The reveal that janitor Svenson (Cameron McDonald) was the one behind the Black Hood's reign of terror didn't sit well with many Riverdale fans. Fortunately for those disappointed by the confusing and lackluster reveal, it looks like the Black Hood storyline is anything but over. At PaleyFest, K.J. Apa teased to TVLine that we'll get clues towards the end of season 2 that the serial killer who tormented Betty (Lily Reinhart) is still very much out there. So, who could he be? There's only one person that makes any sense, and that's Barclay Hope's Claudius Blossom.
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If you thought that evil twins were only prevalent on Pretty Little Liars, it looks like Riverdale is borrowing pretty heavily from the teen mystery that came before it. In season 2, it was revealed that Claudius was Clifford's secret identical twin — one who was ran out of Riverdale after being threatened by his brother. Unfortunately, Uncle Claudius isn't the friendly relative Cheryl (Madelaine Petsch) desperately needs. Instead, he's just as murderous as his brother Cliff, and hellbent on stealing the Blossom fortune from Cheryl and her Nana Rose (Barbara Wallace).
Which is why I can't believe we're not all screaming at our TVs: Claudius is very clearly the Black Hood.
Let's consider what we know about the Black Hood. He's a middle-aged white man. He has green eyes. He's someone that Archie believes, if he saw, he could pinpoint — which is not how he felt when he looked into Svenson's eyes.
Who hasn't Archie seen? Claudius Blossom. He also hasn't seen Claudius' identical twin, Clifford Blossom, because he died before the Black Hood began his killing (or, rather, attempted murder) spree.
So people still think the blackhood is Clifford Blossom but did anyone care to realize that Claudius is his identical twin so it’s probably him? #Riverdale pic.twitter.com/sWQThBtsbn
— lie to me || 11 || PINNED TWEET!!!! (@coll5sos) March 18, 2018
The motivations for Claudius as the Black Hood make a lot of sense. For one thing, Claudius was ran out of town by his own brother because of a sin integral to Riverdale: Clifford flat-out told Claudius that all of the Riverdale Blossoms killed their own sibling. Claudius could have easily known about the incident with the Riverdale Reaper, as his own parents were the ones who murdered the prime suspect. He also has the advantage of looking like a "ghost" of Clifford Blossom: Maybe the reason Svenson was running away so desperately in the Christmas episode, before Sheriff Keller (Martin Cummins) shot him, was because he thought he was being targeted by a dead man.
Given the specifics of the Black Hood's appearance, there really are only so many people this killer could be — and Claudius seems like not only the most obvious choice, but also the only one left. In fact, it's so obvious that it makes me wonder if Riverdale will pull another bait-and-switch and have Clifford Blossom be the man we know as Claudius. If that's the case, then the series would officially tie together its first two seasons in a pretty brilliant way: The original villain was the one we should have feared all along.