Riverdale gave us nostalgia and beauty in what would have been their season 4 finale

Riverdale finally gave us their season 4 finale and it was a thing of beauty, heartbreak, and nostalgia as the show finally left high school behind. In Chapter Seventy-Nine: Graduation, Archie and all of his friends finally graduated (or left the world of Riverdale High behind). And in an episode marked by a flashback featuring the late Luke Perry, it’s hard not to feel both a sense of nostalgia and heartbreak.

It may have officially been the third episode of season 5, but we all know that this hour was originally meant to be the finale of the fourth season. Not only was it a goodbye of sorts to Riverdale High School, but it was also a chance to say goodbye to Perry’s Fred Andrews once again. But that’s not all this episode did.

While we can sit here and express our disappointment over the way they seemed to brush aside everything we learned about Charles and Jelly Bean (a serial killer and the Auteur, respectively), the fact is we likely never would have been happy with the way those storylines ended. Instead, we are choosing to move on.

Life is moving on in Riverdale and that meant saying goodbye to everyone and everything. Archie, Veronica, Betty, and Jughead went their separate ways. Their friendship ia a shadow of what it once was. And that doesn’t even take into account the adults/parents of the series.

Riverdale is moving on from high school as Graduation comes to an end

FP left Alice behind in an effort to do right by Jelly Bean, which actually made sense but was heartbreaking in its own way. Mr. Keller was reinstated as sheriff, even if we have no clue how long that will last. Hiram Lodge was set to lose his wife and Archie’s mom is moving on and going back to the life she left behind in order to be with her son after his father’s death.

Basically, everything is changing in Riverdale and yet we already know that some things will likely still be the same.

We know we are about to witness a seven-year time jump. Archie, Jughead, Veronica, and Betty might be coming home, but they won’t be the people they once were. And they aren’t the only ones who will be changed by seven years of time passing.

Of course, we will have to wait to see what comes next and what the future holds for the Riverdale gang, but at least with this episode, we got a chance to look back at the past. We got a chance to say our goodbyes and maybe even grieve a little.

This episode was beautiful and profound. And the only downside is that it didn’t get to play out when it was supposed to. It didn’t get to be the finale of the fourth season when it would have made an epic impact. Instead, we will be right back into the thick of things in the next episode, and instead of getting to simmer in our nostalgia and heartbreak for a few months, we get a few days.

I am glad they gave us this episode and didn’t move past the endings these characters deserved, but it is also sad that the end didn’t come when it was supposed to.

What did you think of this episode of Riverdale? Were you emotionally invested in the characters and the way they wrapped up high school? Tell us what you thought in the comments below.