Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for the Riverdale Season 7 finale
The Big Picture
- Tabitha Tate was a beloved character in Riverdale, playing a significant role in Jughead’s story and becoming a light in the darkness for the entire town.
- In the final season, Tabitha was mistreated, and her story ended with a massive injustice, sacrificing everything for her friends and receiving no acknowledgment or happy ending.
- Tabitha has unique spin-off potential, with her angelic abilities and the opportunity to explore new timelines or universes where she can find her own happily ever after and be appreciated. A spin-off would honor her and her legacy in a way that Riverdale did not.
For seven seasons, across various timelines and decades, the characters of The CW’s Riverdale — Archie Andrews (KJ Apa), Betty Cooper (Lili Reinhart), Veronica Lodge (Camila Mendes), Jughead Jones (Cole Sprouse), Cheryl Blossom (Madelaine Petsch), Toni Topaz (Vanessa Morgan), and Kevin Keller (Casey Cott) — faced off against serial killers, a supernatural demon, and the oppressive realities of life in the ‘50s. Throughout the show, we saw quite a bit of each of the characters’ lives and even figured out how their lives continued after graduating high school in the ‘50s, unable to ever return to their former lives in the present day. However, there’s one character who disappeared without any real ending: Angel Tabitha Tate (Erinn Westbrook). She was treated like garbage throughout the final season, and thus deserves a spin-off of her own, to give her the same happily ever after that the others received.
After the seven-year time jump following their high school graduation, our characters returned to town to try to fix what had become of it during their time away. Joining them, and playing a massive role in Jughead’s story as his new love interest, was Tabitha Tate. She came to Riverdale to take over Pop’s Chock’lit Shoppe from her grandfather, unhappy with the life she lived before (even if it was the life her parents wanted her to have), ready to take on the challenge of keeping the diner from completely shutting down as Riverdale slowly died off. It didn’t take long for viewers to fall in love with Tabitha, as she became a light in the darkness for both Jughead and the entire town, ultimately building to her role as Riverdale’s guardian angel when Percival Pickens (Chris O’Shea) arrived from Rivervale to enact his demonic vengeance and Tabitha was forced to send everyone back to the ‘50s.
‘Riverdale’ Season 7 Greatly Mistreated Tabitha Tate
In the penultimate episode of Riverdale Season 7, after being absent since the season premiere (not counting the two appearances of ‘50s Tabitha earlier in the season), Angel Tabitha returned to Riverdale to inform everyone that she was unable to return them to their former lives. She merged the tangled timelines, but there was no energy left to restore the lives they once lived. However, she could and did restore their memories — at least the memories that each person wanted to keep. Unfortunately, for a couple of reasons (including the existence of another Tabitha in the world), Angel Tabitha did not stay in the ‘50s. She shared one last kiss with Jughead as they recalled the life they lived together in their Pop’s booth before the comet struck, confirming their strong love for one another. Then, Tabitha left her friends and, for all intents and purposes, seemingly ceased to exist. As far as we know, she was never heard from again, not even in the Sweet Hereafter when Betty finally joined all of her departed friends at the ‘50s Chock’lit Shoppe in the sky.
So, her story ends with a massive injustice, and the series does wrong by both Angel Tabitha and ‘50s Tabitha. ‘50s Tabitha leaves for Chicago, having no meaningful relationship with any of the people she knew from Riverdale High, not even letting this version of Tabitha have an impact or following through on the budding romance we saw between her and memory-less Jughead earlier on. Meanwhile, Angel Tabitha sacrificed everything for her friends. She gave up her own life in present-day Riverdale to combine the timelines. She gave up the love of her life and the life she wanted to live with Jughead. In fact, she gave up any life she could have had whatsoever to let the other version of Tabitha live out her own life in Chicago. Everything Angel Tabitha hoped for and dreamed of in Riverdale Seasons 5 and 6 was gone. She gave it all up and didn’t even get to join her loved ones in heaven, nor did they acknowledge her sacrifice in any meaningful way.
Tabitha Has Unique ‘Riverdale’ Spin-off Potential
As such, it would only be fitting for any Riverdale spin-off (should one ever come to be) to follow Tabitha. The series destroyed every aspect of the character’s life. By the end of the Riverdale series finale, Tabitha has no real ending while we learn about how everyone else lived out their lives. At the end of the day, Angel Tabitha remains a kindhearted, motivated, and supernaturally gifted woman. She helps those who need it, and she gives everything she has (literally) to those she loves. She did more for Riverdale — a town she owed nothing to and didn’t even grow up in — than anyone else. Ultimately, it’s a massive disappointment that she didn’t get to follow her dream of franchising Pop’s or living a long, full life with Jughead.
That said, with her angelic abilities, there’s unique potential for a spin-off that could be so much more than Riverdale ever was — even with demons and magic. Maybe the spin-off could take Tabitha to a different timeline or universe where she can find her own happily ever after, even if it isn’t the one she originally wanted. There are plenty of routes to go down with the history of Archie Comics, but it also helps that Tabitha is an original character, so there’s the opportunity to do something almost entirely new. She can find new love, new purpose, and new friends (who actually care about her, which is more than we can say for most of the Riverdale characters now). Basically, Riverdale Season 7 did Tabitha incredibly dirty. She deserved better. The fact that the series ends without even a glimpse at what became of Angel Tabitha after she left her friends with their memories is an absolute disgrace. There’s no excuse for how the series disrespected her, her relationships, and her impact on the town in this final season. So, we need a Riverdale spin-off to follow Tabitha and honor her and her legacy. Until then, we’ll remain angry.
Every episode of Riverdale Season 7 will be streaming on Netflix on August 31.
