Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
It’s all come down to this: the Season 3 finale of Riverdale has a lot of questions it needs to answer (at least 13, to be precise) and less than an hour to do it. So between crazy cults, stick monsters running evil role-playing games, hook-handed serial killers and multiple characters’ lives in the balance, can they pull it off?
Turns out, yep! “Chapter Fifty-Seven: Survive The Night,” written by Riverdale showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and writer Michael Grassi (who created the upcoming Katy Keene together) and directed by the always excellent Rachel Talalay, is a ridiculously over the top finale the way only Riverdale can do, full of romance, murder, crazy twists and shockingly managing to wrap up most of the main beats of the season.
Part of the reason this works is that the majority of the episode focuses in on the characters between the kookiness… After the reveal that cult The Farm was short for “organ harvesting farm” last episode, you’d think things would quickly spiral out of control. And they do, in a way; but the episode also wastes no time immediately revealing several of its overarching mysteries, allowing the rest of the episode to dig into what it means for the characters.
Oh, and in between all of that there are several ridiculous action sequences, more surprises, and rewards for fans who have been religiously studying the show for the past three years. With that in mind, let’s tease what we can — and of note, we’re going to leave this relatively sparse so you can be surprised by the finale on your own:
Core Values
For most of the season other than a few check-ins at the student lounge, the Core Four have been spending time apart. That would be: Jughead Jones (Cole Sprouse); Archie Andrews (KJ Apa); Betty Cooper (Lili Reinhart); and Veronica Lodge (Camila Mendes). That’s partially out of necessity. Jughead has been investigating the mysterious Gargoyle King, a strange being who may or may not be a resurrected Jason Blossom (Trevor Stines). Meanwhile, Betty has been looking into creepy cult The Farm, and Archie and Veronica have been dealing with Veronica’s father Hiram (Mark Consuelos).
This episode finally brings the four back together for one final game of Gryphons & Gargoyles… Which turns out to be a sort of reckoning for everything they’ve done the past three seasons. Like most of Aguirre-Sacasa’s episodes, this hour — at least the Core Four portions — is focused on recentering the show on what it’s always been about: the tense push and pull between the Americana of Archie Comics, and the deep well of evil residing in the town of Riverdale. Which side of the Core Four’s natures will win out? And what will happen to them, if they do win?
If Edgar Had A Hammer (He'd Hammer In The Morning)
But wait a second: wasn’t Betty being held hostage at The Farm last episode? Wasn’t Edgar Evernever (Chad Michael Murray) about to perform illegal surgery on her? Don’t worry, they haven’t forgotten, and as we pick up you’ll find out Betty’s fate… As well as the surprising way she gets from Point A, to Point B.
Under The Hood
We’ve been wondering whether Hal Cooper (Lochlyn Munro) survived a deadly bus crash, only to resume his serial killer persona, The Black Hood. Or rather, The Black Hook, as he chopped off his own hand to mask his escape. Well as you can plainly see from the GIF above, Hal seemingly survived, and is wearing the hood again. What he’s doing in this episode, and how he ties into the overall mystery (mysteries?) of the season will be revealed early on. Suffice to say, he’s not hanging around for altruistic purposes.
Cheryl The Goods
Last time we saw Cheryl Blossom (Madelaine Petsch), she was helping her girlfriend Toni Topaz (Vanessa Morgan) escape from The Farm, sacrificing her own life (potentially) to allow Toni time to run free. Cheryl, as you’d expect, isn’t taking imprisonment sitting down. While Toni musters her forces outside, Cheryl is working inside to blow The Farm wide open. That is, until some surprising twists thrown her way lead to one of the weirdest reveals involving the character the show has ever done.
Cheers To Season 3
…uh, and that’s really all we can tell you about this episode. “Survive The Night” breaks the pattern of previous season finales by not just closing the book on the season, but truly feeling like the end of Riverdale‘s first volume. Though there are many places the show can go from here, and it’s going to be an agonizing Summer for fans (if you thought speculation was going wild all season long, wait until you see the finale), for the most part the themes of Seasons 1-3 are wrapped up neatly.
But before we leave you, since this is the last round of teases until next Season, a few without context:
– Multiple kisses
– A surprising end
– Several more surprising exits
– An entrance
– Beware what the milkshakes bring to the yard
See you next year…
