Marisol Nichols on Hermione's Role in the Lodge Criminal Empire

Spoilers ahead for tonight's episode of Riverdale, titled "Chapter Twenty-Six: The Tell-Tale Heart."

In the closing moments of tonight's Riverdale, Hermione Lodge (Marisol Nichols) was revealed as the mysterious "boss" of the Lodge crime family, throwing into question everything the audience -- and Archie Andrews (KJ Apa) -- thought they knew about Hiram (Mark Consuelos) and Hermione.

It is not a theory that is entirely alien to Riverdale fans; on Archie Digest: A Riverdale Podcast, ComicBook.com's Russ Burlingame discussed the possibility with Nichols last year, around the time the season 1 finale aired.

"I had really built up my idea of what Hermione was operating off of, and then there was this 360-degree turn," Nicols said. "It was just a real change, and I embraced it, I loved it, but it was delicate. It was like she was seemingly turning on her daughter….I had that same question at the end, too. After the season finale, I was like 'Has she been doing this all along?' And having a slightly rough time of making all of this make sense — but I still trusted that she' s doing this because she has to."

At the time, Nichols maintained that her read on Hermione was that she was terrified of Hiram and would do whatever it took to keep Veronica (Camila Mendes) safe from his wrath.

"I still trust that she is operating off the greatest good for everyone, even though it does not come across like that on the surface," Nichols said.

She added at the time that she believed it was possible Hermione, not Hiram, might have contracted a hit on Fred Andrews -- but that if so, she had likely done it to save Fred's life by hiring a gunman intended to wound. It later turned out that the Black Hood was under no such instruction and presumably has no ties to the Lodges.

The added that she might get a deeper, or even just different, understanding once season two started up. From the look of tonight's episode, it seems she has.

In the podcast, I compared the possibility to the twist at the end of Arrested Development, which saw Lucille Bluth revealed as the family's prime mover, while George -- who spent much of the season in prison for his financial crimes -- was a simple patsy.

While there are no banana stands in Riverdale, there's certainly always money in Pop's.

Riverdale airs on Wednesday nights at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW. New episodes will resume on March 7.