The Archies Ending Explained (2024)

Summary

  • Kids take the lead: Archie and his friends are the ones who take action to save Green Park, while the adults struggle to stand up for themselves.
  • Hiram's strange support: Hiram doesn't stop Veronica and her friends from protesting, despite them working to stop his hotel.
  • Unclear love triangle: The movie doesn't provide a clear answer on whether Archie ends up with Veronica or Betty, leaving their relationship open-ended.

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At the end of The Archies, the kids rally all of Riverdale to come together to sign enough petitions to save Green Park. The Archies is a Netflix movie adapting stories and characters from Archie comics into a 1960s North India setting. The Archies is directed by Zoya Akhtar and features performances from Agastya Nanda, Khushi Kapoor, Suhana Khan, Vedang Raina, Mihir Ahuja, Aditi Saigal,Yuvraj Menda, and more.

When the Lodge family moves back to their North India hometown of Riverdale, Veronica "Ronnie" Lodge (Suhana Khan) reunites with her friends while Hiram Lodge and his wife Hermione begin plans to take over the businesses in town and build a giant hotel in the middle of Green Park. Meanwhile, Archie Andrews (Agastya Nanda) rekindles his romance with Veronica, creating a love-triangle with Betty Cooper (Khushi Kapoor). Archie also plans to leave Riverdale to study in London, but when the kids learn of plans to destroy Green Park, they make it their mission to sign enough petitions to stop Hiram Lodge from destroying the very heart and soul of Riverdale.

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Why Didn't the Adults Protest the Construction in Green Park?

Archie and the other kids had to do all the work to stop Hiram Lodge

Archie, Veronica, Betty, Reggie Mantle (Vedang Raina), Jughead Jones (Mihir Ahuja), Ethel Muggs (Aditi "Dot" Saigal), and Dilton Doiley (Yuvraj Menda) learn about the impending destruction of Green Park, the gang know they have to do something to stop it. Before Hiram builds his hotel, he begins buying up small businesses around town, luring people away from their old jobs with higher pay, including attracting Ethel to a new salon with a promise of double salary, but when it turns out she's working longer hours under worse conditions with pressure to be rude to her clients, she eventually quits after Jughead says he'd never betray Pop Tate more pay.

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Jughead's accusation stirs conflict among the gang, especially considering Veronica's parents are the ones buying up the shops and trying to build the hotel in Green Park. Seeing heir fight, Pop remarks "welcome to adulthood," which is especially appropriate to the themes of The Archies because that exact same struggle is what's keeping the adults from joining the kids in protest. Betty's father's book store was bought and he took a job as assistant manager at the Lodge's new book store, and Ricky Mantle, Reggie's dad, pulled Reggie's article about saving Green Park from the paper due to threats from Hiram that he'd pull his sponsorship.

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The adults of Riverdale are all trying to provide for their families and feel like they don't have any leverage, while the kids have a fighting spirit, but are beginning to be faced with similar struggles. Later, when The Archies are at Pop Tate's trying to make a plan to get the adults of Riverdale to provide petition signatures, Archie says "there are two types of adults. Young adults and the ones trying to be young." While the young adults still have the spirit to go against the financial incentives to fight back against the Lodges, the older adults have lost that spirit, but Archie thinks they can revive it with the Save Green Park festival.

Why Did Hiram Allow Veronica Protest Green Park Construction?

Hiram didn't give Veronica's friends enough respect.

Hiram is rude to Archie from the start, and when Veronica tells him he can't be mean to Archie, he responds "everyone's entitled to a hobby," then later, when Veronica tells Hiram all her friends hate her because of him he retorts "then get new friends," yet when Veronica and the rest of the Achies gather the young people of the town to protest the construction in Green Park he's not nearly so harsh. Dawson threatens to call the police, but Hiram doesn't want Veronica to be in danger or get in any trouble, but he also thinks there's no way they'll gather the requisite signatures, so he tells Dawson to stand down.

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After the votes are counted and his hotel construction is shut down, Hiram surprisingly goes along with the verdict. Surely he has the resources to make another attempt or demand a recount or take some sort of additional action, but he accepts the result of the petition. Despite spending the whole movie throwing around his wealth and power and using dirty tricks to get his hotel built, Hiram takes pride in Veronica's success. Since she's his daughter, he feels a sense of accomplishment in her blocking the hotel, even if he was the one being blocked. So, while his goals were stopped, he doesn't want to take away her victory.

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Did Archie End Up With Betty or Veronia?

Barchie vs Varchie

The love triangle of Archie, Veronica, and Betty is one of the most whirlwind subplots of the movie, and the ending of The Archies doesn't appear to explain whether Archie ends up with Veronica, Betty, or neither. Throughout the movie Jughead chastised Archie for "two-timing" Veronica and Betty, and at one point Cherry Blossom was even thrown in the mix, but after Betty and Veronica find out he was playing both of them, and that the song "Va Va Voom" was written for both of them (even though he told each one it was for her individually), things came to a head.

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The girls wake him up in the middle of the night to say he's not worth fighting over, so they'll all just stay friends, so The Archies seems to end without Archie ending up with Betty or Veronica, although it may not be that simple. While there's no confirmed romance, the ending montage of everyone riding through the city shows Archie and Betty riding bikes together while Veronica and Reggie ride in a car. This is hardly proof of any sort of romantic pairing, but Archie and Betty retaining a closer friendship could lead to them eventually being romantically involved again.

The Archies Ending and True Meaning Explained

The true message Archie learns at the end of The Archies

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The Archies is a coming of age movie where Archie Andrews and his friends prepare to enter adulthood and learn to navigate the complications of changed relationships with each other and the world around them. Archie thinks he needs to leave Riverdale and study in London to become who he wants to be, but learns two important pieces of advice from his father. First, "to make art, you must go in, my son, not out." Second, "The grass is greener where you water it." Archie doesn't see a purpose to staying in Riverdale, but he learns he also has a responsibility to his birthplace.

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Archie realizes this when he's in class and says he's not interested in politics, but the teacher and class inform him that everything is political. As the Greek politician Pericles said, "Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you." Archie realizes he and his friends have the ability and opportunity to save Green Park, and if he just abandons Riverdale to go to London, he could be abandoning Riverdale to redevelopment by the Lodges. In the end of The Archies, the young adults all learn how to make a difference, and the older adults are reminded how to be young again.

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The Archies Ending Explained (2024)
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