Riverdale Finale: Five Questions Raised

Spoilers for tonight’s season finale of Riverdale below! Only look if you want to know.

Tonight, the freshman season of Riverdale officially came to a close. And while the season’s central mystery – around the murder of Jason Blossom – has primarily been solved, a myriad of questions have been raised in its place.

Aside from the most glaring question – about the uncertain fate of a particular character – we broke down a few questions we want answered in season two. Click through to the next slide and check them out.

Archie (KJ Apa) and Veronica (Camila Mendes) continue to grow closer.Betty (Lili Reinhart) is tired of her family acting as if nothing has happened and confronts her mother.Jughead (Cole Sprouse) finds himself in an unexpected situation, leaving Archie and the gang scrambling.Hermione (Marisol Nichols) makes Fred (Luke Perry) an offer that seems too good to be true.Meanwhile, the truth about Blossom’s family business is revealed leaving Cheryl (Madelain Petsch) to take matters into her own hands. Madchen Amick and Ashleigh Murray also star.

Lee Toland Krieger directed the episode written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa.

Riverdale stars KJ Apa as Archie, Cole Sprouse as Jughead, Lili Reinhart as Betty Cooper, Camilla Mendes as Veronica Lodge, and Luke Perry as Archie’s father Fred Andrews, among others. The series’ showrunner is Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, Archie Entertainment’s Chief Creative Officer and the writer of Afterlife With Archie, the publisher’s wildly popular zombie series.

MORE: How Will Cheryl React To Learning [SPOILER] Killed Jason Blossom? / Sabrina the Teenage Witch Easter Egg Revealed in the Riverdale Finale / Riverdale: [SPOILERS] Dies in “Anatomy of a Murder” / Riverdale: [SPOILER] Killed Jason Blossom

Riverdale airs Thursday nights at 9 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.

Where Is Betty’s Brother?

While Hal and Alice Cooper have consistently remained some of the most shady characters throughout the show’s first season, their motivations were eventually justified. But in the finale, one final Cooper-related bombshell was dropped – that just might carry enough mystery into season two.

Alice revealed that in high school, she had gotten pregnant with Hal’s baby. The pair had a big fight over it – one that FP saw and later recounted to Betty and Jughead during this season’s awkward dinner party. Alice, much like Polly, was sent to live with the Sisters of Quiet Mercy while she was pregnant, and they arranged to have her baby adopted once it was born.

This means that, eventually, this show could introduce us to Chic Cooper. Chic was introduced into the Archie lore in the 1960s, but – along with Polly – rarely appeared in the comics themselves. In order to explain away his frequent absence, Chic was established to be a secret agent for the United States government.

It’s safe to assume that that particular character trait won’t make its way onto Riverdale, but don’t be surprised if the gang turns their attention to locating Betty’s “blonde Adonis” older brother.

Where Will The Blossoms Go From Here?

Things seemed very uncertain for the Blossom clan after the events of last week’s episode. Between the fact that Clifford had, in fact, killed Jason, Clifford’s own apparent suicide, and the revelation about the family’s drug business, the remaining Blossoms were left in a bit of a predicament.

Cheryl was shown processing that uncertainty throughout the episode, ultimately attempting to drown herself in Sweetwater River midway through the episode. Archie ultimately saved her, and it appeared that Cheryl’s motivation changed soon after.

In the episode’s final act, Penelope came home to discover Cheryl lighting the house on fire. While both of them made it out of the house alive, the destruction of Thornhill is sure to affect the Blossom family in the upcoming season.

For starters, where will Penelope and Cheryl live, now that their mansion is destroyed? One logical guess is their distant relatives, the Coopers, which would certainly create a series of new conflicts and dynamics going forward. And now that Cheryl has resigned from the River Vixens, as well as lost all of her money and material things, what changes will we see in Cheryl going into the second season?

Will McCoy and Keller Get What They Want?

A plotline throughout tonight’s finale was the struggle between the Jones family and the establishment of Riverdale. Both Sheriff Keller and Mayor McCoy attempted to strike a deal with FP – a lesser sentence in exchange for him providing names of Serpents involved in Clifford’s drug trade.

FP ultimately didn’t budge, which caused a sort of chain reaction within the episode. With FP remaining in jail for the foreseeable future, and Jughead officially immersed in the world of the Southside Serpents, there’s a possibility that things are going exactly how McCoy and Keller planned. If Jughead officially becomes a Serpent in season two, the Riverdale authorities would suddenly have more channels – Jughead, Betty, Archie, etc – to get information from.

What Is Hiram and Hermione’s Goal?

The Lodge family is gearing up to make a comeback in the show’s second season – which could mean bad news for the rest of Riverdale. With Hiram (Mark Consuelos) set to be released from jail, Hermione offered to buy Fred’s construction company from him. But it’s still not entirely sure as to why.

Hermione explained that she wants her family to not be professionally associated with Serpents – which is why she fired Fred’s previous crew of workers early in the episode. But it’s established that Fred’s company isn’t doing too well to begin with, which makes us wonder why Hermione and Hiram want to re-establish their business with it..unless there’s something more to it. 

In addition, Veronica spent much of the season questioning her father’s reach with the Serpents, and his ability to cause trouble while still being behind bars. While Hiram ultimately didn’t directly tie into Jason’s murder, there’s a chance he could be involved with another. Which brings us to…

Who Is The Masked Man?

And, of course, the biggest looming question – aside from whether or not Fred will survive his apparent gunshot wound – is who pulled the trigger. The masked man came into Pop’s while Fred and Archie arrived for breakfast, attempted to strangle Pop, and then shot Fred when he and Archie attempted to intervene.

Whether or not Fred does die, this creates a pretty massive mystery going into the second season. The attempted murderer was clearly a man, and despite wearing Serpent-like clothing, there’s no indication if he actually is a member of the gang. There’s also a chance that the masked man is actually a popular character from Archie Comics lore, which you can read about here.

And even when the masked man’s identity is revealed, his motivation is an entirely different story. Was he individually motivated to attack the diner, or was he instructed to do so by someone else? As we stated before, Hiram has been shown to have a pretty good reach over the Southside Serpents, and there’s no telling what other members of the town’s community do as well.

Given Fred’s dealings with the Lodge family throughout the course of the episode, there’s a pretty good change that they could be involved. But if Riverdale has taught us anything, it’s to expect the unexpected.