If you started watching Riverdale and quickly became a fan, expecting a noir-tinged teen thriller with mysteries worthy of a good amateur detective, you might have been surprised (or completely lost) as the episodes aired. What began as a drama about the murder of Jason Blossom soon shifted focus to parallel realities, secret cults, random musicals, and even superpowers. Yes, all of that happened – and it’s not an exaggeration. Over seven seasons, the show became known not for what it was initially meant to be, but for pushing the boundaries of logic, blending genres, and constantly reinventing its characters. In one moment, everything seemed straightforward, and in the next, it turned into complete nonsense.
But with so many twists and turns, some episodes truly stood out as the most bizarre, weird, and sometimes just inexplicable. Here’s a list of seven of Riverdale‘s many surreal moments, and before you start questioning your own sanity or wondering if this really aired, yes, it did.
“Chapter Thirty-One: A Night to Remember” (Season 2, Episode 18)
Riverdale has had a tradition of musical episodes – which is already bizarre enough, considering the show’s original premise presented in the first episodes. This all began in Season 2, when an entire chapter was dedicated to adapting Carrie: The Musical, based on Stephen King’s work. The students of Riverdale High put on the theatrical production, and as they rehearse, personal tensions and some secrets come to the surface, reflecting the dark themes of the play itself. The episode culminates in tragedy when Midge Klump is murdered, and her body is displayed on stage during the performance, shocking everyone.
While the death itself isn’t that far from what we’ve come to expect from the show, seeing all those characters unexpectedly burst into song throughout the episode is just too surprising. It feels like one big collective outburst, and to soften the impact, we almost wish it were just a dream of one of them. Unfortunately, it wasn’t.
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“Chapter Thirty-Seven: Fortune and Men’s Eyes” (Season 3, Episode 2)
Season 3 is basically the beginning of what Riverdale would start to become, almost like a preparation for the audience. This episode has Betty and Jughead investigating the mystery of the Gargoyle King, uncovering connections to the game “Griffins & Gargoyles.” However, it also marks the start of Archie’s imprisonment after being wrongfully convicted of a crime he didn’t commit. Inside the juvenile detention center, he finds himself caught between rival factions. And it’s in this arc that things get really weird, because the series goes all in by putting on an American football match between the inmates, with Veronica, Cheryl, and the Vixens showing up dressed as cheerleaders, ready to sing and dance to Elvis Presley’s “Jailhouse Rock.”
It might even be understandable, since at that point Veronica is Archie’s girlfriend and wants to see him, but what’s the point of dancing and singing for the inmates? It’s not even a scene that fits into anything else; it’s simply dropped in out of nowhere, just to lift the prisoners’ spirits. The authorities don’t even step in. The most likely explanation? Yet another eccentric musical number – this time, one that’s forced and completely disconnected from the narrative.
“Chapter Eighty-Three: Fire in the Sky” (Season 5, Episode 7)
The last three seasons of Riverdale have been packed with bizarre and offbeat elements, and here, it’s all about the show’s genre. At the start, you thought everything was a thriller, but by this point, you realize that even the tone is going to start shifting (almost as if the creator got tired of the original premise). In one of the episodes of Season 5, Archie decides to reopen Riverdale’s volunteer fire department, Veronica begins drawing up a plan to support the town’s local businesses, and Jughead and Tabitha start investigating an old mystery involving UFO sightings and urban legends, among other things.
Suddenly, more realistic themes like murder and adolescence take a back seat, making way for a scenario where conspiracy theories and the supernatural take center stage. From here on out, it’s clear that anything can happen, and nothing seems off-limits. Plus, this particular episode is a mess, with multiple plots unfolding at once and a ton of information being thrown at the audience: the economy, a serial killer, mysterious creatures, a dance competition, and volunteer firefighters. Nothing seems to make sense.
“Chapter One Hundred and One: Unbelievable” (Season 6, Episode 6)
Perhaps this is where it all started to unravel. Up until that point, Riverdale had some pretty crazy episodes, but they still managed to keep some people watching with a glimmer of hope. However, once the characters start gaining superpowers, it’s hard to believe that a series inspired by Twin Peaks has completely lost its way. In this episode, after an explosion at Archie’s house, the characters begin developing supernatural abilities like super strength, pyrokinesis, and mind-reading, to name a few. Not only that, even Archie’s dog manifests a healing factor similar to Wolverine’s.
The introduction of superpowers turns the series from a teen drama into a sci-fi/supernatural show in the blink of an eye. The transition is abrupt and fails to be convincingly woven into the story. The random attribution of specific powers to each character, without any solid explanation, cranks the surrealism up to a level that makes it impossible for even the most loyal fan to ignore the absurdity and not voice their frustration with the production.
“Chapter One Hundred and Three: The Town” (Season 6, Episode 18)
In Season 6, we can’t forget the villain Percival Pickens, who did perhaps the only thing Riverdale hadn’t tackled up until then: he cast plagues on the town. In this episode, there’s an invasion of frogs, clouds of lice, flies, and almost biblical events. Not surprisingly, many characters die – which isn’t all that shocking anymore, if that’s what the show was going for. What does leave an impact is the fact that they are resurrected by Sabrina Spellman, who brings them back to life and sends them to an alternate dimension where they live an afterlife without even realizing it. But aside from that, in the grand scheme of things, everyone seems to accept that Riverdale is simply going through the end times. It’s a scenario of destruction and hopelessness, almost like Apocalypse Now for teen audiences.
To be more specific, the plagues are directly inspired by the plagues of Egypt, only set in suburban America. The villain is basically a warlock, and the town is undergoing a supernatural collapse, but the most bizarre part is that the characters continue to worry about their school routines and relationships. At this point, the series feels like fanfiction on a budget. If Riverdale used to be dark and realistic, now it’s a biblical soap opera with young people in leather jackets.
“Chapter One Hundred and Seventeen: Night of the Comet” (Season 6, Episode 22)
At this point, with the characters aware of their superpowers and the fact that everything is a parallel reality, something happens: a comet called Bailey’s Comet. Since Riverdale lost all sense of coherence by Season 6, how can the town be saved from destruction? Everyone transfers their powers to Cheryl through a ritual involving a magic dagger and a kiss. She then uses the combined powers, and as a result, the timeline is reset, causing the characters to wake up in 1955, but with only Jughead remembering the previous events. Fantasy? Yes. Sci-fi? Also.
This is one of the most absurd episodes, and it might even raise the bar for absurdity. It’s not that this kind of story doesn’t have potential, it’s just that it came out of nowhere, without any regard for the original purpose of the series. If before, the show had been heading toward a more unusual plot, here, it felt like the writers just barged in with both feet in the door. It’s narrative maximalism, and not in a good way. At this point, Riverdale has turned into a pop mythology where anything can happen – and, of course, it does.
“Chapter One Hundred Thirty-Seven: Goodbye, Riverdale” (Season 7, Episode 20)
After everything, the ending of Riverdale couldn’t possibly be basic. The last episode shows Betty at 86, reflecting on her life and the fates of her friends. She’s the last survivor of the original group. Then, before she passes away, a version of Jughead appears and offers her the chance to relive her last day of high school – a day she missed due to illness. Betty accepts, and alongside him, she relives that special day. The idea is a powerful metaphor for regret and the desire to right wrongs. But the execution of this concept, in a series that has already ventured into the supernatural and surreal, feels like the icing on the cake of bizarreness.
The show closes after having gone from 0 to 100 too quickly. The endings are unconventional, with no couple ending up together, despite countless exchanges with everyone having had a relationship at some point. Also, Cheryl and Toni have fates that go beyond what was expected, living as artists and activists in the West, for example. Ultimately, when you reach the end of it all, it doesn’t come as a shock – after all, the viewer has already gotten used to the direction Riverdale took. Still, if you try to look at it from another angle, it’s the kind of series you’ll never truly understand, no matter how much time passes.
Riverdale is available to stream on Netflix.
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