Riverdale: 20 most shocking moments during the first three seasons

Riverdale — “Chapter Thirty-Four: Judgment Night” — Image Number: RVD221a_0004.jpg — Pictured (L-R): Madchen Amick as Alice and Lili Reinhart as Betty — Photo: Katie Yu/The CW — © 2018 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

9. Hal Reveals Himself To Be The Black Hood And Tries To Kill His Family

Episode: “Chapter Thirty-Four: Judgment Night” (Season 2, Episode 21)

By the time that Betty’s erratic father, Hal Cooper, confirmed that he was the Black Hood, it wasn’t that much of a surprise. Betty had begun to suspect him a few episodes prior to the reveal and, although the show attempted to throw us off the scent, it was just too late for there to be any other likely candidates. But while the truth wasn’t all that shocking, the confession itself was.

Tricking Alice into spending riot night watching some “home movies”, Hal forced his family to watch a disturbing tape of his childhood that only confirmed everything Betty already knew. He then told his wife to take out her Dictaphone so that he could tell his story before he killed himself and his own family.

Ever the fighters, the Cooper women weren’t about to let the Black Hood steal their lives from them, as Alice began insulting her husband in a bid to draw his ire – giving Betty enough time to stealthily attack him with the shovel from the fireplace. Alice then took the shovel from her daughter and attacked Hal with it herself – reiterating one thing that we already knew well at this point: nobody messes with the Coopers.

As Hal was carted off in handcuffs with the town watching him, an emotional Betty and Alice were torn: shell-shocked by the fact that the patriarch of their family was a cold-blooded killer but relieved that the Black Hood’s reign of terror was over once and for all. With Betty being the one who delivered the crucial blow, this heart-racing moment was undoubtedly a fitting conclusion to her season-long saga with the Black Hood.