Riverdale – Chapter One Hundred Thirty-Seven: Goodbye, Riverdale

Sixty-seven years after graduation an elderly Betty Cooper (Michele Scarabelli) is in bed in her granddaughter Alice’s (Cecilia Deacon) house. Betty has just read the obituary for Jughead (Cole Sprouse), leaving Betty as the only remaining member of her friend group. But as Betty’s health is also on the decline, she tells Alice that she would like to visit Riverdale one last time before her memories fade. Alice agrees that they can go tomorrow. 

That night Betty is visited by Angel Jughead…who grants her the chance to go back to a day of her choosing. Holding her yearbook, Betty decides to go back to the day they received their yearbooks…a day that Betty missed due to having the mumps. With Jughead’s instructions to walk through her bedroom door, Betty is transformed to her younger self (Lili Reinhart) with memories of her whole life and back in her childhood bedroom.  

Across the way Betty looks into Archie’s (KJ Apa) bedroom. Archie has finally chosen his path: joining a road crew to build the interstate highway. Mary (Molly Ringwald) tells Archie how Fred always wanted to travel to California. While Mary is usure that Archie will head west and never return, Archie assures her that he will. Mary gives her blessing. Angel Jughead then tells Betty that Mary will meet Brooke (Luvia Petersen) when she comes into the dress shop and they will remain together until Mary’s death. 

Heading downstairs, Betty finds her mother Alice (Madchen Amick) in a stewardess uniform and a heavily pregnant Polly (Tiera Skovbye) at the kitchen table. Alice is surprised to see Betty out of bed, but Betty is just so happy to see them both alive once more. When Betty heads back upstairs to get ready for school, Angel Jughead tells her that Alice became a stewardess for a brief time when a chance encounter introduced her to her second husband Jeremy (Synto D. Misati). Jeremy showed Alice the world up until her death. Polly ended up having twins, Juniper and Dagwood, never returning to the stage. 

When Betty arrives at Riverdale, Veronica (Camila Mendes) is surprised to see her. Betty also remembers thanks to the morning announcements that Toni (Vanessa Morgan) became Senior Class President. Big changes certainly came to Riverdale. 

After picking up her yearbook from Cheryl (Madelaine Petsch), Betty sets out to get all the signatures that she missed…starting with Fangs (Drew Ray Tanner) and Midge (Abby Ross). Fangs had some success in his music career and this helped him in getting Midge’s parents to give their blessing to their relationship. Unfortunately for Fangs, he died in a bus crash while on tour…the first of the group to die. Midge and their daughter were able to live off the success of Fangs’s music.  

By lunchtime Kevin (Casey Cott) invites Betty to join him and Clay (Karl Walcott). As she catches up with her friends, Angel Jughead shares that Kevin and Clay ended up moving to New York City together for college. Clay attended Columbia and became a professor there while Kevin attended NYU and started his own Off-Broadway production company. They lived in an apartment in Harlem up until their respective deaths. But Betty ends up learning so much more while talking to Kevin and Clay, especially when they mention her relationship with Archie, Jughead and Veronica. 

When it’s time for Reggie (Charles Melton) to sign the yearbook he asks Betty why they were never an item. Betty lets Reggie in on the secret of her senior year and dating her friends…and getting busy with all of them. While Reggie questions why he wasn’t a part of that, it’s clear that bigger plans were in play for Mantle. Reggie ended up going professional when drafted by the Lakers. He eventually wound up back in Riverdale as the basketball coach. When Reggie dies, he is buried in Duck Creek with his family and his sons running Mantle Motors.  

After school Veronica invites Betty to the Pembrook to share some big news: she is moving back to Los Angeles to pursue her dreams of becoming a movie producer. Betty is happy that Veronica is pursuing her dreams, especially after all the hard work she put into the Bablyonium. Angel Jughead later tells Betty that Veronica started working at Silver Shield Studios and was running the place within a few years. Her movies were critically acclaimed and she won two Oscars. When Veronica died, she was buried in Hollywood Forever Cemetery. 

At the Dark Room that night the group gathers for Cheryl and Toni’s exhibition before heading to the afterparty at Thornhill. Angel Jughead explains that Cheryl and Toni had a happy, collaborative life together and had a son they named Dale (River Dante) in honor of the town. Yet while they were happy, not everyone had a fruitful life. Julian (Nicholas Barasch) ended up being killed in Vietnam at 28 years old while Tom Keller (Martin Cummins) and Frank Andrews (Ryan Robbins) were murdered by a hitchhiker they picked up named Chic. 

Before the party Veronica shares her big news with Archie and Jughead. As this means the disbanding of their tryst, Betty reminds them to celebrate life. Archie proposes one more ride in the hot rod to Cheryl’s party. However, Angel Jughead arrives to Thornhill and finds a conflicted Betty. With all her friends inside she is not ready to say goodbye. Angel Jughead reminds her that this is life and it must come to an end. With those words, Betty heads into the party.  

Their memories intact, Archie reads one last poem he wrote for his friends and their adventures. Later Archie finds Betty and believes that it would always be them together. But Betty knows better, telling Archie that he will settle down in Modesto, California, get married and have two kids. When he dies, he will be buried in Riverdale next to his father. They share one last kiss before Betty leaves. 

Outside of Thornhill, Betty tells Angel Jughead that she wants to make one final stop. Picking up flowers, she heads to the cemetery to visit Pop Tate’s (Alvin Sanders) grave. In the cemetery, Betty and Angel Jughead talk about their own lives. Jughead founded Jughead’s Madhouse Magazine as Betty wrote books and started She Says Magazine…eventually adopting a girl named Clara. While Betty has no regrets about not getting married, Jughead does sometimes and grabs Betty’s hand. Betty then shares that she wishes she could stay in Riverdale forever…but now it is time to return to the present.  

In present day Betty, granddaughter Alice and her husband Robert (Dejan Loyola) head into Riverdale. Betty says her goodbyes before they pull up in front of an empty Pop’s Diner. Alice turns around to wake her grandmother and believes she is asleep, but Robert realizes that Betty has died. While Betty has passed in her current life, her youthful soul exits the car and through the door to a lit-up Pop’s…Jason Blossom (Trevor Stines) holding open the door. Inside Betty greets all her friends before sitting down in a booth with Veronica, Archie and Jughead. The Core Four has been reunited. 

Outside of Pop’s Diner narrator Jughead stands. He ends the story with everyone young and happy in their favorite place. As the Core Four toast with milkshakes, Jughead turns and walks away.