Riverdale’s Finale Put Characters In A Quad Relationship, And The Internet Has Thoughts

Lili Reinhart as Betty Cooper in Riverdale's series finale
(Image credit: Justine Yeung/The CW)

Spoilers for the Season 7 finale of Riverdale are ahead! Read with caution!

Riverdale just Riverdale-ed very close to the sun with its series finale on the 2023 TV schedule. As always, Riverdale’s series finale was full of surprises that seriously shocked the audience. However, the one that really got the internet going, and caused a myriad of reactions, was the revelation that Veronica, Archie, Jughead and Betty were in a quad relationship. Obviously, there were tons of dramatic, excited, angry and hilarious reactions to this news, and we’ve got some of the best ones for you. 

Over the course of Riverdale’s seven seasons, both Betty and Veronica entered into romantic relationships with Jughead and Archie -- although Veronica and Jughead just kissed, but it still counts. Things were convoluted and messy when it came to this core four, and the story is pretty hard to follow when it comes to this love square (?). However, the writers decided to put this crazy relationship drama and our confusion about Betty and Archie plus Veronica and Jughead to rest by, naturally, having the four characters enter into a quad relationship. 

Obviously, the revelation Betty had during her trip back to the ‘50s where she learned how she, Veronica, Jughead and Archie dealt with their romantic entanglements between Seasons 1 and 6 has the internet all fired up, and feeling a lot of feelings. For @barchiesorigin, this revelation was enraging as they tweeted:

On the other hand, @beforekermit decided to accept and bask in this very unexpected story decision, as they posted:

Many couldn’t help but point out how the choice to put these characters in a quad relationship was very on-brand for Riverdale – a show that has included time travel, parallel universes, magic, bizarre episodes in the ‘50s, musicals and more. They really aren’t afraid to throw a curveball at their audience, which is exactly what they did with the series finale. @whyrev picked up on this too, and tweeted:

This is the most riverdale thing they could’ve ever done so props to them

Thinking along the same lines, @antikaia posted a thought on Twitter about how they loved the fact that Riverdale really did a full send when it came to this relationship choice. They tweeted:

they really riverdaled the series finale of riverdale and i think that’s great for them.

Others pondered what it was like writing this series finale, and posted about how much fun the writers probably had coming up with this episode, and specifically the quad relationship. @brandomsinger posted:

No one on earth is having as much fun as the Riverdale writers’ room.

I agree wholeheartedly with this statement. I feel like the writers just decided to capitalize on how bizarre Riverdale has been post-Season 1, and they wanted to throw one final curveball at us that’s in the shape of a quad relationship. 

While many posted about just going with the flow of Riverdale’s wild story, others were straight-up confused. For example, @criminalplaza posted:

what goes on in that show

Along the same lines, @nothnghppens also posted about how baffled they were by Betty, Archie, Veronica and Jughead as they tweeted:

not even the worlds most intelligent person could predict what happens in this show

Honestly, you really can’t predict Riverdale, and it's been that way since 2017, with each season being even more bonkers than the last. 

We’ve seen a lot of shows come to a close this year, including The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, possibly Ted Lasso and Succession, and I can’t help but think about how these shows all marked the end of an era, and the same can be said for Riverdale. @leylanocontext had this thought too, as they tweeted:

I literally laughed out loud when I read that, and reacted in a similar way to all the other A+ reactions about Riverdale’s finale and the surprise quad relationship that was revealed. 

It really is the end of an era now that the show inspired by Archie Comics has come to a close. If you are looking to go back and rewatch one of the most unpredictable and best teen dramas, you can stream Seasons 1 through 6 of Riverdale right now with a Netflix subscription, and you’ll be able to see its final season in full when Season 7 arrives on the streamer August 31.  

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Riley Utley
Weekend Editor

Riley Utley is the Weekend Editor at CinemaBlend. She has written for national publications as well as daily and alt-weekly newspapers in Spokane, Washington, Syracuse, New York and Charleston, South Carolina. She graduated with her master’s degree in arts journalism and communications from the Newhouse School at Syracuse University. Since joining the CB team she has covered numerous TV shows and movies -- including her personal favorite shows Ted Lasso and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. She also has followed and consistently written about everything from Taylor Swift to Fire Country, and she's enjoyed every second of it.