RIVERDALE (S3E22) “Chapter Fifty-Seven: Survive the Night”: A Gripping Finale Sets Up An Intriguing Return

Phew. After that finale, I think we may all need a moment to catch our breath. After a season of multiple storylines and character introductions, murder and mystery, the entire year has funneled into one epic conclusion. Loose ends were tied, revelations made and a brilliant set up executed to have fans rushing back for season 4.

Warning, there may be spoilers ahead!

Not Everything is as it seems…

The Farm, as we learned last week, is a not only a cult, but one designed with the purpose of harvesting organs. While Toni (Vanessa Morgan) was able to escape, Cheryl (Madelaine Petsch) was caught and confined to her room, while Betty was “gifted” with the chance to experience her own procedure, tonight opening with the surgical marks  along the incision sight for her brain surgery. Thankfully, Auntie Blossom (Nathalie Boltt) had more nefarious plans in the works, and was able to buy Betty (Lili Reinhart) out of the clutches of  The Farm, providing what seemed like a last minute chance at salvation. But we will get back to that in a moment.

With the threads of secrecy that surround The Farm loosening, Edgar (Chad Michael Murray) decides it is time for The Farm to ascend – that their time in Riverdale had finally met its end. He begins to prepare the entire farm for ascension, clearing out any evidence that could be used in the future against them. Yet, as he quickly tried to close the door on Riverdale, not everyone is willing to go along. Cheryl, so quickly persuaded to Betty’s side last week with the first true evidence produced, begins to uncover more evidence, anything that she can to convince Kevin (Casey Cott) and Fangs (Drew Ray Tanner) they have been brainwashed be a cult for the purpose of stealing their organs. What Cheryl did not expect to find was the gruesome means The Farm used to brainwash her.

With ascension approaching, a surprise play from Alice (Mädchen Amick) not only frees Cheryl but baby Juniper as well. While Alice does not leave with Cheryl, as she feels she needs to stay to protect Polly, there is a sense of something else lurking, of more unknown information that the writers have yet to inform viewers. What is it that is swaying Alice away from The Farm? And what does “ascension” mean here? The same as cults before and the gargoyle king, or something more? By episode’s end, some of these answers are revealed, while new ones crop up in their place. One thing is for certain, The Farm may have left (?) Riverdale, but they may not be gone for good.

The Midnight Children

The game of Gryphons and Gargoyles has brought us to this point, to this moment – to the final quest. Each gifted with a box containing a letter and formal attire, Jughead (Cole Sprouse), Veronica (Camila Mendes) and Archie (K J Apa) are invited to the Blossom Hunting Lodge – no cell phones, no police. Betty, who awakens to find herself out of the hands of The Farm, finds a similar invitation. For the first time since the premiere, the quartet are back together, united in one cause – survival. As it turns out, Penelope Blossom has been behind the entire Gargoyle King murders thought town – as well as releasing the Black Hood into the wild. A plan that has been in development since season 2, the purging of Riverdale, has come down to the children off the original Midnight Club members. It is their time to pay for the lack of empathy their parents displayed following Jason’s death in season 1. For the final quest, they must survive the forest, they must survive the night.

As they run, unable to deny the game any further, Archie is the first to find his challenge. The Red Paladin must fight again. This time it is not Hiram (Mark Consueloes), nor a bear, but rather one of the largest and fiercest opponents he has ever faced. The Enchantress, Veronica, is the next to be challenge, a game of Russian roulette with poisoned chalices puts both her life and Betty’s on the line – the challenger forcing her and Betty to spin the bottle (a nice call back to season 1!) until all the cups have been consumed. While they were under the impression there was only one filled with poison, instead they discover all of them were. They must continue if they want to find the antidote in time.

The HellCaster, Jughead, is next. Though he finds it is not a battle of wits but rather a battle to the death. As his opponent (who I will not name as I do not want to spoil to much about the episode) appears, a battle ax between them, like Archie, his battle is about brute strength. Like each of the challenges before, his is a narrow escape. Then there is Betty – and the Black Hood. Faced with the choice of the daughter her father sees and the daughter she is, Betty is given a gun containing one bullet. As the he appears, the challenge is simple, kill the Black Hood and get the antidote – don’t, and everyone dies. It was a shocking showdown that will surprise you with the emotions and shock you will feel. A moment of closure and sadness, one that will draw emotions you didn’t realize you had for some of these characters – as well as an understanding of the true nature of others.

Looking Ahead: Season 4

I have said it before, and I will say it again, this has been a bumpy ride this season, but the end result made it all worth it. As the final act concluded, Riverdale does what it does best, saving the biggest reveals for the final seconds. Even with Hiram in jail (his own, by the way), his manipulative hold on Riverdale is far from over as he has Marisol arrested for his attempted murder. A surprise familial tie is revealed with the revelation that not everyone had been as brainwashed as we might have thought. And while the town seems to be on the road to recovery, danger and evil are still lurking around every corner.

There has been a subtle I Know What You Did This Summer vibe since the end of “The Prom”. From the moment he appeared to Betty, chasing her through the halls of the school, and later Jughead and Ethel in the bus, the Black Hood’s hook for a hand and hood, replacing the fisherman’s jacket, continued to allow cultural reference to linger. I mean he is literally “some escaped lunatic with a hook for a hand”. In the final moments of the finale, the writers of Riverdale drove the cultural reference hard, mirroring Ryan Phillippe‘s speech. We make it to the end of Senior year, then we will go our separate ways, we will never speak of this again, we take this to our grave.

As the quartet vow, mirroring the beginning of the season, to make their Senior year literally the best, putting behind them serial killers, cults and gargoyles, all seems bright (literally lighting wise), cheerful and full of hope. Snapping viewers to Spring Break of the upcoming Senior year, Veronica, Archie and Veronica stand around a fire in the woods covered in blood, willing themselves to throw Jughead’s bloody beany into the fire. Following the I Know What You Did Last Summer speech and a plan to get away with whatever they have done, viewers are given little time to process as once again we are brought back to Pop’s Diner with the light music and the vibrant atmosphere.

With a clever set up for next year, and many questions lingering from season 3, Riverdale’s return in the fall will continue to be one of the most anticipated returns on TV.

Riverdale returns for season 4 in the Fall.