Fool me once, Riverdale. The hugely disappointing Black Hood reveal from the midseason finale was a cop-out in more ways than one. Turns out, the real Black Hood is still on the loose, and no one has a clue who it is – not even the writers. Stop trying to make the Black Hood happen, Riverdale, it’s not going to happen.
“Hey, I’m here to remind you I’m still totally important, OK?” Image: CW
Right now, Riverdale might be focused on how much blood our heroes can get on their hands, literally and figuratively… though mostly literally. Archie’s sworn a Blood Oath to Hiram, Betty helped dump a corpse, and Jughead is, well, still out there being Jughead. The stage is set for a major legal comeuppance for some of our Riverdale friends – just in time for Hiram and Hermione to finish building their for-profit prison! But why care about any of that when we have the lovely Black Hood on the way again? Ughhhhhhhhh.
The Black Hood was the main villain for the first half of season two, terrorising the town of Riverdale with devious plans to rid the town of vice and sin. It was… pretty stupid, to be honest. When “Chapter Twenty-Two: Silent Night, Deadly Night” revealed that the man behind the Hood was the janitor, Svenson, who’d we’d only seen in a couple of episodes, I was annoyed but also kind of relieved. People were eager to point out to me how the janitor could’ve been a fake-out, and that the real Black Hood was maybe still out there. In my mind I was begging, “Please, please, please don’t be true,” because the Black Hood was stupid and I wanted that storyline to be over. Forever. Shame on me.
Speaking at this year’s PaleyFest, executive producer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa revealed that Svenson wasn’t the real Black Hood, and our favourite masked villain will return to Riverdale later this season. Apparently, it was never supposed to be the janitor – he was the scapegoat for something much bigger. So, who is the real Black Hood? Is it Betty’s brother, Chic? Is it her father? Or is it another sanitation worker who will pop up at the last minute to take the fall? Actually, the writers don’t really know. Even now, as they prepare for that final showdown, they’re still narrowing down their list of suspects.
“When we started, we had three likely suspects, so for the first half of the season, we were always dropping red herrings so we could pick [one of them],” Aguirre-Sacasa said. “As we moved into the second half, and we get back to the Black Hood for the last few episodes, we always knew it wasn’t Svenson. But for the last 10 episodes or so, we’ve had a pretty clear idea and have been writing toward that.”
I’m sure there are a few people who liked the Black Hood storyline and are eager for this character to come back. I am not one of them. Riverdale is bizarre enough without stupid midnight phone calls from some guy in a mask who maybe participated in this murder at a tree or something… honestly I can’t even remember what happened. Let the past die, Riverdale. Kill it if you have to.