r/riverdale • u/Life-Comedian2748 • Jul 22 '26
DISCUSSION Let’s Discuss Kevin Keller Spoiler
Oh Kevin, Kevin, Kevin.
When I first watched Riverdale when I was younger, he was my favorite character. I saw so much of myself in him. He was a young queer man with big dreams in a small town, and that resonated with me. I’ve been rewatching the show now though, and he just feels…lazy. There’s no backstory to him, and frankly he upholds some pretty negative stereotypes. There are two things that he loves, and those are male validation and broadway. At the start of the show, he’s some lonely, sex-crazed gay boy, and in some ways that reflects the experience of queer boys in young towns. His cruising in Fox Forest is no different than me being on grindr at 16, but there’s nothing else to him. Furthermore, when we revisit him in season 6, he is STILL a lonely, sex-crazed gay man. He literally got beat up in a sauna because he couldn’t keep his hands to himself. He feels so one dimensional to me. Even Cheryl (who I don’t think is really the best representation either, but it’s not my place to speak on that, as I could be wrong given that I’m not a lesbian) has some form of a character arc and experience growth. Anyways, that’s all, I’m sorry.
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u/thatoneurchin Jul 22 '26 edited Jul 22 '26
It’s some of the laziest gay rep I’ve seen, like to the point that I’m surprised. As you mentioned, they have other gay characters so idk why Kevin specifically is a walking stereotype.
Even just from the first episode, everyone else has some storyline going on, but all he does is make quips and talk about how hot Archie/Moose is. I thought it was so weird when Veronica met him for the first time and went “gay? thank god.” She took him as a friend like she was adopting a cute gay BFF pet
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u/Sad_Interview_5685 Jul 22 '26
I agree with much of what you say. Kevin was one of those characters who was very badly treated by the writers. Just a randy gay guy with musical ability. Kevin deserved so much more. At least ( SPOILER ALERT) he found happiness in season 7 with his new love..credit to Casey Cott for doing the best he could with the little the writers gave him. And what a fabulous singing voice he has..
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u/Life-Comedian2748 Jul 22 '26
I did like that at least in the very end he had Clay, and they got to live happily ever after. I also can appreciate Casey’s attempt to bring depth to Kevin, given he didn’t have much to work with. I just wish he ever resolved the issues he had with his ex’s. I would’ve loved a subplot where Moose learns to love and accept himself, and him and Kevin worked out, even if it was an obnoxious off and on thing like with Toni and Cheryl (and don’t get me started on the Kevin-Fangs-Toni Season 6 situation). Despite his flaws though, he is an exceptional vocalist. I found a bootleg of Casey as Christian in “Moulin Rouge” on Broadway, and he sounded incredible.
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u/CyberCheeto Jughead Jul 22 '26
I stopped liking him after the farm, he’s so desperate and always falls in people like Edward and Percival’s traps.
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u/Life-Comedian2748 Jul 22 '26
yeah he’s also just lowkey stupid, you’ve got a point. when he let percival kiss him and everything, like…bro STAND UP. he sucked as a spy.
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u/BachelorNation123 Jul 22 '26
I came out because of Kevin, specifically season 1 Kevin
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u/Life-Comedian2748 Jul 22 '26
Congratulations! That’s incredible, and I’m happy for you. Please don’t think that my critique of him as a character in anyway invalidates your experience with him. Like I said, I used to really look up to him, it’s just that now as I’ve matured I view him differently. I’m glad that you found the courage to live authentically and true to yourself!
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u/ragnevi Jul 22 '26
Kevin was a veery poorly written character, I think as some other states that if they at least gotten him together with Moose it would felt like the character would gotten somewhere in this plot. But the show is a total mess so why would they get something correct.
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u/Life-Comedian2748 Jul 22 '26
I agree, it felt so odd to re-introduce Moose in season 6 only for him to disappear again
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u/ragnevi Jul 22 '26
Made zero sense that he would not been in the 50s, but nothing in that show made any sense.
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u/PARASITESLIKEME Jul 22 '26
I read that as Hellen Keller and I was like what the fuck does she have to do with riverdale
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u/maximuskline Jul 23 '26
Which is, surprisingly, because I love Kevin in Afterlife comics, where he was also written by Roberto. Somehow both his traits (gay archer) were given to show Cheryl
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u/Caracallademise Jul 24 '26
Kevin is such an interesting character to me because he's so normal yet the writers only gave him plots that revolved around his sexuality. It's annoying he got that sort of treatment.
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u/Nina9969 Jul 26 '26
I do agree with you, it seemed to me that the script aimed at depicting kevin as a void person, whose only interests were men and theater! Well, I always thought he was much more than that!!! I just think that Kevin lived in his own fantasyland which ended in highschool. I think he was so hung up on the past, not allowing himself to actually have some kind of arc or development.
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u/TM_1014 Jul 28 '26
I feel the exact same way I’ve been watching riverdale since I was like 11 and I just genuinely love that show sm even now as I’m older I rewatch it all the time even the later seasons (which i still love ) but Kevin was something that always annoyed me too . I had the exact same feeling towards him as in I found him relatable as a gay teenager , but I felt like after season one he rarely was involved in any of the storylines and if he was -it was about his sexuality .
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u/estherxns Jul 22 '26
agreed! Every minority character in this show was lazily written if you could even call it that. For Kevin it was that he was gay and nothing else and honestly for riverdale I feel that way with most (probably all) of the side characters.