Cheryl Blossom (Madelaine Petsch) and Toni Topaz (Vanessa Morgan) are a fan-favorite ship on Riverdale and have been since Toni’s arrival in Season 2. Fans watched as Cheryl went from a cold-hearted mean girl to lowering her guard and becoming fully vulnerable. We watched as she discovered her sexuality and realized her feelings for Toni and was finally loved and accepted for who she is. They were a true model couple on Riverdale, they were healthy, they were cute together, and they were the perfect example of opposites attract. But the Season 4 finale saw the demise of the ship, and they’ve yet to find their way back to each other. Now, going into Season 7, it’s a mystery whether the pair will get back together and secure their endgame, but it may just be necessary for the show to reach a satisfying conclusion.
Toni Introduces a Softer Side of Cheryl
Season 1 Cheryl Blossom was your typical mean girl, she was the queen bee and never let anyone forget it. So when Toni Topaz showed up in Season 2 it was a surprise to both viewers and Cheryl herself that her persona started to change upon the girl’s arrival. Cheryl went from being vehemently against Toni and the other Serpents transferring to Riverdale High to slowly but surely letting her guard down. Toni was able to see past the walls Cheryl had up and knocked each one down. Their moment in Pop’s Chocklit Shoppe remains a fan-favorite scene to this day — it’s the first time Cheryl truly opens up to someone, and it’s also when it’s revealed that Cheryl was once in love with a girl named Heather. Toni assures her that she is not loveless or deviant, she’s sensational, and fans everywhere swooned.
However, Cheryl’s mother Penelope (Nathalie Boltt) didn’t feel the same, and after learning of the affection shared between the two, sent Cheryl to The Sisters of Quiet Mercy for conversion therapy. It was a heartbreaking and dark arc for Cheryl and only proved to show the tribulations she’s undergone throughout her life at the hands of her mother. Toni manages to save the day, though; with the help of Veronica (Camila Mendes) and Kevin (Casey Cott) she sneaks into the building and finds Cheryl — sealing her devotion with a passionate first kiss and thus kicking off their relationship.
Choni’s Relationship Status Has Never Been More Uncertain
It’s not entirely smooth sailing for the couple going forward, but they always seemed to come out on top of whatever issue they were facing. Even through all the questionable things Cheryl has done (like keeping her brother’s corpse in the basement, for example), Toni never strayed far. They were perfectly matched and helped each other through whatever issue they faced, which is what made the end of Season 4 so devastating. Cheryl suggests throwing a dinner party and inviting Toni’s family which Toni claims may not be a good idea and that when Cheryl does meet her grandparents it might be best to just pretend as if they’re not dating. After two seasons of dating, it’s a harsh storyline to introduce, but there was still hope for the two. After all, they’d be going off to school where they could truly be themselves without fear of judgment from family. But then Toni’s Nana forbid her from dating Cheryl, not because she was a woman, but because she was a Blossom and the Blossoms had taken so much from them over the decades. It’s in a teary scene during the Season 4 finale that Cheryl ends things with Toni, telling her she doesn’t want to make her choose between her partner and her family, but that maybe one day they can truly be together with full approval from all sides.
And then Season 5 came along and with it, a seven-year time jump and any hope for a Choni reunion was squandered. Cheryl hasn’t left Thornhill much at all in those seven years and feels like she’s cursed by the Blossom bloodline and doomed to a life of unhappiness — not only that, but Toni is a surrogate for Fangs (Drew Ray Tanner) and Kevin, something that Cheryl does not approve of and thusly turns down Toni’s suggestion of pursuing a relationship again. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, after Kevin and Fangs break up, Toni and Fangs become a couple and eventually marry in Season 6. It all just felt so unnecessarily messy and dramatic, and while the time jump could have ended up being a good thing for their relationship, the show seemingly gave up on trying. It seemed so hopeful at the beginning, but all hope was quickly squandered, and it’s uncertain where Choni lies — especially now that the show is going back in time to the 50s in the seventh season.
Let Cheryl and Toni Be Together and Happy Again
Drama is a necessary part of television, especially when it comes to soapy shows like Riverdale and the relationships within it. Toni and Cheryl having struggles and things they need to work through isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but what is bad is the fact that they just seemed to be constantly pulled away from each other without any rhyme or reason. It was either to add more drama to the characters around them or to complicate their own story even more and further push their endgame out of sight. There was genuine hope for a rekindling in Season 5, but the show lost sight of them (and its plot) and left them spinning in free fall with no net to catch them.
Going back to the 50s is a unique idea and could be a really interesting addition to the show, but where will it leave Cheryl and Toni? Sure, they may get together in that timeline and that would be amazing, but what about the present day? This is a whole other universe, it seems, so it likely won’t reflect on anything in the present day, meaning Cheryl and Toni will still be at square one, and any development will either be left behind or shoehorned into the final stretch of episodes as a way to appease fans and tie up loose ends that should have been tied long ago.
Not every original ship needs to come back together, some simply don’t work anymore or overstayed their welcome, but Cheryl and Toni are sort of magnetized to one another. They always find their way back to each other, even if it isn’t in a romantic sense. It wouldn’t make any sense to end the show without them together, they truly feel fated to end up together. The Abigail and Thomasina subplot proved that more than anything, they’re soulmates, in this life and every one prior. Keeping them apart just doesn’t work and makes the show feel off-balance. For Riverdale to really stick the landing and close out this wild ride of a show, it needs to give Cheryl and Toni their long-overdue happy ending.
Riverdale Season 7 premieres March 29 on The CW.
