The Ending Of Riverdale Season 4 Explained
Contains spoilers for Riverdale up to and including season 4, episode 19, "Chapter Seventy-Six: Killing Mr. Honey"
Riverdale has never met a cliffhanger it didn't love, and the Riverdale season 4 finale didn't disappoint in terms of twists and spooky reveals. Confused as to what happened, and why we didn't get all of the answers we were promised this season? Looper has you covered.
After Jughead's (Cole Sprouse) fake death was over and done with, and Stonewall Prep finally left them alone, the later episodes of Riverdale season 4 found the gang focused on figuring out who kept sending them video tapes, all while butting heads against their strict new Riverdale High principal, Mr. Honey (Kerr Smith). Earlier on season 4, Cheryl (Madelaine Petsch) and Veronica started a rum business, Betty (Lili Reinhart) and Jughead started working for the FBI, and Kevin (Casey Cott) started making tickle fetish videos — all very "normal" extracurricular activities. It's actually kind of nice that the season 4 finale was about mundane things like prom and college admissions, with just a little murder and mayhem on the side. Even the Betty and Archie (KJ Apa) romance thing kind of fizzled out before the finale.
The ending we got wasn't the ending we were supposed to get, though, as filming on Riverdale season 4 was cut short because of the coronavirus pandemic. There were supposed to be more episodes of season 4 — and we will see more of what was filmed in 2020 (namely the prom episode) on season 5, according to TVLine. However, even though the finale we ended up with wasn't the one planned, there's still a lot to talk about. Here's a breakdown of the mysteries that got solved and the ones that still need answers.
We still don't know who was sending the videotapes
Unfortunately, the Rivedale season 4 finale leaves a big mystery unsolved: We still don't know who the voyeur-slash-auteur was. Sure, Principal Honey confessed to shooting and distributing at least one of these videos in order to get prom canceled. It wouldn't be Riverdale without a few red herrings and copycat criminals. But the real culprit is still out there. They got creepier, too. On the last couple of season 4 episodes, the "auteur" upped his game, switching from surveillance footage to recreations of crimes committed all over Riverdale: Betty attacking Jughead, Midge (Emilija Baranac) getting murdered during the school musical, and Jason Blossom's (Trevor Stines) death, to name a few. Just like the Black Hood, this person seems bent on making Riverdale citizens face the skeletons in their closets.
It still could be Mr. Honey, to be honest. He could easily have confessed to being a copycat and then sent a glowing recommendation for Jughead to the University of Iowa to make himself seem innocent. If we've learned one thing from the Black Hood and the Gargoyle King, it's that cases in Riverdale are never closed.
What did any of this have to do with American Psycho, by the way? Not enough! Riverdale season 4 featured a character named Bret Weston Wallis (Sean Depner), an homage to American Psycho author Bret Easton Ellis. It also implemented the use of "videotapes," American Psycho protagonist Patrick Bateman's favorite pastime-slash-alibi, as a plot device. One would think that this was leading to some kind of serial killer reveal, but it hasn't... yet.
The last videotape features a murder that only happened in Jughead's head... sort of
As its title spells out, the Riverdale season 4 finale featured a number of revenge fantasies about killing Mr. Honey, which ended up just being part of something Jughead was writing for a college admission portfolio. In one draft of Jug's story, Archie, Betty, Jughead, Veronica, Cheryl, and Reggie (Charles Melton) all conspired to kill their principal. But Mr. Honey (and Reggie, for what it's worth) only died in Jughead's story, not in real life. (This season of Riverdale had very few actual deaths, surprisingly.) Plus, after reading the aforementioned recommendation letter and coming to the conclusion that Mr. Honey wasn't so bad after all, Jughead rewrote the ending so that they survived.
So why was the videotape that Jug and Betty found in a cabin at the end of the finale a recreation of that imagined murder? The voyeur either knows what Jughead was writing, or overheard the group talking in the student lounge about killing Honey. Does that mean that the person behind all of this creepy intimidation is one of the group's members or close friends? Sure seems like it.
When Riverdale returns for season 5, there will be a big time jump after prom that takes Archie and the gang out of high school and allows the cast to play their actual ages. Hopefully some of these mysteries will be solved at that time. At least Riverdale has given fans plenty to think about while they wait.