The CW has released a synopsis for “Chapter One Hundred Thirty-Five: For A Better Tomorrow”, the eighteenth episode of Riverdale‘s seventh and final season. The episode is set to air on Wednesday, August 9th and from the sound of things, the tensions and paranoia of the Cold War finally come to Riverdale. Per the synopsis, the gang gets caught up in Cold War paranoia, while a new mystery leads Jughead to investigate a new series of murders in the town. There is also a shocking discovery for the Cooper family that changes things for Betty. You can check out the episode synopsis for yourself below.
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“COLD WAR PARANOIA – As the gang gets swept up in Cold War paranoia, a new mystery brewing in Riverdale leads Jughead (Cole Sprouse) to suspect it may have ties to a string of suspicious murders in town. Archie (KJ Apa) reconsiders his future after Uncle Frank (guest star Ryan Robbins) gives him a hard time about his poetry writing, and a shocking discovery involving her family shakes Betty (Lili Reinhart) to her core. Camila Mendes, Madelaine Petsch, Madchen Amick, Casey Cott, Charles Melton, Vanessa Morgan, and Drew Ray Tanner also star. Greg Smith directed the episode written by Ted Sullivan & Greg Murray.”
Exploring the Cold War is On Brand for the 1950s-Set Final Season of Riverdale
While Riverdale hasn’t touched much on the Cold War thus far this season, given that the final season of the series is set in the 1950s, it makes sense that Riverdale would finally touch on the tensions and paranoia of the era. The idea of darkness and injustice just below the shiny, All-American, wholesome veneer is a major element of Riverdale‘s seventh and final season. Thus far we’ve seen racial injustice, sexism, book burning, anti-gay sentiment, and other moral panics thus far this season — all things that existed in the 1950s. Exploring these topics is something that showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa spoke with ComicBook.com about earlier this season when discussing the season premiere’s addressing of the murder of Emmett Till.
“When we first started talking about the 1950s, I think the biggest conversations that we had in the writers room and that I had with various cast members were, and you yourself had even talked about, was is this going to be an idealized whitewashed 1950s where everyone was accepted and where it was okay to be gay, and it was the same being a black teenager as it was being a Caucasian teenager? And very quickly it was sort of like, ‘No, that’s not right, because that’s not true.’ And that’s just not the struggle that people were going through at the time,” he said. “And if you remember, in our season finale at the end of season six, when Archie and Jughead went back in time after the comet, which was so long ago, Archie comes downstairs and his mother says, ‘Something terrible happened. James Dean died.’ And James Dean represented a certain kind of American youth, like handsome movie star, and it was a national tragedy.”
He continued, “And when we were researching the 1950s, and specifically 1955, it was within weeks of James Dean’s death, it was the trial of Emmett Till’s murderers who of course were acquitted and set free. And it felt to us in the writers … when we were talking about it, wow, two different tragedies, two very different teenagers, covered completely different by the media, meaning completely different things. And it felt like a way to immediately dive into the thematics that we wanted to explore is by telling what we hoped was a meaningful sensitive story about Riverdale High being recently integrated, and what the black characters at Riverdale High would be feeling on the other side of that verdict coming down. Of course. And that felt like it was around that time period. And we talked about it a lot in the rooms, and Tabitha Tate, who is a character who’s always … and Toni Topaz, who has always … they’ve always been proud and political, and I don’t want to say social justice warriors, but they’ve always been concerned with those themes. It felt like it would be strange for them not to be talking about that and to have an episode where everyone’s just talking about James Dean. It felt that in our world if Riverdale High had recently integrated and this had happened, these are the kinds of conversations that some of our characters would have and that all of our characters should be having.”
Will Riverdale Return to the Present Before Series’ End?
With the 1950s setting this season of Riverdale technically reflecting them being in an alternative timeline following the events of Season 6, fans have wondered if the series will end with them returning to the present day, something Aguirre-Sacasa has previously suggested. Unfortunately, series star Mädchen Amick recently cast some doubt on that — sort of.
“I don’t know if I should answer,” Amick told Decider when asked about the setting. “No, we don’t get out of the 1950s. So, I guess maybe that is a big spoiler. I will say you do experience the characters in different… dimensions, that you get to see a lot of closures that are outside of the 1950s. I can tease it that way. I think that’s saying enough.”
Riverdale airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on The CW. “Chapter One Hundred Thirty-Five: For A Better Tomorrow” airs August 9th.
