Riverdale Season 3 Finale: 8 Ups & 3 Downs From 'Survive The Night'

1. The Stakes

For a show that prides itself on murder mysteries and whodunits, Riverdale should understand the importance of stakes. Yet, for some reason, there are times when it just doesn't feel like the gravity of these unnerving situations weigh enough on the characters and, as a result, they often come across as being indifferent to the line between life and death. Thankfully, there was none of that indifference in the finale.

Will Archie defeat the beastly warrior? Can B & V's friendship overcome chalices of poison? Will the core four manage to make it out of the woods alive? These were all questions that we found ourselves asking throughout the episode because, for the first time in far too long, it felt like there was really something to fight for and, more troublingly, a lot to lose.

Riverdale's characters tend to shine when their backs are against the wall - and this was another classic example of that. Whether it was down to the personal connotations of each quest, or just the disturbing environment, the stakes truly felt like they were higher than ever in 'Survive The Night'.

Raising those stakes instantly raised the quality of the episode and, as a result, no character felt like they were simply going through the motions any more - they were giving it their all to stay alive. This, in turn, made us all root for them a lot more than usual.

Now, for the negatives...