Riverdale's Jughead Jones is still very much alive
Just as Riverdale's Cole Sprouse and Lili Reinhart confirmed their off-screen romance, we encountered the show's most horrid scene, and a heart-wrenching Jughead Jones performance, in last week's episode 'Judgement Night'.
Jughead Jones, played by Cole Sprouse, was beaten to an apparent death by members of rival gang the Ghoulies, led by the villainous Serpent Penny Peabody. To avoid the conflict orchestrated by Riverdale's mafia kingpin and Veronica Lodge's (Camila Mendes) father, Hiram Lodge, Jughead Jones heroically gets himself brutally beaten up.
At the end of the episode, when FP Jones, his father, carries an unconscious and lifeless Jughead in his arms, the fans were left wondering if this was the end of their beloved Jughead. Adding fuel to the fire, Cole Sprouse took to Twitter and wrote a cryptic tweet following the episode, sparking even more debates among his fans.
There was immense speculation after the episode aired, and Cole Sprouse's tweet and the trailer for the upcoming episode offered no clarity on the fate of Jughead. Arguably, there is enough evidence to back both sides of the argument.
For now, it looks like it is up to us to decide if Jughead lives or dies. After all, it is a make-believe world till the time we watch the next episode.
The teaser trailer at first cements the theory that Jughead is really dead as we see Betty Cooper (Lili Reinhart), Veronica Lodge and Archie Andrews (KJ Apa) standing in front of a grave while Betty clenches Jughead's beanie.
However, in the same trailer, there's evidence that Jughead made it out alive. At least alive enough to bestow Cheryl Blossom with a red Serpents jacket. What further backs his longevity that he is the narrator of the series and, without him, there is no one to tell the story.
Also, here is the summary for episode 22 - Brave New World, "Elsewhere, Cheryl (Madelaine Petsch) finalizes her emancipation from her mother, while FP (Skeet Ulrich) makes a surprising announcement to Jughead and the Serpents.”
If this doesn't convince you that Jughead is alive, we don't know what will.