Riverdale season 7 episode 20 review: Goodbye, Riverdale

As I sit and type out this review, feelings tender and eyes still damp from dried-in tears, my mind wanders to images of Jughead Jones typing away on his keyboard (or typewriter, depending on the era) at the opening of so many episodes of Riverdale. And then, I smile.

Riverdale has been a part of the pop-culture conversation since its debut in 2017. A show that burned so unexpectedly bright for a hot minute thanks to its global presence on Netflix, its popularity waned the longer it went on. But that never stopped it from making headlines, moments, or memories with its outlandish storylines and eyebrow raising plots.

But making memories is what Riverdale did best, and that’s why it’s only fitting that the show bows out with a poignant series finale that reminds us all how important memories – and the art of making them – are.

We know the kind of reputation Riverdale has. For better or worse, it isn’t afraid of taking big swings. Its series finale could have been anything. I shudder at some of those possibilities. The show instead opted for something a little more personal to its characters, and the result is nothing short of exquisite.

*** This article contains SPOILERS from the series finale of Riverdale. *** 

Riverdale goes back to the future one more time

The premise of the Riverdale series finale is simple (or, well, simple for Riverdale): Back in the present day, Betty Cooper is now an old lady eager to return to Riverdale one more time to relive her teenage years. She’s then greeted by old flame Jughead Jones, eternally youthful after his recent death, who offers her the chance to live one more day as if she were young again.

Before we get into it, I’d just like to take a moment to say that it felt right that it was Jughead who took Betty on this journey (and not just because he’s the show’s narrator). Irrespective of whether you were a “Bughead” shipper, their partnership has been one of the focal points of Riverdale over the years, as the pair often found themselves in the most unlikely of adventures, so it was fitting that he was the one to guide her through her final adventure.

Once Betty gets into the past, she reconnects with her friends, family, and loved ones. This was when the tears started flowing for me, and they never really stopped after that. It was so poignant seeing characters like Alice, Polly, Fangs, Kevin, Cheryl, Toni, and of course, Archie, Jughead, and Veronica through Betty’s eyes, because it was the last time that she was going to see them, and that resonated because it was the last time we were going to see them too.

For being a standalone finale, “Goodbye, Riverdale” does an amazing job of making you feel things right out of the gate. There’s an air of finality to it early on, and that remains with it throughout. And Lili Reinhart is a force through all of it, making you feel a teary smile coming on or a pang of heartbreak with a single expression. This is some of her finest work – perhaps her finest from the whole series – and that’s just one of the many reasons why it was right to place the focus on Betty.

Reinhart is at her strongest when Betty is either informed about or remembers the futures of each of her beloved friends. It’s not all happy endings for the Riverdale High class who grew up with us, and that imbues the finale with a bittersweet sense of realism. Life doesn’t always work out the way you hoped for everyone, but it doesn’t taint the memories you made with them either. And that’s what “Goodbye Riverdale”s primary focus is on: The memories.

These are the moments we live for

For a show that lost itself in murder mysteries, organ-harvesting cults and Gargoyle Kings over the years, Riverdale had a surprising amount of heart. And all of that is on display in the finale. Heck, even Archie Andrews pokes fun at that with a poem that references the ups and downs of the gang’s two teenage lifetimes. There’s even a joke in there about the epic highs and lows of high school football, too!

The final season has drawn some criticism from fans for taking its characters away from the timeline they spent most of the show in, but on the contrary, this brought Riverdale back to life. It allowed the writers to prioritize the development of the characters over whatever outlandish plot the show normally tackled, showcasing the beauty of the relationships they cultivated and giving us so many perspectives on the teenage experience (and what it should be as opposed to what society dictates). The characters felt like characters again, and not puppets at the mercy of the plot. In many ways, it made the final season feel like the first again: Fresh, youthful and full of life.

The finale proves that was all intentional. Betty longs to go back to a time when she was young, carefree, and happier; just as many of the fans that had grown up with Riverdale longed for the show to return to its high school roots.

Season 7 was a love letter to those roots, reminding us why we all fell in love with the show in the first place, allowing us all to look back on it in a way that so many of us look back on our own high school memories: As simpler times. Of course, for Riverdale “simpler” still means time travel, angels, and a completely new timeline, but it works because it’s Riverdale.

As I think on the Riverdale series finale, I am reminded of a quotation from a different CW show, the equally-bonkers-yet-heartfelt Legends of Tomorrow, that goes like this: “Life is beautiful and terrible all at the same time. But if we’re only living part of it, then we’re not living at all”. And that’s very much the message here.

Life isn’t perfect. It’s messy, bittersweet, glorious, heartbreaking and joyous all at the same time. It doesn’t always work out like you hoped, but that’s the point of living. We don’t always have the answers, and we always have regrets, but, as Jughead tells Betty, that’s life. Life is to be lived. And Betty lived. Jughead lived. Archie lived. Veronica lived. Even Fangs, whose life was tragically cut short, lived.

The final sequence of the series finale, which sees Betty, now eternally youthful after passing away, returning to Pops to see all of her friends as they were – young and beautiful and happy – is perhaps the most beautiful scene in Riverdale history. Like the show’s run itself, their lives were perfectly imperfect, and now they are together again in the Sweet Hereafter to solve their problems with a milkshake at Pop’s. Because no matter what happened, they will always have Riverdale. And so will we.

Riverdale Ramblings

• This might be my favorite episode of Riverdale, ever. Ever. It’s such a perfect celebration of the show and a beautiful farewell.
• I know I said it already but Lili Reinhart was phenomenal in this episode. What a performer she is. The moment Betty teared up as she remembered Fangs’ fate when talking to him? When she saw Alice and Polly again? When she reflected on her long life and legacy? Stunning.
• I love the fact that the writers managed to sidestep the whole “endgame” shipping wars by ensuring that Bughead, Barchie, and Beronica were all endgame in high school. The Quad relationship was unexpected, but hilariously welcome. And it made Betty’s eventual reunion with her three soulmates that much more emotional.
• I was already long gone by the time that the soft rendition of the Riverdale theme began playing over the closing moments of the show, but wow did the emotions hit me all over again when I heard it. And playing over our core four with their milkshakes at Pop’s, too. Perfection.
• Having Angel Jughead do the closing monologue was a nice touch, as if it’s always been him narrating the Riverdale story from the very beginning. It was only fitting that he close us out one more time.

Verdict: Riverdale trades in its wild ambitions for a quieter, heartfelt finale that rightly places the focus on its characters and their beautiful friendships. The result is an understated, poignant love letter to its seven-year legacy that ensures you will miss the characters dearly after the credits roll. And that’s an incredible feat for a show that has been on the air for seven years.

Thank you, Riverdale. We’ll never forget the ride you took us on (and all of its epic highs and lows).

Grade: A+

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