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Well that was one heck of a season finale! Almost made up for the past 21 episodes all in one fell swoop. And they wasted no time in finally unmasking the Gargoyle King at the top of the show … and my theory was actually correct! They really tried to throw us off last week when Ethel told Jughead the King was Jason Blossom and she was ‘right’, sort of (although we would have to assume that she either never encountered Jason at school or she only saw ‘Jason’ in the dimmest of light to think it was him). Yes, I was correct (and I am so very rarely right about these things so I have to toot my horn a little) that the Gargoyle King was none other than the presumed dead Chick … and we all know by now if we don’t see a body we don’t assume they’re dead. But what was more twisted was that Hal saw a kindred spirit in Chick, so instead of killing him Hal groomed him to follow in his serial killing footsteps. And to make it even more bizarre, Penelope was in cahoots with Hal and then dyed Chick’s hair red and insisted he was Jason.
All this came out when Penelope invited our fab four — Betty, Veronica, Archie and Jughead — to a very special dinner (and she had to buy Betty from Edgar before he carved her up for his harvesting program) bringing the Midnight Children together to play one last game (hurrah!) of Gryphons and Gargoyles (and remember, Penelope was the one who introduced the game to the Midnight Club originally). Which was more like ‘The Most Dangerous Game’ in that if they failed or refused to participate in a task, they would become the hunted by the Gargoyle Gang. Putting this all into perspective, even though Chick was wearing the King’s garb, it was actually Penelope who was running the show, a bizarre act of revenge on the town of Riverdale.
Forcing the four friends to make their way through the forest to safety or pay the consequences, each one had a specific task to complete. Archie had to fight a hulk in a bear costume … and he barely made it out alive (and did he actually bash the guy’s skull in?). Veronica had to play a twisted game of Spin the Bottle with her chosen friend in which they had to take turns drinking from the chalices with one of them filled with poison. Betty volunteered. After five drinks between the two of them, on chalice remained for Betty, obviously the poisoned one, but before she could partake Veronica snatched it and drank because she put their friendship first. Penelope and her gang appeared and were impressed that they passed the test, but she threw in a twist — all of the drinks were poisoned, slow acting of course, which meant they had to continue on their trek to get to the antidote.
Along the way, Ronnie was staring to feel the effects of the poison and Archie pulled her aside to finally admit that he loves her. She, in turn, told him that after he came to her apartment when Reggie was there that nothing happened with him and she knew that minute that she also loves Archie. Awwwwww. Then it was Jughead’s turn and he, as Hellcaster, had to fight the Gargoyle King, Chick. Juggie was almost choked out but he managed to knock Chick unconscious and they continued on the quest. Betty’s turn. She opens a box with a gun and the words ‘One Bullet’ inside the lid. And then who shows up but dear daddy telling her she has to kill him to get to the antidote, and if she doesn’t then he will kill her and her friends at the count of three. Hal starts counting but before he gets to three Betty pulls the trigger … but it’s not a kill shot. Betty tells him she’ll never be like him and Penelope pops up again to berate Hal for being a terrible serial killer and then she SHOOTS HIM IN THE HEAD! RIP Hal Cooper, aka The Black Hood. Methinks he really, truly is dead this time (but we never saw the body).
Archie grabs the antidote and they hightail it out of the woods with Penelope’s winged monkeys chasing them. What they didn’t know when all this started was that Toni had made her way back to Thistle House, told Penelope about Edgar’s harvesting program, was drugged by Penelope and woke up to Nana Blossom warning her that her friends were being chased through the forest. Even though she knew Cheryl was still at The Farm, Toni organized the Pretty Poisons and the Serpents to rescue the gang, and they got there in the nick of time, driving back the Gargoyles while Betty and Veronica drank the antidote. And then Cheryl shows up.
Cheryl had been through her own drama at The Farm, trying to convince Kevin and Fangs (and, BTW, where’s Kevin’s dad been hiding?) that Edgar was harvesting organs. All those two were focused on was the coming Ascension but Cheryl wanted to prove what she was saying was true. But when they got to the fridge, it was bare and she was dragged back to her room. Even though she was on lockdown, she managed to get out again and found something that totally freaked her out. A shadowy figure sitting in a wheelchair … Jason’s corpse! Confined to her room again, Edgar and Evelyn were preparing for the Ascension. Alice wanted to know where Betty was and Evelyn lied, saying Betty had escaped. Alice didn’t seem too alarmed but when the pair left, her expression said otherwise.
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Letting herself in to Cheryl’s room, Alice was carrying baby Dagwood and she asked Cheryl to reunite him with his sister. Cheryl didn’t know if she should believes Alice at this point but Alice dropped a bomb on her — and us — when she told Cheryl she’s actually working undercover for the FBI to take down Edgar and The Farm. That was good enough for Cheryl and she and Alice made their way to an exit. But Alice had to stay behind to carry out her mission. And that’s how Cheryl was reunited with Toni (handing Dagwood to some random Serpent). But now they had to get back to The Farm to save Alice, Polly, Kevin and Fangs … except the only one left was Kevin. Everyone else had vanished, leaving him behind to explain that ‘the worthy’ had ascended. Poor Kevin was heartbroken that he was not ‘good enough’ to go with them. The question is … where did they go?
But wait, there’s more! Hiram has manufactured ‘evidence’ to prove Hermione put a hit on him and she’s arrested by the same FBI agent who helped put Hiram behind bars (of his own prison). Earlier, she and Ronnie had been awarded all of Hiram’s assets — so Hermione wasn’t selling them off as she had suggested to Hiram — but now Hermione is off to prison as well and Smithers is Ronnie’s legal guardian!
With all of the action behind them, Cheryl may have teetered over the edge of sanity, somehow bringing Jason’s corpse home, talking to him as if he were alive. Archie is sparring with Mad Dog and decides he wants to turn the El Royale into a community center or a halfway house and he wants Mad Dog to help run the place. Betty and Jughead are at the former Cooper / present Jones house when there’s a knock at the door. An FBI agent wants to speak with Betty about Alice. He reveals to her Alice’s involvement with the FBI to take down The Farm, and notes that he’s heard the pair of them are known for their detective work. Then the agent drops his own bombshell — he’s Charles, Betty’s (and Jughead’s) half-brother. But is he?
The gang of four is celebrating surviving the night at Pop’s with Hal (allegedly) dead, Chick in prison and Penelope escaping into the night. Archie says that with senior year coming up, it’s time to be done with serial killers, death cults and murder mysteries. As they toast with their milkshakes, the scene flashes forward to their senior year Spring Break, Archie, Betty and Ronnie in their underwear, covered in blood. Betty tells Archie to burn all the clothes including Jughead’s beanie (Jughead is conspicuously absent from the scene), saying they go back to school, finish out the year and go their own separate ways, never to speak of this night again so they won’t get caught. Archie tosses the beanie in the fire and we’re back to the present, the four enjoying each other’s company (and after the survival at the woods, Betty and Jughead also proclaimed their love for each other).
Hopefully the fourth season will get back to the basics by focusing on the four friends. But what about that flash-forward and what does it mean for Jughead? What we do know is that the fourth season will be an homage to I Know What You Did Last Summer and the producers are already saying we should be very worried for Jughead. If there was one thing missing from the finale, it was any mention of Fred Andrews. The producers have said that the season’s last few episodes were already mapped out and they didn’t want to stop at this point to address Fred’s absence but that will be addressed at the beginning of Season 4. They also promise the whole Alice / FBI / The Farm storyline will be wrapped up in the early part of the season (but they also tried to convince us The Black Hood story was over by the Season 2 winter break).
Season 3 hasn’t been the best of the show’s three seasons, but this finale was a wild ride that will hopefully reset the series for Season 4. So until then, we’ll keep our eyes out for any new tidbits about the next season. Enjoy the summer break!
What did you think of the season finale? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
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