What Happened To Riverdale's Characters During The Time Jump
Here's what happened to all of the major Riverdale characters during the seven-year time jump in season 5. Filming halted on Riverdale in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, and season 4 ended with the firing of Mr. Honey, with Betty and Jughead hot on the trail of the Voyeur, pushing the gang's prom and graduation to season 5. Episode 3, "Chapter Seventy-Nine: Graduation", marked the end of the main characters' high school careers, along with all of their romances.
Speculation had swirled for months about a season 5 time jump, which series creator Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa later confirmed would indeed happen. The transition is nicely set up when the core four made a vow to meet a year later, but only Jughead returned to Pop's as promised. As he departed, a voice-over revealed he wouldn't see his friends for another six years when a mystery and a crisis would bring them together.
Some details about the character's fates were revealed before episode 4, "Chapter Eighty: Purgatorio". Betty was working for the FBI, Veronica was married, Jughead published his first book, and Archie had been to war. As the episode opens, Archie returns to his hometown after being reassigned. He reunites with Toni Topaz, who believes he's arrived for Pop Tate's retirement party (with his granddaughter Tabitha, played by Erinn Westbrook, taking over), and Archie calls his friends to invite them to celebrate. When Jughead, Veronica, and Betty arrive for what can best be described as an awkward reunion, Archie enlists their help to save the town.
Archie left Riverdale to join the military, and he apparently spent those seven years on the battlefield. Laying in a hospital bed in Yonkers, NY, Archie has a dream that's a combination of the opening minutes of Saving Private Ryan and a premonition: his former Bulldog teammates dressed as soldiers being gunned down on the football field. Upon awakening, Archie is told he's being sent to Riverdale to oversee the high school's RROTC program. The show quickly establishes that Archie is a hero who saved his friend Corporal Jackson by slinging him over his shoulders and carrying him to safety (an unmistakable nod to Forrest Gump). The episode doesn't offer up much about the events that shaped Archie during the time jump, spending more time focusing on his reaction to what has transpired in his hometown during his absence.
Betty is an FBI trainee who is stuck working cold cases after she went rogue to capture a serial killer known as the "Trash Bag Killer" (TBK), which is an amalgam of The Silence of the Lambs' Buffalo Bill and Dennis Rader, the infamous BTK. Betty failed to call for backup and wound up trapped in a pit in the BTK's lair for two weeks. She's haunted by the fact that her actions resulted in the serial killer escaping and that he's likely still committing murders. She's also been having an affair with her boss, Glenn, but she doesn't share his enthusiasm about their romance.
Jughead published his first book, The Outcasts, during the time jump. At one time, Jughead was a shining star on the NYC literary scene, but he's fallen from grace. After his initial success, he's been holed up in a drab apartment, trying to write his second novel while ignoring his live-in girlfriend, Jessica. His agent points out Jughead has been drinking too much, and the notoriety he once enjoyed has been squandered (along with the advance he was paid for the book he hasn't finished). Jughead has been evading "debt collectors" but not the garden variety who call and send letters. These guys show up pounding on his apartment door.
Veronica's entrepreneurial spirit served her well post-high school. She enjoyed a lucrative career in stock trading, earning the nickname the "She-Wolf of Wall Street," until her husband Chadwick "Chad" Gekko (Chris Mason) pressured her into quitting. The couple, who celebrate their one year anniversary in the episode, survived a helicopter crash (on the way to Martha's Vineyard), and Chad's been using the accident as a way to manipulate and control his wife. Chad believed Veronica had taken a job at Lacy's department store (a reference to the Katy Keene spinoff) when she's really been working in an underground jewelry store selling stolen goods to some colorful clientele. Veronica has realized that she's repeating her mother's sins by marrying someone very similar to her father.
When Archie returns to Riverdale, he learns a lot has changed. He reunites with Toni Topaz (Vanessa Morgan), who is pregnant and works as a Riverdale High guidance counselor. She revived the Serpents, and they pooled their money to buy La Bonne Nuit, renaming it the Whyte Wyrm. Kevin Keller (Casey Cott) and Fangs Fogarty (Drew Ray Tanner) graduated from college in Pittsburgh, PA, and the couple lives together in Riverdale slong with Toni. Kevin is the drama teacher at the high school, and Fangs is a truck driver. Archie is surprised to learn that Reggie Mantle (Charles Melton) has been in the employ of one Hiram Lodge (Mark Consuelos).
Toni tells Archie she went to visit Cheryl Blossom (Madelaine Petsch) after she graduated from Highsmith College, hoping to rekindle their romance, but little remains of the red-headed bombshell and HBIC who ruled Riverdale High with a velvet fist. Cheryl has been rebuilding both her family's home and business, but she's become consumed by the idea the Blossoms are cursed. Penelope is nowhere to be seen, and Cheryl has taken to wearing her Mumsy's signature red glove (all signs point to Penelope having met a gruesome end). Hiram has been trying to buy the Blossom's maple groves, but Chery has repeatedly turned him down, and Nana has found a lucrative way to pass the time by having her granddaughter forge valuable paintings.
Archie's fears that something is amiss in Riverdale are confirmed by Toni, who takes him on a tour of the town. Riverdale resembles a dystopian hellscape devoid of law and order. There's no fire department and no police, except for Sheriff Keller. Those with the money to leave town have fled, and all that's left are those who can't go or won't. The high school is on the verge of closing, and all the students will attend Stonewall Prep (hello, Mr. Honey). Hiram Lodge has been dismantling Riverdale piece by piece to ensure the success of his SoDale development. Season 5 looks to be Riverdale's darkest yet.
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