Riverdale Season 1 Finale

Image Source: Darkhorizons.com

​Riverdale KILLED it last night.  I realize that the season has been a little all over the place.  Characters forgotten or misused.  Too many storylines…
 
But last night was an amazing episode.  I am constantly blown away by the depth of the emotion portrayed on this show.  Yes, it’s a CW show based on comic book characters.  And no, they aren’t sticking to the personalities we knew from the books but at this point it doesn’t even matter.  Somewhere along the way I forgot that this was even a show based on the comics.  It just became a damn good show.
 
With everything they’ve done leading up to the finale there was no way it wasn’t going to be completely epic.  Spoilers are abuot to start so if you want to avoid them, I would stop here…
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At this point I’m almost unsure as to how the episode even started because the second and third acts were so dynamic that the first act doesn’t seem to matter anymore.  You had Veronica stepping up and telling Betty that she and Archie were a thing, Archie and Veronica independently asking Betty if she was really OK.  What was interesting watching this play out was that Archie and Veronica seemed less OK with everything than Betty did.  Even Archie telling Betty, “I always thought we’d…”  You’d what Archie?
 
Then you have that unbelievable scene with Cheryl at the frozen lake.  I need to take a moment here to mention that I am pretty sure that none of these kids are wearing warm enough clothing to be in that kind of snow.  Why is Archie wearing a thin hoodie?  Do his abs keep him warm?  Anyway…I loved that even though Cheryl had been rotten almost all season long, the group went after her.  When she went under the water they ran out on the ice without even thinking about it.  Then Archie, finding Cheryl starts punching through the ice.  And punching.  And punching.  And oh my god that was intense.  Blood everywhere.  Turns out that the actor actually broke his hand during that scene.
 
There were of course other things too.  Polly going back to school which was weird, the trashing of Betty’s locker, Betty’s secret older brother, Hiriam is coming home, Josie and the Pussycats made a random and unnecessary appearance (with Josie still being a ridiculous human)…
 
But nothing compares to the epicness of the last few minutes.  Cheryl sets fire to her house.  Covers that abomination in gasoline and lights it on fire, watching it burn calmly and with a small smile as her mother loses her mind in the background.  Then you’ve got “Bughead” admitting that they love each other and about to consummate their relationship when there’s a knock on the door.  Best line of the show?  Jughead: “Is that your mom?”  Hilarious.  The Southside Serpents are at the door offering Jughead a place in their ilk because FP wasn’t a rat.  Cole Sprouse is practically magic in the subtlety of his facial expressions.  He goes from terrified to pensive to amused to happy to worried to confused (when he sees Betty looking at him like he’s a stranger) in about five seconds.
 
Lastly we have Archie, fresh off his night with Veronica going to meet his Dad for breakfast to talk about something important.  You’re thinking, Fred’s going to tell Archie he’s shipping him off to Chicago, or that he sold the business to make sure that Jughead could stay with them, or some other random thing.  You feel something coming as Archie is washing his hands because he’s clearly smiling too much.  I almost thought it would be Archie who gets attacked. Archie comes out of the bathroom to find that the diner is being held up.  Everything moves in slow motion and Fred stands up.  The gunman raises his gun and Archie goes flying in the direction of his father and cut to the outside of the diner and all you see and hear is the flash and a pop.
 
This is where, as a fan I am both upset and not upset.  As a fan of the show itself, I am incredibly glad they showed who got shot.  As a fan of TV?  That was your ending guys.  Right there.  Flash and a pop and cut to black.  Who got shot?  That’s a TV cliffhanger right there.  As a fan of the show, I’m glad I know who it is.  It’ll definitely be an excellent catalyst moving into next season.
 
What did you think?  Did you watch the madness last night?
 

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