WARNING: The following contains spoilers for the latest episode of Riverdale, “Chapter Seventy: The Ides of March,” which aired Wednesday on The CW.
Since the Season 3 finale, Riverdale has been teasing a grim event set in the show's future. During the spring of 2020, Jughead would go missing, and Betty, Archie and Veronica would all be involved somehow. Little by little throughout Season 4, more flash-forward segments would reveal crucial new details: Jughead would be confirmed dead somewhere out in the woods, the trio would be arrested for the death of their friend and it would be revealed that it was Betty Cooper who killed her boyfriend.
Ever since the shocking development was first teased, Riverdale has been unfolding with a bit of a ticking clock. Now, after all this time, the events of the present finally catch up to the flash-forwards. In "Chapter Seventy: The Ides of March," it finally becomes clear how everything fits together.
"Chapter Seventy" brings everything to a head. After spending months at Stonewall and winning the contract to write the next Baxter Brothers novel, Jughead is on the verge of getting expelled. Already, he's been kicked out of the secret Quill and Skull club, and tensions with his fellow classmates are at an all-time high -- and that's saying something. Falsely accused of plagiarism and facing a losing battle, Jughead stands before a tribunal to decide his fate. But given the powers and the reach of his accusers, he has no choice but to abide by their demands, unceremoniously quits the school and gives up on his dream job.
But Jughead is still a South Side Serpent, and he isn't about to just let his enemies win that easily. Before he leaves, Jughead is invited by Bret and the rest of his treasonous classmates to an Ides of March party in the forest that will double as a goodbye party. Jughead rapidly accepts, much to Betty's surprise. But he explains to his girlfriend that he has a plan, asking her to trust him.
The next time Jughead is seen, the party has already started, and he leads Bret away from the others for a final duel in the forest to settle their feud. From that point, Jughead is nowhere to be found. Instead, Betty is given the focus, who is also at the party with Archie and Veronica. On top of helping Jughead investigate the mysteries of Stonewall, Betty has also been dealing with her own story, which involves her father, the Black Hood and the "serial killer gene" he may have passed on to her.
In fact, after spending some time undercover at Edgar Evernever's farm/cult in Season 3, Betty was at one time convinced she had been brainwashed into turning into a murderer when hearing a programmed voice command. While she believed this programming to be gone, Jughead's classmate, the sociopathic Donna, tells Betty she actually knows the real word that will transform her into a killer. And there, at the party in the middle of the forest, it appears Donna "activates" Betty.
Eventually, Archie and Veronica wonder where their two friends are and go searching for them. When the two find Betty, she is standing over the body of Jughead, a murder weapon in her hands and a look of shock on her face. The implication, of course, is that Betty killed Jughead after being manipulated by the students of Stonewall. It's a pretty shocking turn of events, and one that implies that Jughead really is dead.
But this outcome, however unlikely, may not be the whole story. In fact, there are still a few gaps left unaccounted for. What happened between Bret and Jughead in the woods? And what was Jughead planning before he came to the forest? Riverdale really wants us to believe Jughead and Betty fell victim to Stonewall. But it seems likely that Jughead's "death" is all part of some plan. Stonewall has been ahead of Jughead at every turn so hopefully, he finally concocted something to take them down for good.
Airing Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW, Riverdale stars KJ Apa, Lili Reinhart, Camila Mendes, Cole Sprouse, Madelaine Petsch, Casey Cott, Vanessa Morgan, Mark Consuelos, Skeet Ulrich, Marisol Nichols and Madchen Amick.