Warning: SPOILERS ahead for Riverdale season 4, episode 15, "Chapter Seventy-Two: To Die For."
Riverdale has finally revealed the truth about the supposed death of Forsythe Pendleton "Jughead" Jones III, and it probably won't come as a shock that he and the gang faked his demise. Jughead's death was first teased at the very end of Riverdale season 3, and much of season 4 has been spent building up to it in flash-forwards. At the end of episode 13, "Chapter Seventy: The Ides of March," we saw Betty standing over Jughead's body, holding a bloody rock in her hand - and a new murder mystery began.
The question mark over whether or not Jughead was really dead didn't last long, and that's probably for the best. For starters, there was no chance that Riverdale was about to kill off one of its core four characters and write a fan-favorite actor like Cole Sprouse out of the show, so dragging things out for longer than two episodes would have become tedious to watch. After all, the fact that Jughead was still narrating was a pretty big clue that he wasn't dead.
For the past two episodes Riverdale kept the dialogue from Betty, Veronica and Archie ambiguous, but it was clear from their lack of total devastation that Jughead was still alive. Stonewall Prep's Machiavellian villain, Donna Sweett, guessed as much during "To Die For," but failed to find proof beyond the shaky detail of three milkshake cups in the bunker. So, how did Jughead pull off faking his own death, and who was in on it?
The Attempted Murder of Jughead Jones
Jughead might not be dead, but the gash on his forehead and the fact that both Donna and Bret believed he was dead (and tried to frame Betty for it) confirms that there was at least an attempted murder on the night of the Stonewall party. Jughead told Betty that he had a plan before going to the party, where he confronted Bret and followed him out into the woods to, in Bret's words, "settle this." While following Bret through the woods, Jughead swapped his bunny mask for his trademark beanie, which Betty points out may have saved his life by cushioning the blow of the rock.
As part of the ongoing battle of wits between the Stonewall preppies and the Riverdale gang, it appears that Bret and Donna went to the party with the intention of killing Jughead, and Jughead went there with the intention of being killed - or rather, making it look like he had been. Donna set up Betty to look like the murderer by blowing Devil's Breath in her face, causing a memory blackout. Either Bret or Donna hit Jughead with the rock (based on the promo for next week, which shows the assailant's sleeve, it looks like it was Donna). Afterwards, Donna brought a drugged Betty to the crime scene and placed the bloodied rock in her hand. It was the perfect crime, and it was all in service of covering up another perfect crime.
Why Jughead Faked His Death
Lying in the bunker with Jughead, Betty points out that being "dead" has bought him crucial time to investigate another murder: that of his former English teacher, Mr. Chipping. After agreeing to help Jughead expose the truth about the first Baxter Brothers novel, Mr. Chipping came to class looking shaken and told the students that they would be discussing Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. He then told Jughead he was sorry he couldn't help him, before jumping out of the classroom window to his death. Jughead was horrified, but none of the other students in the class looked surprised.
Jughead came to the conclusion that the preppies had somehow murdered Mr. Chipping or forced him to commit suicide through blackmail, especially after it came to light that they'd all done a "writing exercise" in which they wrote suicide notes for their late teacher. Jughead was investigating Mr. Chipping's death when he was expelled from Stonewall on false charges of plagiarism. He was unable to defend himself against these charges because of leverage that Bret had over him, in the form of a secretly filmed tape of Jughead and Betty having sex. Unable to work against the preppies in the open, Jughead concluded that he would have to do it from beyond the grave.
It appears that the main goal of Jughead faking his death was to sow seeds of conflict among the preppies (something that succeeded, based on Donna's reveal that Jonathan has been killed and her fight with Bret) and to trip them up by forcing them to expend their energies on covering up a murder that didn't actually happen. As Betty explains, "This whole thing is a game of confidence, and what happens when you don't have confidence? Mistakes are made." Making Jughead's death look convincing was necessary to prevent the preppies from circling the wagons, and to force them to crack under the pressure of covering up the murder.
Who Was In On The Conspiracy?
Some people were in on the conspiracy to fake Jughead's death from the start, while others were told later. Betty, Veronica and Archie must have known what was really going on, since Archie checked Jughead's body while he was on the ground and loudly proclaimed that there was no pulse and he was dead. This moment, and everything from that point on - including the flash-forward scene where the three of them burned their clothes and swore themselves to silence - was a performance for the preppies. They had to assume that Bret and Donna would be watching and following them, and keep up the act until they all got home.
Also in on the conspiracy were Charles, Dr. Curdle Jr., F.P. Jones, and Jellybean. Charles advised Betty on how to act like a guilty party trying to cover up a crime, so he must have been in on things from an early stage. F.P. must have been filled in on the plan later, since Charles had to trick him into handing over the bloodied rock. It's likely that he was told what was really going on before organizing the search party. Around the same time, Dr. Curdle was drawn into the conspiracy so that he could examine the body and officially declare Jughead to be dead. Jellybean would have naturally been told as well, since Jughead wouldn't want to put his sister through the trauma of thinking he was dead.
Archie told Mary Andrews when he saw how upset she was about Archie losing both his father and his best friend in such a short span of time. Finally, Betty told Alice Cooper the truth off the record, while Alice was making a documentary about the whole affair. With ten people in on the conspiracy of Jughead's faked death, it's now only a matter of time before the truth comes out.