‘Riverdale’ Reveals the Truth About Chic Cooper in “Prisoners”

Since his first appearance, Riverdale fans have wondered what, exactly, was going on with Chic Cooper — and now, we finally know.

Spoilers ahead for tonight’s episode of Riverdale, titled “Chapter Thirty-Two: Prisoners.”

Suspicious of Chic and with Jughead thinking that he may be tied to the re-emerged Black Hood, Betty and Jughead launched an investigative assault on the Sisters of Quiet Mercy, where Alice Cooper had given up her son Charles for adoption years before.

The Sisters reaffirmed their prior story: they had held onto Charles for years but when he was not adopted, he eventually moved out to the seedy motel where Betty had first met Chic. A photograph in his file, though, looked nothing like Chic, which sent Betty and Jughead back to the Cooper house to tell Alice what they had learned.

Chic was there, and after a brief fight, he admitted that he was not Charles, choosing to make the argument that he “never claimed to be,” and that he had only ever presented himself as “Chic.” He claimed that the real Charles had overdosed on jingle jangle after he tried to approach Alice Cooper and she closed the door in his face, saying that she wasn’t interested in whatever he was selling. After going on a bender, Chic claimed, Charles had died that night.

Alice, remembering the incident, blamed herself for her son’s death and dashed out of the house, while Betty and Jughead left Chic tied up in the basement while they headed back to the motel for more information.

Armed with the photo of Charles, Betty learned from Chic’s neighbor that the two had argued often, and that one day Charles had disappeared, and she had seen Chic getting rid of bedding stained with blood.

So what ultimately happened?

Here’s everything we learned about Charles and Chic in tonight’s episode, and it’s a lot:

• Charles is not Chic (obviously).
• Charles was, in fact, the child of Alice and FP — which is why she was so nonplussed by the news that Chic had failed the Blossom blood test.
• FP did not know that Alice had given birth to his child.
• Charles was kind to his neighbors, speaking elementary Spanish to an immigrant woman who lived next door and helping her with her groceries. He lived with Chic for reasons unknown.
• Charles had shared a lot of information about the Coopers with Chic over the years.
• Chic killed Charles after an argument — something implied by his neighbor and later confirmed by Chic, once Betty could get him one-on-one. He claimed that he lost his temper during a fight and that he never meant to hurt Charles.
• Nobody ever saw Charles’s body (which means there will be questions about whether he might have somehow survived, because it’s Riverdale).
• The Black Hood knew that Chic had killed before, even before Betty confirmed it for him.
• Betty gave Chic to the Black Hood, in order to get rid of him and the mountain of trouble that he carried with him (knowing as he did that Alice, Betty, and Jughead helped cover up the murder he had committed in the house).
• It is assumed, but not shown onscreen, that The Black Hood caught up with Chic. Once again, the lack of a body means the possibility that the story could be revisited down the line.

Riverdale airs on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.