Riverdale season 5, episode 3 review: End of an era

Riverdale season 5 saw the show bid farewell to its youth in a heartfelt and nostalgic tribute to its past, but does it bode well for its future?

Riverdale is a strange creature. The TV show gets away with so much ridiculous, off-the-wall and (intentionally) stupid storylines that even the unpredictable begins to feel predictable. You grow so accustomed to “expecting the unexpected” that the silly nature of the show begins to have little impact on you. And yet you continue to watch – not because you have to, but because you just can’t look away.

Every so often, however, the show breaks from its repetitive WTF nature. Sometimes, it strips things back a little. And sometimes it really gets to the heart of the story that it’s trying to tell because it prioritizes character over plot. Those are the times that Riverdale really makes you feel something.

The long-awaited graduation episode – a.k.a. the originally-planned season 4 finale – broke the mold because even though it bookended one of the show’s strangest seasons, it fell into the latter category. This felt necessary because the purpose of “Chapter Seventy-Nine: Graduation” was less about what it meant to season 4 but more about what it meant to the series in general as it wrapped up the show’s first era, bringing an end to the respective characters’ arcs and setting the stage for completely new ones.

What happened in Riverdale season 5, episode 3?

More of a standalone than a continuation of the season’s plot threads, “Graduation” really solidified that Riverdale is ready to move past the era that has kept the show moving for the first four seasons.

More from TV

• Monarch: Legacy of Monsters episodes 1 and 2 review: Aftermath
• The 9 best (and 8 worst) Arrowverse characters
• 10 things nobody wants to admit about The Walking Dead
• Harley Quinn renewed for a fifth season on Max (and it’s well-deserved)
• The Walking Dead: Every TWD spinoff show coming in 2024 and beyond

The episode saw the likes of Jughead Jones, Betty Cooper, Veronica Lodge, Kevin Keller, Cheryl Blossom, Toni Topaz, Reggie Mantle, Sweet Pea and Fangs Fogarty graduate but it also revealed that Archie Andrews would not. Though he got to celebrate the ceremony with his friends, he decided to join the army and, by extension, leave Riverdale the very next day.

Archie wasn’t the only one experiencing some introspection as Betty used Jughead’s curiosity about the whole situation to reveal the truth about her near-affair with Archie, Cheryl decided it was her purpose to remain in town and restore the Blossoms’ name by undoing her family’s damage, FP decided to it was time to leave town so that Jellybean could stand a chance away from the corruptness of Riverdale and Penelope decided it was time to turn herself in for her heinous crimes.

End of an era

“Graduation” felt very much like a season finale and that is, of course, down to the fact that it was supposed to be. However, it also felt rather like a series finale too. With its callbacks to the beginning and the softer variations of the score that played throughout the episode, it was overflowing in nostalgia and full of heart as it paid tribute to the Riverdale that was.

It also acknowledged how things had snowballed over the course of the show, using all of that senselessness to illustrate something that does make sense: The importance of living. Be it living in the moment, living while you’re young or just living, Betty’s graduation speech was an example of the occasional brilliance that Riverdale often flirts with and a reminder of how much potential it still has.

The way in which it also addressed the controversial forced non-affair between Betty and Archie was very well-handled. It didn’t explode like some angsty teen-drama because, finally, Riverdale had outgrown that. No, it was accepted for the mistake that it was and quickly moved on from because the characters had experienced so much real trauma, they welcomed teen drama. Narratively, it served its purpose without dragging the show down with it and it has simply set the stage for a storyline far more intriguing. A storyline that will, no doubt get Varchie and Bughead back together.

There’s a maturity about “Graduation” that we don’t see often enough in Riverdale. It was a love letter to the past, yes, but it could also be a promise of things to come. And it was exactly the heartfelt, emotional and mature ending that Riverdale‘s most famous era deserved.

Without question, one of Riverdale‘s finest hours.

Riverdale Ramblings

• The Riverdale theme playing when the gang completed their final day of school was a nice touch. That was when the tears started, let’s be honest.
• The fact that every couple – Kevin and Fangs excepted – had to break up might seem a little contrived, but it will serve the overall narrative well. It will be far more interesting seeing Archie and Veronica, Betty and Jughead and Cheryl and Toni overcoming obstacles to find their way back to each other than missing seven years of their development as couples off-screen.
•  KJ Apa’s cover of “Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)” was beautiful and it scored the graduation sequence masterfully. Let’s hope Archie sings more throughout the season.
• Kevin and Fangs deserved more screen-time as a couple, but Kevin, Fangs Reggie and Sweet Pea deserved more screen-time as characters. It was their graduation too.
• Who’s heart warmed a little when Penelope turned up at the graduation for Cheryl?
• FP’s send-off was exactly what it needed to be and totally in-line with the character. Let’s just hope that he reunites with Jughead and Alice one day. Falice for life!
• I lost track of the amount of times I cried during this episode. It was exceptional.

What did you think of Riverdale season 5, episode 3? Have you been enjoying the season thus far? Let us know in the comments below!