Riverdale‘s season two mystery got even more complicated in tonight’s episode, and it looks like Betty Cooper (Lili Reinhart) has a bigger part in it than she realized.
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Spoilers for tonight’s episode of Riverdale, “Chapter Eighteen: When A Stranger Calls”, below!
Tonight’s episode saw Betty receiving multiple phone calls from The Black Hood, the masked villain currently terrorizing Riverdale‘s residents. As he established, he was inspired to start his crusade after Betty’s speech at the Jubilee, and now he wants Betty completely on his side.
Throughout the episode, he forced Betty to break off or ruin various relationships within her life: Alice (Madchen Amick), Veronica (Camila Mendes), and finally Jughead (Cole Sprouse). For each task that Betty did, the Black Hood agreed to answer a question that she asked.
One of Betty’s first questions was whether or not she would know the man underneath the mask. And according to the Black Hood, yes, it’s someone that she would recognize.
So what could this mean for the season-long mystery of the Black Hood? Does it help narrow down the list of potential suspects? Let’s break it down.
Hal Cooper
Hal (Lochlynย Munro) has seemed like the strongest candidate in recent weeks… and tonight’s episode could be interpreted as only fueling that speculation.
Within tonight’s episode, Hal himself was essentially sort of a footnote. After Betty leaked Alice’sย teenage arrest report (something, by the way, that Hal could very well have had access to), his main contribution to the conversation was arguing that Betty did so out of “revenge.” Later, he remarked about Alice being tooย embarrassed to appear at Hiram’s party, something that is soon counteracted by her waltzing in.
But as we argued last week, Betty’s father has already known about some of Riverdale’s previous indiscretions, including Archie’s relationship with Ms. Grundy. And Halย not onlyย knows about Betty’s Nancy Drew code book, which inspired theย Black Hood’s cipher, but he definitely knowsย where Polly is currently hidden away — seeing as she first suggested the idea to her parents.
And tonight’s episode title — “When A Stranger Calls” — could also serve as some sort of clue. The most iconic line from the film of the same name is, coincidentally, “the call is coming from inside the house.” Whether or not this has a direct parallel to the Black Hood and Betty’s calls remains to be seen.
Smithers
Anotherย strong candidate to be under the Black Hood has beenย Smithersย (Tom McBeath), the Lodge family’s butler.
As we’ve previously discussed, Smithersย definitely fits the physical profile of the Black Hood,ย down to the same green eye color. He also would be someone that Betty has met before, considering her periodic trips to the Lodge household.
From there, the evidence essentially dwindles. According to Hiram,ย Smithersย has been absent for a few episodes to “visit his sick mother,” although that very well could be a cover for him doing something else. But that leaves how he would know the remainder of the information addressed in the episode, and whyย he would even be doing this crusade in the first place.ย
Someone We Haven’t Met Yet
This might sound like a bit of a cop-out, but there could be a chance that the Black Hood is someone Betty recognizes, who just hasn’t been introduced on the show yet.
This rules out other potential candidates like Chic Cooper (Hart Denton), Betty’s soon-to-appear long-lost brother. This is largely because while Betty hasn’t seen Chic’s face, those keeping up withย Denton’s appearances on setย have, and know that he is not the same build as the Black Hood. But there is a chance that the green-eyed man in question could be someone tied to Chic’s storyline, or something else in Betty’s orbit, and be introduced officially at a later time.
So why exactly would that mystery man, who has been absent from the show’s main proceedings so far, be interested in cleansing Riverdaleย of its sins? Your guess is as good as ours at this point.
Before You Go
Riverdale airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on The CW.
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