Riverdale — “Chapter Seventy-Nine: Graduation” — Image Number: RVD503a_0151r — Pictured (L-R): KJ Apa as Archie Andrews, Cole Sprouse as Jughead Jones, Casey Cott as Kevin Keller, Jordan Connor as Sweet Pea and Charles Melton as Reggie Mantle — Photo: The CW — © 2021 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Let the caps fly, and cue Green Day’s “Good Riddance”, because the Riverdale High students have finally graduated!  After four years of death, mystery, lies and musicals, Archie and his friends have finally graduated from high school!  Although they have graduated, it was not without a lot of drama and style in The CWs’ Riverdale episode 503 titled “Chapter Seventy-Nine: Graduation”.  So how did it go? Keep reading to find out! 

Before I dive into graduation, as most of you know F.P. Jones (Skeet Ulrich) was scheduled to depart the show last season but did not due to COVID cutting the season short. This week we got answers to how his character would leave the show.  Fresh off of finding out that Jellybean was behind the mysterious tapes appearing around Riverdale, F.P and Jughead decide what to do about the situation and the gang must decide what life after high school brings.

Major spoilers ahead, so if you have not seen the episode yet, please skip this part.  

Graduation 

It is the last day of school and graduation approaches for everyone at Riverdale.  Well its actually graduation for everyone except Archie who learns he will have to repeat senior year due to the time he lost when on the run. The good news is he can still walk with his friends and is asked to record the graduation song.  Will it be an original song?  Cue the nostalgia when I heard the first few notes of my own graduation song, Green Day’s “Good Riddance (Time of your Life) being sung by Archie. 

Years later, this song is still gracing both fictional and real high school graduations and gave it a very realistic feeling.  As far as big Riverdale events usually go, the graduation ceremony was uneventful.  No major drama or death.  In this way, it made it seem as if it was a series finale, and not episode three of a season. Even though graduation came and went without any hiccups, there was still much drama to fill the remainder of the episode as the friends prepare for the next step in their lives after a graduation speech from Betty.  

What’s Next for Archie and Company?

As Archie struggles to deal with what to do post graduation, he revisits the thought of going into the military and decides to enlist into the Army instead.  He waits til post-graduation to tell his friends, who also just learned of his needing to re-do senior year.  This news upsets Veronica greatly, who, still hurt by the breakup with Archie and his kissing Betty, still loves and cares for Archie and does not want this for him.  

Meanwhile at the Jones/Cooper household F.P. tells Jughead that he plans to move to Toledo, Ohio with Jellybean to get her away from the group that influenced her negatively with making the tapes.  I found it quite refreshing that both of the characters who left the show this season departed in a way that did not end in death, making a return possible, if ever they decide to come back.  After graduation Jughead mentions that Archie and Veronica have seemed weird, and it leads Betty to come clean to Jughead.  As for how it turns out, I will not spoil that. You will just have to watch to find out. 

Cheryl and Veronica both tie up some things before they move on.  Veronica is headed to college. In her last act, she signs the lease to Pop’s back to Pop.  Cheryl decides that she is going to stay in Riverdale to try and clean up the Blossom family’s legacy.  

Time Jump

Before the show ends, we see Archie, Veronica, Betty and Jughead make a pact to meet up every year at Pop’s at their booth, on that day.  Upon leaving town, Jughead is the last to leave and we hear him narrate the show as he has done for many episodes before.  Last season there were a lot of predictions that season five would have a time jump to align with the time that the spinoff show Katy Keene takes place.  This was in fact the case for Riverdale after all.

It was refreshing to see an episode of Riverdale not graced with death and darkness.  Sometimes the viewers need a break. It felt a bit weird to have a major time jump between episode three and four but given the circumstances I understand why.  I am curious to see if they incorporate any of the latest stories from the comics where Archie goes to war.  (The comics take place during WWII so they would have to adjust to modern day). 

Surprising Emotion For Riverdale

The goodbye of F.P had me crying and I do not know how to feel about the show without him in it.  For those who followed my reviews last season, we did a class clown and class president of the episode.  Since it is the graduation episode, I’ll wrap with that.  Class clown goes to Veronica for acting immaturely and selfishly about Archie going into the Army, given they were already broken up.  Class president goes to Jughead for how he handles the news about Betty and Archie and being the first in his family to go to college.  What’s next for all the Riverdale students?  Only time will tell. Seven years in the future to be exact.

To find out what happens next for the Riverdale gang, be sure to tune in Wednesdays at 8 PM on The CW.  Also available via the app on Thursdays or online at CWTV.com