The future seemed bleak for Archie & Betty after Hiram Lodge planted a bomb under Archie’s bed in the explosive Riverdale Season 5 finale.

The future appears uncertain for Archie & Betty following the explosive Riverdale season 5 finale. Following the break-up the previous week of Archie and Veronica, relationship dynamics took on new forms as Jughead and Tabitha made it official, Veronica hooked up with Reggie, and Archie and Betty decided to make another go at it. But when the next-door neighbors took their passion to Archie's bedroom, they found a bomb underneath the bed - one planted by Veronica's father, Hiram Lodge.

Hiram made his disdain for Archie crystal clear earlier when he blamed Archie for turning Veronica against him. In fact, Hiram went one step too far. After the gang discovered Hiram Lodge's scheme to hire the ghoulies to torch Pop's Diner and planned to take over Riverdale, it was all hands on deck to finally put Hiram out to pasture. Riverdale exiled their former mayor never to return, but not before giving him a head start before Betty gave the FBI clear evidence implicating Hiram for murder.

But Hiram has never been one to go quietly, and his decision to plant a bomb in Archie's house fits perfectly with his vengeful personality. Broken up or not, Hiram knew Archie was the love of Veronica's life. Taking Archie and Betty out doesn't just eliminate the person Hiram blamed for driving a wedge between him and his daughter. Making sure that Archie and Betty are dead also kills Veronica's friend, giving Hiram the ultimate psychological victory over Veronica for turning on him. However, with Mark Consuelos announced as stepping down as a series regular following season 5, it's hard to believe Riverdale would take out two more main characters as well. The chances of Archie and Betty surviving to season 6 appear more than likely, but that doesn't mean it won't come without a cost.

One cost was already pretty evident: as Hiram drove his car out of town for the last time, the camera rose over the city to reveal an all-consuming column of smoke rising from the heart of Riverdale. But was it Archie's house? Betty was diffusing bombs with bobby pins long before becoming a fully-fledged FBI agent, so there's most likely a bait and switch in play. If Betty managed to deactivate the bomb from Riverdale's season 5 finale, the smoke plume resulted from a second explosive planted by Hiram. Archie and Betty may very well escape unscathed, but the same probably won't be said for every face in Riverdale, and the show gave a few hints as to who the actual victim could be.

Reggie admitted to betraying Hiram and turning over the evidence that implicated him for murder, making Reggie just as much a potential target. Sheriff Keller offered to make son Kevin his full-time deputy, but Kevin turned it down, deciding to take a go at New York instead. The sheriff's death resulting from Hiram blowing up the evidence against him could be the thing that brings Kevin back from Broadway and sets the stage for a new sheriff, either Kevin or Archie. In the Riverdale comics, Kevin and Archie's fates can't escape one another. With Betty an FBI agent and grief-stricken friend Kevin or ab-riddled boyfriend Archie as the local sheriff, Riverdale would have quite the crime-solving duo. Betty and Archie could be on the verge of becoming Riverdale's version of Moonlighting.

Riverdale certainly appears on the precipice of significant change. Season 5 saw a 7-year time jump and the steady exodus of parents on the show. Archie and Betty may decide that narrowly escaping death is the excuse they need to accelerate their relationship to the next level. Riverdale's due a wedding, and Archie and Betty seem the prime candidates for a white picket fence. Assuming, of course, Betty had a bobby pin on hand. 

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