Riverdale | Season 5

"Chapter Seventy-Seven: Climax"

Betty and Jughead investigate snuff films, leading them to secret screenings by Blue Velvet's owner, David. To gain entry, Betty delivers a fake film but later surrenders a real one involving her father. Archie loses a boxing match against KO Kelly for a Naval Academy spot. Cheryl faces family disapproval in her relationship with Toni. At a rave, Betty and Jughead discover disturbing snuff films featuring the gang. Veronica learns about Archie and Betty's kiss, leading to their breakup at prom. A livestream depicts the gang killing David, and Cheryl and Toni part ways after prom. Veronica reveals Archie's infidelity to her parents. Archie finds a videotape recreating his encounter with the Black Hood at home.

"Chapter Seventy-Eight: The Preppy Murders"

Archie grapples with emotions after watching a disturbing videotape and is asked to write a letter for a lesser sentence for Fred's killer, George Augustine. Jughead and Betty initially suspect David in Bret's prison murder, only to discover he was hanged in the Lodge's cabin. Cheryl's attempt to secure a sanctuary for the Uktena tribe leads Penelope to deadly action. Hermosa intervenes as the Molloy family targets Veronica. Together with Hermione, they plot to force Hiram into retirement, leading to Hermione's decision to divorce him. A new tape hints at the auteur's presence, prompting Betty and Jughead to confront Charles. However, they realize Jellybean and friends were behind the tapes, expressing their discontent with Jughead leaving town.

"Chapter Seventy-Nine: Graduation"

As graduation nears, Archie discovers he must repeat his senior year but is still allowed to walk with his classmates. FP decides to move back to Toledo with Jellybean, and the gang graduates. Archie, struggling with Fred's absence, decides to join the Army. FP and Jellybean leave, and the gang buries a time capsule. Cheryl opts out of college and ends things with Toni. Archie announces his Army decision, and the gang bids farewell. Veronica vacations with Hermione, Betty confesses to kissing Archie, and Jughead moves out. One year later, Jughead waits at Pop's for the gang, but they don't show. The gang reunites six years later, drawn together by another mystery.

"Chapter Eighty: Purgatorio"

Seven years post-graduation, Archie returns from the army to a struggling Riverdale. Betty is an FBI agent, Veronica is married to Chadwick Gekko, Jughead faces writer's block and debts, and Kevin is now a teacher dating Fangs. Toni is a pregnant guidance counselor, and Reggie works for Hiram, who's reshaping the town. Pop's retirement reveals a drug den, and Archie learns of mysterious disappearances on the highway. Desperate to save Riverdale, he calls Betty, Veronica, and Jughead back for a reunion. Meanwhile, a waitress is picked up by a suspicious trucker, adding to the town's growing mystery.

"Chapter Eighty-One: The Homecoming"

Upon returning, the gang discovers Riverdale High is at risk due to teachers and students defecting to Stonewall Prep. Betty finds Polly sneaking in late at night, suspecting drug use. Archie and Betty raid the Andrews house, finding evidence to send them to jail. They clean up, have a moment, and decide to become temporary teachers to save Riverdale High. Jughead, facing debt and writer's block, asks Tabitha for a job at Pop's. Veronica deals with Chad's control issues. Archie persuades the gang to teach, as Riverdale High is privatized by Cheryl, with Hiram dissolving the town. Polly, having run away, is chased by a truck.

"Chapter Eighty-Two: Back to School"

The gang starts teaching at Riverdale High, facing Hiram and Reggie's attempts to further harm the town. Polly is missing, and Toni reveals she was meeting a trucker for sex. Betty and Alice find Polly's belongings on the Lonely Highway. Archie seeks funding for the football team from Veronica, whose husband Chad visits. Doris Bell becomes an informant for Cheryl and Hiram. Veronica plans a jewelry store, and Betty and Archie struggle to find private spaces. Tabitha aids Jughead with his book, leading to tales of Moth Men in the woods. The search for Polly leads to Swedlow Swamp, and Jughead warns Archie of fires near their home.

"Chapter Eighty-Three: Fire in the Sky"

Betty, Alice, and Kevin take an unidentified body from Swedlow Swamp to the morgue, suspecting it's Margaret, missing for years. Veronica builds her jewelry store with students, combating Hiram's interference. Archie reinstates the Fire Department but faces a visit from Corporal Jackson. Cheryl and Toni coach the Vixens but clash. Jughead and Tabitha discover a disfigured Moth Man corpse in Nana Rose's maple barrel. During a late shift at Pop's, Jughead sees a mysterious light, blacking out. The corpse disappears, raising more questions. Betty, realizing women are missing from nearby towns, suspects a serial killer is at large.

"Chapter Eighty-Four: Lock & Key"

Jughead grapples with potential alien encounters, seeing hallucinations at Riverdale High and his house. Kevin and Fangs announce their engagement but Kevin struggles. Cheryl, upset, hosts a key party, causing tensions. Archie and Chad's clash prompts Veronica to file for divorce. Cheryl reveals a nursery to Toni, who is disinterested. Archie and Betty end their affair, and Archie reunites with Veronica. Kevin calls off his engagement, and Cheryl shares a moment with Minerva. Polly calls Betty and Alice from a phone booth, but upon arrival, it's dismantled and covered in blood.

"Chapter Eighty-Five: Destroyer"

Archie and Veronica struggle to keep the Bulldogs' spirit alive after they lose several games. Betty receives a call from Glen about the blood discovered on the destroyed phone booth; it is a match to Polly. Betty struggles with realizing that Polly is most likely dead, and tells Alice that Polly's blood was not a match. Meanwhile, Jughead realizes a student in his class may have had encounters with the Moth Men. However, the student leaves town with his parents. Betty and Jughead visit Old Man Dreyfus off of the Lonely Highway, and he is convinced that Polly had an encounter with the Moth Men. Kevin decides to go back to cruising, but hits a roadblock. The Bulldogs face the Stonewall Stallions, and receive a small victory when they score for the first time in the season. Betty goes to the truck stop to save girls and get justice for Polly. Back at home, Betty finds Glen, who tells Alice that Polly's blood was a match.

"Chapter Eighty-Six: The Pincushion Man"

Betty discovers Glen's dissertation on her family's darkness and worries about Juniper and Dagwood inheriting it. Archie learns about a shady mission and prepares for Parent Teacher Night with Kevin. Cheryl rejects Hiram and Reggie's offer to buy the Blossom Maple Groves. Jughead takes psychedelic mushrooms to aid writing, and Tabitha agrees to watch over him. Hiram orchestrates a prison breakout, causing chaos. Charles and Chic arrive for a sinister game at the Cooper house, resulting in a violent confrontation. Penelope returns, Frank protects the school, and Reggie burns the maple groves. Veronica faces divorce complications. Jughead has a trippy experience, and Betty takes matters into her own hands. Tabitha finds bloody handprints on Jughead's completed novel in the bunker.

"Chapter Eighty-Seven: Strange Bedfellows"

Archie and Kevin work on capturing escaped inmates. Veronica returns, and Archie puts their relationship on hold until her divorce is final. During a robbery at her jewelry store, Veronica faces Darla and Dodger. Tabitha worries about Jughead and seeks Betty's help. Jessica, from New York, drugs them with psychedelic mushrooms to obtain Jughead's manuscript. Hiram and Governor Dooley clash over palladium beneath the prison. Hostages demand palladium, with Veronica as collateral. At Thornhill, Penelope starts a ministry for coping with Jason's death. Cheryl has a revelation and joins. Jughead, living among the homeless, heads back to New York, leaving Tabitha a voicemail about his plans.

"Chapter Eighty-Eight: Citizen Lodge"

Reggie, working for Hiram to settle his father's debt, completes his task but opts to continue due to his strained relationship with his father. Hiram agrees, requesting an untraceable gun from Reggie. During the exchange, Hiram reveals his life story as Jaime Luna. After moving to Riverdale, the palladium mines' collapse led him to work shining shoes. Seeking respect, he joined gangster Vittorio Alto, impressed Hermione, and adopted the name Hiram Lodge. When his father learned, Hiram killed Alto's men and took over. Reggie is impressed, but Hiram expresses regret, wishing for reconciliation with his father. Hiram locates Alto, kills him, and urges Reggie to reconcile with his own father.

"Chapter Eighty-Nine: Reservoir Dogs"

Betty and Tabitha develop a plan to lure truckers to Pop's after Betty is prohibited from affiliating with the FBI. Meanwhile, Archie and Eric wrestle with trauma and Frank gives them a dog to help them cope. Later, though, they realize that their dog was in a fighting ring and they target the leader of the dog fights in town. Elsewhere, Reggie and Veronica build business at the jewelry store and aim at poaching investors of SoDale, due to it being a complete scam. Cheryl offers Kevin advice, telling him to reconcile with Fangs, but Fangs has begun dating Moose. Kevin later joins Cheryl and Penelope's ministry. At the Whyte Wyrm, there is a ladies night that helps lure potential suspects in the highway murders in. Betty is eyed by a trucker and baits him under the false pretense of sex. Tabitha tracks her location and he pulls over and tries to kill her with a chainsaw. Betty eventually strikes him with a wrench and they haul him off to keep him hostage.

"Chapter Ninety: The Night Gallery"

Cheryl unveils four paintings to Minerva, revealing intricate stories. The first depicts Archie leading a palladium-harvesting crew in the reopened mines, causing hallucinations due to carbon monoxide exposure. The second portrays Betty interrogating a captured trucker, suspected serial killer. Despite his suicide, Betty believes he wasn't acting alone. The third painting showcases Jughead's post-high school success aided by Jessica and psychedelic mushrooms. Jughead's spiral begins after a bender and lost three days. Returning to New York, he hallucinates a "Rat King." The last painting captures Cheryl and Minerva's night together before Minerva leaves the country.

"Chapter Ninety-One: The Return of the Pussycats"

Josie McCoy, an international pop star, returns to Riverdale following her father's death. She reconnects with the gang but initially refuses to help save Riverdale. Reestablishing friendships with Valerie and Melody, and reigniting her relationship with Sweet Pea, she comes to terms with her father's death. The Pussycats reunite, and during a concert, Toni delivers her baby, Anthony. After the performance, The Pussycats, their romantic partners, and Josie's mother decide to return to the tour. Before leaving, they learn her father's death may not have been an accident, sparking differing opinions. Meanwhile, Toni, Tabitha, and Veronica aim to franchise Pop's Diner with help from Veronica's friend, Alexandra Cabot.

"Chapter Ninety-Two: Band of Brothers"

Archie seeks justice for his army men's deaths. Veronica, with Reggie and Cheryl's help, challenges Chad and Hiram to regain financial stability. Kevin and Cheryl aim to control the ministry, countering Penelope's defiance. Jughead faces consequences for his actions, put on leave from teaching and struggling to meet his book deadline. Maintaining sobriety, he avoids Jessica but loses his agent. Betty poses as Polly on the Lonely Highway, prompting Tabitha's concern and assistance.

"Chapter Ninety-Three: Dance of Death"

As Veronica's divorce approaches, Hiram gives Chad a chance to kill Archie, but he fails. Veronica gets everything in the divorce to save Chad from a murder charge. Kevin leaves the ministry, and an explosion at the mines tests Cheryl's faith. Veronica threatens Hiram for endangering Archie and Eric's lives, sparing him when they survive. Chad attacks Veronica, but she kills him. Jughead and Betty discover inbred Blossoms living in the forest, with Old Man Dreyfus and the captured trucker among them. Lynette Fields' body is stolen, leading to a complex investigation tied to Toni's situation. The group finds Moth Men and a shed with victims in the junkyard. Old Man Dreyfus confesses to the murders, leading Betty to Polly's body in the junkyard. Betty and Alice confirm her identity.

"Chapter Ninety-Four: Next to Normal"

Alice struggles to cope with Polly's death and imagines a world where the Coopers are still a happy family. Betty tries to get her to cope as best she can, but Alice blames Betty for Polly's death and for breaking her promises to return to Riverdale sooner. Meanwhile, Cheryl takes in Britta when she is kicked out of her parents' house. Archie and Veronica break up after Veronica realizes that they are on separate paths. Toni and Fangs declare their love for each other and vow to have each other's backs moving forward. Tabitha lures Jughead into a dinner with her parents, and the two decide to begin a romantic relationship. The gang buries Polly's ashes at the cemetery.

"Chapter Ninety-Five: Riverdale: RIP (?)"

Betty graduates as a Special Agent at the FBI, reopening the Riverdale field office and facing a call from TBK. Veronica vows to exile Hiram for a fire at Pop's. Jughead and Tabitha retaliate by burning the Lodge Ledger office. Toni and Fangs struggle with Serpent control. Cheryl learns of her ancestor's burning and demands an apology. She plans a school on Thornhill and seeks independence from Riverdale. Veronica and Reggie revive their romance, planning a casino. Archie names Tabitha, Toni, Alice, and Frank to the town council for Riverdale's reincorporation. Betty and Archie plan to start a romantic relationship, but a bomb under Archie's bed, placed by Hiram, interrupts. As Hiram drives away, Archie's house explodes in fiery smoke.