The Black Hood's Latest Target On 'Riverdale' Might Be A Huge Clue To His Identity

There are officially only two episodes left in the second season of Riverdale, and that means the Black Hood reveal is coming super soon. But unfortunately, the masked killer is still on the loose and terrorizing the town right now, and it looks like we are going to have to say goodbye to some more character before the Black Hood is finally taken care of. The latest episode ended on a shocking surprise, revealing the Black Hood has his eyes on a new victim. So, will the Black Hood kill Cheryl on Riverdale, and what might the choice of Cheryl as a target actually reveal about the Black Hood's identity? Let's get into how this cliffhanger ending might be a lot more telling than you may think.

Spoiler alert: This post is going to discuss details from Riverdale Season 2 Episode 20, "Shadow of a Doubt." The main part of the latest episode of Riverdale involved the somewhat unlikely team-up of Betty and Cheryl, as the two launched an investigation into whether Hal Cooper is the Black Hood or not. After she found out that Hal left the house shortly after she met up with the Black Hood last week, Betty is now convinced that her dad may secretly be the Black Hood. To get more evidence against her dad, Betty enlists the help of the only other person she know who had to deal with the reality of having a murderer father: Cheryl Blossom. The two work together to get some pretty damning evidence linking Hal Cooper to the Black Hood, including a copy of his schedule that contains sketchy meetings and trips on the dates when the Black Hood had attacked, a secret room he has been continuing to pay for even after moving back home, and the smoking gun: a copy of the Nancy Drew book that the Black Hood used to send a coded message to Betty earlier in the season.

Even though Betty sees that Hal is present next to her when the Black Hood shoots up the mayoral debate in town hall, she still thinks that her dad is connected to the serial killings. Taking Cheryl's advice, Betty decides to confront her father with the Nancy Drew book that she found in his secret room, and tells him that she and Cheryl have been investigating him. Hal notable responds with confusion and possibly anger at the mention of Betty's accomplice — "Cheryl!?" — and then goes on to claim that he was keeping the book as a birthday present for Betty.

But at the end of the episode, it seems like Betty did not buy her dad's claim, and she calls him to meet up with her at town hall, and brings a gun to the meeting. Before we learn anything more about that, the episode ends with Cheryl opening her door to find the Black Hood on her doorstep, presumably there to kill her.

So, who wants Cheryl Blossom dead? Answering that question is key to figuring out the Black Hood's identity — and I have a few theories based:

1. Hal Cooper

Hal is the obvious primary Black Hood suspect now, and he definitely has reason to want to make Cheryl his next victim. Throughout the series, Hal has professed his deep hatred for the Blossom family, and earlier in the episode, Hal seemed upset when Betty told him that she was working with Cheryl to investigate him. Hal probably thinks Cheryl that knows too much about his involvement in the Black Hood killings.

2. Claudius Blossom

Since Cheryl's mysterious uncle Claudius showed up at Thornhill a while back, she has been aware of Claudius and her mother Penelope teaming up to try to take out Nana Rose and Cheryl in order to get the family's maple syrup empire. After a couple of failed attempts on Nana Rose's life and an attempt to lock Cheryl up in the Sisters of Quiet Mercy, maybe Claudius decided to use the Black Hood's return as a chance to straight-up kill Cheryl without any elaborate plans.

3. Cliff Blossom

This is an extension of the Claudius guess, since there is also a theory that Cliff Blossom is still alive and Claudius is the twin that we saw die at the end of Season 1. We already know that Cliff killed his son, so it's not a stretch to believe he could kill his daughter as well.

4. Sister Woodhouse

This is a crazier theory, but one of the only other characters that we know might want to see Cheryl dead is Sister Woodhouse. Think of it like this: The Black Hood is only interested in killing "sinners," right? So if the Black Hood is targeting Cheryl, then that means that he must consider her to be a sinner. What would Cheryl's sin be? The big thing that stands out about Cheryl in recent episodes is her coming out and beginning to date a woman. Now, most of society these days does not deem homosexuality to be a sin, but we know that Sister Woodhouse sure as hell does, and I've put forth a theory that Sister Woodhouse might be connected to the Black Hood before.

5. Hal Cooper's twin brother

And finally, there is the theory that Hal Cooper has a twin brother and that twin is the Black Hood. Part of this theory claims that Hal's twin is working with Penelope Blossom to keep the real Hal tied up in Thornhill, while the twin has been impersonating Hal for part of the season. That would explain why Hal suddenly cozied up to Penelope after loudly hating the Blossoms all of Season 1, and it would make sense for him to target Cheryl if he is working with Penelope since we know that Penelope wants Cheryl gone.