19 of Riverdale’s Best Moments So Far

If you ask even the biggest fans of Riverdale to describe season 3 of the series, many would immediately think of the word crazy. That sentiment wouldn’t be wrong, either. There have been some genuinely twisted moments in the first half of this season – but it’s only drawn all of us in closer.

We’re tuning into the series every week to find out what happens next, and we’re tweeting like crazy with fans around the world as our favorite characters endure some of their most intense storylines ever.

In addition to the craziness this season – the twists, drama, and romance in Riverdale are enough to keep us all on our toes.

As we look forward to pop culture in 2019, we’re especially excited about what’s to come with Riverdale. We know, however, that you can’t anticipate the future without embracing the past, so today, that’s what we’re doing.

After a thorough Riverdale rewatch during our downtime this holiday season, we’ve compiled 19 moments in Riverdale so far that have topped our best moments list.

*This list includes moments from season 3, so if you’re not caught up yet…you may want to skip it.*

The great

Jughead putting on the Serpent jacket

Maybe we shouldn’t have enjoyed this as much as we did, but Jughead looks like a total badass in his Serpent jacket and we’re here for it. While the Serpents showing up did ruin a moment for Jughead and Betty, it was a necessary evil – that moment was important and it had to happen when it did.

Dark Betty

Once again…maybe we should have enjoyed this less, but we can get behind Betty exploring her dark side. She’s got this ‘darkness’ inside of her and she’s had a hard time finding a balance for it. The dark betty that we’ve seen probably isn’t as dark as she thinks, but when you’re trying to make sense of everything she’s balancing – we can understand why having another persona would be an escape, especially when it’s just another side of yourself that you’ve not yet uncovered.

Jughead and Betty’s first kiss

Not only did the scene start with Jughead saying ‘Hey there, Juliet’ as he climbed into her window (we’re swooning), it was a really sweet moment for their first kiss to happen. The two had been working together for days, learning more about what makes the other tic, and this was the result of the build-up between them. It was one of our favorite tv series first kisses, honestly.

Cheryl starting that fire

Cheryl has experienced a few moments in the series so far where she’s just done taking everyone’s crap. She spent a lot of her life timid, in certain circumstances, but her personality is changing as it seems like her blinders are slowly coming off. Her picture-perfect family had darker secrets than she ever could have imagined – and when she slowly began to unearth them – she’d had enough.

So, she set fire to Thornhill.

We get it.

Veronica standing up to her dad

This wasn’t one moment specifically, it was more like the sum of some moments put together, but when Veronica started to realize who her father was, she started to realize that the riches and jewelry and beautiful lifestyle she was used to weren’t worth concealing his deep secrets.

Changes in her personality, her confidence, and her way of handling business have all taken her to a level he never expected her to reach – especially without him.

Does this mean he’s working overtime? Yes, but Veronica is equipped to handle it. In fact, we’re really looking forward to her being part of his unraveling.

Alice revisited her Serpent roots

Alice Cooper can really work our nerves if we’re being honest, but when she showed up to that social gathering looking like some type of Serpent goddess, we cheered! She’s had her fair share of being shunned by society and she’d simply had enough. Get it girl.

The Bughead and Varchie cabin trip

There was a little bit of tension under the surface before and at the start of this cabin trip – especially with Betty and Archie having shared a kiss, but the trip itself brought them closer as individuals and as couples. It strengthened the bond between them. Now, there was definitely some drama with that whole break-in thing, and Veronica’s dad sending them there because he was being shady, but all things considered – the good outweighed the bad there.

Cheryl and Toni

We couldn’t pick a moment between them, so we’re just saying that their relationship in general is one of our favorite things about the series. They’re a bit of yin and yang, they even each other out, they’re both spitfires in their own way but they’ve got this reserved sweet side that they save for the other and it’s really sweet to see. Cheryl seems grounded when Toni is around, and that’s something she deserves – especially with all the insanity she usually deals with. Plus, they look so cute together, how could you not be rooting for them?

THAT FP moment at Betty’s house

We don’t even have to explain this moment to you because we know you know exactly what we’re talking about. When Betty saw the Gargoyle king in her home and we had major Scream flashbacks. Not only was Alice making popcorn, just like in the Scream movie, FP also came in through the window just as Billy did in the film. Coincidence? Clever storytelling? No matter what you took it as – we loved it.

Plus…Skeet Ulrich is smokin.

Betty, the Griffin Queen

Betty looked awesome as she stepped into her role as the Griffin Queen. Of course, it was just part of the ploy to get the girls out from under the brainwashing and terror of ‘The Sisters’, but she wore the robe well. This could mean something bigger in the future, in fact, we’re expecting it to. The Griffin Queen is such a new part of the storyline, though, we’ll just have to wait and see how it plays out.

Veronica opening the speakeasy

This was sort of in the realm of Veronica standing up to her dad, but it was also a big moment all on it’s own. Veronica opened a speakeasy and she did it on her own terms. Of course, she had to pull some strings to make it happen, but those strings were even pulled when and how Veronica wanted them pulled. She’s incredible, and we loved this for her.

The entire flashback episode

The flashback episode was so much fun to watch. Not only did we learn more about the origins of G&G and why it’s so interwoven into Riverdale, we got to see the characters we love take on the roles of their parents. Seeing the relationships from their perspective put a lot of things into perspective for us. It’s easy to shake your head and call all the Riverdale parents crazy, but they’ve all experienced a lot, too.

The not so great…

Veronica’s dad just being himself

Hiram Lodge is the literal worst, so it comes as no surprise that we can’t stand him for more reasons than we have time to name. He’s sleazy, he’s sneaky, he’s all around terrible and we don’t like him one bit.

Betty’s dad being Blackhood

This was a pretty awful dad situation thing too. Betty’s dad lost it after a speech she gave at the town hall, although – let’s face it…he lost it long before that, and he fully transformed into a psycho murderer. He wanted to rid Riverdale of its sins, well…becoming Blackhood was probably the least effective way to make that happen but to each their own.

That incest twist

This was not something we were expecting, in the slightest. Jason and Polly were cousins, and the twins…they were born of incest. It’s really sad that their families were so twisted that this is where we’ve ended up, but the show wouldn’t exist without that craziness. Jason won’t ever be able to speak for himself, what he knew, or what he felt – but we do hope to learn a little more about him as time goes on.

Archie’s dad almost dying

This was terrible for a lot of reasons. First, we thought we were about to lose Pop. We have no time for that. Then, we weren’t sure if Fred or Archie got shot, and when we realized that it was Fred…we thought he was a goner for sure.

The scenes where he was suffering from the gunshot wound were hard to watch. Fred was seeing his life for what it could have been – without him. Talk about heartbreaking.

Jughead almost dying

Jughead got beat to a pulp, more than one time, and we were scared he might end up dead. Not only did he get nearly obliterated, during the Serpent initiation, he thought he’d lost Betty for good – so it wouldn’t have surprised us if that made it easy for him to just give up. The second time, he really did almost die.

Seeing FP carry his nearly lifeless body out of the woods was insanely hard to watch, then, we got the super zoom in of FP’s face and the tears in his eyes were the breaking point for us.

Of course, our favorite beanie crown wearing Serpent is alive and well, but we still don’t like to talk about it.

Archie getting stabbed (and almost dying)

These almost dying things really add up when you’re making a list, don’t they? Archie almost died because of of…drumroll, please…Hiram Lodge. At least, he was at the core of everything bad that happened to Archie when he was in juvie. We know it was Joaquin who stabbed him, and he was under the spell of the game, but Archie wouldn’t have been there at all if it weren’t for Hiram.

Back on topic, though, Archie getting stabbed, getting weaker, and barely making it out alive was hard to watch. We think we covered our eyes with our hands for most of that episode.

Joaquin actually dying

Look, we’re not over this and we don’t see ourselves getting over it anytime soon. Joaquin was a favorite for us. Yes…we know he stabbed Archie and we totally hated him for a few moments, but it was clear that he was under the influence of that terrible game and he wasn’t the same Joaquin when that happened. There was an emptiness in his eyes, almost like he tried to turn off his emotions because he knew what he had to do.

We could, obviously, talk about this all day – but we digress. Point of the story is, he didn’t deserve to die and seeing him all blue lipped was a real damper on our Joaquin parade.

What moments from Riverdale have stood out the most to you? Did we skip over any shocking and jaw-dropping scenes? Let us know.