'Riverdale' series finale drops big bombshell before wrapping things up

WARNING: This post contains spoilers about the series finale of Riverdale.

The CW’s Riverdale ended on Wednesday after seven seasons with a head-turning series finale that covered plenty of bases before wrapping things up nicely. And there was plenty of reaction and coverage from all over, so let’s take a look.

The series is based on the characters of Archie Comics and adapted for The CW by Archie Comics' chief creative officer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa. It features K.J. Apa in the role of Archie Andrews, Lili Reinhart as Betty Cooper, Camila Mendes as Veronica Lodge and Cole Sprouse as Jughead Jones, the series' narrator.

After the show jumped back in time to the 1950s in the Season 6 finale, the show’s final episode began in present time with Betty now in her 80s. She learned that Jughead had died, leaving her as the only remaining member of the Riverdale High group. She told her granddaughter that she wanted to go back to Riverdale one last time and later joined up with Jughead in a dream, where he offered to let her relive any day she wanted in Riverdale. Betty chose the final day of school and the party that followed, and soon she was transported back and was her young self once again.

A recap from People offers a detailed blow-by-blow of the final episode, while Variety gives an easily digestible breakdown of how each character lived out the rest of their lives. And Entertainment Weekly paints a vivid picture of the show’s final scene.

The big shocker? The finale revealed that Betty, Jughead, Archie and Veronica were all in a polyamorous quad relationship with each other for a year, with all four of them being together and swapping who they were romantically involved with each evening. But after high school, none of them ended up together despite that being a common wish among fans.

Riverdale executive producer Sarah Schechter spoke about that ending to Variety. “There’s this core of Archie Comics about family, town, growing up and everything universal, but there was always Archie picking between two girls. I think we made a really conscious effort to step away from that in the pilot and have maintained that throughout. So I think it was modern and fitting. Each of these characters have such big lives that they were meant to lead — I do think it was such a brave and interesting choice.”

Schechter also spoke with Deadline, where she said they enjoyed the “rare privilege” of being able to plan out a show’s ending well in advance. “The ending, to me, felt so natural, given how much love everyone involved has for these characters, and that’s what I really felt with the finale. Riverdale can be really kind of crazy and fun and really earnest and emotional, and I’m just really happy that the ending honored that,” she said.

As far as the fans go, reactions on social media were mostly sad but with a dramatic twist, similar to many varied and spirited reactions the series has gotten from fans through the years.

Meanwhile a poll conducted by TVLine shows that the majority of viewers consider the finale to be a “fail.”