After seven seasons and over a hundred episodes, Riverdale is now officially done with its broadcast run. The long-running The CW series has become something of a cultural staple, spinning its own unconventional lore across its run. Going into Riverdale‘s series finale, it was safe to assume that the show would wrap up the stories of nearly all of its central protagonists, which it did through the lens of Betty Cooper (Lili Reinhart) reflecting back on the regrets of her high school days. Along the way, the emotional episode peppered in a lot of references to the show’s early days.
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Here are just a few of the Easter eggs and references we noticed in Riverdale‘s final episode.
Chic
One of the most shocking Easter eggs acutally only occurs in the extended cut of the finale, as the fates of Tom Keller (Martin Cummins) and Frank Andrews (Ryan Robbins). As it turns out, Tom and Frank were soon murdered by a hustler they pick up — named Chic.
This, of course, is a nod to the show’s long-running drama around Chic Cooper, the supposed long-lost Cooper child who proves to be much more complicated and sinister than he appears.
Peter Roth
Throughout the season, Veronica Lodge (Camila Mendes) has dealt with the logistics of the 1950s Hollywood system, and has often referenced her “old friend” Peter Roth. At first, this could be seen as sly reference to the real-life former Warner Bros. TV executive Peter Roth — something the finale basically confirms, as we briefly see Roth himself once Veronica makes her way back to Hollywood.
Choni’s Baby
When we are shown the endgame of Cheryl Blossom (Madelaine Petsch) and Toni Topaz (Vanessa Morgan), the fan-favorite couple are shown living long, happy lives as activists and artists together. We also discover that the duo had a baby son together — played by River, Morgan’s real-life son who she gave birth to midway through the show’s run.
Callbacks
Midway through the episode, Archie Andrews (K.J. Apa) reads a poem-turned-roast about his friends and the time they’ve all spent together. The entire monologue pokes fun at an array of previous story elements from the show — including Betty Cooper (Lili Reinhart) having the “serial killer gene”; Cheryl Blossom (Madelaine Petsch) locking her brother’s corpse in a cellar; Jughead Jones (Cole Sprouse) motivating his teacher, Rupert Chipping (Sam Witwer) to suddenly jump out of a window to his death; and Fangs Fogarty (Drew Ray Tanner) joining an organ-harvesting cult. He even references “the epic highs and lows of high school football”, which he infamously said while being falsely imprisoned in juvie.
While this speech raises some questions about the logistics of Riverdale‘s multiverse and memory-wiping, it is still a fun trip down memory lane either way.
Gryphons and Gargoyles
One of the most bizarre aspects of Riverdale‘s history — the season-long fight against an evil Dungeons & Dragons pastiche nicknamed Gryphons and Gargoyles — comes back around in the finale. When Betty is saying goodbye to all of the locations in Riverdale, we briefly see a Gargoyle King mask sitting alone in a room.
And in the show’s final scene, Dilton Doiley (Daniel Yang) and Ben Button (Moses Thiessen) appear to be playing G&G at a diner table.
The Sweet Hereafter
In the finale’s final sequence, Betty wakes up from her real-life death and finds herself young again, standing at the entrance of Pop’s diner. Once she enters, she’s greeted by young versions of all of her friends and colleagues, who get to spend an enternity together in their glory days.
Ghost-Jughead refers to this afterlife as simply “The Sweet Hereafter” — the title of a 1991 novel and subsequent 1997 film adaptation. But more importantly, that subtitle was used for Riverdale‘s Season 1 finale.
Jason Blossom
The entrance to The Sweet Hereafter is also an Easter egg in and of itself, as Jason Blossom (Trevor Stines) wordlessly opens the door for Betty to enter.
Not only does the moment poke fun at Jason’s penchant for rarely speaking a line of dialogue during the show, but it proves to be pretty profound as well. Since Jason was the very first character to die on Riverdale — with his tragic death literally kickstarting the events of the show — it can be interpreted that he is opening the door to the afterlife, because he was the first person in their group to visit it.
Jughead’s Typewriter
And finally, the last scene of the show ends with Ghost-Jughead watching the outside of the Sweet Hereafter, before talking directly to the audience. As he turns and walks away, we here the sound of typewriter keys clacking — just as they opened the show’s pilot episode all those years ago.
The motif seems to hint at the show’s entire events being retold or chronicled by Jughead, but either way, it leaves the entire show on a sentimental note.
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