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the WHOLE finale was Betty and Jug reminiscing on 'the way it used to be,' specifically referring to the love triangles, the football, the milkshakes, and the general childhood innocence that makes high school drama seem so important. BUT THAT'S NOT AT ALL WHAT HAPPENED AT ANY POINT IN RIVERDALE!! 👏THAT'S👏 WHAT👏 HAPPENED👏 IN 👏THE 👏COMIC👏 THAT THIS ADAPTATION IMMEDIATELY AND WILDLY DEPARTED FROM AT EVERY TURN!?!!

So the question is: What life is this finale actually reminiscing on? When Betty says "I wish I could go back to the way it was..." is she really talking about the first season of Riverdale? OR is she talking about the genuinely innocent character she was in Archie Comics before Riverdale made her a trauma-stigmata serial killer cult member FBI agent kidnapping survivor sex addict?

The generous reading is that the real finale of "Pop's Eternal Narrative Heaven" is not that they're trapped in Riverdale forever. It's that they finally escaped Riverdale (CW 2017) and made it to the wholesome world of Archie (Pep Comics 1941).

It's specifically in the way Jughead talks about this projected simplicity especially around Pop's that just never existed. You're reminded of that when Jason opens the door to the idyllic world as if to say, "Welcome back! Remember when everything was fun and simple? Because I don't! Because I was already murdered by my father by episode 1! This has never been real in Riverdale!" He's the gatekeeper to the original Pep Comics world not just because he was the first to die in Riverdale, but because his character is more anchored to the carefree milkshake plots of the early 80s issues from whence he originated.

Of course modern Archie Comics have developed along wildly diverse and often dark plot lines, as any comic book still going after 60+ years would. In that sense, Riverdale isn't that far off much of its more recent source texts. But Riverdale has made a point of cordoning the dark plots off from the characters' experience and recollection as the series wound to a close. This disconnect is evident in the unsettling way they all casually chuckle at the horrific details in Archie's poem about the stuff that actually did happen to them. It's like he's recounting something portrayed about them in a comic book instead of the other way around.

I interpret Archie's poem as a kind of metatheatrical catalyst for the Riverdale characters to leave those adapted selves behind as a story about them instead of their "real lives" so they can return to their core selves as Pep Comics characters.

RIVERDALE (2017 - 2023) 6x21 - 7x19