Riverdale season 2, episode 19 recap: Chic doesn’t live here anymore

Who is the Black Hood killer? One major suspect was taken out of the running while another looked guilty in the latest episode of Riverdale.

We have been dancing around the same question all season on Riverdale: Who is the Black Hood killer? After months of twists, turns, and red herrings galore, we’re closer than ever to unmasking the actual killer. The latest episode revealed that Svenson, the janitor named as the culprit, was in fact set up to take the fall. However, the ringleader’s back in the spotlight to reclaim his disturbed glory via phone calls to Betty and midnight rendezvous in the cemetery. You know, normal things.

In the midst of the killer chaos unraveling at light speed on Riverdale, the past comes back to haunt Archie and Veronica as Nick St. Clair returns to exact revenge, which in turn shows the Lodges’ truest colors. Also, Cheryl falls into an undetectable trap laid down by Hermione, and the Alice reveals the identity of Chic’s father. Let’s dig into the five most shocking developments from the latest jaw-dropping, blood-splattered episode of Riverdale. (Warning: It’s about to get real spoilery in here.)

1. What the Chic?

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Episodes upon episodes of conspiracy and questioning all come down to this. The whole truth about Chic comes out. First, the Core Four swap theories about Black Hood, which leads to Betty worrying about Chic having loose lips about their in-house murder cover-up. She drags Jughead down to the Sisters of Quiet Mercy to dig up more information on Chic and Svenson, where they snag a picture of her real brother. That’s right, Chic is not Charles. (I have questions about that DNA test.)

When Betty, Alice, and Jughead confront Chic in the kitchen, he grabs a knife and starts swinging, leading them to tie him up in the basement. Initially, he won’t talk, and the con artist that he is, no one can tell which stories he weaves are fact over fiction. Betty chats with her old pal Black Hood, who’s more than happy to take him off her hands. With a gun pressed to his back, Betty escorts Chic to his certain death, and he cops to the truth. He accidentally killed Charles during a fight and joined the Cooper family for kicks and giggles. Chic: The handsomest red herring.

2. Hiram doesn’t care about Archie.

But that’s old news, isn’t it? Archie is nothing but a number to Hiram, and he says as much when Nick St. Clair holds Archie for ransom, and he’s in no rush to break out the cash. Veronica kicks into high gear, stealing money from the safe and meeting Nick’s ridiculous demands. Of course, the sleazeball wants to sleep with Veronica to make up for the half million she’s missing. She agrees, and he sets up a live feed for a bloodied Archie to watch. Redhead Superman escapes captivity, but Ronnie’s her father’s daughter. She gives Nick a taste of his own roofies and walks away a million dollars richer having flipped the ransom script on his family. Bow down.

3. Sheriff Killer’s days are numbered.

Following Midge’s death and the return of Black Hood, the town realizes that Sheriff “Killer” maybe, kinda, sorta didn’t catch the right guy. Cheryl internalizes Midge’s loss (because apparently Midge was a River Vixen?) and barks right in Keller’s face. Hermione, who claims to have been whipping up an editorial on the sheriff, asks Cheryl to contribute her own op-ed for the paper. While Cheryl’s surely scathing tell-all doesn’t go over well with Kevin, the Lodges eat it right up. She played right into their hand to taking over Riverdale.

4. And the father is…

While the majority of the episode revolved around the pair of prisoners (Archie and Chic) and the ensuing fallout, one small tidbit did come to light. The truth about Chic and Charles sends Alice into an absolute meltdown, as she feels responsible for turning Charles away and his resulting “overdose.” She turns to FP for support and hits him with late breaking news: He’s the father! But we have to wonder whether Charles is really dead, or if he will show up out of nowhere.

5. A new Black Hood suspect emerges.

And it’s Hal Cooper! Betty returns home from her exchange with Black Hood to realize her father isn’t home, and her Scooby ears stand at attention. Come to think of it, ol’ Hood was looking a little worse for the wear. But didn’t we suspect him already? Didn’t Betty call him out already? Been there, red herring-ed that.

Look, I know we all think that the Black Hood wanted to kill Chic, and that’s why Betty felt safe handing him over as insurance. But what if that’s exactly what the Black Hood wanted? What if this whole scheme was the plan the entire time? For all we know, Chic ran off with Black Hood to keep plotting murders. It’s just a theory, but we didn’t see a body. In television terms, “we didn’t see a body” equals he could still be alive.

Next: Riverdale season 2, episode 18 recap: Who survived the deadly musical episode?

Odds & Ends:

• The black pom poms and River Vixen uniforms at Midge’s funeral were both over the top and peak Riverdale.
• “Shut the hell up, impostor!” When did Jughead become a parody of himself? Sometime after that “I’m weird” speech, huh?
• Did anyone else find it jarring when Betty picked up the phone to talk to Black Hood and panic didn’t wash over her? She picked up the phone and started talking like she was gossiping with Kevin or something.
• Toxic masculinity was in the air tonight! Between Nick St. Clair needing to prove his worth to his mobster father by hurting Archie to Archie’s pride taking him over, you needed a gas mask to breathe through the testosterone smog.
• But bonus points to Betty for threatening the Sisters of Quiet Mercy with the FBI for locking Cheryl in conversion therapy. She should do it anyway. Take the Black Hood edge off. Something for Betty.

What did you think of the latest episode? Let us know in the comments!

Riverdale airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on The CW.