#jughead outside the diner

[webtoontrack23]

Kim Dokja and Jughead Jones are not two characters who I expected to have similar endings at all,,, and yet

[rivercule]

JUGHEAD felt weirdly absent from the finale except for the conversation at the cemetery. Like I never got the sense that either Angel Jughead or Flashback Jughead were really Jughead (excluding maybe then). And they weren’t the same guy, since Angel J continued narration outside Pops while Flashback Jughead who had done nothing all episode sat in the diner.

I know there are multiple Jugs, (three, maybe more) so perhaps it was just Narrator Jughead and Original Flavor Jughead. But it still doesn’t scan for me, really.

Why would Angel/Narrator/God?/Archangel Raphael Jughead be able to look back on 1950’s Jughead’s Days of Futures Past with heartfelt emotion? Unless, of course, he was that Jughead. He was all the Jugheads, a singularity of Jugheads. A Jugularity.

I think in merging the timelines, Tabitha also blended the Jugs. Because of this, Jughead transceded the narrative, and, much like Tabith, became trapped in the cosmic edges surrounding the story. Neither of them can continue to participate in the construct they forever changed themselves to build.

Which leaves the question of who the Jughead at Pops was. If jughead is denied entrance into heaven, what serpent would wear his face in the garden? Riverdale is incomplete without Jughead. His friends and loved ones are incomplete without Jughead. So, Angel Tabitha and Godhead needed to create a new Jughead, outside the Jugularity. A false Jughead, perhaps. An illusion, a mirage. Their heaven, their very polycule, is incomplete, imperfect, and will forever remain so because it lacks Jughead. It lacks Tabitha. And most importantly? It lacks Baby Anthony.

[turnallthemirrors]

Okay yall im thinking about the end of episode 2 in the context of the finale. ive always loved this bit of narration from jughead

"To someone on the outside peering in, it would've looked like there were four people in that booth. But I was there, and I can tell you, really, there were only three. A blonde girl, a raven-haired girl, and the luckiest red-headed boy in the universe. For one shining moment, we were just kids, those bright neon light of Pop's keeping the darkness at bay, giving way, as all nights must, to a morning of reckoning"

because jughead is both within the narrative and outside of it, he loves his friends but there is a disconnect between them because he is both character and narrator. he can't live in the moment because he is the one writing the moment, leading to him erasing himself from the scene.

and in the final scene of the series, the gang goes to heaven, once again together drinking milkshakes at Pop's, and jughead is in the booth with the others, but he's also outside the diner, telling the story, again reminding us that the neon lights of the diner provide comfort and ward off the dark. he wishes us goodnight but reminds us again that the night will relent into a new story because riverdale will always be your home.

[yourjughead]

Boyfriend Part 2

Sweet Pea X Reader

-----------------------------------------

Sweet Pea pov

I made the short walk, well in my rage, the short run to Jugheads trailer. Lights out no body's home. Hm. Where would the usual spot for him and yn be, the thought making me feel sick. Whyte Wyrm? Nah Jughead was rarely there. If I was a horrible human being where would I go hmmmmm. Ah that diner on the Northside!

3rd Person 

You crossed the threshold of the Whyte Wyrm as quickly as you could, still processing what just happened to you. Arriving at the bar top, Toni sailed over to you smiling. 

"Hey YN, How'd the rekindling of the romance go?"

"It didn't, pass me one of the spare burners would ya". Toni reached into a large ceramic jar on one of the top shelves of the bar, retrieved a phone with a sim taped to back and tossed it to you. You gave a small smile in thanks and began to set it up. 

"Am I allowed to ask what happened or...."

"Ugh Toni what a mess, he thinks I'm dating Jughead" 

"Well aren't you?" 

"Yeah aren't you?" The sound of your father's voice joinging the conversation startled the two of you. Toni took a rag from the bar top and quickly exited the conversation to grab your father a replacement drink.

"Yeah Dad, of course" you tried to give a smile, barely convincing him. 

"Right well the two of you together is the Serpent dream. Me and FP are delighted, you settled with one person who's right for you and Jones kept away from that busybody blonde girl" your father gave you a wink before taking his drink from Toni.

"Speaking of which, I gotta go meet him" you nodded to the both as your new phone lit up to life. 

~ Simultaneously across town Sweet Pea POV

I raced across the old bridge on my motorbike, not fully knowing where I was going but closely following the trail of picket fences. What a sad existence this truly is. I finally came across the neon sign of Pop's Dinner through the torrential rain. 

From outside I could see Jughead and the outline of the back of her, seeminly wearing a hat. He looked so happy. Fuck him. I could see the two shake with laughter. I really messed up. I mean sure it hurts but we were never really exclusive and besides we could never be public like this. She deserves someone she can publicly love. I should just disappear. 

I went to push off again but then stopped as watch Jones lean across the table to kiss her. This is really the end. Her hat fell to the floor as he moved from her. Then it caught my eye. A long slicked back almost glowing blonde ponytail. That's not YN. I couldn't help but smile so wide. Thank God it's not YN! Wait.....thats not YN. Holy shit that's not YN! He's cheating on YN! 

3rd person 

Sweet Pea leapt from the bike so fast it nearly came crashing to the soaked gravel. Launching himself through the doors of the almost deserted diner has the few eyes that were there lock onto him. Including Jugheads. 

Jughead leapt from his chair, immediately putting his hands up in truce but it was too late. Sweet Pea had moved quickly across the diner to catch Jughead by the collar and push him into the back wall, all while leaving the blonde screaming. 

"What the fuck is wrong with you Jones?! You're gonna chest on YN?! I swear I'm gonna kill you?!" Sweet Pea barked as Jughead was losing colour in his face, the blonde girl trying as she best she could to seperate the two, failing greatly.

"You-dont-under-stand" Jughead choked out. Pop's ran for the phone to call the police as Sweet Pea glared deep within Jugheads eyes, overcome with grief and anger. 

From outside you could see what was happening, bolting in off your own bike and straight down to the bottom of the diner. 

"Sweet Pea stop!" You screamed, managing to wiggle between the two. Sweet Peas grip completly released from Jughead, sending him to the ground, Betty quickly tending to him.

"YN he's cheating on you with her!" 

"YN I thought you were gonna tell him?" Betty looked up at you both with pleading eyes. 

"Tell me what?" Confusion painted Sweet Peas face. "Tell me what?!" He tried again, banging his hand off the wall he just had Jughead against. 

"Me and Jughead -" you were cut off by the sound of sirens filling the car park. Both you and Sweet Pea gave panicked glances to one another, neither could afford another trip to the station.

You grabbed Sweet Peas hand, pulling him through to the girls bathroom. You went to grab anything to break through the window but turned to the crash of the glass from Sweet Peas fist. He groaned as his hand began to instantly swell with blood. You couldn't help but roll your eyes before carefully passing through the window, Sweet Pea trying his best to follow you without adding to the collection of cuts. 

You ran through the drenched woods behind the diner, down the banks and beneath the trees before arriving at the bridge between the two worlds. 

"They have the bikes, they'll go straight to the trailer park" Sweet Pea breathed out from beneath the shelter of the bridge. 

"I don't have plates on mine" you glanced out checking if anyone followed. 

"- and when they search yours it'll register to Greendale" Sweet Pea couldn't help but laugh at that, the Serpents think of it all. 

"Show me your hand" you took his bleeding extremity from his side to examine it under the above street lights. Little shards of glass shone out as you gently removed the larger pieces.

"That's all I can do without the kit, we'll sort it when we're home" he nodded at you thankfully before sliding down the wall of the bridge to the dirt, you following suit. 

"I hope FP doesn't find out about this, he's not gonna take it well that you went for his son"

"I don't care, he had it coming"

"Sweet Pea -" 

"He can't take you from me and then cheat on you YN" he cut across you, staring at the stream of water parallel to your feet. 

"Sweets I tried to tell you tonight, I tried to tell you before battle Royale broke out" 

"I'm sorry I flew off the handle....tell me what? You knew he was cheating on you?"

"We'd have to be actually dating for him to cheat on me" you looked worriedly over at the increasingly confused face of your partner in crime. 

"Jughead and I are just faking, he wants to keep dating the Betty girl and I want to keep being with you, it's just to keep our parents off of our backs" 

"No that's not true" Sweet Pea stood and began pacing. 

"I told you he has a gift for making up stories, this is one of them. Our dads were getting more and more on us about why we weren't together, this way it would stop them from asking questions. I wanted to tell you sooner but Jughead said we needed you to believe it first, to help Dad believe it" you stood to look at him.

"No no no no this isn't happening because that would mean I over reacted for nothing" 

"Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but you over reacted, I'm sorry I lied" he stopped pacing at these words. The rain continued to almost bubble off of the rocks surrounding you both. 

"I'm sorry I got so angry and that I smashed your phone" 

"I'm sorry you ended up pinning Jughead to a wall" 

"Yeah I'm not sorry about that" you hit him playfullly into the chest at his jesting. Silence wrapped around the bridge again, the rain slowly easing. You put out your arms in truce and Sweet Pea happy wrapped his around your waist, holding you into his chest. 

"Sweets, Jughead and I have to keep pretending for awhile, just until it's believable that our break up would have no turning back" 

"Do you have to call him boyfriend though?" you gave a small smile at Sweet Peas evident insecurity. 

"Yeah but it's only pretend, you're the one I want to be with. Let's start walking home, I'm sure those cops are half way to Greendale by now" Sweet Pea gave a small nodd to your voice before taking your hand and pulling you up the bank and to the bridge. You dropped it then. 

"I can't risk being seen with you like that, I'm sorry" 

"It's okay YN, you can make it up to me at home" He winked and you were happy to see the playfulness return to him .

"By the way you owe me a new phone" 

"Have your boyfriend pay for one"

[garbagequeer]

im such a jughead because if you told me i could go to a heaven like diner where i cant ever leave or grow as a person but all my friends are there and we're just talking shit for eternity i would be like yippee im on the outside looking in but there's no escape for anyone -> 😁

[keepwonderingwoman]

Now that jughead took the characters to the bunker to watch themselves I'm thinking about your post again about how the bunker is the only place that exists outside of the story

I JUST WATCHED THE NEW EPISODE. and like first i have to say i am aware the pre-mourning a silly little tv show on the cw about a red headed boy and his quirky friends sounds insane but that is what i was doing for the most part. so when the bunker scenes started happening i almost didn’t register it so caught up was i in the sadness of it all…

that being said…the meta-bunker allegations live on! something else that struck in between making that post and watching this episode is also how there’s an episode named “as above, so below” and that pop’s in riverdale exists as a safe haven (blocked the ghost train, survived the fog, jughead STARTED writing the story of riverdale there?) AND there’s a “great pop’s chocklit shoppe in the sky” i.e heaven for riverdale characters where jughead goes OUT of the story, again? why is it that whenever someone hides out in the bunker it’s always pop’s takeout that they’re surviving off of?

as above, so below, right? no other place in riverdale stays this consistent. archie’s house gets blown up, jughead is homeless, betty’s room changes configurations (and even structure) between s6 and s7, the babylonium goes from a large-scale casino to a small-ish movie theatre. hell, thornhill was burnt down in the first season and cheryl spent all of s5 keeping it in a state of flux. but the bunker and pop’s survive every season and every time skip, and they seem to serve their original purpose every time.

the bunker and pop’s are thematic opposites; the bunker is where people (and other things) go to die -> jughead “died” there, archie was hidden away to recover there, and the lives of everyone in riverdale “died” with the truth there. like it’s a living coffin it just keeps eating and paradox jughead is in there, outside the story, writing as fast as he can. pop’s, on the other hand, is where things survive -> like i said, tabitha seeing the diner be the only thing that survives the apocalypse, archie celebrating coming “back to life” after being on the run in s3 (root beer float!) the core four promising to meet at pop’s every year (trying make their friendship survive!) AND the gang beating percival there! even with everything bad that happens there - that time fred got shot, or kevin had the Divorce Dinner with his parents - people endure at pop’s. the comic books being sold out of there, the speakeasy being run under it, the white wyrm moving there after hiram’s takeover in s5.

that archie (and then the others) was in the bunker with pop’s burgers to watch his entire life flash before his eyes means something and i don’t know what exactly but it does. perhaps it is that now, like jughead, all of them became aware the narrative they were living - by being outside of the story, and by being aware of the story, they had a chance to be narrators too - they could choose to remember everything and change their lives forever, or they could choose to forget. i think it’s also important that the supercut by tabitha was viewed in the babylonium and not the bunker, because it means that them finding out about their greatest hits is part of the story, instead of a choice they had to make. maybe paradox jughead took mercy on the fictional versions of his friends and gave them the easy way out. the real truth of it lies in the bunker, but it’s now “buried” like jughead was/is/always will be.

[jupitermelichios]

What the fuck is Riverdale actually about anyway?

that's not an easy question to answer, but I've been asked it a lot, so I'm going to do my best.

disclaimer: while the plot summaries are accurate, my interpretation of the themes is just my interpretation. other fans might disagree, and that's valid. unless it's about season 6. if you disagree with me about season 6, you're wrong. archie literally sings bread and roses. union busting is compared to mass murder. that one's not up for debate.

Season 1

[ID: a promo image for riverdale season 1, showing the characters of betty, veronica, and archie in the diner, while cheryl, josie, and jughead pose dramatically outside the window. The words 'riverdale series premier tonight' are superimposed over the picture]

The Plot: the murder of a highschool student leads his classmates to discover that the adults in their small town are all hiding dark secrets. also there's a love triangle.

What it's actually about: mostly just that, tbh. there's not a lot of subtext in season 1. This is the season where they let showrunner Roberto Aguierra-Sacassa (he of glee and pretty little liars infamy) write stuff, before the writers all barricaded themselves in the writing room and started writing plots which are just about how much they hate him and his ideas

Season 2

[ID: a screencap, showing archie posing with the vigilante gang he starts. the gang is made up of shirtless men wearing red balaclavas. archie is wearing a blue shirt and his face is uncovered, because when you're bating a serial killer it's important to let them know what you look like]

The Plot: A serial killer, the black hood, begins terrorising the town. Jughead accepts his birthright and joins a biker gang. Meanwhile Veronica's gangster father begins trying to take over the town so he can commit crimes with impunity

What it's actually about: this season is mostly a series of increasingly self-aware riffs on different horror and thriller subgenres. It's the transition between the uninspired first season and the genre-parodies that make up the rest of the show, so it's not as tight as other seasons. It does feature an episode which is almost entirely just the writer being real pissed off about aguira-sacassa framing a teacher-student relationship as romantic and consensual in season 1, in which the teacher in question is shown to be a serial abuser and then immediately brutally murdered because of it, and ngl, that was pretty based.

Season 3

[ID: a screencap, showing the main actors playing their character's parents in a flashback to the first gargoyle king murder. the characters are dressed as fantasy stereotypes; a paladin, rogue, warrior-king, nobleman, and wizard. they are pointing their weapons at someone off screen]

The Plot: A new serial killer, the gargoyle king, begins terrorising the town and seems to be connected to a ttrpg which mind controls its players. Meanwhile a cult which claims to allow its members to contact the dead has started recruiting at the school. Also Archie is sent to prison for a murder he didn't commit and forced to participate in an underground fightclub but that only lasts like 5 episodes.

What it's actually about: wouldn't it be ridiculous if the shit people believed during the satanic panic was true? wouldn't that be insane? wouldn't it be unbelievable. wouldn't be insane if, say, a huge portion of trump voters still believed in the satanic panic? tell me you believe in the satanic panic, i dare you, i fucking dare you-

Season 4

[ID: a screencap showing the entire cast dressed as Hedwig from Hedwig and the Angry Inch, with blond wigs, blue eye make-up, denim miniskirts, and high-healed boots]

The Plot: Jughead gets involved in a murderous battle to become the new ghost-writer for a hardy boys parody that ends with him faking his own death. Archie starts a boxing club for underpriviledged youth but Veronica's dad keeps trying to shut it down because he thinks Archie might be going to uncover his illegal paladium smuggling ring. Veronica becomes a bootlegger and opens a speakeasy because she wants her dad to respect her and thinks the only way to get that is by being the fucking worst before she realises that actually he sucks and she shouldn't care what he thinks.

What it's actually about: rich people are the fucking worst and we should probably just kill all of them. Listen. Listen, they're evil. It's very important to all the writers that you know this. They're all evil.

Season 5

[ID: a screencap showing what is referred to in the show as mothman, a boney humanoid with no hair, ridges over its eyes, and boney stubs that may be the tops of wings growing out of its back]

The Plot: following a 7 year timeskip, the gang return to Riverdale as adults and try to stop the town from being discorporated and demolished by Veronica's dad to make way for a new property developement. Betty hunts a serial killer who's been targetting sex workers in the area. Also Cheryl starts a Maple Syrup-themed cult and controls bees with her mind.

What it's actually about: Honestly, this season is mostly just about genre parodies. They're good genre parodies, don't get me wrong, but there's not a lot of coherent theming.

Season 6

[ID: a screencap, showing archie topless and tied to a saint andrew's cross, wearing a crown made of antlers. cheryl is standing in front of him wearing a red robe, elaborate headdress, and holding a knife, as she prepares to sacrifice him to ensure a good maple syrup harvest]

The Plot: after riverdale colides with a parallel universe, the gang find they have developed superpowers which are all related to their key character traits, which they must use to battle an evil wizard called percival pickens who is trying to destroy the world using a magical train. the genre parodies get weird this season, because a lot of them are comics riffs rather than movie or tv riffs. also there's an extended alan wake parody.

What it's actually about: Unionize. Unionize right the fuck now. Why are you not already in a union? Don't you know joining a union will literally improve your changes of getting into heaven? Look at Archie Andrews singing bread and roses and tell me you still think unions are bad you coporate bootlicking piece of shit!

Season 7 (so far)

[ID: a promotional image for season 7, showing betty, archie, and veronica wearing costumes based on the archie comics of the 1950s. They are sitting in the diner, and Berry and Veronica are each holding one of archie's hands]

The Plot: as a result of stopping the evil wizard in S6, the gang are sent back in time to the 1950s with no memory of their previous lives, where they are once again in highschool. Jughead has been told by an angel to make the town more just as this will help the angel bring them back to their own time, but someone is commiting murders and framing kids in the highschool for them. also there's an extended reference to alex hirsch's fight with disney S&P over gravity falls, which I did not see coming

What it's actually about (so far): oh, you think this show would be better if it was set in the 50s? You do know the 50s were the fucking worst, right? You do know the apple pie america the archie comics are set in never existed, right? you do know people who insist the 50s were a great decade are all racist homophobic sexist pieces of shit, right? right?!

[writer-ann-artist]

The Devil's Ángel

°•~☆~•°

°•~☆~•°

"Are you sure it's a good idea for me to come down?"

"Of course, mi ángel, besides, I haven't seen my niñito yet."

"Ok Hiram, I'll see you soon. Te quiero."

"Te quiero, mi ángel."

Yes, I am in a relationship with Hiram Lodge. Yes, Harmine knows about me, Veronica, too. The family has accepted me as Hiram's girlfriend, but now he has asked me to come live in Riverdale with him.

°•~☆~•°

"Oh mi ángel, I've missed you." Hiram hugs me and kisses my hair line.

"I've missed you too." His eyes rest on the baby carrier.

"Is he awake?"

"Last I checked, no, but you can still see him." Hiram opens the carrier softly and just stares in awe.

"He has your eyes, ángel." I hug his waist, and he hugs me back.

"I was thinking he looked alot like you."

"What did you decide his name would be?"

"Ronnie Hiram Lodge."

"Beautiful."

"Anna, what a surprise. Hiram didn't tell me you were visiting." Hiram moves to hold my hand in his.

"Actually, I had asked Anna to move here." The look he was giving Harmine clearly said it was no debatable.

"Oh well, I'm sure Veronica will be enjoying your company."

"Speaking of, do you mind picking her up after school?"

"I don't want to intrude Hiram."

"Nonsense ángel, besides me and Harmine have a previous engagement."

"Okay Hiram."

°•~☆~•°

I waited outside Veronica's school deciding to surprise her instead. When I see her I wave and she waves back. She walks over with her friends.

"Anna, what are you doing here?"

"I'm sorry I didn't call, I wanted to surprise you. I even have a surprise for you."

"Oh, is it expensive?" I laugh and open the rear car door.

"Yes, he is." Veronica gasps and awes.

"You can hold him V." She picks him up and cradles him. I turn to her friends and introduce myself.

"I'm Anna."

"Archie."

"Betty."

"Jughead."

"Pleasure to meet you all. Oh, and this is Ronnie."

"Oh Anna, you shouldn't have." We talk for abit and decide on going to a nice little diner.

"Oh, I love this."

"I knew you would." We sit at a booth with Archie, V, and me on one side. Jughead and Betty were on the other side with Ronnie in Betty's lap.

"He's so gorgeous."

"Thank you, Betty."

"Now, I'm curious. Who's the father?" I hesitate, not knowing what to say. V slaps Archie's arm, and Jughead and Betty pay closer attention to Ronnie.

"You don't have to answer that Anna."

"It's fine, though I'm sure you all know the answer already." I look around and see there faces. They definitely know. Betty speaks first.

"We don't want to come off as judgy, but V loves you so we do to right guys." She looks to the boys and they nod agreeing.

"That's very kind of you, I wouldn't want to ruin your group V."

"Anna you could never." We finish lunch and I take V home.

"I'm sorry again for Archie."

"V it's okay, I get it. The boy is pretty but he's not all there." We laugh as we enter the apartment.

"Miss Lodge, and Miss Heart it's good to see you."

"Andre, good to see you too."

"My girls, and boy." Hiram reaches us kissing V's head and picking up Ronnie.

"Your apartment is right beside ours."

"Oh Hiram, you didn't have to. I could settle for a little home in the suburbs."

"But I want you close to me ángel." I can see this comment makes V uncomfortable.

"Let's go put Ronnie to sleep. I had a great time with you V." I kiss V's cheek as we depart.

°•~☆~•°

In the apartment Hiram is rocking Ronnie to sleep as I prepare for bed.

"Ángel, are you okay?"

"I am, I just. That comment you made downstairs made Veronica uncomfortable. I mean, can you imagine how it feels when your dad is bringing his girlfriend home." He had set Ronnie in his crib and came behind me to hold me.

"It's ok, Mia will understand." I turn in his arms.

"She shouldn't have to Hiram. I'm the girlfriend, I should be the one keeping my distance." Hiram holds my hand in his hands and looks into my eyes.

"I don't want that anymore. I want you in my life, ángel. I want us to be a family."

"You have a family Hiram."

"Who says can't have both?"

"What are you doing to me Hiram?"

"It's alright, now let's get to bed. We know you need the rest."

[petalsmooth]

And it’s a two way street. 

Jughead loves her.

It’s difficult for him you understand. He didn’t quite understand Tabitha when he met her. When he asked her why she was so kind to him...he isn’t used to being loved like this.

Jughead’s experiences with love have not been healthy. His father probably comes the closest to the purest love he ever had but Skeet’s exit sort of de-evolved their evolution as father and son. As for a time, FP was willing to turn his entire life around to be there for his son. The son who stayed with him. The one who didn’t give up on him when lying in an alcoholic stupor. For a short while Jughead had ONE healthy loving relationship with a flawed man who loved him and (belatedly) put him first by finding gainful employment, drying out, and encouraging his son’s dreams.

Outside of that year...we’re given to understand his relationship with his father is strained again. 

RAS and co. can present this friend group as they please but we all know those “friends” turned their back on him and betrayed him. The woman he planned on sharing a life with betrayed him. His mother betrayed him. His sister? She wanted him in her life but her means of keeping him there was toxic to herself and her family. Outside of Pops, everyone in his life who claims to care about him lies to him. Uses him. Hurts him. Disparages him. Or abandons him. And in Pops case...look. He cares about Jughead and always has but he was NOT family. He owned a diner but the relationship only went so far. Now that he’s dating Tabitha I’m sure it’s evolved but...

Tabitha is different. Not only in his personal experience but just observation to those around him. His relationships aren’t the only ones that have been toxic. Maybe the only non toxic one he ever saw was Fred and Mary and they still broke up because wanted different things. Tabitha’s a completely foreign element to his life and is it any wonder narrator Jughead has anointed her a literal Angel? Compared to his experience with anyone else? She is.

Jughead has a lifetime of trauma and repression. He has learned to guard himself, to put walls up. He is careful with heart because he doesn’t have the ability to hold back. When he loves, he loves unconditionally, unselfishly and if he gives that gift to the wrong person...they have the power to do irrevocable harm. We’ve seen the damage done by Betty and his mother. His father and sister. Archie.

I really don’t believe he ever thought he would love someone again. I definitely don’t think he thought someone would or could love him. If in passing he ever considered the possibility, it probably resembled the distorted negative influences he experienced before. He has nothing to compare Tabitha to and I could see it being frightening and a bit like almost too good to be true. 

Yet he does love Tabi. You can feel it and you can see it. Even without saying it, it’s there. She is the only person he completely and truly trusts. That means a great deal for someone like Jughead who has had his trust betrayed repeatedly. He TRUSTS her to do right by him and by others. To consider their feelings and well being and not just her own. She doesn’t do it for affirmation, or financial gain. She simply wishes to help. Tabi has a servant’s heart and it mirrors his own actually...just without the hard earned cynicism.

I actually think that’s one of the qualities he loves most about her. Her outlook on life. She sees the world for what it is but doesn’t let it break her or change her. She is determined to make life better. In some respects I think he’s awed by her. Perhaps even inspired? I very much think Narrator Jughead isn’t the only one to see her as the living embodiment of an Angel, you saw it in how he looked at her when Pop’s burned down and she admitted not having insurance. His world is brighter when she is in it. He’s happier when she is there, he feels safe with her and loved. He no longer feels alone.

I could go on and on about the two of them and didn’t even delve into the mutual attraction/passion that is there but that is what some in the fandom don’t understand. It’s there, it’s been shown. The breathlessness when kissing, the knowing looks cast at each other as they see their effect and feel a racing heart. The way how they feel has them acting like teenagers giggling, stealing a flower from a restaurant vase or sneaking out of a “date” with her parents. The need for even the most casual of a touch. It’s just their passion is expressed through more than a touch or kiss. It’s in their unshakeable devotion to each other. 

They care for each other. In every encouraging word, in every ear they lend to hear what each have to say. In a simple text asking her to hurry home from a business trip because he needs her and loves her. How he seeks her out when the voices are crashing thunderously in his head. How she collapses in his arms in grief because she learned he is fated to die and she cannot stop it. How she does a very un-Tabitha thing and takes a single selfish action to bring him back to her so she can have a few more days with him. THIS is passion and a pity if anyone is so conditioned to the ephemeral expression of love that they miss the kind of passion that sets a relationship apart from transitory to lasting.

[riverdale-retread]

Riverdale S6 Ep 22 (#117:  Night of the Comet)

Here we are at the Season 6 Finale which is fittingly also the apocalypse!

Jughead is at “ground zero of an extinction level event” looking irritated and nothing else. This is highly entertaining to me.  He died in a demon plague while his other dimension self looked on in interest (probably thinking- Ooh more material for the STORY!), was perfectly content in heaven and then got yakked out of it by Cheryl Blossom (whom he does not like).  So his casual, I Am So Tired That I am Bored By My Exhaustion approach to this latest disaster in his disaster-filled life just fits.

So everyone is assembled in Archie’s house.  Shout out to Cheryl and Heather for sitting with the exact same leg crossed pose. Tabitha looks very much like a Mater Dolorosa statuary.  

Toni and Fangs, still looking like Minnie and Micky Mouse, report that the Serpents have been testing the weird magic dome into which they are sealed (Simpsons Did It First).  Betty says a version of fandom commentary that has been making the rounds - that Riverdale  the town itself is a character, whose sole motivation is to hoard all these people and keep them trapped within itself.  Betty describes it as “a roach motel” because you can come in, but you can’t leave. 

Veronica asks Jughead about his portal powers, but even those are limited by Percival’s magic dome.  Archie asks Tabitha about her time travel, and Tabitha says the comet is their inevitable future no matter what. Kevin is confused about why someone else isn’t doing something, which is a very Kevin thing to ask, to which Heather patiently explains that Percival’s spell was very well wrought because he even took care of what the outside world thinks is happening with the comet.   Moose, who was called in to help Kevin with Kevin’s issues, is now also doomed to die but he is being a perfect saint and not spending his time screaming at Kevin about how he’s ruined his life.

Archie, being invulnerable, and Not Baby Anthony, being immortal, are the only two who are going to survive being hammered directly by a comet.  Toni mentions that she’s suggested to Archie that he take Not Baby Anthony into the Bunker when the comet hits. 

Archie is determined to not be beaten by Percival.  He’s so fascinating and kind of horrible.  Archie is so focused on WINNING that even the prospect of everyone he knows being obliterated doesn’t affect his emotions.  Heather and Cheryl offer to do consult other, more knowledgeable arcane powers to see what can be done, but Cheryl doesn’t believe this will work.  She’s the only one who has the honest reaction - scoffing - when Archie says he’s going to try to find a way to dig their way underground out of Riverdale. 

Alice and her two daughters are in their house having a lovely heart to heart. I’m sorry but I hate it.  Alice is making her daughters parent her.  Betty is being a total angel here.  She looks at her weepy useless mother who has been such an agent of pain and terror in her life with kindness and understanding.  Betty Cooper gives her mother the absolution and healing that woman does not deserve.  By the way, this has been bugging me - did Polly ever show herself to Juniper?? Does Juniper know her brother and mom AND DAD that she never met and her grandgrandma are all alive again? Where is Juniper?

At the Babylonium,  apparently all or most is forgiven between Reggie and Veronica.  She’s head honcho and he’s her henchman again. He says he saved the giant portrait of Hiram from the fire at Percival’s.  When confronted with it, Veronica’s very kind reaction is to smile about it, instead of chucking a shoe at him. She even thanks Reggie.  The show misses Hiram, I guess, and maybe the Hiram actor has more power than the Jason actor, so he’s saved the indignity of a doll bearing his likeness being hauled around on set.

Next morning at the Diner, Jughead and Tabitha are sharing a basket of fries. This is how you know Jabitha has to be endgame. Jughead to my knowledge has never, ever shared a plate of food. Taken things off of other people’s plates, yes.  SHARED?  No.  Jughead is chipper about being ‘taken out’ by a ‘magic asteroid.’  He was destined to die anyway so he is trying to find the good in having the end not be ‘banal.’  He also says that he’s accomplished almost everything on his bucket list, but before Tabitha can ask what that is, in comes trouble.

Alexandra Cabot wearing an outfit that takes body consciousness to a whole ‘nother level has a magically easy sounding (!) way for Tabitha to realize her long held dream of making Pop’s a franchise (that she alluded to when Veronica was in doldrums about her stalled life).  Jughead prevents Tabitha from both outright refusing and spilling the beans about how they literally only have like, 12 hours left until the comet hits.   Alexandra is going to be in town for another 10 hrs, which means she will die with them if nothing else changes.

Then we cut to Fangs giving a very unsanitary looking Serpent tattoo to the Not Baby Anthony at the Whyte Whyrm as Toni looks on. He hasn’t had to do the gauntlet, or the thing about shouting the rules at Tall Boy or getting bit by a defanged snake (WHY DID THEY MAKE JUGHEAD DO ANY OF THIS)  so Anthony sounds uncertain when he asks if he’s really a Serpent now.  His parents (who both look younger and less physically mature than he does) tell him he’s the hereditary Serpent King because of what they are.  Everyone in this creepy little family is teary eyed, the show is playing sad music over it but none of this is earned and I want the comet to kill these three off specifically, please.

Heather and Cheryl summon Abigail Blossom, currently trapped in a doll trapped in a cabinet.  The sheer number of candles that are lit can only be explained by the phoenix powers Cheryl has because I think even with two people working fast with a mechanical lighter, the first-lit candle would burnout by the time the final candle is lit.  In any case, Abigail has a solution to the comet that Cheryl (and the Riverdale writers?) finds “Basic, but also Genius.”  You’re a fire starter so just MELT it, because it’s ice.  As to whether she can undo the binding spell trapping them all in Riverdale, Abigail says that she needs something more than freedom from the doll. 

Cheryl goes to collect the “underworlders” trying to dig their way out of town using the mining tunnels and everyone is gathered now at Thornhill.   “I may have divined a pathway through our little conundrum.”  I love Cheryl’s syntax. 

I am horrified and intrigued by the gloves that are attached to Chery’s long sleeved turtleneck.  It looks so extra, which is very Cheryl. It also makes me wonder if she finally cut those nails, being a lesbian and all.   Cheryl says that she needs something special from Toni later, to which she gets a very reluctant response.

And then we learn that essentially, Cheryl is a species of god. She’s the one that is keeping all the resurrected Riverdalers alive. It’s HER POWERS that is keeping their bodies on earth rather than in heaven.  So when she uses all her phoenix powers to melt the comet, one or more or all of them might also throw off the mortal coil once more. (She doesn’t say this exactly but she should’ve.)

When Cheryl and Toni have their tete-a-tete in the sitting room, we are treated to the view of an overhang wall full of very weird art that I am hopeful a more hawk-eyed, technologically competent and knowledgeable fan will one day explain to me.  One of the paintings is what looks like a giant black crow with a crown menacing a little redhead boy and girl pair.  Cheryl explains to an increasingly speechless Toni that she and Toni are going to be sex vessels for Abigail and Thomasina whlie Heather will keep each of their souls safe in a jar.  Cheryl wants to vomit every time she has to say the name FANGS (girl, SAME) but does point out this interesting technicality that it’s ‘not cheating’ if their souls are not in the bodies that are engaging in the sex.  This is a metaphysical version of the bullshit “I was drunk and didn’t know what I was doing” argument but okay sure.

Archie comes home all dusty from digging in the tunnels all morning, followed by being told that he was being kept alive by Cheryl’s God Powers to discover even worse news: Mary Andrews has stopped by unannounced for a visit.   Over pizza and beer, Mary says one of the reasons she came to visit was to tell her son she’s getting a divorce from her wife. It sounds amicable enough. I wouldn’t want to spend the rest of my life with Mary Andrews either.  When Mary says that life is precious and so not to be wasted, Archie looks thoughtful.

Veronica’s absinthe absolutely looks poisonous, don’t you think?  She’s talking to her dad’s portrait while day drinking, which is an interesting way to spend your last day on earth.  Veronica is still quite Catholic.  After expressing a sensible sentiment - she hopes she and her father that she murdered don’t cross paths in the afterlife - she feels guilty, so she gives the portrait a kiss.   Veronica’s kiss is so toxic it literally burns an entire layer of paint with a sizzle.  Damn.   Then Archie fucking shows up and in his customarily brutal manner he asks Veronica to give (?) or sell (?) him a diamond ring with which he’s going to propose to Betty.

How can people like Archie when he does this sort of thing to people?  Veronica looks miserable as soon as her back is turned, poor thing.  The thing is, half of this situation is on her, isn’t it?  Why not just say what she’s feeling - if not a full on confession, then pointing out that asking your ex girlfriend that you cheated on back in the day who has had to bury two male partners AND CAN NEVER KISS ANYONE EVER AGAIN for a WEDDING RING when she’s obviously alone one day of the apocalypse is something that is a terrible thing to do and send him packing? Why pretend you’re fine when you’re not? (Uh, self reveal.)

Thankfully the show is merciful and treats me with Jabitha cuteness immediately after.  In the bright light of the diner as they clear a table, Jughead is trying to talk Tabitha into accepting the franchise offer, come hell or high water. Or comet.  Tabitha isn’t sure.  Then she says he’s trying to be Jack to her Rose and Jughead - of course- says he has never seen Titanic because he’s partial to “early James Cameron.”  Such growth he has had, our boy, no?  He doesn’t say it’s because he’s a weird weirdo! He also just says ‘early James Cameron’ rather than drop words like oeuvre.  Tabitha’s favorite movie of all time is the Titanic. They HAVE to watch it, she says, and he looks so cute and adoring as he mimics her tone - “We *have* to?”  

At Thornhill the ceremony is afoot!  Souls look like glowing jellyfish.  Heather really does trap them in a big jar.  Thomasina and Cheryl get it on, complete with Kissing With Tongue!  I don’t like Toni but I really do like the idea of someone like Thomasina even if she feels historically kind of impossible.  They look very happy and very beautiful together.  Heather, though, is having qualms about this.

Archie’s campaign to be my least liked character continues to succeed.  After springing on the rightly alarmed Betty that Mary Andrews is continuing her path as Terrible Parent by suddenly appearing right this day to unload her issues on to her son, he suddenly proposes.  Way to set the mood, dude.  

Betty is startled, but apparently what Betty wants to be on her last day on earth is kind to everyone she loves. So she is that for Archie - understanding, helpful, hopeful, loving.  Betty tries to relieve Archie of his Rescuing Hero complex.  She also straight out refuses to marry him.  Whatever Betty wants to do with life, it’s not being married to Archie.  That’s interesting.  Because she doesn’t say I Will Marry You When Everything Works Out (If It Does).  What she says is, in the nicest way possible, This is a Shitty Time to Be Asking This You Piece of Shit. It comes out like this: “Ask me again after Cheryl melts that comet, and you and me and everyone  else survives. Or we find another way out from Riverdale.”   I mean, for Archie and Betty to get married all that really is required is for the two of them to survive, you know?  But she is predicating it on everyone ELSE surviving.

In short, she is saying no, and forever.

Archie refuses to take the hint. Or maybe he’s just too dumb to pick up on an bald statement.  He runs out of there saying, in a terrifying way, “I’m going to break through that barrier so I can marry you, Betty Cooper.”  His eyes are blank, his face is empty and his voice is devoid of hope or romance or even much emotion. Archie has just decided this is what the next step is, so he’s committed to it, without joy.  

Cheryl and Toni wake up in bed post coitus in underwear that’s very different from what Thomasina and Cheryl were wearing.  Cheryl thanks Toni, and Toni says it was just to save the town.  Cheryl has yearnings.

When Cheryl checks in with Abigail, Abigail is very happy, and shows her a pile of knots which have to be untied to undo the spell. 

Drake has called Betty!   She has wonderful news - or so she thinks.  Director Wilcox wants the two of them - Drake and Cooper - to HEAD UP the Serial Killer division.  Betty refuses this offer too.  Drake insightfully asks if this is about Archie or because of her bad experiences with TBK.   Betty says it’s neither.  She is ‘moving to the light.’  She doesn’t want to be a hunter of hunters anymore.  That’s very… interesting.  Did Betty meet her DNA quota of killings or something? Is that why she doesn’t feel drawn to crime solving anymore?

Reggie and Veronica are making nice.  Poor Reggie.  His pattern of always being a step behind Archie after Archie has done his damage to Veronica continues into this last day on planet Earth.  Veronica is so sick of everything that she’s decided to work on friendship skills, i.e. being friends with exes like a good lesbian, ‘dating a lot’ without getting into relationships which has been her pattern her whole life, and focus on her absinthe business (much like her first true love, the Rum business).  She hands the casino over to Reggie, and offers to keep him company during the apocalypse.  As friends.  He agrees.  Reggie is so cute though.  He still finds Veronica hot and would so want to rekindle any sort of sexual connection, even if he is officially fine with being friendzoned by her.   His shifty eyes over his teacup as he covers up his disappointment at being rejected was marvelous.

Even nicer, we are treated to Jughead getting weepy over Titanic.  Oh they are so adorable, with their his n hers cozy blankets, and a well established movie watching set up (her head in his lap, all snuggled up).  He loved it, which is good, but then Tabitha says to Cole Sprouse, who has done at least one photoshoot where he was styled specifically to highlight his physical resemblance to Leo Di Caprio that the character Jughead Jones is “cuter than Leo” and it’s kind of a lot and I’m both giggly and embarrassed for everyone at the same time. 

Jughead says that he can’t die OR live with himself if Tabitha doesn’t make a grab for her big opportunity to take Pop’s into the franchise business, so  without saying it in so many words, she agrees that she’ll try.  

As a reward and a gift to them both, Tabitha takes Jughead with her on a time traveler’s epic date where she takes him through a timeline in which they both live into old age, happily married to each other, with a son that takes after him and a daughter that takes after her.  Pop’s stays in business forever, they run it together into their old age, and I guess they just grow old in Riverdale in this blameless lovely life.  They’re both crying at the end of the minute long experience.  I love them.  They kiss tenderly.

Meanwhile, Archie is bashing a barrier with a hammer while his mom comes to yell at him.  Which is about the right speed for Archie.  Betty told on him to his mom.  This is very Archie, to be unable to accept or give tenderness to anyone OR THE TRUTH TO HIS MOM until he’s done a spot of useless violence.  Mary calls it straight - “It’s not ok to be out here hiding from the world.”

Mary thinks that Fred would’ve fought to the end too, but adds that Fred (because he was smarter than Archie) would’ve come home to spend time with his beloved.

Veronica is talking to her Daddy’s ruined portrait and drinking alone.  Her nonstop alcohol consumption concerns me because I’m a prissy puritan. But I am wrong and she is right apparently because Veronica sudden has a brainwave.  She’s a dialysis machine (says Drake)!  She stayed in Riverdale for a reason (says Tabitha)!   She’s gonna go “save her friends!”

At the Diner, under Pop’s and Jughead’s proud gaze, Tabitha signs the documents to take Pop’s national.  Alexandra is thrilled, but when she says they start ‘tomorrow’ all the Riverdalers simultaneously get sad . She asks what’s wrong, but before they can drop the bad news on her head belatedly like a ton of bricks they are all summoned to Veronica’s apartment.

Heather is such a good soul (and also has no choice at this point I guess, but no matter) because she is helping Cheryl untie all the knots to undo the magic holding the town hostage.  With much sadness (for me especially, because I like Heather a lot, and I love how she calms Cheryl the fuck down at all times), Heather says that she’s going to be leaving after it’s all over.   She says Toni and Cheryl are “Forever Soulmates.”  Heather “saw” something and says Choni are “written in the stars.”   In the middle of this sad moment, their phones chime, summoning them. 

Betty has Archie in bed with her, which is the only place he really listens to women at all.  Betty’s egotism can’t help but come through though, when she tries to reassure Archie that his long dead father (the one he betrayed and hurt all the time) would be proud of him.  Fred would be super proud of Archie, according to Betty, because he “supported me, comforted me, loved me unconditionally.”   I’d rather think that Fred who wanted his son to get out to the big world away from Riverdale by earning a football scholarship to university wanted something different from his son than being a good man to just one woman but sure. OK.    

Archie FINALLY takes back his fail proposal, promising not to pressure her ever again.  Betty for her part says that what she wants is to marry Archie after all, and he accepts her proposal.  This is SO MUCH NICER than how Archie did it.   They too are summoned by Veronica.

Veronica has a plan!   There’s a way to ‘augment Chery’s phoenix energies so no one has to die,’ she says. She’s going to absorb everyone’s powers to give them to Cheryl.  Poison = Strength = Superpowers are all the same, according to Veronica and Riverdale.    Powers combine!   She says she needs to share blood, “wound to wound, blood to blood.”   She even has Percival dagger to stab Archie with (she thought this through).   Does this mean the general concern about AIDS has died for good?   I remember reading materials for a research paper once where a scientist at the height of the AIDS crisis, which is when they figured out that straight people could get and give AIDS to each other (before then it wasn’t treated like a worldwide crisis, yay straight people!), that children would never again be doing thumb-pricked blood oaths.   Well we’re doing them again!

Cheryl refuses to be cut for any reason whatsoever (she must have keloid tendencies like me) and Veronica has thought of that too! She will transfer the collective powers to Cheryl with a kiss.

I mean. 

I’ve said this several times before so I might as well repeat it.  VERONICA LODGE WILL ALWAYS CREATE A PARTY EVERY SEASON IN WHICH SHE INTERACTS SEXUALLY WITH A PRETTY GIRL. 

So we’re ticking that box in Season 6!  Yay!

The in-universe justification for these shenanigans is (a) it’s not queer baiting if it’s saving the world and (b) fire trumps poison (this must be rock paper scissors logic).

WHO are they queer baiting by the way?  Do they know they’re on a tv show?  Because nobody present wants Veronica to get together with Cheryl, or for Veronica to be gay. 

Jughead narration breaks in right as they’re all painfully cutting their palms to voice his worry that doing any of this might make it all go terribly badly.  Invulnerability, aura-vision, mind reading, portal opening, and time travel powers get absorbed by Veronica.

When Veronica approaches Cheryl for her kiss, Cheryl looks EXTREMELY excited.  I thought you said this was Queer Baiting, Cheryl!  Did she literally mean I’m Queer and You’re Baiting Me?  OH!  Maybe she did!   The way Cheryl smiles delightedly into the kiss confirms my suspicions.  As I knew she must be, Veronica is a wonderful kisser. Cheryl looks high. 

THEN THE BEST TURN HAPPENS.

Betty, who has also kissed Veronica (and in a different world and time also Cheryl but not in this universe), asks if it worked.

Veronica thought of this too. She points a gun at Cheryl, to everyone’s alarm. (Jughead the most).  Cheryl can see her ‘threatening’ aura!  Then Veronica, who apparently is a crack shot, shoots Cheryl right above her right breast.  The bullet didn’t penetrate!   Jughead’s the MOST REASONABLE PERSON:  “Veronica is nuts! What if that hadn’t worked!!??”  

Tabitha and Archie think about themselves - “I should’ve stayed in Chicago!” and “I guess that means I’m not [invulnerable].”

I love Cheryl Goddess so much. She opens a big portal to go confront the comet, and her exit line is TOODLES.  Cheryl, please restart your cult!

Cheryl puts on a super hero costume change to confront the comet. She looks awesome.

And then, everything is ruined because we join the Fogarties in the Bunker and Toni starts singing at her scared son whose developmental status irritates the fuck out of me.  Why is he so childlike in his fully grown man self body that looks like he could be Toni’s mom?    They’ve lit too many candles.  

Wonderfully, we don’t have to spend a lot of time with them.  We jump to Jabitha’s apartment, where they sit as a family unit with Pop’s, having had their final diner meal, hands held together in prayer.  Tabitha has a wonderful singing voice. 

Barchie are in bed post-coitus.  They call each other primal animals, which is not wrong at all.  I hate this song though.

Veronica and Reggie are sad together, as friends.  Kevin and Moose are holding hands, Kevin asking if he could make Moose happy, through song.  Probably not Kevin. You suck.

And Cheryl is all alone, facing the terror by herself.  This is a burden.  So straight (ahem) dude Archie expended a huge amount of time and energy coming up with very upper-body dependant solutions, but two women are the solution:  Veronica with her strategic thinking and capacity to synthesize everyone’s abilities into a joint solution, and Cheryl with her lesbian courage and fortitude.   This tracks. 

Cheryl is apparently thinking about Toni, and Heather is shown alone in the Thornhill house. 

I really hate this song. It’s really very terrible and cheesy. JUST IN TIME, Nana Blossom, Heather and Britta (summoned for this purpose??) untie all the knots, to a gratifying WHOOSH sound as the dome is lifted.

So in the last few minutes some questions that I had are answered.

They show Polly with Dagwood AND Juniper. I guess they never told Juniper about her dad who was resurrected and then died again because he was killed by Aunt Cheryl.  And Polly never grieved the second death of Jason, maybe? I don’t know.  

The Andrews and the Coopers meet the apocalypse in the living room together.  Jughead closes his eyes to the incoming comet while turning his face up to it, while Tabitha glares at it directly.   Reggie and Veronica hold hands in her apartment, refusing to look at what’s coming.  Kevin and Tom Keller hold hands with Moose in the Champagne Suite (I think?)  to meditate their way through it.  Cheryl can fly while she fights the comet.  She’s frantic and weepy.

So what happened next?  Jughead asks, flat and unamused. 

We’re shown a goldfish in a bowl.  

The last minute plan that Veronica put together and executed together with Cheryl worked, he tells us, but things look weird.  

All of that did something “wholly unexpected and yet also utterly inevitable.”  Calling it inevitable is the Riverdale writing staff telling the audience to shut up, as though that’s ever worked. Nice try, Jughead.  

It’s looking very 1950s.  Archie puts on a letter jacket, looks into Betty’s window, and she’s weeping under a poster of James Dean while Alice comforts her. 

Jughead tells us they are in a “simpler time” before Jason Blossom’s murder, before the Black Hood. “Back to a truly innocent time.”

When Archie bounds down the stairs, the homosexual Mary Andrews is in pearls in a 1950s kitchen also weeping over the death of James Dean. For women like her the 1950s was absolutely not a truly innocent or simpler time. 

“Somehow the year is 1955.”  Jughead is in the Ye Olde Blue & Gold offices, wearing his crown-and-sweater costume from that 1950s style nightmare he had a while ago. He angrily operates a very old school typewriter.  

“And I’m the only one who remembers what our lives were like BC. Before the Comet.”

Jughead looks pissed.

Dun dun dun!  I’m very excited for what’s going to happen in S7, assuming this ending is supposed to be an indication of what comes next, like all their season finales have always been. 

[loumandiel]

The Riverdale ending felt like a horror movie ending to me too. It was really disturbing.

Seriously! Nothing making sense or having any meaning, the characters' life stories getting casually summed up. Betty saying farewell to everything she knew, including 'time'. The diner being eerily red and the waiter welcoming betty in having the bartender from The Shining vibes. Everyone constantly smiling almost painfully looking. The song in the background asserting that 'you're mine and we belong together for eternity'. The narrator Jughead outside slightly smiling saying 'We'll leave them here i think. Where they're forever juniors, forever 17 [...] It's where they've... where WE'VE always been, in this diner, in this town, in the Sweet Hereafter.' And then telling the viewer that if they some lonely night see that familiar neon sign they should come in and take a seat because this will always be their home too. Which to me sounds extremely ominous again like the diner is akin to the Overlook Hotel.

If the writers did all this intentionally it's actually kind of genius but knowing them they probably didn't and really thought this was a sweet wholesome ending lmao

[rodeoromeo]

the fact that there even was jughead INSIDE the forever box (pop tate's heaven diner) and the jughead OUTSIDE it. the one who was controlling them. was it the jughead character or the real jughead

[soyforramen]

Still can’t believe they didn’t go the Art Bell route for Jughead.

[thegoodplacey]

The year is 2042. Riverdale returns again for another new season. It's all the same cast. They are adults. They are highschoolers. The year in show is 2022 but also 2050 but actually 1958 for the musical episode where they sing nothing but songs from CATS. Betty is solving the mystery of a puddle that people dare each other to jump in, seemingly die, and then weeks later show up like it never happened except that they now have a tiny little hat on their head. The hats are never talked about in the show, ignored by the characters and then forgotten about 2 episodes later. Jughead is writing a novel but that gets side tracked when he gets abducted by a group of feral children in the woods that are addicted to sniffing perfume sample paper. This is an obvious drug metaphor but never clear which drug but the writers insist its a cool drug. Veronica is once again trying to stop her father from taking over Riverdale which is just a floating school and diner in space and no one ever brings up how that happened. There is a “bidding war” for a small mechanic shop (not shown) but it’s just Veronica and he father playing a game of uno. Cheryl has found her long lost brother and sister meaning her and her other brother and sibling were actually quintuplets but they left Riverdale years ago to both be the Jersey Devil. The three of them walk around the town and blood sprouts from the ground after them constantly. Everyone rolls their eyes are how dramatic they're being. A catchy pop song plays. Archie takes off his shirt. Then he takes off his skin. He still looks so hot and ripped. It's raining outside of pop's diner.

[yourjughead]

Fighting Exs pt 3

Sweet Pea X Reader

----------------------------------

“Reg stop! Where are you going?!” You half shouted across the car park to your ex boyfriend, his back to you looking to where he parked his car.

“I have to kick some Serpent ass” you finally caught up to him outside his car, snatching his keys from his hand.

“YN!”

“Reg stop, it was an accident, we were just dancing and he did it by mistake!”

“Dancing?! You were dancing with that jerk? Isn't it bad enough you took his side yesterday, now you're off dancing with him? What has gotten into you YN?” Your eyes landed on the ground at his sharp tone. You were transported back to when you were dating, being reprimanded for even the smallest thing.

“We were…we were having fun”

“YN, it's okay to have made a mistake” your face contorted in confusion as he moved towards you and caught hold of your hands, dragging your gaze back to him.

“YN, I'd take you back, we can be back together again” you scoffed loudly at him pulling back your arms from his grip.

“I have self respect Reggie”

“Really is that new? Come with the Serpent?” He bit, cocking his head to one side. Ever a group for good timing, Fangs and Sweet Pea rode up the driveway of Pops on their motorbikes. Fangs on the way to meet Kevin, accompanied by Sweet Pea who hoped to run into you. The two parked their bikes, removing their helmets releasing laughter from beneath, short lived as Sweet Pea found his eyes on you and Reggie.

“C'mon YN, come back to me, you'll never find better” his words fed an internal voice you regularly fought off. You bit your lip looking back down, he slowly caught hold of your arms again, unaware of the Serpent heading in your direction.

“No” you almost whispered, pulling back again.

“Don't say no to me! No one else will want you!” The words you hadn't heard from him in so long brought crashing memories back of a tumultuous relationship, you felt your mind go out to the sea of sadness it had spent so long trying to escape from when a familiar voice came as a life raft.

“I’d want her…if she'll have me” you both spun to face Sweet Pea, still holding his helmet in one hand, his other in his leather jacket pocket.

“You!” Reggie seethed, springing from his spot, almost knocking you to the floor in the movement. Your friends came out from inside Pops, to find the Serpent and the Bulldog rolling around shouting and fighting. Kevin ran to your side as you screamed at them both to stop.

“You fucking loser!” Reggie screamed as Archie hauled him up off the floor after Jughead pulled Sweet Pea off of him.

“I'm not the one who cheated on the perfect girl!” He spat back. Your friends' heads shot in your direction. The secret was out. The secret you kept to keep things normal. The secret you kept so they wouldn't have to pick sides and you didn't haven't risk not being who they'd choose.

“YN is that true?” Archie half winced from behind Reggie. You slowly shook your head in agreement, eyes going from Sweet Pea to the floor.

“Wow Reggie you are a loser” Jughead released Sweet Pea as Archie did the same to Reggie.

“At least I'm not a Serpent slut like YN” Reggie barely had the sentence out before Sweet Pea had him pinned to the ground again. Distant police sirens cut through the night air, having been alerted to the commotion outside the diner.

“Shit SP, go, they can't catch you again!” Fangs called, pulling his best friend back by the shoulder. Sweet Pea gave a hurried glance to you before darting off in the direction of the woods behind Pop's.

“Sweet Pea wait up!” You called as you dodged tree trunks, branches and long tangled roots. The latter being the one to send you crashing on to your hands and knees, Pops now long behind you. You swore quietly under your breath as you sat back onto your legs kneeling, wiping your hands on your thighs.

“Really YN, bubble wrap isn't the expensive” Sweet Pea left a half laugh escape his short of breath lungs, reaching a hand down and pulling you to your feet.

“I didn't know that they didn't know about you and…him” Sweet Pea kept hold of your hand, the sounds of sirens cutting out in the distance.

“It's okay, I should have told them when it happened” he nodded in small agreement to you.

“I meant what I said, I'd be with you if you'd let me” Sweet Pea moved closer to you until your chests were touching, whispering the desired words into the top of your head before kissing your forehead. You took your hand from his, sliding it up his chest before going around his neck to clasp the other hand, pulling him down to meet your lips so sweet and softly.

“I'll be with you if you promise to never dance around me again”

“Hmm I think that can be arranged” he smiled against your lips, closing the distance again

[tibby]

hey tibby. can you give me a quick synopsis of the jarchie longcon? i'm not going to watch riverdale but i'd like to learn through osmosis

here is a VERY quick run down of it and doesn’t cover archie’s general relationships with men/possible gayness outside of jughead:

in 2003, roberto aguirre-sacasa sets out to debut his play archie’s weird fantasy, in which archie moves to new york, falls in with leopold and loeb, and realises that he’s gay. he receives a cease and desist letter from archie comics the day before the premiere, and is forced to remove all archie references and make it weird comic book fantasy.

roberto goes on to write several episodes of glee. after he departs, one of the characters makes a comment about “archie comics fanfiction where archie and jughead are gay for each other.”

roberto is hired as the chief creative officer of archie comics, and is later the showrunner of riverdale.

jughead is established as the narrator of riverdale. his only interaction with another character in the pilot episode is when he and archie accidentally meet at pop’s diner, and jughead says the gamechanging quote of he was looking for the girl next door. instead he found me.

archie says that he’s never been able to feel whatever it is he’s supposed to feel with betty.

in episode two, gay kevin asks “are we 100% archie’s straight?” reggie jokes that archie and jughead must have killed jason together, as some kind of pervy blood brother thing.

jughead notes that he would do anything to protect archie.

jughead has been living in a closet at school, not wanting to live with his alcoholic father. archie discovers this and invites jughead to move in with him, which he does for the remainder of the season.

cheryl refers to them as “bert and ernie,” historically thought to be husbands.

a lot of the s2 conflict is based around archie and jughead’s relationship, due to archie falling in with rich mob man and greatest character of all time hiram lodge, while jughead is allied with the southside and actively opposed to hiram. despite this, archie agrees to help jughead be a drug runner. it’s at this point that he tells jughead “you know, i had this stupid idea. that after graduation, instead of going to college, we’d both move to new york. you were this writer, and i’d be this musician, and we’d both live in like the east village or something, just doing our thing.” “where are betty and veronica in this scenario?” “they’re roommates on park avenue.” not only is the new york dream a reference to archie’s weird fantasy, but archie’s ideal future involves him living with jughead, and he only mentions their girlfriends when jughead asks about them - and even then, they’re still not in the main picture. archie is jughead’s past and jughead is archie’s future.

jughead and veronica kiss, at which point betty points out that the only members of the core four that haven’t locked lips are archie and jughead.

archie goes to prison, fittingly named leopold & loeb, where he has his first gay kiss, and is immediately stabbed afterwards. jughead, at this point in time, is playing a g&g game that parallels archie’s prison break, and refers to the moment as a judas kiss.

archie and jughead go on the run together and it’s all very intense and homoerotic. they go to hide with jughead’s estranged mother, who immediately suggests that they’re a couple, and “always knew” there was something between them. she is not convinced when they deny it.

archie is diagnosed with gay by the school therapist.

jughead’s facebook header is revealed to be a picture of him and archie.

archie has his second gay kiss in the musical episode. he later kisses betty, and they perform wicked little town (reprise) while dancing in their outfits from the pilot episode. once again: jughead is archie’s future, betty is his past, veronica is his present. all roads lead to jarchie.

everyone else is banned from prom, so archie asks jughead to go with him. jughead replies oh, i’d be honoured, but i’m not putting out. gay kevin quips let the fanfiction begin.

jughead writes an elaborate story in which the gang kills their principal, mr honey. in the original version, jughead betty and archie are pro murder. in the revised one, archie is the voice of reason, the “good guy” of the story, while betty is still a villain. jughead’s writing FRAMES the show, he is the narrator, he writes stories about the stuff that happens to them, and it is always about archie. archie is the star of jughead’s life.

veronica and jughead find out about barcheating, breaking up varchie and bughead. despite this, jughead and archie say goodbye on good terms, and jughead completely forgives archie. he later imagines seeing archie at pop’s diner a year after their graduation, and is saddened when he realises that it isn’t.

after archie leaves riverdale, jughead squats in the andrews house for about a month before college. he doesn’t tell anyone this. it should be noted that he had been living with betty for the past year, and had the option to keep doing so, but it didn’t “feel right.”

everyone comes back to riverdale after seven years, jughead is once again homeless and archie has a “buddy” from army. jughead eventually moves in with archie again, and even refers to him as sweet prince. even after years of radio silence, archie is jughead’s safe place to land.

tl;dr: riverdale is a revenge scheme fifteen years in the making so roberto aguirre sacasa can get back at archie comics for not allowing him to premiere his gay little archie play, and all roads lead to jughead.