When Riverdale Season 5 took a major leap into the future on Wednesday's episode, we found Jughead, Archie, Betty, and Veronica all living their own, very different lives, with Riverdale a distant memory. Or so it seems. After learning how downtrodden the town had become since graduating high school, Archie decided to do something about it. So he called up his friends for help, cementing his hero complex and even further prepping him for what I inevitably know will happen on Riverdale: Archie is going to be mayor.

Even though Archie is just getting reacquainted with the town, it's his home. And if they don't stop Hiram Lodge now, they will lose a piece of themselves that he's not ready to part with... or so he'll say in some type of empowering speech to his friends to convince them to drop everything else in their lives to save Riverdale. And while it is unlikely that Archie's mayoral pursuits begin immediately after his arrival, you can bet down the line he's going to end up running the town like it's a boxing gym/shelter for homeless minors. How do I know this? Let's look at the evidence.

The Time Jump

Thanks to the seven-year time jump, Archie and friends aren't only old enough to vote, they're now old enough to run for political office. (They can also rent a car.) While there are definitely perks to having an older set of characters — they can drink, legally, they can be more open about sex (not that that was a problem before), they can be in more complicated adult relationships — it feels like a huge opportunity for the show to explore more political perks, as well. And depending on how many seasons Riverdale runs for, perhaps we'll even see a Season 2 Lodge vs. Andrews election face-off for the mayoral seat.