*warning: spoilers ahead*
After 15 weeks and 3 good episodes, Riverdale’s first season has finally come to a close. The show revealed Jason Blossom’s killer in last week’s episode and the finale dealt with the characters coming to terms with what had happened, tied up a few loose ends and left a few cliffhangers.
In this week’s episode:
Clifford Blossoms motive
It turns out Clifford Blossom had been using his maple syrup business to hide his actual money maker. drugs. When Jason found out, he threatened to expose the blossom family, resulting in Clifford hiring mustang to kidnap Jason. Clifford then killed his son and when it became apparent that he had been caught out, he killed himself.
Archie might have feelings for Betty
At first, it appeared that Archie didn’t want to tell Betty about him and Veronica for fear of breaking her heart. However, in this episode, there are hints that maybe he didn’t want to tell her because he didn’t want completely close their potential future relationship. When confronting Betty about being okay with his new relationship he says “a little part of me always thought…” but gets interrupted. A good guess would be that he was going to finish it with “we would end up together”. Well, even if Archie does have feelings for Betty, he’ll have bigger things to worry about in the next season.
Betty has a brother
After confronting her mother about her secrets, Alice Cooper comes clean about her high school pregnancy. She reveals to Betty that she went to the sisters of quiet mercy during her pregnancy and gave birth to a baby boy. The baby was then put through a quiet adoption and it is Alice’s “biggest regret”. After half a season of being hated by fans and the other half being a source of entertainment and humour, this scene was crucial in stirring sympathy for her. This also opens up a possible storyline for season 2.
Cheryl’s breakdown
Throughout the episode, there are many hints that Cheryl is planning to “join Jason” again. It started with Mrs. Blossom telling Cheryl that her father was smart to have ended it instead of being stuck in this “limbo”. Later we see Cheryl give Veronica leadership of the river vixens and gift Jughead her iconic spider pin. She then texts Veronica, thanking her for her efforts to save her and the core four quickly race to sweetwater river to save Cheryl from the icy river. At the end of the episode, Cheryl is seen burning Thornhill to the ground in order for new “new beginning”. We can expect to see the results of this next season.
Jughead becomes Thughead
This week’s episode also showed Betty and Jughead saying their first “I love you”‘s. Once they do, things begin to heat up between them and if they hadn’t been interrupted by someone at the door they almost definitely would’ve slept with each other, erasing Jugheads asexuality that was written in the comics. At first, they think the knock on the door is Betty’s mother but it is revealed that it’s actually the Serpents, inviting jughead to join them as a thank you to FP for not naming names. Jughead puts the Serpents jacket on, dismissing the disbelief on Betty’s face as she watches on from the door. This will no doubt cause problems within their relationship but we’ll have to wait until next season to how deep.
Where was Reggie?
Two weeks ago it was announced that Ross Butler’s character Reggie was being recast due to Butlers. This week, all characters were present except for Reggie. Turns out that his scene was cut. Watch the deleted scene here.
Fred Andrews gets shot
At the end of the episode, when all is well and good, Fred Andrews is shot by someone attempting rob Pops. Whilst the show’s creator, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, is “neither confirming or denying” Fred’s fate, he has confirmed that viewers will find out in the season 2 premiere. whilst it pains me to say this, but Fred’s potential death is something that needed to happen. Throughout the season we’ve seen all the characters deal with extremely serious issues such as crime, lies and death. All characters except for our main hero. Whilst his friends were going through serious problems, Archie was struggling to choose between football and music. With his father’s life in the balance, this will “set him on his real journey, ultimately towards heroism.”
