My mom introduced me to the wonderful world of Archie, Betty, Veronica, and Jughead in my early teenage years and at one point I owned four boxes filled with comics books chronicling the gang’s adventures. Sadly, like most things in life, my Archie love eventually died and I gave the boxes away and stopped reading and buying the digests.

So when I heard a few years ago that the CW was developing a TV series based on the Archie books called Riverdale, I was wary. Wary but also willing to give the show a chance if it sounded good. Then I read two things that made me decide I would not be giving the show a chance. 1. They were going to change Ms. Grundy, a tall, thin, dorky teacher in the comics into a sexy young redhead and she and Archie would be having a secret affair. Big ol’ NOPE to that one. 2. Jughead would not be asexual. A big ol’ SCREW YOU to the showrunners for not having the guts to put an asexual character on a teen show in this day and age.

Once the show started airing, I checked in on the TV site I frequent to see what people were saying about it. Some found it dull or annoying or just okay, while others loved it. For whatever reason, I continued to check, week after week, what viewers thought of each episode. And I began to notice that people were shipping Betty and Jughead.

My initial reaction to Bughead was outrage. In the comics, Betty adores Archie and never wavers from her feelings (despite the crappy way Archie treats her and the fact that he’s constantly lusting after Veronica). Betty never gave Jughead a second glance. They were friends and friends only.

But people on this board kept saying how much chemistry Bughead had. The glances. The touches. The conversations. I held out for a long time.

And then the season one finale happened.

Bughead shippers went crazy. The two not only said “I love you”, but they also had a steamy make-out session in Jughead’s trailer that involved shirts coming off and neck kissing before they were interrupted (because it’s a TV show). I decided I had to see this scene. I watched it and was immediately hooked thanks to Lili Reinhart and Cole Sprouse’s insane chemistry. I went back and watched all Bughead clips starting from the pilot and continued re-watching the best ones all summer, hardly able to wait until season two began in October.

Finally, finally, the season premiere arrived. I was so excited I watched LIVE, which should tell you something because I hardly ever watch anything live anymore due to the wonderful invention of the DVR. And I was…disappointed. Bughead had only a few scenes together and zero follow-up on the sexy make-out session. I knew they most likely wouldn’t have sex that quickly but I expected/wanted something more than what we got.

Going into detail about the epic fail of season two would make this post unbearably long, so all I will say is that clearly the Riverdale writers (like most TV writers) are believers in the “happy couples are boring couples” lie and two episodes later, Betty broke up with Jughead via Archie because she was being blackmailed by the Black Hood serial killer (don’t ask). Then they got back together but we never actually saw the scene of them talking about the break-up and reconciling. Then they finally had sex towards the end of the season and by then I was so annoyed with the show I couldn’t even really appreciate it. I wasn’t even looking forward to watching the episodes anymore.

When I found myself fast-forwarding almost all of the season two finale, I knew my love of Bughead wasn’t strong enough and I couldn’t hang in there anymore. I deleted my Riverdale season pass from the DVR and haven’t looked back since. Don’t get me wrong, I still read what people think of the show, and I’m so glad I stopped watching because it’s completely gone off the rails into more of a wacky, supernatural, suspend-your-belief farce instead of the Twin Peaks-style teen drama it started out as in the beginning.

Even though my Jughead love crashed and burned, I’ll always have season one.