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The winds of change are blowing through Riverdale this week as some characters take their final bows, some go in surprising new directions, and some finally get answers as all that we’ve seen this season finally begins to make some sense. As I’ve watched this final season, it seemed that each episode was basically just another edition of a comic book with new stories and only a very thin line connecting everything together. Each week was different but there were still continuing storylines for the characters, and quite a few of them began to pay off as we head into the finale.
Major changes happened right at the top of the episode as Principal Featherhead was removed from the school for his entanglements with the Blossoms and their Russian shenanigans — but somehow Dr. Werthers was not carted off as well. If anything, he seemed to be more in control of the group than Clifford Blossom, or at least more of a right hand than Featherhead. But he gets to go to Washington to continue his crusade against juvenile delinquency and … comic books. And as a parting gift, he gave Jughead one last rejection notice for Pep’s latest comic that includes an adaptation of W.E.B. DuBois’ ‘The Comet’ due to, what Jughead suspects, is the tale’s interracial love story. Delivering the bad news to Mr. Fieldstone, he tells his star writer that they’re going to publish it anyway, without the comic book code, send it out to the world and see what happens. But he also tells Juggie that this is the last edition of Pep Comics, and he wants the boy to write the final editorial for the company’s swan song.
At the Cooper household, Alice and Hal inform Betty that now that the truth is out in the open, they will remain married but Hal will move into the basement bedroom. Betty asks her mother how she can remain married to her father, but Alice tells her she’s basically trapped in this marriage. She can’t run the TV station, she can’t even open her own bank account. It is what it is, but Betty isn’t buying it. At school, the gang is talking about who will replace Featherhead and Toni has a suggestion but they need someone who can help push things forward. Luckily Betty’s mom is the president of the PTA, and she asks her friends to cut Alice some slack since she’s been going through a lot lately. So Toni and Betty speak with Alice, telling her how the Black high schools in the area were shut down after Riverdale High was integrated and one particular educator has been driving a cab to make ends meet. Alice isn’t sure she can do anything but Betty urges her to convince the Board to do what’s right. And before you know it, the high school has a new principal by the name of … Weatherbee, and he is vowing to make some changes. Before he can even get his office unpacked, Archie pays a visit to tell him about Mrs. Thornton, who was wrongly fired for being a Communist. It so happens that Weatherbee knows her and he tells Archie he will see what he can do to get her back. And he does! Archie is thrilled — so I guess that’s bye bye Mrs. Grundy (unless she’s just teaching Driver’s Ed now permanently) — and Mrs. Thornton encourages to follow his dream and to keep writing. And speaking of writing, Betty received a copy of her book and decided to present it to her mother, to ask her to read it to learn more about Betty, and herself. Alice was a bit shocked by the cover and it didn’t seem like she was going to give it a look, but Betty was awakened one night by Alice crying in her room. She did read the book, she did learn about Betty and all of those other strong young women and their dreams and it just shattered her soul. Alice feels like she has nothing left in her life at this point but Betty says that isn’t true. Alice once had a dream of being a stewardess and flying around the world, meeting new people, and there’s no reason now that she can’t follow whatever dreams she might have. Could we see Alice fly the friendly skies by the end of the series?
Archie promises to do just that and he reveals to Reggie that after reading On the Road, he’s going to ride the rails himself this Summer, experience life any way he can and then come back and write about it just like the Beats did. Reggie is a little incredulous that Mary will allow that, but Archie feels that it’s during Summer break so it’ll be fine. Reggie’s plan is to go to basketball camp so he can be prepared for college and going pro, but his plans get screwed up when the dates are changed and they fall right within the same month as his family’s sweet corn crop needs to be harvested, because the money they make in that month sustains them for the rest of the year. Archie can see that his friend is heartbroken over having to give up his dream, but being the swell guy he is Archie says that’s not going to happen and they are getting him into that camp while Archie stays with the Mantle family for the month to help with the crop. That’s just another life experience he can write about! Reggie is touched deeply and as the two embrace they say they love each other. It’s been nice to see how Archie and Reggie have become best buds this season, and this was certainly a heart-tugging moment.
For the Blossoms, Nana Rose is thrilled those vipers Cheryl and Julian called parents are gone and she hopes they rot in a Russian gulag, but now it is up to the three of them to carry on the family legacy. Cheryl knows exactly where to start — by taking back her beloved River Vixens from Evelyn Evernever. Challenging her rival to a dance off — challenge not accepted — Cheryl proceeds anyway and basically shames Evelyn out of the gymnasium. Cheryl announces that things are changing and the first thing the rest of the girls need to know is that she’s not hiding her truth anymore, revealing her relationship with Toni. Surprisingly no one objects and two other girls also reveal they too are in a relationship. Alls well that ends well with the Vixens. Meanwhile, Kevin pays a visit to his dad to bring him some food from Pop’s since he’d heard his dad wasn’t feeling well, but as he was standing in the hallway he saw Frank Andrews emerge from the bathroom clad only in a towel. They all looked a little shocked and Frank claimed he was staying the same building but his shower wasn’t working. Tom invited his son in but Kevin was too freaked out. Surprisingly he never mentioned this to Archie, but it would certainly explain Frank’s resistance to Archie being a poet (boy if he only knew about the night his nephew had with Twyla and Reggie). You know what they say about those who protest too loudly. Frank obviously has some skeletons in his closet, and I suspected Tom might be gay after the disastrous dinner with Kevin and his soon-to-be ex-wife at Pop’s.
After Jughead told Veronica about the rejection of the comic featuring ‘The Comet’, she told him this work was a masterpiece and perhaps it should be made into something even more visual like a movie. Jughead just happens to have the contacts for DuBois’ representation and gives it to Veronica. Later she has a chat with Clay, asking if he’d be interested in writing a script and directing a movie based on ‘The Comet’. Clay has already been working on a screenplay, so of course he would. V assures him that she’s secured the rights to the story which had been languishing in Hollywood for years, but they need a star — how about Sidney Poitier? V doesn’t have any direct contact with the actor but they know someone who does — Josie McCoy! So she will touch base with her new Hollywood gal pal and she expects Clay to proceed with his work, and in about four or five years they will present the movie at the Cannes Film Festival. Deal? Deal!
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With all of these amazing things happening in Riverdale, Jughead is shocked to find Tabitha in his train car upon his return. But … why isn’t she wearing her glasses, and is that a TV in the room? She explains to Jughead that she’s not the Tabitha traveling the country with the NAACP, she’s the Tabitha that he’s forgotten. Hoping to explain things to him more easily she asks him to watch the TV — is that a color TV?! — and all will be revealed. Jughead is surprised to hear his voice narrating the program about Riverdale, and when it’s all over he is emotionally drained, now remembering everything including how this Tabitha sent them to 1955 to avoid being destroyed by Bailey’s Comet. Angel Tabitha also has some news for Jughead — she’s been working diligently to untangle all of the timelines that got them to where they are now, and while she was doing that, they were all doing the good work in 1955 to make progress, to move forward in a positive way, doing exactly what they needed to do (which now explains the very episodic nature of the series — each week was these characters improving society). But — and there’s always a but — Riverdale’s guardian angel found it impossible to untangle the timelines and she can’t send them back to 2023. Instead, she was able to combine the timelines to keep this current one thriving. And now that Jughead remembers the truth, he can offer his friends the opportunity to learn the truth as well, and once they see their past futures they can choose to keep the memories or forget them again.
Jughead gathers his friends to lay out this improbably scenario to them and he returns to his home. And Archie shows up, having drawn the short straw, so he gets to be the guinea pig. Jughead shows him the program, and Archie is moved by it, having seen his life from high schooler to military veteran, being able to see his dad again (and we also got a quick glimpse of F.P. as well). Now knowing Jughead is telling the truth, he relays this to the group and Betty and Veronica are the next two to watch the program. Jughead warns them it won’t be pretty, and the girls are shocked to learn that Hal Cooper was a serial killer and that Veronica not only murdered her husband but her father as well. They are shaken but everyone else decides they will watch the program as well. Well, not everyone — Kevin was told that Clay did not exist in that timeline so he didn’t want to watch it, and Julian also did not want to see it after he found out he was just a doll in that timeline. Jughead warns them all it will be dark, and some of them may not even recognize themselves (a great little nod to Reggie), so they settle in and take the ride together. (Surprisingly no one asks how old they actually are.)
Shaken by what they’ve seen, Angel Tabitha tells them they can choose to forget it all or not. Veronica wants to know if they can just remember the good stuff and forget the serial killers and Gargoyle Kings (girl, we’d all like to forget the Gargoyle King season), but Jughead says it doesn’t work that way. Tabitha corrects him and says she actually can do that, perform a little reset and just let them remember all the good parts of their lives. The group gathers at the Babylonium — even Kevin, Clay and Julian — and settles in for the ‘good stuff’ but Jughead catches Tabitha sneaking out and follows. She tells him it’s time for her to go because there is another Tabitha out there. Unfortunately she never returns to Riverdale, but she continues to fight for civil rights for the rest of her life. If that’s the case then this Tabitha can stay, but she can’t. She has more work to do and Jughead says it’s a shame she has to die while doing it. But she doesn’t. She — they all — worked hard to fix the future so that she doesn’t die and they are never destroyed by the comet. But she can’t stay. Jughead asks for a kiss goodbye, and while they are locking lips Tabitha slips away into the darkness. Jughead returns to the theater to continues what he says is called ‘binge watching’ in the future, but he reveals to us that he’s chosen to remember it all, the good and the bad. He also reveals that he isn’t the only one … Betty has chosen to remember it all as well.
So that leaves us to wonder — how will this knowledge affect the pair moving into the finale? And will everyone in Riverdale get to know the truth? And will we get a resolution for Midge and Fangs? One episode to go. Great job by the writers Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (the show’s creator) and Tessa Leigh Williams for really untangling all that we’ve experienced this season and actually having it make sense as we go into the final episode. This episode did pull some heartstrings so I’m expecting some major waterworks for the finale. Got your tissues ready?
This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the series being covered here wouldn’t exist.
Riverdale‘s final episode airs Wednesday, August 23 at 9:00 PM.
What did you think of this episode? Let us know in the comments section below.
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