know, means looking for sex in a public place) while running at night through the woods.
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