Riverdale Season 6 Finale Recap: A Doomsday Disaster, A Marriage Proposal… And A Fresh Start?

A whole crowd went in Riverdaleseason finale of , when a deadly comet drew near… and life for Archie and company will never be the same.

To catch you up: A comet sent by Percival is heading straight for Riverdale, and he also added a force field preventing anyone from leaving town. (“I’m so happy I moved here as a sophomore,” Veronica quips.) Archie is determined to dig a tunnel around the force field, and Cheryl thinks she knows someone who can undo Percival’s spell. Oh, Sabrina again? No, this time they turn to Cheryl’s ancestor, Abigail Blossom, who explains that since it’s made of ice, Cheryl can simply use her fiery phoenix powers to melt the comet. (Why didn’t we think of that?) But in return, she wants to reunite with her beloved Thomasina.

Cheryl tells the others that she can melt the comet, but it might take all of her powers – which would mean any people she revived could die again. (You know, Archie, Jughead, Toni, Fangs… about half the cast, basically.) She’s also asking Toni a favor: They need to let Abigail and Thomasina inhabit their bodies so they can spend another night together “in the flesh.” (It’s not really cheating, Fangs. She was obsessed!) She reluctantly agrees, and Cheryl and Toni allow their bodies to be taken over by Abigail and Thomasina, who happily use them to sleep together in the In addition, Archie’s mother comes to visit – terrible timing – and he confesses to Veronica that he wants to propose to Betty (!) and needs help to get a ring. Ask your old friend to get you a ring to to propose to your new girlfriend: embarrassing, but who cares, the world is ending.

Once alone with Betty, Archie gets on one knee and asks, “We may not have much time, but I know what I want to do with it. Marry me.” She is touched, but she reminds him that a big old comet is about to destroy her town. She remembers when he asked her to marry him when they were children and she said, asking her to ask again when they’re 18. Well, “ask me again after Cheryl melts that comet,” and everything’s back to normal, she says.He can accept that…and is more determined than ever about this force field. Also, Cheryl and Toni wake up in bed together after Abigail and Thomasina leave their bodies and they don’t remember what happened – do they? Oh, and Abigail gives Cheryl a tangled rope with a thousand knots in it, and once resolved, Percival’s force field is broken.

Jughead and Tabitha spend their last hours on Earth watching titanic together – he has never seen it; it’s one of her favorites; it’s pretty sweet — and he encourages her to take Alexandra Cabot’s proposal to franchise Pop’s and take it nationally. Thanks to Tabitha’s time travel abilities, they also have a lifetime end date where they see them raising children and growing old together. Betty gets an offer to run the FBI’s serial killer unit with Agent Drake, but she turns it down, saying she’s “walking toward the light.” She also changes her mind and proposes marriage to Archie, which he happily accepts. (Aw!) Also, Heather breaks up with Cheryl after realizing that “you and Toni are soul mates forever.” (Whoa!) And Veronica signs the casino with Reggie… and then has an epiphany while looking at a portrait of her father Hiram.

Veronica calls everyone to share her idea: since her power allows her to absorb other people’s energy, she believes she can absorb everyone’s superpowers and pass them on to Cheryl to use for the Great Comet Showdown strengthen, and then maybe the resurrected people will win. don’t die again! Sure, why not? They all cut their palms with Percival’s magical dagger and hold hands while passing their powers to Veronica, who passes them to Cheryl with a kiss. Suddenly, Cheryl can see auras, shrug off bullets, and read minds. She is super duper driven! She zaps through a portal and the Riverdale residents all sing Billie Eilish’s “The End of the World” as the comet slams into Pops. Heather finally untangles the knotted rope and Cheryl summons her full phoenix powers, levitating and chanting a spell directly at the comet as it approaches…

So what happened? Well, as Jughead explains, the plan worked: Cheryl saved her from the comet and Riverdale survived. But things look a little different: Archie wakes up in a retro 1950s world, puts on his old Letterman jacket and goes downstairs for breakfast, where his mother tells him that James Dean just died. What?! Yes, Cheryl’s actions have kind of taken her back to 1955 – and they’re all back in high school! “To survive, we may have had to go back to a simpler time,” muses Jughead in his old-school coronet…and he’s the only one in town who remembers what life was like before the comet.

In order, Riverdale Fans: Rate the finale in our poll, then grab a spot in the comments to share your thoughts.