On the Katy Keene pilot episode, we’re acquainted with titular star Katy Keene and her band of misfits: Jorge Lopez, Riverdale ’s Josie McCoy, and Pepper Smith. Welcome to the beautiful world of New York.

The Katy Keene pilot episode wastes no time in diving into how the Riverdale universe’s version of New York City looks. Seen from the eyes of our protagonists, the city is sparkling, magical, and they’re waiting for their dreams to come true with little doubt in their minds that it won’t happen.

As for the specific events of the episode, Katy finds herself with a new opportunity at work, leading her to butt heads with a co-worker and her boss, while Josie thinks her dreams have come true on day 1… Meanwhile, Jorge has an audition that doesn’t go how he expected.

‘Katy Keene’ pilot episode review

The Katy Keene pilot episode is, really, much better than I anticipated it would be. The tone is light and airy — the complete opposite of the other two shows in what’s being dubbed the Archie-verse — but not without the characters experiencing their fair share of drama and heartbreak… just, you know, with no murder involved.

Katy’s working life

Lucy Hale shines on the Katy Keene pilot episode as the cheerful, optimistic, titular Katy Keene, who has dealt with her fair share of loss throughout her life but continues to go through life with a “glass half full” kind of outlook. She brings layers to the character that would otherwise be very one-note, almost too positive amid the struggles of her past and present.

Like her mother, Katy — named after her mother, Katherine — wants to be a designer, and spends almost every day of her life creating clothing for herself and her friends. She has a blessed life with two, in her eyes, wonderful best friends (soon to be three), and who she deems the love of her life, K.O. Kelly (Zane Holtz). She works for Gloria Grandbilt at the store for anyone who is worth talking about: Lacy’s. I mean, Katy has a really good life.

Except that her boss is a troll who takes advantage of all of her employees and cannot handle even an ounce of self-expression and her co-worker is the type of girl that hates other women simply because they’re women. In all aspects personal, Katy’s life may seem to have the perfect shimmer, but her work life has a bit of progress to be made. And that shimmer will likely go away with this proposal. Sure, she loves K.O., but marriage is about a lot more than love. How will this impact her life moving forward with her focus on her career? Can Katy have it all?

Her life may be full of several stereotypical tropes at the moment, but there’s potential for growth and exploration outside of this. I cannot wait for the series to begin digging into her relationship with K.O., Gloria, and the other girls at Lacy’s, as well as her mother’s death and all that changed in her life. Katy’s much more than a simple girl with big dreams… we just need to see the other parts of her explored.

Josie’s musical magic

So long murder capital after the world, hello to Josie’s first moments in New York City on the Katy Keene pilot episode. As an established character from Riverdale, it’s easier to feel connected to Josie than the other characters. She’s familiar, she’s the new person in the big city finding her way through the madness that the beginning ensues, and she’s coming to know the others, her soon-to-be best friends, as we are.

However, it’s confusing to me that, with Katy Keene set five years ahead of Riverdale, Josie still feels like she’s in high school. She doesn’t feel like she’s grown as a character at all, but rather that she left Riverdale, stopped existing for five years, and stepped into New York City. We don’t have any idea what she’s been up to and she’s almost exactly the same, which anyone who has graduated high school knows is absolutely not the case. People change, especially after high school when they go off to college. Why hasn’t Josie?

As for her chance encounter at the park, this felt a little too easy. Day 1 or 2 and she’s already having someone approach her to record an album? Obviously, it wasn’t going to work out because that would take away almost the entire beginning of adult Josie’s pursuit of musical stardom. I’m excited to see what Josie does with herself over the next few episodes, relying only on herself and her friends to get her through discovering various ways to show off her talent across the city.

Josie has so much potential, always has, so it’s wonderful that we finally get to see her blossom as a main character. That is one of the things I’m most excited about with Katy Keene. (Plus, can we talk about how attractive her love interest is? Whew.)

Jorge’s unsettling action

Well, the Katy Keene pilot episode definitely didn’t make me fond of Jorge. As a genderbent version of Ginger Lopez from the Archie comics, Jorge is a struggling actor trying to make it big on Broadway, but working at nights as a drag star… named Ginger Lopez. And, honestly, Jorge might be one of the worst characters in the entire Archie-verse.

The episode really missed an opportunity with Jorge’s first audition on Broadway. If his grand moment had happened after he was, let’s face it, turned away for being “too” gay and he stood up for himself there, that would have been a much more important and special moment.

But, instead, the moment came after a second audition, where Jorge purposefully tried to steal the role of a female character (when he identifies as a man) by performing in drag as Ginger Lopez. Instead of being a spectacular moment of self-confidence against the unfair casting expectations of Broadway and Hollywood, it became all about Jorge’s self-entitlement.

He felt entitled to the role, so he auditioned a second time. But above all, he felt entitled to a female character in the play, which would have taken away roles from cis and trans women, and was then upset when he was turned away, again. Ginger Lopez may be a way for Jorge to express himself, but it’s not an expression of his gender identification, so he had absolutely no right to be upset that he, as Ginger, wasn’t given a role. He took it too far, and I’m already at the point where I don’t think I can ever appreciate Jorge (and he just gets worse in the next two episodes, too).

The Katy Keene writers missed a real opportunity by making Ginger Lopez a gay man instead of a trans woman. We need more representation all-around, but of the minorities represented on television, gay men (like myself) are represented far more than anyone else. We need representation for everyone. Bringing it back to Katy Keene, I’m disappointed by almost everything about Jorge.

‘Katy Keene’ pilot episode final thoughts

First of all, I’m disappointed that the Katy Keene pilot episode didn’t focus, like at all, on Pepper. We received no real explanation for why she was there, how Katy and Jorge are friends with someone who seems so sophisticated and part of the upper class, or anything about her, really. From the trailer of the series, we know that she is romantically interested in women, and now we know she’s friends with Katy and Jorge… not a great way to introduce a main character, in my opinion.

(And let’s all take a moment to appreciate what a wonderful man K.O. Kelly is. He feels like a true partner for Katy, and after his proposal, it’ll be interesting to see what Katy says and how all of this will impact their relationship. My concern is all of this seems to be happening a bit soon… shouldn’t a proposal be a season finale kind of thing?)

Other than Pepper’s lame introduction and the Jorge debacle, I am, overall, impressed with the series and the direction they’re headed. As the first show of its kind in the Archie-verse, it’s strange to see a lightness to the world, an optimism that the characters on Riverdale and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina either never had or lost quickly amidst the darkness of their respective towns, but I do love it. I love heightened stories about a New York City that is fun, happy, and where bad things rarely happen. Unrealistic, yes, but nice to see nonetheless.

Maybe Jorge will warm up to me, but after watching the first three episodes, I have to say I love Katy, Josie, and Pepper (who begins to be explored on the next episode). I wouldn’t mind if the show just focused on them. Jorge can go.

Katy Keene continues Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET on The CW!