Spoilers ahead of the Riverdale season 6 “Rivervale” event!
Riverdale season 6 dropped us into the alternate universe “Rivervale” at its start. While Betty and Archie were together like they had been in the season 5 finale, the bomb threat they were under magically turned into a nightmare Archie had been having in “Chapter Ninety-Six: Welcome to Rivervale.”
The two lovingly discussed their plans for a family, forgoing marriage entirely because of the poor examples of married life they’d grown up with but they very much wanted to have a child together.
Upon learning that she’s incapable of carrying her own child due to a lack of viable eggs, Betty found herself accepting Cheryl’s assistance. In exchange for helping her womb to quicken, Betty wouldn’t stand in Cheryl’s way when she ritually sacrificed Archie in the name of the Maple Maiden.
It was a strange twist that seemingly did result in Betty becoming pregnant after she fed Archie the sin pie Cheryl made and they slept together on the dining room table prior to his sacrifice.
Further puzzling was Betty’s lack of reaction in the aftermath of Archie’s death in “Chapter Ninety-Seven: Ghost Stories” as if he’d simply gone off for a few days. Even his appearance on the side of a milk carton with a missing announcement had us scratching our heads.
As did the reveal that Betty may have never been pregnant and that instead she’d experienced a hysterical pregnancy. It is, however, unclear if that’s true because La Llorona, the spirit haunting Rivervale, can also take a child in the womb.
Since “Rivervale” dropped Betty’s pregnancy storyline beyond that episode, it seems that plot point is in the ether. Eventually, Archie did somehow resurrect in “Rivervale” which put the story on an entirely different path.
Do Betty and Archie break-up in the Riverdale season 6 “Rivervale” event?
When we’re reunited with Betty and Archie as a couple in “Chapter One Hundred: The Jughead Paradox,” Archie’s death is described as a dream Betty had. It’s revealed early on in the episode that they’re engaged and that they’re wedding is this coming weekend.
True to “Rivervale” form, everything we’d seen from previous episodes was tossed out the window. The difference this time, however, is that Rivervale’s Jughead is now aware that he’s in a parallel universe.
He shows his friends proof and is determined to get to the bottom of everything. Still, this is done in a way that doesn’t negate Barchie’s coming nuptials.
They still have their bachelor and bachelorette parties at Babylonia as well as their rehearsal dinner at Pop’s. They even go on with their wedding plans despite the mounting death toll around them that includes Cheryl Blossom and two versions of Reggie Mantle.
However, once Jughead skips Betty and Archie’s wedding, the “Rivervale” train begins to derail even more.
He’d planned to meet Veronica at Archie’s house so that they could recreate the events that led to Rivervale’s birth. This way they could stop both Riverdale and Rivervale from imploding even though it meant their pocket reality would be erased.
What Jughead hadn’t accounted for was Archie being Rivervale’s Big Bad or rather its serial killer who wants to keep Rivervale as it is just in case the rules of this universe allow his father to be resurrected and he can see him again.
Archie attempts to kill Jughead but, in a not so surprising turn of events, Betty shoots her fiancé in the head in order to save Jug’s life. She’s in her wedding dress and says that you never leave a Cooper woman at the altar.
Along with Jughead and Rivervale’s Narrator Jughead, Betty manages to save both Riverdale and Rivervale even as Archie tries to stop them. Once Jughead resets the events of what happened, a version of himself and Betty head down to Archie’s dining room where their friends are gathered.
They’ve completely forgotten what had transpired and walk over to their respective partners, Archie and Tabitha, as Jughead is writing on his typewriter to keep Rivervale alive and well. It’s also Jughead who calls Riverdale’s Betty so that she and Archie can get out of the house in time before the bomb goes off.
So in both Riverdale and Rivervale, Barchie are together. When speaking to Nerds of Color early on in the “Rivervale” event, showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa did tease that Betty and Archie would be “fulfilling their destiny.”
That could mean all the marriage, family, and baby talk in “Rivervale” is likely to come up now that we’re firmly back in Riverdale including Archie’s belief that his father would love the idea of Betty and him getting married. How Betty feels about it, however, could be complicated.
It’ll be interesting to see whether or not Barchie can dismantle this perfect image of what they think they should be in order to figure out who they want to be to each other and what they want their relationship to look-like even if it isn’t the white picket fence with 2.5 kids and a dog.
All five episodes of the Riverdale season 6 “Rivervale” event will be available to stream on The CW app and cwtv.com by Wednesday, Dec. 15.
