Consider This 'Riverdale' Black Hood Twins Theory
This post contains spoilers for the Riverdale episode, “Chapter Thirty-Three: Shadow of a Doubt.”
The mystery of the Black Hood has haunted most of Riverdale season two. There have been multiple suspects, but no one has been more convincing than Betty’s dad, Hal Cooper. Physically, he’s the closest match to the Black Hood (the age also checks out). And on this week’s episode, “Chapter Thirty-Three: Shadow of a Doubt,” Betty discovered more evidence linking her dad to the masked vigilante. How is Hal going to explain how his personal schedule (as laid out in his planner) is an exact match for the Black Hood’s various murders and attempted murders? Is Betty really buying Hal’s explanation that he bought a copy of the Nancy Drew cipher book for her birthday? And will she make him put on the black ski mask?
Until all is revealed, hopefully in the season’s final two episodes, consider this latest fan theory: the Black Hood is Hal’s twin! And before you can say, Pass the Jingle Jangle, this is too much, it’s not too ridiculous once you line up all the twins on the show. Cheryl and Jason are twins, along with their dad Clifford, whose twin brother Claudius showed up on “Chapter Twenty-Eight: There Will Be Blood” for the reading of Clifford’s will. Polly gave birth to twins Juniper and Dagwood this season, which means the twin gene also runs on the Cooper side. This is not news, since the big book of Cooper-Blossom family history tells us that Clifford and Hal’s great-grandfathers were brothers.
Not long after returning to Riverdale, Uncle Claudius revealed to Cheryl that when he was 14, Clifford threatened him with a gun at Sweetwater River and told him of the “Blossom curse” that has one twin meeting a violent end, sometimes at the hands of the other. Clifford ended up sparing Claudius’ life that day, but their great grandfather Blossom killed his own brother (Hal’s great-grandfather) decades before, causing the brother’s family to branch off and change their last name to Cooper. The Blossom family curse could have followed Hal and his twin, if he exists. What if the twin was also spared like Claudius and has returned to Riverdale to seek revenge on the town and its people? The only difference is, the Black Hood has been more successful than Claudius in the department of seeking revenge on the town that sent them away in the first place.
To truly stand by this theory, one only needs to go back to the Carrie musical episode. With some pushing from Betty, Hal buys peonies for Alice with hopes of being invited back to live at the Cooper house. “I’m allergic to peonies,” Alice tells him. “But how would you know that? We’ve only been married for decades.”
If Hal missed the mark on something as obvious as Alice’s flower allergies, this could mean that the Black Hood really is Hal’s twin and that the real Hal is either dead or struggling in a ditch somewhere. Greendale, maybe? This also explains what the Black Hood told Betty on the phone back on “Chapter Eighteen: When a Stranger Calls.” On the episode, he said that he and Betty are in fact the same and that she would recognize his face without the mask. Pointing the finger at Hal has felt too easy all season long. But a twin brother? Now that would be right up Riverdale’s alley.
FYI: If this twin theory proves to be true, this wouldn’t be the first time the actor who plays Hal, Lochlyn Munro, has taken on the duty of twins on TV. On Charmed, he played Jack Sheridan, who uses his twin brother Jeff to do a temperature check on his crush Prue (Shannen Doherty).
Riverdale’s penultimate episode for season two airs next Wednesday. It looks like Toni is in some danger and the Ghoulies are back, along with Penny Peabody the “Snake Charmer.” Does anyone know if Joaquin is still around, though?
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