Well, after Archie Andrews’ murder trial ended up being declared a mistrial, a “deal” was put forth that, in actuality, wasn’t the best move. Did Archie do the right thing for his friends and family?

So, by pleading guilty and taking a “light” sentence, Archie, who always says he tries to do the best for everyone, has effectively made every one of his friends and family’s lives worse.

Archie Andrews is the most self-righteous character on The CW, possibly in existence, and it’s crumbling his personality because it’s impossible to truly like and engage with a character when they believe their every move is correct and aren’t willing to listen to anyone else.

I was hoping Riverdale would learn from the criticism of season 2, and while some strides have been made, the unlikable nature of Archie is one of fans’ biggest complaints because it’s useless trying to appreciate a character who doesn’t learn from his past.

It’s clear Archie genuinely thought he was helping everyone by taking the deal and not putting his friends and family through another murder trial, but, in doing so, he’s left his parents without a child and his friends without him. In fact, he just hurt everyone by taking the deal and ripping hope away from them that his future would ever get better.

It’s not the first time Archie’s behavior has bordered on self-righteousness; it’s the defining characteristic of his personality, which has always landed him in trouble. Why else would Archie have spent so much time cozying up to Hiram Lodge after everyone told him it was a bad idea?

Archie believes every idea he has is a good idea, and he doesn’t listen to anyone else’s input or advice.

In some ways, Archie does learn from his past, but not like a character should. He can see now that being with Hiram Lodge was a bad idea, but he takes no extra time to consider his other decisions because he still relies solely on his gut to choose his path for him.

Archie Andrew’s major character flaw is what makes him incredibly reckless and easily manipulated, which Hiram is able to take advantage of entirely too easily.

Who knows, maybe this will be the turning point for Archie. Perhaps, through the hard life lessons he’s about to learn, he’ll realize he doesn’t always know what’s best and will have to see the damage done to his family and friends due to a decision that wasn’t necessary.

However, it seems more likely that Archie will think about this a different way; he’ll see the damage done to his family and friends but will continue telling himself that putting them through another trial would have been worse and could have ended up entirely different, leading Archie to praise himself for his decision any way.

It’s one thing for a teenager to believe they’re always correct and to do what they think is best for everyone around them when their decisions can’t be about what’s best for themselves, but Archie takes it to an extreme.

Most people learn from their mistakes and terrible decisions, but Archie just thinks about what he learned from the decision and is proud of himself for making it, regardless of what happened because of it.

It’s a destructive path Archie Andrews is on because he’s never going to learn from his mistakes at this rate.

How bad do the events of his life have to be before Archie comes to the realization he doesn’t know best and he’s tormenting and hurting everyone around him?

As Riverdale season 3 continues, I’d hope to see some progress from Archie, at least because of his most recent decision, that he’s not as smart as he thinks he is. Archie needs to start growing up, learning from the bad decisions he makes and even those that people around him make, and begin anew once he’s inevitably free to walk around his town without a permanent record.

If Archie’s personality flaw continues, this unbearable character will suck the life out of Riverdale because he is the main character.

There’s no Riverdale without Archie, but as it stands, it seems that there aren’t many Archie fans. Should that really be the case for the show’s starring character?

Riverdale season 3 continues Wednesdays at 8/7c on The CW!