‘Riverdale’: Who Cut the Head Off of the Statue?

The Black Hood mystery might be wrapped up (for the moment), but there’s still plenty of speculation about the world of Riverdale.

Spoilers for tonight’s episode of Riverdale, “Chapter Twenty-Five: The Wrestler”, below!

Tonight’s episode saw the town of Riverdale coming together for Pickens Day — and realizing just how complicated the holiday was.

As Thomas Topaz (Graham Greene) revealed to Jughead Jones (Cole Sprouse), the story behind Pickens Day was a little more complicated. Pickens was instructed to take back the local land by the Blossom family’s ancestor, even though it meant slaughtering 400 natives in the process.

The Serpents, and various other members of the town, decided to protest the Pickens Day celebration, and things almost got out of hand. The next day, the statue of Colonel Pickens was found decapitated, and was seen as some sort of sign about the town’s oncoming war.

So, who exactly took the head off of the statue? (And no, it’s not Bart Simpson.) Here are some suspects.

Jughead

Jughead was the first of the show’s core cast to really learn the truth about Pickens Day, and it’s clear that it motivated him in some way.

Jughead ended up publishing a story about what Colonel Pickens did, which further complicated the whole matter of the Pickens Day celebration. But as Toni and Thomas pointed out, it also boiled the situation down to something that it wasn’t.

Still, Jughead seemed pretty angry about the whole Pickens Day celebration, even almost going to confront Hiram. Considering just how much of a rabble-rouser Jughead has been in recent weeks, it certainly wouldn’t be out of the question for him to take matters into his own hands and take down the statue’s head.

The Serpents

Even if Jughead didn’t take down the statue, it could be possible that the other Serpents were behind it.

After all, Toni has a pretty close connection to what Pickens did, and the other Serpents could be motivated to do the same.

But in a way, this guess almost feels too likely, especially since Hiram suggested it within the show itself.

Cheryl

Aside from Jughead, the town member who was probably most motivated by the truth about Pickens was Cheryl Blossom.

When she realized that her ancestor coordinated with Pickens, Cheryl became deeply embarrassed, especially after her mother Penelope explained that the stolen land was essentially how the family made its living.

It certainly could be possible that Cheryl is behind the Pickens statue getting beheaded, or involved with it in some way.

Hiram

Wait, what?

On the surface, it might seem crazy that Hiram would be behind the statue’s beheading. But as the show has proven time and time again, Hiram is often one step ahead of everyone else around him.

He very well could have gotten the statue’s head down himself, as a way to change public perception and further justify his SoDale development. I mean, if Hiram could somehow be the Black Hood, there’s a chance he’s behind this.

Chic

As fans have seen throughout the past two episodes, there’s definitely something more to Chic Cooper (Hart Denton). While he’s already created somewhat of a stir within the Cooper household, that very well could extend to the entire town of Riverdale.

“Chic’s got some skeletons but he’s a sweet guy, too,” Denton told ComicBook.com. “There’s a lot of layers to Chic that I’m excited for the world of Riverdale to kind of peal back and see because he … The thing with Chic is he’s had a crazy upbringing with Alice… sending him off and sort of, then, that full circle coming back around in a time of- an intense time in the Cooper house. I feel like Chic is coming into this situation at the perfect moment.”

Considering Chic’s dark past, and his dislike of the sort of “white picket fence” nature of Riverdale, he could have gotten inspired by the Pickens Day protest, and helped take things to another level.

The Real Black Hood

Regardless of who is or isn’t the “real” Black Hood — maybe whoever is could still be behind this.

After all, the Black Hood has prided himself on getting rid of Riverdale’s sinners, and an ancestor who basically committed genocide would certainly fall into that category.

The show has been somewhat outspoken about the fact that there’s more to the Black Hood mystery, with Archie hinting that Mr. Svenson might not have been the right guy. So it sounds like fans might not have to wait too long to see if they’re connected.

Sheriff Keller

As with a lot of mysteries within Riverdale, Tom Keller somehow manages to be suspect in one way or another.

Keller sort of played second banana throughout tonight’s episode, largely just helping Sierra plan the Pickens Day celebration. We don’t know exactly how he feels about the Pickens situation – meaning that he very well could’ve been motivated to destroy the statue.

After all, Keller still remains a pretty strong suspect to be the “real” Black Hood, so he’s not fully in the clear yet.