Hallelujah, Riverdale Is Fun Again—and Done Playing Coy About the Black Hood

This post contains spoilers for Riverdale Season 2, Episode 20, “Prisoners.”[hhmc]

In recent weeks, to love Riverdale means being ever so slightly masochistic—tuning in week after week, hoping this episode will be the one to recapture the spark of Season 1. Halfway through its longer sophomore season, the CW drama was starting to feel lost; its focus had shifted from delicious teen drama to duller subjects, like real estate, and a convoluted story arc surrounding Bettys brother, Chic, that never quite paid off.

Last week, however, something changed: a delightfully campy musical episode injected a renewed energy into the season, kickstarting whats shaping up to be a very eventful denouement. Case in point: this weeks Riverdale, which took things in an even crazier direction than last week.

The episode revealed that Bettys brother is a fraud, and her father is (most likely) the real Black Hood. Bettys real brother is also the product of a teenage romance between Bettys mother and Jugheads father—who will now almost certainly hook up before the end of the season. This, my friends, is the Riverdale we all signed up for.

This episode was perfectly engineered to wake up everyone who found themselves yawning at the show over the past few months. In one hour, we got: Cheryl solemnly singing a dirge at Midge Klumps funeral while wearing an all-black version of her cheerleading uniform; Archie being held for ransom by Veronicas angry ex, whom Veronica later roofies and holds for ransom herself; and a whole lot of drama at the Cooper house, which came after Betty and Jughead went to the Sisters of Quiet Mercy in search of any possible link between Chic and Mr. Svenson, the guy everyone thought was the Black Hood. As we learned, Chic and Svensons did overlap at the group home, where Svenson worked as a groundskeeper, for a couple of years—but more importantly, thanks to the trip, Betty realized that the guy she thought was her brother is actually her brothers old roommate. And though Chic claims that Bettys real sibling, Charles, overdosed, it seems pretty likely that Chic murdered him for unknown reasons.

Somehow, none of this was the biggest reveal of all. That came when the show revealed that the Black Hood is most likely. . . Bettys father, Hal.

For viewers who pore over fan theories, this reveal was likely not a total surprise. Hal was one of the earliest suspects in the case of the Black Hood, even before Mr. Svenson entered the picture. As the story line has progressed, Hal has quietly remained a prime candidate. This week, there were plenty of winking hints at what would eventually be revealed in the installments final minute—most notably, when Betty hung up from a conversation with the Black Hood and lied to Jughead, telling him shed just gotten off the phone with her father. (Get it?) Eventually, Betty learned the truth: after she returned from turning Chic over to the Black Hood, Betty sat on the stairs with her mother, Alice. Then she realized they were alone. When she asked where her father was, she got this reply: “He went out looking for you.”

As ominous music kicks in, its clear that Hal is, at the very least, the new official prime suspect. But theres one even more crucial reason to suspect Hal is the Black Hood: hes got to get out of the way somehow so that Alice and F.P., Jugheads dad, can make good on the tension theyve been building up for two whole seasons.

Although fans have basically known this for ages, this week finally confirmed that Alice and F.P. had a romantic relationship as teenagers—and that Charles is (was?) actually F.P. Joness son. Im not sure what that makes Betty and Jughead now, aside from complicated—a bridge that, lets face it, these two crossed a long time ago anyway. But things will likely get awkward for these kids when their parents inevitably make good on all their chemistry. What better way to get a pesky husband and father out of the way than to reveal hes actually a serial killer whos been stalking his own daughter and murdering her friends? Its precisely the kind of move fans would expect from Riverdale—and precisely what will keep them coming back.

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