Riverdale is a show infamous for its confounding plot lines and ridiculous character interactions. Having begun as a seemingly run-of-the-mill teen drama with a hint of mystery, five years later and now in its sixth season it has spiraled out of control, a bizarre mixture of almost every conceivable genre out there. The Riverdale teens have so far dealt with mobsters, killer nuns, cult leaders, serial killers, possessed dolls, and that's just skimming the surface.
This latest season of Riverdale - season 6, currently airing weekly on Netflix - has received considerable attention for its extravagant and shocking plot twists, from witches to human sacrifice. With every episode feeling like its own series, anyone who hasn’t tuned in every week would be left baffled if they tried to jump back in mid-season.
"Rivervale"
The first five episodes of Season 6 take place in a parallel universe. That's right, Riverdale has a multiverse now, possibly inspired by recent happenings in the MCU. This parallel universe, in which the 'town with pep' is called Rivervale, was created following the explosion of a pipe bomb Hiram Lodge (Mark Consuelos) planted under Archie Andrew’s (KJ Apa) bed in the last episode of season 5.
Everything in Rivervale seems like Riverdale at first, but things are slightly off. In this reality, Hiram Lodge died some time in Veronica’s (Camila Mendes) early teens, and thus his extended terrorization of Archie Andrews and the town itself never took place. Jason Blossom (Trevor Stines) was never killed. There is a Spiderman: No Way Home inspired moment where the two actors who have portrayed Reggie Mantle throughout the series - Ross Butler and Charles Melton - meet and fight over who is the real Reggie. Rivervale Jughead Jones (Cole Sprouse) eventually gains consciousness of the two branching universes - Riverdale and Rivervale - and has to devise a way to stabilize them before the multiverse implodes. Doctor Strange who?
Archie the Human Sacrifice
Nothing is quite right in Rivervale, Jughead Jones explains in the premiere of season 6, addressing the camera directly. He tells the audience Rivervale is a place where superstition outweighs science and folklore carries more weight than fact. This belief in folklore is evidenced when Cheryl Blossom (Madelaine Petsch), who is still just as diabolical in this parallel universe, manages to convince the entire town that they are doomed unless they embrace paganism; or, more specifically, unless they feed Archie Andrews a “sin pie” containing the wrongdoings of the entire town and then kill him in a ritual sacrifice.
Somehow, everyone in town - including Betty Cooper (Lili Reinhart), who in this universe is Archie's fiancé, and Jughead, Archie’s best friend - agrees to Cheryl’s proposal. They trick Archie to come to the woods in the dead of night, where Cheryl explains to him that he is the perfect sacrifice as Rivervale’s “one true pure heart”. Veronica knocks him unconscious, and when he wakes he’s tied to a triangular crucifix. Cheryl then cuts out his heart as the townsfolk dance and cheer.
Reggie Goes to Hell
A few episodes after Archie is killed in a ritualistic human sacrifice, the Devil himself visits Rivervale. Understandable that he would choose this astonishingly immoral town to reap as many damned souls as possible. He sets his sights on a few familiar faces - including Kevin Keller (Casey Cott), who signs over his soul at the promise of a successful career on Broadway without a second thought - before becoming embroiled in a literal fight to the death between sordid lovers Veronica Lodge and Reggie Mantle.
We learn that Reggie had made a deal with the Devil to ensure the success of his and Veronica’s joint-owned casino Babylonium. Dismayed at first, Veronica promises to find a way to save his soul until the Devil eventually reveals to her the awful truth: It wasn’t Reggie’s own soul he promised in the deal, rather Reggie tricked Veronica into signing away her soul. Veronica eventually manages to turn the tables and trick Reggie the same way he tricked her; she tells him to sign for a "delivery" when really he is signing a contract with Satan. At the end of the episode, Reginald is dragged to hell.
Jughead Experiences Hearing Loss
At the end of season 5, just before his ‘banishment’ from Riverdale, Hiram Lodge got the last laugh by planting a bomb under his nemesis Archie Andrews’ bed. Three people were in the Andrews house when the bomb detonated; Archie and Betty, who in recent seasons have become romantically involved, and Jughead, who had been living in Archie’s garage. Miraculously, all three survived the explosion; possibly due to the multiverse it created, and the intervention of Jughead's Rivervale shadow-self. Betty and Archie are somehow completely unscathed by the explosion, but Jughead is not so lucky.
Jughead starts developing tinnitus - a dull ringing in his ears - soon after the explosion. This gradually intensifies over a few days until eventually, Jughead can hear almost nothing. His girlfriend Tabitha Tate (Erinn Westbrook) urges him to visit a doctor, who informs him that while the damage may eventually be repairable, for the time being, he is 90% deaf.
Archie, Betty, and Jughead Have Superpowers Now
Archie, Betty, and Jughead were all present when the bomb Hiram Lodge planted detonated and destroyed Archie’s family home. None of them can understand how they not only survived the explosion but escaped unharmed (except for Jughead, who draws the short straw and goes deaf). A few days following the explosion, Archie and Betty start noticing strange things happening to them.
Betty discovers she can “see auras”, essentially meaning she can tell when someone has ill intentions by a red glow that surrounds them. Archie, after testing his limits by punching through a solid wood door frame, discovers he is indestructible. Jughead, after not displaying any latent superhuman abilities for a while, eventually realizes he can read minds. Each of these abilities comes with a shortfall, however: Betty suffers debilitating headaches and sensitivity to light that causes her to wear sunglasses at almost all times; Archie can be injured by a rare metal called Palladium, not unlike Superman's sensitivity to Kryptonite; and while Jughead can hear people’s thoughts, he can’t hear anything else.
Archie's Dog Has Superpowers Now
There was one other being in the Andrews house during the explosion that gave the three main cast members superpowers: Archie’s rescue dog, Bingo, whom he adopted in season 5. Bingo was crushed under debris by the explosion and sent to the vet with a dire prognosis and four broken legs.
A few days later, Archie receives a phone call from the vet, telling him that somehow Bingo’s injuries have healed, and he is ready to be sent home. Archie and Betty deduce that he must’ve developed super-healing capabilities as a result of the explosion. Bingo later saves Archie from being dismembered by a serial murderer called the "Trash Bag Killer" by pushing the murderer out of a second-story window.
Cheryl Was Possessed
Following a few episodes of strange behavior, it is revealed that Cheryl’s grandmother, Nana Rose (Barbara Wallace), has performed a spell to put the soul of one of her ancestors into Cheryl’s body. This ancestor, Abigail Blossom, was burned at the stake by the ancestors of Archie, Betty, and Jughead in a vicious witch hunt. Nana Rose hopes that Abigail might be able to do what Cheryl could not; elevate the Blossom family to their former glory and reclaim control of the town.
Abigail soon embarks upon a campaign of revenge against the descendants of those who killed her all those centuries ago. After she attempts to poison Archie, Betty, and Jughead with arsenic-laced scones and then throws a Molotov cocktail at Archie in the hopes of burning him alive, the trio decides something isn’t right and investigates "Cheryl’s" strange behavior. Realizing Cheryl is possessed, they perform a ‘banishment’ to expel Abigail’s soul from Cheryl's body and trap it in a doll instead.
Cheryl Also Has Superpowers Now
In episode 10, Cheryl develops a burning fever and is bedridden. Her grandmother ‘Nana Rose’ hires a night nurse to keep an eye on her, but Cheryl wakes in the morning to find him reduced to a pile of ash. With the help of Betty and her FBI contacts, we discover that Cheryl has awakened “nascent powers of pyrokinesis” and it was her who accidentally caused the nurse to spontaneously combust.
Betty, who has superpowers herself, helps her cousin Cheryl gain control of her powers before they consume her. It proves difficult, with Cheryl distraught and traumatized after accidentally killing the nurse. She does eventually manage to figure out how to master her pyrokinetic abilities once Betty inspires her by ordering her to set a photo of her mother on fire.
Veronica Had Her Father Assassinated
After learning that it was her father, the mobster Hiram Lodge, who was responsible for planting the pipe bomb that almost killed Archie, Betty, and Jughead, Veronica decides that banishing him from Riverdale wasn’t enough, and she has to take more dramatic measures. Acting on impulse, she puts a bounty on her father’s head and puts out a few feelers in the criminal underworld, hoping someone might take care of Riverdale’s Hiram-shaped problem once and for all.
Later, the weight of her actions dawns on her, and she tries to recall the bounty. By that point, however, it’s too late. She soon hears from an assassin who informs her that Hiram Lodge, after four seasons of terrorizing Riverdale and trying in vain to kill Archie Andrews, is dead.
There's A New Villain In Town
A few episodes following the return from Rivervale to Riverdale, a strange British man appears in town and immediately begins interfering in matters that shouldn't concern him. First, he tries to buy Archie's family home - now a charred ruin after the explosion - for reasons unknown. He then begins appearing at town meetings, announcing his hopes to contribute to the rebuilding and betterment of Riverdale.
We soon learn that this stranger, whose name is Percival Pickens (Chris O'Shea), is a descendant of one of Riverdale's founding fathers, General Augustus Pickens, a genocidal maniac disgraced for attempting to wipe out the local Native American population. Not only that, but as Jughead, Betty, and Archie - who are effectively superheroes now - soon discover, Percival has powers of mind control that he is using to attempt to take over Riverdale. With Cheryl also developing powers, it seems an MCU-style showdown may be in the works, but only time will tell. In Riverdale, after all, anything is possible.