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Dammit, Riverdale!
I thought I had the whole Black Hood thing figured out and now you go and throw a monkey wrench into my completely certain theory that he’s Hal Cooper … and now he probably isn’t. Or is he? Are you even playing fair now?
So if you’re reading this I’m sure you know why my belief all this time that Hal is the Black Hood has been crumpled up and tossed away. I have to give it to the writers, they really piled on all the clues this week that it was indeed Hal, especially by how he looked at Betty as she revealed what she did to Chic, and how the camera made sure we got a good look at his eyes. Betty even found the Nancy Drew code book at the apartment her dad was staying at when Alice kicked him out … and is still paying for even though he’s back home. She even tried to lure him back to where it all started when she gave her speech exposing the ‘sins’ of Riverdale … but he didn’t show, perhaps because he didn’t know what she was talking about?
And then at the mayoral debate between Fred and Hermione — after Fred got a note that said he was the next on the kill list — Hal was in the audience when the Hood began shooting at Fred from the balcony. Hal saved Betty as the shots rang out, confusing her and the rest of us. So if Hal is with Betty, who was that firing off rounds at Fred Andrews?
The internet has theories, of course, the main one now being that Hal has a twin brother (and we know that twins run in the Blossom family, of which Hal is a member). Most point at the time Hal gave Alice a bouquet of flowers … that she’s allergic to. And then there is the little matter of that still paid for apartment. If Hal’s not there, why keep paying rent? For his twin brother? Honestly, Hal’s explanation for why he had the Nancy Drew book was less than convincing. He saw it online and got it as a gift for Betty? So, yeah, it could be a twin and he and Hal are tag teaming with Alice and Betty so Hal can continue his killing spree as the Black Hood. But wouldn’t that be a real cop out, especially after we’ve already been introduced to another Blossom twin this season? And what explanation did Hal give to his twin for the switcheroo with the family? ‘I’m a serial killer and I need you to pretend to be me so my family doesn’t know’? Yeah, I don’t think so.
I’m of a different mind now. I think the Black Hood is …
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Clifford Blossom. Looking back to the beginning of the season, I think the answer was there all along. First, Cliff had no qualms about putting a bullet in his own son’s brain. And if he could kill his son, he very easily could have killed his own brother as well, staging it (perhaps with Penelope’s assistance) to make it look as if he committed suicide.
Think about it. The Black Hood arrived in Riverdale after Clifford died. In the first episode of the season while Fred was still hospitalized and having bizarre dreams, there was the one of Archie getting married to Veronica. And for some reason the entire Blossom family was in attendance, including Jason and Clifford. And then … Clifford looks directly into the camera. It always struck me as odd, off-putting, creepy, but I always wondered why, what was the significance of that particular shot? It seems, to me, that they were telling us right up front that Clifford was the Black Hood, especially since it was Fred’s dream. Perhaps he knows subconsciously who shot him.
After poor Mr. Svenson was framed, the Hood disappeared and Claudius arrived and he and Penelope seemed awfully cozy so quickly. And once Claudius was in town, the Black Hood reappeared. (And, as I mentioned in a previous post, the Hood reappeared at the same time Hal was back in the picture too which led to my initial certainty of his guilt). After the Hood made his second attempt on Fred’s life he made a beeline for Thistle House where a terrified Cheryl came face-to-face with him at her front door. Why would Hal (if that was his twin with Betty) go there instead of back to his apartment? That is the one thing that makes me believe now that Clifford Blossom isn’t all that dead. Could he have known of Betty’s affinity for Nancy Drew when she was a child? Cheryl certainly could have mentioned it, perhaps frustrated that Betty was always checking out that Nancy Drew book from the library and she couldn’t.
I could be completely wrong and it could be Hal’s twin, but doing the math in my head (and I’m terrible at math), it just seems to all add up to the Black Hood being the not dead Clifford Blossom. Who’s with me?
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There was a lot more going on this week too, mainly by the hand of Hiram Lodge. We know he’s a shady dude, but this week he’s become downright evil. He’s completely brushed off any suggestions Veronica has for expanding the family business — even after making her entertain offers from the sons of other ‘family’ members — and he’s adamant that Hermione will not drop out of the mayoral race, despite how visibly shattered she is by the shooting at the debate.
And now with a new sheriff in town who is obviously under his thumb, things took a disastrous turn when Jughead’s backstage video from the high school musical was leaked to the public, implicating Fangs as Midge’s killer, something the sheriff and most of the town are treating as a separate incident from the Black Hood. Archie and Jughead have tried to convince Reggie and the newly re-formed Dark Circle that Fangs is not the Black Hood, but Archie doesn’t know that Hiram is wooing Reggie to stir up some trouble, possibly to give the new sheriff a win by catching Midge’s ‘killer’ his first week on the job. At this point, it doesn’t matter to Hiram who gets hurt as long as he gets the desired results and a win for the sheriff would be a win for Hermione.
But Hiram and Hermione also made a few more enemies out of their closest allies. First, Hermione completely threw Archie under the bus by exposing him as the leader of the Dark Circle, something Fred did not know (possible payback for Archie ‘campaigning’ for his dad while searching for the right person with the right eyes to identify as the Black Hood). But Hiram may be telling more stories about Archie as he learned from one of the sons meeting with Ronnie who claimed that he heard Archie killed Papa Poutine, putting a target on his back. Hiram’s treatment of Veronica, stashing the money she extorted from Nick’s family into a trust that she can’t touch until she’s 21 (which she planned to use to open the casino he didn’t want to hear about), did him no favors either, driving her to now be fully in support of Fred’s run for mayor.
Unfortunately, there was an innocent victim in all of this — Fangs. Learning of his release from jail, Hiram got Reggie all riled up to get the Dark Circle together and serve their own brand of justice to Fangs. In a tension-filled scene as the Serpents attempted to protect Fangs from the angry mob, Archie learned that Hiram was paying Reggie and the boys for their services. As the Serpents formed a wall around Fangs to get safely through the crowd, Archie saw Reggie laser focused on Fangs, gun drawn. Archie tried to tackle Reggie but a shot rang out and blood began to pour from Fangs’ abdomen. We still don’t know if he’s dead, or if it was Reggie’s gun that caused the wound. Remember, Fred was also shot in the abdomen and he pulled through so we have to wonder if perhaps the Black Hood may have also shot Fangs. The end result though is Hiram getting exactly what he wants — a new Civil War between the North and South (Sides).
This week’s episode title, ‘Shadow of a Doubt’, is also one of Alfred Hitchcock’s best movies about a brother who returns home but has a lot of shady business and dark secrets that his niece discovers and keeps under wraps. Sure fits with this episode. Will Cheryl be burdened with keeping her father’s secret?
What did you think of this episode? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
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