The final season of Riverdale has been a reset to a show that has become increasingly more bizarre with each passing season. It’s back to a high school show, but the twist is it’s in the 50s. Not that we were ever clear on the period Riverdale took place in. It was an ambiguous time.
There’s still bizarreness because now the characters are adults, but they think they are in high school. They are acting more like teenagers now than they ever did when their characters were supposed to be teenagers. It would be strange at this point if it didn’t maintain some of its craziness.
The reset could be because Riverdale couldn’t go further than it had with everyone having powers, multiple universes (why does everything need a multi-universe storyline these days?), and a comet going to destroy Riverdale. But with that reset, the series is giving us all the ships. It’s kind of a fan service. If there was something you wanted to see before, you’re getting it now. Ships are becoming canon that fans long gave up on. But everything seems to be adjusting accordingly, back to who people were expected to end up with, or the story was leading it that way. It’s still a lot of fun to see these pairings and return to the ones we were missing.
Varchie was one of my favorite ships, so seeing them back together was nice, even if short-lived. That was a steamy kiss Veronica Lodge (Camila Mendes) and Archie Andrews (K.J. Apa) had. Not to mention how Archie looked at V when she walked into the classroom, and he saw her for the first time again. The attraction is still there and gave me and other Varchie shippers hope, but it ran its course pretty quickly. I’m still happy to have to got to revisit them.
We also briefly returned to Bughead with that kiss at Veronica’s makeout party. Very brief but a nice throwback.
For those Cherie shippers, they got some great content. Lots of good makeout scenes, but one of my favorite scenes was when Archie and Cheryl Blossom (Madelaine Petsch) were on the bridge. It was so romantic. Clearly, it shows that they could have been an item in a different world. If Toni Lopez (Vanessa Morgan) wasn’t around, they could have been going steady for a little bit. Since there was no chance of this happening before, I hope Cherie shippers got what they wanted with this storyline. Remember, this officially makes it canon!
While we did get a sexy Vughead kiss earlier in the series, it was V playing her games. Now Vughead is really becoming something. It’s always felt like an odd pairing, but their love of monster movies is cute. And I loved V giving Jughead Jones’ (Cole Sprouse) train car a makeover. This is sure to end, but it’s fun watching them together. Veronica and Jug are my two favorite characters, so having them on the screen together is great. And I know all those Vughead shippers are cheering. It is super cute.
It’s fun that the writers are making these ships canon. You don’t have to wonder what could have happened if the writers had put them together. But the ships are also falling back into place too.
Cheryl sent Archie back to Betty Cooper (Lili Reinhart) while she already wanted to explore that relationship with him. Riverdale is hinting more and more that they will be endgame. This time around, the best friends could end up together. It’s Joey and Dawson 2.0 (though I am happy that Joey ended up with Pacey).
Choni is clearly endgame too. I would have rather had Varchie over Barchie, but if we get Choni, I can live with whoever else ends up together. The love is there, but given the 50s, they are having difficulty going there. Riverdale likes torturing us with this ship.
Of course, Cheryl is fighting her feelings for Toni to not disappoint her family, but she’s losing that battle. The parents are who they were in the present time, but now they are working around 50s stereotypes, which makes them even worse.
These characters may not remember their lives, but they are easily falling back into who they are. While no one was asking for Betty and Kevin Keller (Casey Cott), it was cute and showed their close friendship. We knew this would never work, but it still set up their friendship at the close of it. This friendship has been through it. So it’s nice to go back to the innocence of their friendship again.
While it’s nice to revisit ships and see ones that never were, where is this season going? Tabitha Tate (Erinn Westbrook) must find a way to save them and get them back to the present time. It just seems so weird being a high school show again, especially when the actors are even older now. At least it seems like we may be getting the murder mystery back. We still need to solve Ethel Muggs’ (Shannon Purser) parents’ murder.
Riverdale airs on Wednesdays at 9 pm ET on the CW.
