Liam Hoofe reviews the penultimate episode of Riverdale season 2…
‘Are you and Daddy trying to turn Riverdale into Gotham City?’ Veronica Lodge asks her parents after discovering that they have put a bounty on the head of The Black Hood. Frankly, Veronica, not even Batman would have been able to cope with the carnage unravelling in the latest episode of Riverdale.
Riverdale appears to have taken a leaf out of Game of Thrones‘ playbook here, with the show’s penultimate episode turning the town into a battleground, dropping several major reveals along the way.
The best starting point, I guess, is the beginning, which provided us with perhaps my favourite TV moment of 2018. The episode picked up at the exact moment the previous one ended – with Cheryl Blossom screaming as The Black Hood stood on her doorstep. Cheryl instantly ran upstairs as The Black Hood chased her with an axe, and we cut to Betty, who was still waiting for her father to arrive at the town hall. Back at Cheryl’s, she jumped out of the bedroom window in the oldest of tropes, and The Black Hood chased her outside. Cheryl then turned it up to 11, and came out dressed in a red cape, with bow and arrow in hand, transforming herself into a bad-ass hybrid of Little Red Riding Hood and Katniss Everdeen, this isn’t the first time we’d see Cheryl like this in the episode, and I legitimately fist-bumped every time we did. Cheryl wounded The Black Hood with an arrow to the shoulder and then pursued him through the wood, but he got away.
Twist: The Red Hood is @madelainepetsch #DCComics #riverdale pic.twitter.com/TNePMMh0dN
— Jordan Connor (@thejordanconnor) May 10, 2018
While Cheryl had The Black Hood to contend with, the rest of Riverdale had a full-blown riot on its hands. The Serpents are out for blood after Fang’s shooting at the hands of the last episode, and just at it looks like they are heading to a full-scale war with the Northsiders, they have another problem to contend with, the return of the Ghoulies and Penny Peabody. The Ghoulies, who, surprise surprise, were being controlled by Hiram, were out for blood, and one of the most episode’s most shocking moments, they were given it, when Jughead decided to sacrifice himself to prevent a battle between them and The Serpents. The episode’s final moment saw FP go and find Jughead’s beaten body in the forest, and carry him out to his distraught friends. FP was excellent in this scene, and Riverdale wasn’t shy about highlighting how beaten Jughead was. His arc season has been one of a martyr, and this flirtation with death (he’s definitely not dead) may force him to reflect on the road he has gone down.
The biggest question surrounding this season of Riverdale has been the identity of The Black Hood, and we finally got our answer in this week’s episode. After hinting at it over the last two weeks, Hal Cooper was finally revealed to be the man behind the mask. He revealed it all to his family in one of the episode’s best scenes- showing them all a video from his childhood where his mother told him that he must stop the sinners, just like his father, and his father before him. Hal then hinted that a double murder-suicide was on the cards, but Alice managed to distract him long enough for Betty to strike him down and ring Sheriff Keller. Alice was outstanding in this scene, and it was quite fitting that even after Hal admitted that he was the town’s most wanted criminal, Alice still found a way to emasculate him. The idea of darkness running down the Cooper bloodline was also interesting, and there should be plenty of interesting ramifications for Betty going forward. Expect plenty of scenes where Betty visits her father in jail in the next season.
Of course, though, not content with one Black Hood, the show revealed that there is in fact, two Black Hoods on the loose, and that Hal had nothing to do with the one who attacked the town hall last week. Personally, I’d bet on the other one being linked to Hiram Lodge somehow. Though, I don’t think we will have to wait another 21 episodes to find out who this one is.
Elsewhere, Poppa Putin’s ridiculously named son, Small Fry, came looking for revenge against Hiram and ended up getting shot by Hermione. This felt like a little bit of a distraction but it further planted the seeds for Hiram’s downfall, with Veronica turning her back on her father even more, and Hermione clearly torn after seeing her daughter nearly get killed.
This was the best episode of Riverdale yet. It packed one hell of a punch and featured some truly memorable moments. I don’t expect this season finale to be as strong as this, as it is likely to explore the aftermath of the riot and plant some seeds for season 3. Riverdale season 2 has been one hell of a long journey, but this episode made it all feel worth it.
Liam Hoofe
