“Riverdale” was rocked by last week’s answer to who killed Jason Blossom.
But, now that the mystery has been solved, don’t expect the finale to be any less dramatic than the previous episode. Thursday night’s Season 1 finale is big.
A promo photo from the new episode showing Archie Andrews (KJ Apa) fallen in the snow, with Jughead Jones (Cole Sprouse), Betty Cooper (Lili Reinhart) and Veronica Lodge (Camila Mendes) behind him, has many speculating about what’s going on for the redhead.
“I can tell you that we talk a lot about Archie being a hero, and I think in the finale, in the scene that you’re talking about, it’s what sets up Archie’s truest hero moment of the series,” Executive Producer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa told AccessHollywood.com when we asked about the pic.
There’s a lot to unpack following last week’s reveal that Clifford Blossom was responsible for Jason’s murder. Aguirre-Sacasa said Executive Producer Greg Berlanti was the one who suggested they resolve that mystery in Episode 12. Doing that allowed the show writers to tell other stories in the finale, including seeing how the town reacts to the news and much, much more.
“The penultimate episode so raised the bar that we had to make sure the finale was not the letdown, and my hope is it isn’t,” Aguirre-Sacasa told us on Wednesday.
When we spoke to the EP last week about the Clifford twist, he said the finale would delve more into the questions that remain about the Blossoms. And, with Cheryl and Penelope the only members of that part of the Blossom family left, they have a storyline to unpack as they deal with what happened.
“There’s a huge Penelope/Cheryl story in the finale,” the EP told us last week.
We also learned that although FP Jones (Skeet Ulrich) didn’t kill Jason Blossom, his involvement in the cover up is likely to keep him behind bars for some time.
“He’s in a lot of trouble,” Aguirre-Sacasa said, adding, “we can’t wave a wand and make everything that FP did go away.”
FP’s son Jughead started out the season living at the drive-in, then moved to a closet under the stairs at the high school, before moving in with Fred and Archie, and then his dad – albeit briefly – at one point. With FP in jail – and everyone knowing it – where Jughead hangs his hat (if he ever decides to take it off again) will come up in Thursday’s episode.
“A big, big, big Jughead story in the finale, and a lot of the stuff that you’re asking about – where he’s going to be, where’s he going to live, is he even going to stay in Riverdale — all those things are in play in the finale. And that is his story in the finale,” the EP told us last week.
The Season 1 finale of “Riverdale” airs Thursday at 9/8c on The CW.
— Jolie Lash