Riverdale season 7 episode 20 (finale) recap: What happened to Betty Cooper?

Riverdale season 7 episode 20 recently aired on CW, delivering a heartfelt and emotional series finale after a long run. The episode, titled Goodbye Riverdale, flashes forward 67 years and shows the future versions of the beloved characters. While most of them have passed away after leading peaceful and loving lives, Betty Cooper wishes to take a dive down memory lane one last time.

The final episode discloses shocking secrets, which is a specialty the mystery drama holds, in a memory/dream sequence through 86-year-old Betty, who intends to visit Riverdale after learning of Jughead's demise from the newspaper. She is then given the chance to revisit one day in her life and decides to go back to the final day of high school and the dance she missed because of mumps.

An official synopsis for Riverdale season 7 episode 20 states:

"Back in present day and longing for her former life in Riverdale, 86-year-old Betty turns to a special friend to help her relive her last day of senior year."

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Riverdale season 7 finale delivers an emotional flashback into the lives of all characters until the end of their lives

The finale episode of Riverdale season 7 shows that Betty Cooper is the only member of Riverday High to be alive 67 years in the future. Betty is 86 years old and learns of Jughead's recent death. Following this, she tells her granddaughter Alice to drive her to Riverdale one last time.

That night, Betty has a dream of young Jughead, who offers to take her back in time to one day. She chooses the final day of high school and the dance she missed as she had mumps. The events that follow take viewers through the grown-up lives of the other characters.

Polly had twin babies and lived happily with her family. Meanwhile, Fangs married Midge and was on a summer tour when his bus crashed in the Rocky Mountains four weeks later. Fangs died in the accident, leaving Midge as a single parent.

Clay attended Columbia before becoming a professor there, and Kevin went to NYU and eventually started an off-broadway theater company. The duo lived together in Harlem, New York. Kevin died in his sleep at the age of 82. A few weeks later, Clay also died on a bench in Central Park in the Riverdale season 7 finale.

Toni and Cheryl moved to California and lived as artists and activists. The latter was a successful painter, and the two even had a son named Dale before dying peacefully.

Elsewhere, Reggie played basketball at Kansas State before getting drafted by the Lakers and later returning to Riverdale High as a coach. He got married and had two sons, one of whom still runs the used car dealership called Mantle Motors.

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Betty Cooper reminisces about her four-way relationship and dies in Pop's parking lot in the Riverdale season 7 finale

The Riverdale season 7 finale also reveals a steamy four-way relationship between Betty, Jughead, Archie, and Veronica. The quad relationship lasted for a year, during which all four of them swapped their romantic partners each evening. But long story short, none of them end up with each other.

Veronica returned to Los Angeles after graduation. There, she became an acclaimed movie producer and won two Oscars. She died there and was buried in Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Betty attended a couple of her premieres, but the two failed to stay in touch.

Meanwhile, Archie became a successful construction worker and, while saying goodbye to Betty, told her he "always felt that it would be you and me at the end of the road. It started with us, didn't it? A boy and a girl next door to each other." But that's not the way things happened for them.

Archie stayed in California, where he met someone amazing and settled down with his family before becoming a professional construction worker. After his death, he was buried in Riverdale next to his father.

Jughead also moved to New York City and started Jughead's Madhouse Magazine. Betty also shifted to New York and started She Says Magazine, often described as the "go-to source for feminist and progressive causes." Neither of them got married, but Betty adopted a daughter, Carla, and now has Alice as her granddaughter.

Betty dies in the backseat of the car with Alice, who was driving her back to Riverdale, as they pull into the parking lot at Pop's. The concluding scene of the Riverdale season 7 finale is a flashback to the life of teenage Betty. She is seen walking into Pop's, where all her friends are waiting for her. She joins Jughead, Veronica, and Archie in a booth where they share some milkshakes.

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Riverdale season 7 finale aired on CW on August 23, 2023.