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Before I discuss what would have to happen if they were to let the characters age in real time, I'd like to talk about the most tragic character in the franchise: Archie's rival, Reggie Mantle. In the real world, the aloof jock with the non-stop supply of cutting remarks boasting about his many accomplishments would probably be the center of attention. His overweening need to remind people of his prowess would be hard to take but that's what the price you've got to pay when you're dealing with a medium-sized fish in a small pond who has yet to get out into the real world and learn that he's pretty much a voice in a chorus.
The problem is that he hit the ground running having to deal with a baffling and aggravating problem. Here he is, the captain of bleeding everything going from victory to victory and does he get the attention he feels due to him? You better believe he doesn't. He's got to deal with a spear-carrier who, for some reason he isn't sure about, has some sort of aura that makes an ordinary slob look like he's all twelve apostles. He thus probably feels as if he's Warren Blackwood having to decipher the impossibility of Liz being attracted to a non-entity everybody treats like he's the second coming.
What makes a horrid situation worse is the unpleasant realization that no matter what people in the outside world might think about the matter, he knows for a certainty that whatever might happen, the locals will swear on a stack of bibles that he got stuck with Archie's leavings and therefore must bear the indignity of having to marry someone their tin god deemed inferior. Since he reacts to the horrid mess he's landed in as well as anyone else in his shoes would, he's given the name of ratfink and jerkwad by people who expect him to smile, smile, smile as he trudges towards a teal and lavender apocalypse of schmaltz.
The problem is that he hit the ground running having to deal with a baffling and aggravating problem. Here he is, the captain of bleeding everything going from victory to victory and does he get the attention he feels due to him? You better believe he doesn't. He's got to deal with a spear-carrier who, for some reason he isn't sure about, has some sort of aura that makes an ordinary slob look like he's all twelve apostles. He thus probably feels as if he's Warren Blackwood having to decipher the impossibility of Liz being attracted to a non-entity everybody treats like he's the second coming.
What makes a horrid situation worse is the unpleasant realization that no matter what people in the outside world might think about the matter, he knows for a certainty that whatever might happen, the locals will swear on a stack of bibles that he got stuck with Archie's leavings and therefore must bear the indignity of having to marry someone their tin god deemed inferior. Since he reacts to the horrid mess he's landed in as well as anyone else in his shoes would, he's given the name of ratfink and jerkwad by people who expect him to smile, smile, smile as he trudges towards a teal and lavender apocalypse of schmaltz.
