Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 | Chapter 13
Chapter 14 | Chapter 15 | Chapter 16 | Chapter 17 | Chapter 18 | Chapter 19 | Chapter 20 | Chapter 21 | Chapter 22 | Chapter 23 | Chapter 24 | Chapter 25 | Chapter 26 | Chapter 27 | Chapter 28 | Chapter 29 | Chapter 30 | Chapter 31 | Chapter 32 | Chapter 33 | Chapter 34 | Chapter 35
Chapter 36 | Chapter 37 | Chapter 38 | Chapter 39 | Chapter 40 | Chapter 41 | Chapter 42 | Chapter 43 | Chapter 44 | Chapter 45 | Chapter 46 | Chapter 47 | Chapter 48 | Chapter 49 | Chapter 50 | Chapter 51 | Chapter 52 | Chapter 53 | Chapter 54 | Chapter 55 | Chapter 56 | Chapter 57
Chapter 58 | Chapter 59 | Chapter 60 | Chapter 61 | Chapter 62 | Chapter 63 | Chapter 64 | Chapter 65 | Chapter 66 | Chapter 67 | Chapter 68 | Chapter 69 | Chapter 70 | Chapter 71 | Chapter 72 | Chapter 73 | Chapter 74 | Chapter 75 | Chapter 76
Chapter 77 | Chapter 78 | Chapter 79 | Chapter 80 | Chapter 81 | Chapter 82 | Chapter 83 | Chapter 84 | Chapter 85 | Chapter 86 | Chapter 87 | Chapter 88 | Chapter 89 | Chapter 90 | Chapter 91 | Chapter 92 | Chapter 93 | Chapter 94 | Chapter 95
Chapter 96 | Chapter 97 | Chapter 98 | Chapter 99 | Chapter 100 | Chapter 101 | Chapter 102 | Chapter 103 | Chapter 104 | Chapter 105 | Chapter 106 | Chapter 107 | Chapter 108 | Chapter 109 | Chapter 110 | Chapter 111 | Chapter 112 | Chapter 113 | Chapter 114 | Chapter 115 | Chapter 116 | Chapter 117
Chapter 118 | Chapter 119 | Chapter 120 | Chapter 121 | Chapter 122 | Chapter 123 | Chapter 124 | Chapter 125 | Chapter 126 | Chapter 127 | Chapter 128 | Chapter 129 | Chapter 130 | Chapter 131 | Chapter 132 | Chapter 133 | Chapter 134 | Chapter 135 | Chapter 136 | Chapter 137
"We'll leave them here, I think. Where they're forever juniors. Forever seventeen. Always grabbing a burger, or a shake. Always going to, or coming from, some dance, talking about school, the big game, who's dating who, homework, whatever movie's playing at the Babylonium. You know, the moments that make up a life. It's where they've... where we've, always been. In this diner, in this town, in the Sweet Hereafter. So 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, 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."
— Narrator Jughead
Tropes
- Ambiguous Situation: Given that he exists separately from the Jughead in Sweet Hereafter Pop's, it's not clear if the Jughead who accompanies Betty throughout the episode is Narrator Jughead from Rivervale, a manifestation of the angel Raphael as in "Angels in America", or something else.
- Book Ends: Jason Blossom was one of the first characters that appeared in the pilot episode of Riverdale, with his death kickstarting the show's plot. In the final episode, he's there to greet Betty at the Pop's Chock'lit Shoppe in The Sweet Hereafter in the final scene.
- The Cameo: Jason Blossom appears briefly, silently opening the door to Pop's Chock'lit shop in the afterlife for Betty in the final scenes of the episode, wearing a Pop's employee uniform.
- Continuity Nod: The afterlife is referred to as the Sweet Hereafter, as in "The Witches of Riverdale" and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.
- Died Happily Ever After: The final fate of all the characters, as Betty joins them all after her death in a dreamlike version of Pop's Chock'lit shop in the Sweet Hereafter, and Jughead's narration implies they'll stay there eternally.
- "Everyone Comes Back" Fantasy Party Ending: The ending scene that shows all the characters back at Pop's, in what's hinted is some kind of perpetual high school afterlife.
- Grand Finale: The final episode of the series after seven seasons and 137 episodes.
- Karma Houdini Warranty: Variations.
- Hal, beyond being forced to move into the basement bedroom, wasn't punished for his affair and treatment of his illegitimate daughter. This episode shows Alice did end up divorcing Hal, and he isn't seen in Betty's flashback of the day she graduated high school, implying he was forced to move out of the Cooper house.
- Dr. Werthers, after supporting the Blossoms, censoring comic books, and eventually going to work for the president to do the latter on a much larger scale, wasn't punished, but this episode shows Jughead did create a comic called Jughead's Madhouse Magazine, which is still published to this day, implying that in the end, his campaign against comics failed.
- Marry Them All: So how does the show resolve the long-standing shipping war that included Betty/Jughead, Veronica/Archie, Betty/Archie, Betty/Veronica? The finale reveals that all four of them decide to be in a quad relationship. Betty dated both Jughead and Archie, and Veronica did the same and then sometimes Veronica and Betty would hook up.
- Although this only applies to their high school years. After graduation, they all end up in different parts of the country and either marry completely different people (Archie) or no one (Betty, Jughead). In Veronica's case, it's not stated which.
- Self-Deprecation: Archie's final poetry reading at Thornhill is a series of slams against the more ridiculous plotlines each of his friends had in previous seasons. Or in Toni's case, the fact that the "South Side" on the back of her jacket ought to be one word.
- The Slow Path: The characters live through the 50s and subsequent decades, meaning they're in their eighties by the time it's 2023 again.
- "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: A variation as Angel Jughead tells Betty how each major character ends up:
- Pop passed away in his sleep soon after the start of the gang's senior year.
- Archie moved out west to Modesto, working construction before falling in love with a girl there and starting a family. After he died, he was buried in Riverdale next to his father.
- Jughead started his own satirical magazine, Jughead's Madhouse Magazine.
- Betty got her book published and started her own successful feminist and progressive women's magazine, She Says. She became a Glamorous Single Mother to an adopted daughter named Carla and later had a granddaughter named Alice.
- Veronica moved to Hollywood to become an Oscar-winning, groundbreaking female producer heading Silver Shield Studios.
- Cheryl and Toni moved out West, becoming famous artists and activists and having a son named Dale, for Riverdale.
- Reggie was recruited into the NBA but suffered a knee injury, so he returned to coach the Riverdale basketball team, where his two sons later became stars. He was buried in Duck Creek next to his wife and parents.
- Clay and Kevin moved to Harlem, where Clay became a professor at Columbia and Kevin started an off-Broadway theater company. They end up dying within weeks of each other.
- Fangs became a rock star but tragically died in a bus crash on tour. He was able to get Midge out of the SOQM, marry her and meet their daughter before his death, and the royalties from his songs helped Midge and their daughter live comfortably.
- Mary bought her own dress shop and fell in love with Brooke, who visited the shop one day, and they lived together the rest of their lives.
- Alice divorced Hal and became a flight attendant, but when the pilot had a heart attack during flight one night, she ended up landing the plane herself. A handsome, affluent passenger asked her out to dinner in thanks and she ended up travelling the world with him.
- Polly had her twins Juniper and Dagwood (with the man she was mentioned as getting married to in "Stag", not Jason) and settled down without her burlesque act.
- Julian was killed in Vietnam.
- Frank Andrews and Tom Keller were killed by a hustler (Chic) they tried to pick up.
- Principal Weatherbee and Mrs. Thornton got married.
- Nana Rose was reincarnated many times.
- Dilton and Ethel's final fates, strangely, are not specified. Though Ethel left Riverdale two episodes ago to get away from it all, so it's possible the rest of the gang didn't keep in touch with her and thus don't know how her life turned out beyond what Veronica set up for her.
