‘Riverdale’ Season 5’s Explosion Will Affect More Than Just Archie and Betty
Riverdale Season 6’s mid-season premiere will finally address the explosion in the season 5 finale. The season’s cliffhanger ending was placed on the back burner for the first half of season 6 as Riverdale entered an alternate dimension with its “Rivervale” event. However, as the season 6 episode 6 synopsis reveals, the explosion will come back to haunt the residents of Riverdale.
[Spoiler alert: The following story contains spoilers for Riverdale Season 5’s finale and Riverdale Season 6 Episode 5.]
Archie and Betty were caught in an explosion in the season 5 finale
The Riverdale Season 5 finale marked the end of Hiram Lodge’s (Mark Consuelos) reign of terror. Veronica Lodge (Camila Mendes) came close to killing her father, but instead chose to exile him from town. However, Hiram may have committed one last heinous act before leaving Riverdale for good — planting a bomb in Archie Andrews’ (KJ Apa) bedroom. The bomb exploded with Archie and Betty Cooper (Lili Reinhart) in the room, leaving fans to wonder about their fate.
Five episodes later, during season 6’s “Rivervale” finale, a mysterious voice called Archie and Betty to warn them before the explosion. They just barely escaped, making way for an investigation in the remainder of season 6. The episode also showed that Jughead Jones (Cole Sprouse) was in Archie’s garage at the time, so the explosion affected him, too.
‘Riverdale’ Season 6 Episode 6 will finally address the season 5 explosion
The CW has officially dropped the season 6 episode 6 synopsis ahead of its premiere later in March. According to the description, episode 6 will focus on the aftermath of the explosion and the “side effects” it has caused for Archie, Betty, and their friends. Here’s the full synopsis:
THE AFTERMATH – As news begins to spread about the bombing at the Andrew’s home, Archie (KJ Apa), Betty (Lili Reinhart) and Jughead (Cole Sprouse) begin to deal with mysterious side effects from the explosion. Elsewhere, Veronica (Camila Mendes) spirals after learning that Hiram may have been involved, and Cheryl (Madelaine Petsch) is consumed with guilt when she believes she may have had a hand in the explosion. Mädchen Amick, Casey Cott, Vanessa Morgan, Charles Melton, Erinn Westbrook and Drew Ray Tanner also star. James DeWille wrote and directed the episode.
Season 6’s mid-season trailer, as seen above, already teased some of the explosion’s effects. Apparently, Jughead will experience severe hearing loss. And, as Cole Sprouse previously revealed to Decider, hearing loss is only one of many “arcane” side effects of the bombing.
“We explore Jughead’s sensory loss within, I think, episode 6, episode 7, and we dive into that quite a bit,” he said.
Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa teases a ‘war’ in the coming episodes
In addition to the synopsis, Riverdale fans have also received plenty of teasers from series creator Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa. He started a countdown to the new episode on his Instagram account, sharing daily teaser photos. According to the captions, the town will soon prepare itself for a “war.” It seems the explosion was only the beginning of new dangers in Riverdale.
Riverdale Season 6 returns on Sunday, March 20, at 8 p.m. ET. Stay tuned to Showbiz Cheat Sheet for more updates.
