Riverdale Finale Reveals These Characters Had a "Quad" Romance
It's time to say goodbye to Archie and the gang.
Because after seven seasons, Riverdale aired its series finale on Aug. 23.
The episode, titled "Chapter One Hundred Thirty-Seven: Goodbye Riverdale," jumps 67 years into the future to present day. It opens with an 86-year-old Betty Cooper (played by Lili Reinhart) sitting with her granddaughter Alice and reading the obituaries, in which she finds out that Jughead Jones (portrayed by Cole Sprouse) has died.
"Well, that's it," she tells her granddaughter. "That means I'm the last of them."
Betty then expresses her desire to "go back to Riverdale one last time before it's too late," and Alice agrees to take her the next day. But that night, Jughead appears in Betty's room and offers to take her back in time to any day. She decides that she wants to revisit the day they all got their yearbooks senior year, noting that she'd been sick at homes with the mumps and never got to experience it.
So, Jughead tells Betty to walk through a nearby door, and she's immediately transported back.
15 Secrets About Riverdale Revealed
Throughout the episode, fans learn the fate of the cast members. Betty sees Archie (K.J. Apa) have a conversation with his mom at home that he wants to move out west to work on a construction team. And once she gets to Riverdale High, she sees Fangs Fogarty (Drew Ray Tanner) getting ready to go on tour, with viewers learning he died after his bus got into an accident. Although, Jughead tells Betty that Fangs' songs helped take care of his love Midge and their daughter.
Betty also grabs lunch with Kevin Keller (Casey Cott) and his boyfriend Clay Walker (Karl Walcott), and Jughead tells her they "lived a very spirited life in the heart of Harlem" in New York, where Clay became a professor at Columbia University and Kevin started an off-Broadway theatre company. He says Kevin died at age 82, with Clay passing away weeks later.
In fact, it's Kevin who tells Betty she's been a "quad" with Archie, Jughead and Veronica Lodge (Camila Mendes) for the past year. And Betty later confirms the four of them were in a relationship.
"It started innocently enough with the four of us going on double dates—me and Archie, Jughead and Veronica. And then it kind of naturally evolved from there," she tells Reggie Mantle (Charles Melton). "Some nights Archie would sneak into my bedroom and Veronica would go home with Jughead. Other nights, Archie would spend the night at the Pembrooke, and I'd go over to Jughead's. And sometimes, more often than you'd imagine, I would find my way to Veronica's."
As for Reggie, Jughead reveals he played basketball for Kansas State before being drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers. Jughead also noted Reggie worked on his family farm during the offseason before his parents died and that he then sold the land and coached at Riverdale High, adding the athlete also married and had two sons.
In addition, Betty learns that Veronica moved to California, where she ran a major Hollywood film studio. She also later attends an art show put on by Cheryl Blossom (Madelaine Petsch) and Toni Topaz (Vanessa Morgan), and Jughead tells her that the couple stayed together and moved out west, "where they lived as artists and activists" with their son Dale (yes, named after Riverdale). He added that the two lived "full, gorgeous, sexy lives" until the very end.
What's more, Jughead tells Betty that Julian Blossom (Nicholas Barasch) served and died in Vietnam at age 28, and that Nana Rose (Barbara Wallace) was "reincarnated multiple times." He also says that Frank Andrews (Ryan Robbins) and Tom Keller (Martin Cummins) were murdered by a "hustler" named Chic.
Near the end of the episode, Betty and Jughead have one last emotional hangout with their friends. As for their specific fates, he tells her she ran She Says Magazine—"the go-to source for feminist and progressive causes"—and that he launched Jughead Madhouse Magazine. Neither married but she adopted a daughter, Carla.
When Betty returns to present day, she and her granddaughter Alice go for a drive through Riverdale. And while Alice thinks Betty has fallen asleep in the car, her love then tells her, "I don't think she's asleep."
A younger Betty then walks into their famous diner Pop's—where she is reunited with her pals and Archie tells her, "Perfect timing, Betty." And as the diner's light-up sign flickers, Jughead bids viewers farewell.
"If you happen to see that neon sign some lonely night at the end of that long journey—the journey that every one of us is on—pull over," he says. "Come on in. Take a seat. Know that you'll always be among friends and that Riverdale will always be your home. Until then, have a good night."
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