In case you haven’t noticed, Riverdale is weird. It’s a weird show. It doesn’t fit in, and much like its protagonist Jughead Jones, it doesn’t wanna fit in. The show’s seventh and final season, which premieres Wednesday on the CW, will take the mind-bending teen series to the 1950s. At this point, that’s hardly a shock; we’ve already watched Archie Andrews and the gang battle criminals, the Jingle Jangle drug trade, cults, bears, Mothmen, their parents, and, of course, themselves. Some characters have even picked up a few superpowers along the way. (If you tuned out a few seasons ago, you’ve missed a lot.)
Given how quickly Riverdale burns through plot, many of these shocking moments came, went, and might already be forgotten. A few, however, have been so ingeniously ridiculous, so brilliantly absurd, that they’ve come to define the series and its brand of “weirdo” energy. For instance: Remember the time we found out that Cheryl Blossom was having tea parties with her dead brother’s preserved corpse? Here, for your perusal, are the bizarre story arcs, plot details, and twists that have made Riverdale “Riverdale.”