Veronica and Archie have established their relationship over the last three seasons of Riverdale as one that is unhealthy, toxic, and appalling for teenagers to be engaging in, especially since it began when they were 15.

We’ve seen it time and time again as Riverdale continues to prove it has no idea how old their main characters are and how to properly write characters that are, at most, 17 years old.

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Veronica and Archie have a relationship that is a prime example of this failure in the writing.

Instead of treating this relationship as it could really be between two high school students, Veronica and Archie are probably the horniest and most self-obsessed characters on television.

(This problem expands to other characters and relationships, too, because there is no show worse at writing high school students than Riverdale. Honestly.)

The two, who began dating during their sophomore year of high school at age 15, are always (and I mean, always) having sex.

And they have sex at the strangest times.

I mean, who goes to see their boyfriend who has been locked away in juvie for months, needs rescuing from an underground fighting ring, and is currently bleeding out from a chest wound, and think, ‘Wow. Archie and I should bang in this nasty prison basement.’? Veronica does.

At least every other scene between them is another sex scene. Why? Well, KJ Apa looks nice without a shirt. (That’s probably the main reason.) However, it’s also because their relationship just isn’t healthy.

Let’s start at the beginning.

Archie, a 15-year-old kid who just returned to high school after going through puberty, was selected and abused by a serial pedophile who had sex with him more than once, including his first time.

Riverdale has never properly addressed how Archie was manipulated and groomed as his teacher’s victim, which should have had more severe consequences.

Archie has never had the chance to talk about, much less work through, the fact that he was raped by Ms. Grundy. Which wasn’t even her real name! Talk about trauma.

But, Archie being a straight man, he has no emotions, so why should Riverdale showcase these? He had sex, Archie is attractive and had his shirt off, that’s all then writers care about.

Veronica, on the other hand, is constantly being manipulated by her father. Hiram has a hand in everything she does and she has little to no control over her life, which is probably why she rushes into sex. That’s one activity that her father cannot control.

It’s kind of pathetic how often these two have sex. Like, they literally have zero self-control and rush into it every time they’re alone together, which is just sad.

When was the last time Veronica and Archie sat down and had a real conversation? Their interactions alone (outside of sex) last for five seconds, and often don’t lead to the two working out their issues.

If Betty and/or Jughead aren’t around, there’s no one keeping these two in line.

Even in the most recent episode, Archie returns home to find out that something has been brewing between Veronica and Reggie in his absence.

However, before he finds out about this (on accident), Veronica and Archie sleep together. Archie literally broke up with Veronica when he skipped town, yet she couldn’t have hopped on his dick any faster.

He literally was home for all of five minutes when he and Veronica were ripping off each other’s clothing, because they never have conversations.

After Archie discovered the truth about Reggie and Veronica, Veronica and Archie had another sex scene. Archie, fragile and falling apart from how shitty his last year had been, asked Veronica to stay with him, which, of course, meant sleeping together.

Aside from the sex addiction Veronica and Archie clearly share, there’s the matter of Hiram Lodge.

Since season 2, Hiram has been tormenting Archie in one way or another, and Veronica never really stops it.

She’s tried, more so in season 3, to stand up to her father for his wrongdoings, but when Archie was falling in with her family’s madness, she didn’t take the necessary steps to stop it.

If Veronica and Archie had broken up, Archie would have had no reason to get close to Hiram, so his affiliation with the crime boss would be almost non-existent.

Veronica has always known exactly what her father is capable of, even if he surprises her occasionally. Would a “good” girlfriend have reacted to Archie pursuing her father’s trust the way Veronica did?

Regardless of the claws that Veronica let Hiram put into Archie, the two teenagers just don’t share a mature bond, like one would expect for a relationship that the writers are even having the characters call “endgame.”

Honestly, I would just like to see one Riverdale scene where Veronica and Archie have thoughtful conversation about the status of their relationship and lives without sleeping together.

It’s unhealthy (and unbelievable) how often Veronica and Archie are sleeping together, even in the midst of some serious crisis. These two have the worst timing of any fictional characters ever.

Additionally, Veronica needs to try harder to keep Archie safe from her father, the same way that he worked to make sure Veronica was as safe as possible.

I can understand the love between Veronica and Archie, but actions speak louder than words and on Riverdale, this couple has always seemed more in lust than in love.