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Halfway through this week’s episode of Riverdale my jaw was already on the floor … and they hadn’t even gotten to the really big stuff yet! This episode, ‘Prisoners’, was hands down the wildest episode of the season to date and there are three more to come for the season ends. I can’t imagine the places the series will go and what kind of cliffhanger they’ll leave us with but one thing is for sure, we will absolutely know the identity of the Black Hood (see, I told you that story wasn’t over). But who knew the death of Midge would be such a catalyst to reveal so many dark secrets of our main characters and put others in such precarious positions? Let’s just go through how that death, allegedly at the hands of the Black Hood, have affected five main families in town.
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The Kellers
Sheriff Keller believed — or at least wanted to believe — that he had taken down the Black Hood. Case closed, nothing else to look at. Of course we all know that the poor groundskeeper was not the Black Hood … even Archie knew in his heart that he did not have the same eyes. But Keller just wanted to put the case to bed and move on. And then Midge dies and reopens a lot of wounds that hadn’t quite healed yet, and proved Archie right. Unless it was a copycat killer. But at Midge’s funeral, Cheryl of all people took a stand and vowed that the Vixens would not rest until Cheryl’s killer was found, and she joined forces with Hermione Lodge to drive Keller out of the police department, regardless of how it’s going to hurt him or Kevin. Asked by the interim mayor to step down, Keller can only hope Fred Andrews wins the election but until then, he may just end up using the evidence he already has to track down the Black Hood, or the copycat, on his own time. After he sobers up.
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The Andrewses and the Lodges
With the promise of taking out everyone who survived their first Black Hood attacks, Archie is freaking out over his dad’s safety, going so far as to begging him to go to Chicago with Mary until this all blows over. With an election looming, Fred’s having none of that. But Archie is now seeing Black Hood’s everywhere. Swearing to Ronnie he wouldn’t go back to the house of Mr. Svenson to try to find more Black Hood clues, he sees another Hood and when trying to find out the identity, he’s jumped by two more Hoods. But these hoods are different, no eye holes and it turns out it’s … Nick St. Clair and a couple of his friends, in town to get a little revenge for Archie’s attack on him while in the hospital recovering from the shady car accident he’d had. And while taking great pleasure in roughing up Archie, Nick takes even greater pleasure in calling Veronica from Archie’s phone and asking for $1 million ransom.
Hiram is an emphatic no because Archie is not blood, and paying his ransom would set a terrible precedent among the ‘families’ (and if we were ever unsure just about how mob-connected the Lodges are, it’s crystal clear now). Hiram warns Ronnie not to mess with the St. Clairs, who are more than just music producers, and he’ll handle things. Tired of waiting, Ronnie cracked open her piggy bank (well, safe) and took all of her ‘birthday money’ to give to Nick, a sum quite short of the million he demanded. But he’ll let her make up the difference with one night at The Five Seasons (I still chuckle at that name), to ‘finish what we started in New York.’ Yeah, so Ronnie’s considering trading sex with her ex for Archie’s return. But let’s not forget, Veronica is a Lodge and fully aware of her family business. We shouldn’t think for a minute she’s just going to comply. But forcing Archie to watch from a live stream, he starts freaking out as the pair get a bit too close, managing to free himself and get to the hotel. Busting down the door, he finds Nick on the floor, drugged just as he had done to Cheryl, and Ronnie places a call to his parents.
Back home, the Lodges find Veronica with a million dollars spread out on the table — she is her father’s daughter — and Archie waiting in the study to speak with Hiram. Fully understanding why Hiram didn’t help him, Archie repeated something he heard Nick say about ‘making his bones,’ which in the family business means proving one’s self to the family. Archie asks if making his bones by killing the Black Hood would make him part of the family, and Hiram said indeed it would and he’d help in any way her could. Which is not going to sit will with Veronica.
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The Joneses and the Coopers
This is where all the chickens come home to roost … or maybe just the Chic. Knowing that Alice is still fretting over sending her son away, Betty and Jughead go to the school for wayward children and gay conversion therapy to look at the documents on Betty’s brother. Reluctant at first but fearful of being exposed to the authorities, they are allowed to see the documents and the photo clearly is not Chic. It’s Charles. So who is Chic?
After Alice brings Chic home after questioning by the sheriff about Midge’s death, since Chic was seen backstage, Betty reveals the truth about him and shows her mother the photo of young Charles. With Jughead’s help, they tie up Chic in the basement and demand he give them answers, He pretends for a while that he doesn’t know what they’re talking about and says one key thing that is true — he never said he was Charles, he always said his name was Chic. First he tells them that Charles left town, but then he said he ODed, but he played games, keeping them wondering what was the truth. But Chic finally revealed that Charles had come to their house once and Alice basically slammed the door in his face before even talking to him, thinking he was just soliciting something. After that, Chic claimed Charles was so distraught he overdosed.
It was all too much for Alice who ran out and told Betty to stay with Chic. Where did she go? Straight to F.P. to finally admit that she gave birth to his son and that now she was responsible for his death. But Betty and Jughead had also gotten more information from a neighbor at the building where they first found Chic who had told them that the picture of the boy they had was ‘the nice one.’ She had heard the two fighting and then later found bloodying sheets and shoes in the dumpster. Confronting Chic with this new information he finally admitted they had had a fight and he killed Charles — who was high — and that it was an accident.
Before Jughead could take out any more of his own anger on Chic, F.P. stormed in and dragged him away, telling him this was not his fight, this was not his blood (so the Serpents aren’t that much different than the crime family the Lodges are part of). Once the Coopers decided what to do, they could then help but it was up to Alice. Something tells me F.P. is really not happy about finding out he had another son, and one has to wonder how Jughead will react when he finds out this twisted family plot.
Back at the Coopers’, Alice spills all the beans to Hal, about Chic and Charles and the murder in their kitchen while Betty sneaks off to the basement to deal with Chic. Earlier we heard that familiar ‘Lollipop’ ringtone and Betty spoke to the Black Hood, who seemed to already know quite a bit about Chic and the things he’d done. When asked who she was talking to, Betty just casually answered, ‘My father,’ which, well, was maybe true but she didn’t know it. But the Hood said he would take care of Chic for her. So seeing how this was all affecting her mother, she untied Chic and said they were leaving by the basement door.
Walking him at gunpoint to the park, Chic thought that maybe Betty was going to let him go. And then a figure stepped out of the shadows. Betty explained that she’d give him a head start to get going, but the longer he waited the less percentage of a chance he had of getting away from the figure, who obviously was the Black Hood. As he walked closer to them, Chic finally ran as hard and fast as he could but the Hood took off just as fast. We never saw Chic’s fate but we can only imagine he was not able to get away. Returning home, Betty found Alice sitting on the stairs and then noticed her father wasn’t there. Asking where he was, Alice told Betty he had gone out to look for her. And then it all clicked in Betty’s head.
Hal Cooper is the Black Hood. Or is he? I think it’s been obvious since the start it was Hal. The eyes are a match. Who else but her father would know Betty’s fondness for Nancy Drew? Surely not Mr. Svenson. But … when the Hood called Betty, how would he have known about the murder Chic committed in the kitchen. Alice hadn’t confessed that to him yet. He told Betty that Chic kills as easily as he killed in her house and that he has killed before (obviously referencing Charles). So when Alice confessed to helping Chic cover up the murder in their home, Hal appeared surprised. If he is the Hood, how would he have known all that information? It still seems obvious it’s Hal, but the Hood having all this information does throw a little doubt his way. Which is probably exactly what they want! The other thing — would Hal have had time to add a flannel shirt to his ensemble after leaving Alice and showing up at the park? Come to think of it, there’s only one other person who knows about the murder … F.P. Jones, who told Jughead he’s had a hard enough time dealing with his part in the Jason Blossom murder and cover-up. Which now begs the question — could F.P. be Riverdale’s ‘Avenging Angel’? Or rather would he be? Did the Black Hood murders start after he got out of jail? And he does wear flannel. Hmmmmmm. I need to jog my memory on that one. Anyone out there have a quick answer?
Whatever happens, ‘Prisoners’ was the best episode of the season and I can’t wait to see how it all ends. (And yes, the title is a movie with Jake Gyllenhaal and Hugh Jackman which involves a kidnapping, something similar to what Chic went through.)
What did you think of this episode? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
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