‘Riverdale’: Mädchen Amick on Her Final Episode as Director — and Ending the Series

After seven seasons, Mädchen Amick is finally saying goodbye to Riverdale. Amick has starred on The CW series since 2016 as Alice Cooper (or Smith), and has taken full advantage of the opportunity — both in front and behind the camera. In fact, this week’s episode, “Chapter One Hundred Thirty: The Crucible”, marks Amick’s third time directing an episode of Riverdale; and she isn’t leaving without tackling some very serious subject matter.

But first, she has to deal with the emotional fallout of wrapping the show over this past weekend.

“I knew [it] was gonna be emotional,” Amick told Decider. “But yeah, we started soon as we came together to rehearse, we were just looking at each other like, ‘don’t look at me.'”

In this week’s episode, and spoilers past this point, America’s Communist witch-hunt comes for 1950s Riverdale High. After Archie Andrews’s (KJ Apa) favorite teacher is fired, the whole town spirals out of control thanks to suspicion about potential communists,”deviant behavior” from the school’s LGBTQ+ students, and worst of all, violent comic books. Naturally, the teens aren’t taking things lying down. While Archie struggles with how to help his teacher, Jughead Jones (Cole Sprouse) and Ethel Muggs (Shannon Purser) steal copies of a banned comic book to sell under the table at Pop’s Diner. Meanwhile, Cheryl Blossom (Madelaine Petsch), Toni Topaz (Vanessa Morgan), Kevin Keller (Casey Cott) and Clay Walker (Karl Walcott) all switch partners to throw off suspicion. And Betty Cooper (Lili Reinhart) decides to start her own underground newspaper dedicated to teen rebellion.

But the biggest storyline is left for Veronica Lodge (Camila Mendes) thanks to the surprise appearance of her father Hiram Lodge (Mark Consuelos). Hiram needs Veronica’s help to provide an alibi for his time in Cuba, with Veronica weighing the future of her family against lying to the FBI. Ultimately, she does lie, and it costs her the family anyway: another returning guest star, Marisol Nichols as Hermione Lodge, explains that she and Hiram are getting divorced.

In the middle of all this, there’s a surprise Veronica and Archie kiss, a book burning, and a whole lot more. Wondering what went into making the episode? And Amick’s final days on the Riverdale set? Will the cast ever leave the 1950s? And will Skeet Ulrich return as FP Jones to sweep Alice off her feet? Read on:

Decider: Before we get into the episode, I did want to ask you about the wrap of the show… The photos and videos have been so lovely and so emotional to see. What was the last day on set like for you?

Mädchen Amick: Oh my gosh, it was an emotional time. We had our table read a week prior and there was not a dry eye… We had the hardest time reading our way through it. Every single actor, [director/showrunner] Roberto [Aguirre-Sacasa] reading the stage directions… and then, “well, okay, we got all of our emotion out at that point.” No, no not at all… The last scene was filming with Lili [Reinhart] and Tiera [Skovbye], my two daughters. So I knew that that was gonna be emotional. But yeah, we started soon as we came together… to rehearse… The next scene was pretty much the entire cast… So everyone else would say goodbye that same day on Saturday. So it was a lot of different emotion.

You’ve played so many different versions of Alice over the seasons, do you have a favorite mode for her? Serpent Alice? ’50s Alice?

You know, I kind of loved Hippie Alice? It was the first time that we got to see her, even though you know she believes — gets caught up in something and is righteous about it. It was an interesting take on a very uptight character where she was sort of like, really wanting to let go and be free but she’s kind of fighting herself and fighting her instincts. It was just a fun version of her to play.

Falice fans are somewhat distraught that Skeet Ulrich didn’t seem to be on set… Is there any hope for Falice endgame? Or do we have to close the book on that for good?

We have to close the book on that. He was invited back… But then it fell through. I don’t know the particulars on it. But he ended up not coming on board. We were sort of hoping that everybody would come through, and I think that was Roberto’s intention was to have everybody back that he could in that last season. There was an episode that was dedicated to his character, but it didn’t happen. So you know, Falice fans are left wanting something that just never happened.

I’ll just keep picturing the two of you riding off on a motorcycle in the background in my head.

Yes! [Laughs] What I can tease is Alice does end up happy. She does find a great partner in life and ends up happy… But everybody has to tune in and watch.

The previous episodes that you directed — and obviously Riverdale is very heightened reality anyway — but you had with “The Night Gallery” and “Killing Mr. Honey,” there were these very much fantasy infused episodes. This one, even with the ’50s setting, it’s more grounded. You’re dealing with things like Communism and homophobia, and even the Dr. Wertham crusade on comics. These much more serious subjects. What was it like tackling this different subject matter on the show?

It was a great opportunity. Because we were reciting history and putting it obviously in the town of Riverdale with our characters, but I think that there is a younger generation that maybe don’t know that part of history, because they didn’t live it. It’s almost like it feels a bit unbelievable. But it really it is history, you know, and it was a nice opportunity to depict that and give our own commentary on how, obviously, nowadays with progressive thinking it’s not acceptable.

Obviously this is nothing new for Riverdale, but the characters are really going through it this episode in a very serious way, in a variety of different ways. I know you have your Don’t MIND me foundation. When you’re approaching storylines like this that don’t necessarily deal directly with mental health but do impact the characters’ mental health, what level of that knowledge from your life outside Riverdale do you bring in terms of guiding the actors working on the scenes as the director?

It’s been a huge part of the way that I approach storytelling, whether I’m depicting something, or directing other actors to depict something in that character. It’s something that I’ve learned through life experience… In general, it’s just really guiding the actors through tapping in to those emotions, and making sure that we’re portraying those breakthroughs that they were having with kindness and complexity, and as much grounded reality as possible.

I wanted to ask you about the monologue scenes that play throughout the episode. You’ve got these actors who are playing their characters, who are now playing other characters. And in particular, in terms of emotion, I was floored by KJ Apa’s Crucible monologue, I legitimately started tearing up watching it. So how do you find that balance with them, when they’re juggling so many different elements in the scene like that at the same time?

I always try to make the space, because you’re always behind the time… There’s not enough resources, there’s not enough anything… I plan my day to get there, to make sure that [we’ve got] the extra time. So I’ll film another scene and get through it quickly. Just to make sure that I’m allowing that safe space for them to really play with it and really take beat. [That’s] the biggest thing that I learned being an actor. Now, the way that I direct people I find, if I’m demanding that deep emotion from the actors, I make sure everything is ready. I make sure the cameras are ready, we rehearse it over and over with our stand-ins so that [when] the actors come on set, they can give it their all and know that we’ve captured it. So KJ did that three times. I didn’t want to do it anymore because you start getting negative returns. We were really debating, would Archie have an accent? Would he not have an accent? KJ wanted to give us that sort of British feeling accent and I said, you know, hey, [if] that’s what your feeling, I want you to go for it. And then I pulled him aside after he did an amazing performance. And I said, “okay, so do we think Archie is sophisticated enough to know that? And to do that?” He goes, “yeah, I don’t know. Let me do one that doesn’t have it.” He did. We didn’t like it as much. And so then I said, “Alright, give me one more and go a little bit like halfway in between. See what you can do with that.” And he did it. It was beautiful. We ended up going with the first take, which was his instinct, and what he was tapped into. I think it ended up being really beautiful, but it’s just really working with the performers and giving them that safe space.

One of the big things about the episode of course is that we get the Lodges back, though Marisol Nichols and Mark Consuelos are not there at the same time. Was that a schedule thing? Or was it always part of the plot that they’d be crossing in the air, but never meeting?

As far as being written, that was the way Roberto chose, to not have [them in] the same scene, because it’s depicting that she comes after that big decision has been made, and they’ve already split, they wouldn’t be together, she’s done. But they did get to see each other, production-wise, so that was nice.

Oh, that’s good. There’s also a fun little Easter egg in there where Hiram says his mistress in Cuba is named Kelly. Was that Kelly Ripa in the picture? Or is it just a sneaky reference to her?

[Laughs] No, it’s not Kelly Ripa in the picture, but we definitely cast a blonde!

Sarah Habel is back as Grundy this episode. And I know a lot of fans are apprehensive of that storyline from Season 1, to say the least. But I do think in the episode, there was a responsible pivot here in terms of making sure there’s nothing inappropriate going on, that everybody felt safe. So what what did you talk about on set, if anything, knowing the weight of this moment, having this character come back at this time in Archie’s life?

Yeah, I talked with KJ and Sarah, together and separately. I definitely said, you know, look, the material could lend itself to be a little cheeky or a little a little wink. But I said I just really feel strongly that we need to stay completely away from it. So you can’t play into anything that might feel like flirtation… And then it’s just a way to say that, okay, there’s going to be somebody else that will fight for you, and keep you safe and help you grow your love for poetry. So we made a very conscious effort to make sure that [nobody] felt the temptation to go that direction.

There’s this great visual sequence where Ethel and Jughead are running a comic book speakeasy or whatever you want to call it in Pop’s. What was it like constructing that sequence?

It’s really thinking about it technically. I knew what I wanted it to be in my in my head, in my brain. So then I have to figure out how to communicate that to my amazing DP and our camera operators and just make sure everybody was on the same page because again, you don’t have much time… So I built [it] in a way for me to get a really cool shot, [and] we could do a few rounds with people. So I basically would do a time lapse in real time. I’d have one kid sit down to buy. As we went over and came back, I had somebody else come and sit, so it’s like this built in time jump. It was a technical thing to have build.

The Cheryl, Toni, Clay, Kevin arc is one of the tenser arcs in the episode… How did you work with them in terms of crafting these conversations, so that they’re emotionally interesting but also visually interesting at the same time?

I just chose things like where everybody was sitting, when were they putting on a front of pretending they were doing something else, when were they being genuine and real? Say, for instance, when the four of them are sitting outside the school and they’re facing off… And, you know, they’re connecting visually to each other. Cheryl and Toni, but they have to be physically separate and across from each other. So I used the physicality of it to tell the story.

One of the more surprising moments in the episode was the Veronica-Archie kiss, particularly in terms of the pacing of it. You have that kiss on the cheek, and then the pause, and they look at each other. And then they have that little kiss in the middle of the school. How did you work on that moment?

I wanted it to be very genuine. She doesn’t come in to talk to him to do that, she’s not coming in to try to instigate that kiss. But because she’s connecting with him emotionally, it drew them closer, and they just couldn’t help but surprisingly kiss each other… It was building in this little kiss on the cheek, but then I wanted to have the rest of the world melt away, so that they got tunnel vision for each other. Even though they’re in the middle of [the] lunch room, they have boxed themselves in the corner of the kitchen. So again, I designed where it happened, so I can let the characters connect.

You touched on this a little bit before but after seven seasons, are you happy with how Alice finished up in the finale?

Yeah, so I was very worried about it, because in the 1950s, she’s regressed. It’s such a bummer that she’s playing right into the stereotypical, conservative thinking of the 1950s. So like, please give her an arc, you know, or she comes to realization or comes to that Jesus moment. She ends up finding it, of course, once again, through connecting with Betty, her daughter, and that really special connection that the two of them have, and the lessons that Alice always learns through her daughter, Betty. So she does learn. And evolve. The last episodes really send her off in an interesting trajectory… I thought it was great… There’s something in particular, that happens, a really huge shift for Alice, what she does with her life. And it’s just, it’s really fun, entertaining, and funny and very gratifying. So it ended up not actually what I expected at all but… very satisfying.

This might get into too much spoilers, but do you actually ever get out of the 1950s? Or is the entire season in the ’50s?

I don’t know if I should answer it. [pause] No, we don’t get out of the 1950s. So I guess maybe that is a big spoiler. I will say you do experience the characters in different… dimensions, that you get to see a lot of closures that are outside of the 1950s. I can tease it that way. I think that’s saying enough.

What’s next for you?

I’m really gonna dedicate myself to my behind the scenes career that I’m growing and really excited about and inspired by. So I’ve got four projects in different stages. I’ve directed a docu-series pilot that’s completed and being shopped. I have a scripted one hour series that’s in development. And then I’ve got two additional projects, another docu-series that I’m writing now and then one that I’m actually writing, it’s a half hour comedy, writing with my daughter Mina Tobias. It’s really, really out there and in the spirit of Arrested Development, and Schitt’s Creek. It’s just a very zany, fun comedy and we sit down and do writing sessions and just laugh ourselves to tears. If nothing else, it’s incredibly enjoyable and satisfying… I did direct my feature film. It’s printed and ready to [be] shopped, it’s called My Name Is, and it stars Julia Ormond and Bruce Dern… But I really gotta take some time to rest, reset. Heal up. It was a lot of hard work for a long time. You know, seven years on a show is such a blessing. But it’s also a lot of travel a lot of demands. It’s [been] thirty-six years in the business in front of the camera, and I’m just excited to get behind it.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Riverdale airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on The CW.

An earlier version of this story quoted Amick stating “three” different dimensions. That has been removed. It also incorrectly quoted the star of her movie as Johnny Ferro, it is Bruce Dern. And a line about Skeet Ulrich’s possible return was clarified as speculation, not fact, and removed.