The CW
Breaking Down the Two Black Hoods on ‘Riverdale’ and Which Villain to Fear Most in Season 3
Grab a strawberry milkshake, y’all! Riverdale Season 2 has finally dropped on Netflix, and for those of you who have yet to indulge, be warned of spoilers ahead! The following content deals with storylines from Episode 17 onward.
Throughout Season 2, there were so many clues about the identity of the Black Hood, that it was pretty hard to keep up. At one point, there was a super convincing theory that Betty’s dad, Hal Cooper, had a twin who was wreaking havoc on the town. Seriously, the entire Riverdale fandom was certain the writers were pulling a Pretty Little Liars. Cliché? Yes. Convincing? Absolutely. Take a look:
“Hal Cooper is related to the Blossoms, the Blossoms are known to have twins in the family, Hal Cooper has a twin brother and he is the Black Hood,” one Twitter user explained. “Ever since Hal has been seeing Penelope, he has been acting VERY strange, I think this is because Penelope is in on it with Hal’s twin, and has kidnapped Hal so that Hal’s twin can impersonate him. This would explain why the Black Hood knows everything about Betty’s family and friends. Hal’s twin would find it easy to gain access to Betty’s diary, from pretending to be Hal, in which she writes down everything that happens to her and her friends/family.”
Despite that very well-thought out conspiracy, by the end of Season 2, it was confirmed that Hal, was in fact, the Black Hood. The twisted father-of-two took responsibility for shooting Archie’s dad at Pop’s, killing Miss Grundy, and murdering Midge Klump — not to mention pseudo-stalking his own daughter.
However, a major plot twist proved Hal wasn’t the only killer on Riverdale. In Episode 20, a man in a black mask tries to shoot Hermione Lodge during the town’s first mayoral debate. It couldn’t have been Hal because he was sitting in the audience and even ends up protecting Betty. So, in that capacity, Hal wasn’t THE Black Hood, but rather, A Black Hood.
It was then confirmed in the final episode that Hiram Lodge paid Tall Boy, the Serpent who Jughead exiled, to pose as a second Black Hood. So much for loyalty, huh? As far as Season 3 is concerned, it appears that the town is done with scary men in black masks once and for all. That said, Hiram might just be the most evil Riverdale villain of all. We’ll just have to wait and see.
