Uh, there’s no way that just happened, right? On Wednesday night, Riverdale returned from its midseason break with a typically bonkers episode in which a mangled Archie Andrews—currently in hiding in Canada—dreamed his way through a delirious stupor after being attacked by a bear. (Not kidding.) He imagined all of the dark steps that had taken him to this place—again, a bed in Canada, with no one but his dog Vegas by his side—but in the end, when help finally arrived, it appeared to come too late. Did we really watch Archie Andrews, Riverdale’s ostensible main character, die?

No, right? It seems impossible that this cliff-hanger will actually wind up that way. Archie will almost certainly be saved somehow, or turn out to have had a weak pulse hiding within his veins all along. KJ Apa’s lovably oafish redhead has been the center of the series since it began; the show almost certainly won’t kill him, but will milk his potential death for one of those famous, soapy “gotcha” moments.

Then again: what if it were real? What if this episode really did turn out to be the last we’ll ever see of a living, breathing Archie Andrews? What if the Vixens get to break out their mourning uniforms once more, for their formerly elected student-council president?

Frankly, if that happened, I’d be elated. It’s no secret that Archie is not the most popular character among Riverdale fans lately. He’s never been the brightest bulb, but his stupidity this season in particular has been staggering—from playing martyr and pleading guilty to a murder he didn’t commit, to telling people who he really is while on the run from the law. Truthfully, though, the Archie problem goes back further—at least to Season 2, when he basically became a fascist and founded his own militia out of paranoia. It was a pretty extreme move, both for Archie and the series—and was certainly at least part of the reason that season felt so aimless.

This season, Archie has spent most of his screen time either trying not to get killed in prison fight club (not kidding) and, later, on the run. His friends, of course, have also had to re-unite in order to save him on more than one occasion—because at this point, that’s the one truly consistent thing about Archie. Much like Veronica’s relationship with her father, Archie’s role in this series has become increasingly unmoored. And while Riverdale can turn in a good episode without much Archie in it, whenever Archie gets a bad plot line, he tends to drag the rest of the show, or arc, or season, down with him.

Which brings us back to the bed in Canada where Archie is currently laying, probably bloody and unconscious but not dead. After all of the moral grappling and soul-searching we’ve had to endure from Archie, a nonsensical Death by Grizzly would certainly be a disappointing end to the Red Paladin’s story. But at the same time, it would be a bold move for the show—especially given that Veronica and Reggie finally made good on all that vibing they’ve been doing in Archie’s absence and made out in her basement club, La Bonne Nuit. (Good night, indeed!) After so much time fretting over boring old Archie Andrews, it appears Veronica is, tentatively at least, ready to move on to something a little more exciting. And you know what? So are we.

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