We last saw our Riverdale heroes staring at a video screen while their teacher was brutally murdered by a bunch of creeps in vintage Archie masks. Riverdale certainly doesn’t shy away from dramatic flair. Season 4 had many odd storylines, including Cheryl and Veronica forming a business partnership mixing their family’s exports: maple syrups and rum. Then there was Kevin’s little side hustle that involved getting tickled while being filmed.
The core 4 took us on a wild ride when Jughead was murdered by Betty (but then he wasn’t), and Archie and Betty caught feelings for each other at the worst possible time. But the craziest plotline had to do with a dark fantasy that turned into a twisted reality.
Jughead’s rather scathing story, which depicted his seemingly tyrannical principal being stabbed by himself, Archie, Betty, Veronica, Reggie, and Cheryl, was merely meant to be a protest against Mr. Honey’s disciplinarian methods. But season 4 also marked the introduction of a shady character known as the Voyeur. This antagonist takes pleasure in recording surveillance of the Riverdale teens and their families and leaving evidence of the stalking in the form of VHS tapes. The Voyeur becomes the Auteur when the individual gets creative and films a reenactment of Betty murdering Jughead.
The season 4 finale brought the Voyeur/Auteur storyline to a chilling climax. The abrupt ending (due in part to the fact filming was halted amid the pandemic) made it a frustrating cliffhanger. There were two questions on everyone’s mind when the final videotape revealed the masked figures plunging their knives into Mr. Honey’s tied up body. Who else could have read Jughead’s story? And is Mr. Honey really dead?
Along with the mystery of the videotape Auteur, we also have questions about our Riverdale heroes’ future. Season 5 will bring prom celebrations and graduation farewells, and then it’s off to college. But the Riverdale writers revealed a little twist coming our way as the story is due for a time jump. Yep, we’ll be seeing the teens catapulted seven years into the future, returning to Riverdale as fully-fledged adults. The idea behind it is to skip past the college years that will have the characters separated by different schools and reunite them for another mystery down the line.
It’s true that almost all the Riverdale characters will find themselves parting ways to pursue different paths. Veronica has her sights set on Barnard College in NYC. Betty is off to Yale. Archie is reapplying to the Naval Academy. Jughead is potentially attending the University of Iowa. Kevin got into Carnegie Mellon, and Reggie will hunker down at Riverdale Community College. Only Cheryl and Toni will be together at Highsmith College. We’ll be able to see how the gang will have grown in their years apart and whether there will be any relationships that will stand the test of time. And we know the question of everyone’s mind about this future storyline: will Jughead still be wearing his ever-present hat?
