Riverdale season 5, episode 10 ending explained: What happened to [SPOILER]?

Riverdale season 5’s midseason finale left fans with a lot of questions as the extended hiatus begins.

The fifth season of Riverdale officially commenced its midseason hiatus this week. Normally a fixture of the winter months, the break – like so many other aspects of the TV landscape – is different this year. Instead, Riverdale season 5 will remain off screens until July.

That is a long wait, no doubt, and it wouldn’t be Riverdale if it didn’t make the most of the hiatus and leave fans wanting more. And leave us wanting more is exactly what it did as Riverdale‘s midseason finale featured a cliffhanger ending that left fans in complete shock.

But what do the things that we learned in “Chapter Eighty-Six: The Pincushion Man” mean for the remainder of the season? Let’s find out.

What does the ending of Riverdale season 5, episode 10 really mean?

Riverdale‘s midseason finale saw Jughead Jones ingest some Maple Mushrooms in the hopes that he would overcome his writer’s block and produce a story worthy of submitting to his agent. Tabitha agreed to help him as long as she checked up on him regularly but after becoming concerned for his safety, she decided to handcuff him to the desk and left him there to write all night.

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However, when she returned in the morning, Jughead was nowhere to be seen and all that was left was a bloody handcuff. Of course, viewers are left wondering what has actually happened to Jughead and, uh, if his hand is intact.

We know that Jughead experienced some Maple Mushroom-induced visions that had him making love to Betty (and his ex-girlfriend Jessica it seems) before he saw what looked like the terrifying Mothman creature. However, he also awoke to find that he had written the “Transubstantiation” story he was attempting to.

What’s interesting is that when Jughead woke, his hand was totally fine and there wasn’t any blood anywhere. On one hand, this would suggest that he was still under the influence of the mushrooms whenever he left the bunker and thus couldn’t see whatever damage he had done to his wrist trying to break out of the handcuffs. On the other, perhaps somebody left it that way to intentionally make Tabitha concerned.

Either way, Riverdale will be having some close encounters of the Jughead kind when it returns.

Riverdale season 5 returns to The CW with new episodes on July 7, 2021. In the meantime, enjoy new series Kung Fu in its timeslot on Wednesdays. at 8:00 p.m. ET

What did you think of the ending of Riverdale‘s midseason finale? Let us know in the comments below!