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Dammit again, Riverdale!
You forced me to second guess myself and now it turns out you’re playing games with us. For as most of us suspected, Hal Cooper finally came out as the Black Hood, in probably the creepiest way possible — by forcing Alice and Betty to watch a home movie of young Harold basically being conditioned by his mother to manipulate ‘the Conway boy’ who would grow up to be Mr. Svenson. He also had some more disturbing family news — Great-Grandpappy Cooper killed his Blossom brother, it wasn’t the other way around and he took the Cooper name to forge a new identity. But Mr. Conway was blackmailing Hal’s father and that’s why the family was killed. But that darkness has been passed down from father to son and now from father to daughter.
Let’s back up for a moment because there are still a whole lot of questions about the Black Hood. Remember that shooter at the mayoral debate while Hal was protecting Betty? Yeah, not Hal and he claims he doesn’t know who that was. But if that wasn’t Hal, who was it that showed up on Cheryl’s doorstep and then Jack Torrancing his way into her bedroom (although she had escaped by that point, grabbing her bow and arrow and hunting cape on the way). Outside, Cheryl actually stopped the Hood in his tracks, advising him to leave because she only misses a target when she wants to. He doesn’t and she gets him right in the shoulder for maiming purposes only but she warns Betty that this injured animal is on the loose.
So when Betty gets a call from the Hood to come home, Hal does have a very small red spot on his sweater in the vicinity of where the arrow would have been, and that spot grows ever so slightly larger as he goes on about the family curse. Sooooo … is the show preparing to drop the bomb on us that Hal does indeed have a twin and the two have been in cahoots? It’s the only thing that really makes sense now. But, while Hal was rambling on, Alice switched into Mama Bear mode and began to belittle Hal, calling him a ‘mama’s boy,’ enraging him to the point that he nearly strangled the life out of her but it was enough of a distraction that Betty was able to clonk him over the head with a fireplace ash shovel.
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But while all this was going on, who shows up at the Andrews house next door but the Black Hood, and again Fred is shot but … he’s wearing a bullet proof vest that the former Sheriff Keller gave him as they worked together earlier (more on that in a moment). When the police arrive to cart Hal off to the pokey and Betty tells Archie that her dad is the Black Hood, and he reveals his dad was shot by the Black Hood while Hal was with his family, mild panic sets in.
And this was all in just the last ten minutes of the episode! This was a season finale scale episode with Riverdale in complete chaos after the riot that got Fangs shot. With the Serpents out for North Side blood, Archie was able to convince Jughead that Reggie was not the shooter, but Jughead had a lot of pressure to find Sweet Pea and the others and get them settled down. While Veronica was being chauffeured home, she spotted Midge’s mother wandering aimlessly through the tumult and attempting to help her, Mrs. Klump confessed that she shot Fangs, believing him to be Midge’s killer. She got Mrs. Klump to the police station and alerted Archie who alerted Jughead and he was able to calm the Serpents. But Fangs’ fate still hung in the balance as he was in surgery for most of the episode.
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At home Veronica is furious about a flyer she saw offering a $1,000,000 reward for the apprehension of the Black Hood, dead or alive but preferably dead. Assuming this is the money she extorted from the St. Clairs, she goes digging through his office to find it, but finds a folder marked ‘October Surprise,’ an obvious political reference. In the folder is a pre-written article with photos of Fred and Hermione during their affair. Her mother seems okay with it, claiming that as the ‘law and order’ candidate she can survive the scandal but the ‘family values’ candidate would never be elected. Which only hardens Ronnie resolve to help Fred win the election.
But Riverdale is still in chaos and things are only getting worse. After Pops calls Archie to tell him Reggie is there and in need of a friend, he gets there to help but the diner is besieged by what Archie thinks are the Serpents. He calls Juggie but he says all of his people are accounted for. And it gets much worse because it’s the Ghoulies back in town to take on the Serpents. Archie manages to hold them off with some improvised Molotov cocktails and the cavalry arrives in the form of Sheriff Keller (he doesn’t have a badge but he still has the cruiser), Fred and FP. Or as Kevin says, ‘Hot dads to the rescue.’
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And if things couldn’t get any worse, Penny is back too. And she’s not alone. Yes, the exiled Serpent now seems to be the Ghoulies’ ringmaster and she has a message for Jughead — she’s got his girlfriend Toni (obviously Penny hasn’t been keeping tabs on this situation) and she’s going to have her killed unless she gets what she wants. Jughead agrees to meet with her, alone, to talk it out but when he gets there he learns that Penny always travels with back-up when the Ghoulies come out of the shadows. Juggie knows the rules, however, and Cheryl and her archery set also make their presence known. They get Toni free but Penny issues an ultimatum — the Serpents give up what’s left of the South Side to the Ghoulies or they do battle in Pickens Park at dawn.
Back at the White Wyrm, Jughead delivers the news about Penny, but they get even worse news: Fangs did not survive the operation. The Serpents are now ready for war but Jughead argues that they are seriously outnumbered. F.P. puts it to a vote, and everyone (including Cheryl — when did she become an honorary Serpent?) agrees to the war … except Jughead. F.P. insists that he will rally the reserves to battle the Ghoulies. Jughead, however, was able to finally put two and two together and made a phone call to Hiram Lodge, telling him that he knew Lodge was behind everything, behind Fangs’ shooting, behind the riots, behind all of the property grabs around town. And I think for the first time we saw Hiram a bit unnerved that this kid could spill all of his secrets. But Jughead makes him an offer — he will be the ‘sacrificial lamb’ and turn himself over to Penny in exchange for calling off the Ghoulies. Jughead then calls Betty, who is still dealing with the aftermath of her father’s revelations, and tells her that he loves her and that he’ll never stop loving her. Which, of course, sets off all kinds of alarms and she calls F.P. to see if he knows where Jughead is.
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Back at the rendezvous point with Penny and the Ghoulies, he says there is to be no bloodshed and allows himself to be beaten to a pulp by the Ghoulies, with Penny directing them not to kill him until she gets her own ‘pound of flesh’ out of him. And then she tells him that this is all for nothing because the Riverdale he knows will cease to exist by morning. By the time F.P., Betty and the gang get to him, Jughead is a broken, bloody mess, F.P. carrying what appears to be his lifeless body out of the bushes, a hunk of flesh missing from his arm.
Can it be true? Did Riverdale actually go there and kill off one of the core four? The previews for the season finale don’t seem promising as Betty, Veronica and Archie stand at a headstone after a funeral, Betty clutching Juggie’s cap (of course previews are alway meant to fake us out, right?). And there was something else in the preview — Hal. Or Hal’s brother? With the most epic episode in the show’s history playing out this week, one can only wonder what the season finale will hold.
The Riverdale season finale airs Wednesday, May 16 at 8:00 PM on a major network.
What did you think of this episode? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
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