‘Riverdale’: Archie’s Fate Revealed

The season premiere of Riverdale finally arrived on Oct. 10 to set up a season full of drama and mystery, and judging by the last few minutes of the episode, it definitely delivered.

Warning — spoilers ahead for Riverdale season 3, episode 1!

One of the main cliffhangers going into season 3 after the season 2 finale was the fate of Archie Andrews (KJ Apa), who had been framed for murder by Hiram Lodge (Mark Consuelos).

The season 3 premiere spent a majority of its time focused on Archie‘s court case, which found the teen represented by his mom, Mary Andrews (Molly Ringwald), and the town’s former mayor Sierra McCoy (Robin Givens).

On the opposite side of the fence was district attorney Ms. Wright (Penelope Ann Miller), who delivered a speech to the jury in which she pointed out Archie’s past misdeeds as indications that he would be perfectly capable of killing someone, though viewers know Archie is innocent of the crime he has been accused of.

Wright’s speech was followed by Mary’s, who told the jury that her son “constantly puts the needs of others ahead of his own.”

Ultimately, the women’s words were for naught, as the jury was deadlocked and could not reach a verdict. Because of this, the judge was preparing to declare a mistrial when Wright announced that the prosecution would be willing to offer a deal for a lesser sentence in lieu of another trial. She then gave Archie the option of accepting time served plus two years in juvenile detention instead of prison, should he plead guilty to the murder her was accused of.

In classic Archie fashion, despite protestations from literally everyone around him and absolutely no consultation with his mom/lawyer, Archie took the deal, telling Mary, “I can’t put you and everyone else through this again.” This meant that he was immediately shipped off to a juvenile detention center, riding a bus to his new destination with handcuffs on his wrists and ankles.

If his family has anything to say about it, however, he won’t be there long, as Riverdale‘s gang of dads — Fred Andrews (Luke Perry) FP Jones (Skeet Ulrich) and Tom Keller (Martin Cummins) — quickly formed after the trial to prepare to free Archie by the apparent means of taking down Hiram.

Also in the episode, Betty’s (Lili Reinhart) family got even more involved with creepy possible cult The Farm, Veronica (Camila Mendes) declared to her father that he no longer had a daughter after Archie was sent away, and Jughead (Cole Sprouse) found himself at the starting point of a terrifying mystery involving a figure known as the Gargoyle King.

Riverdale airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on The CW.

Photo Credit: The CW