We are fast approaching the penultimate episode of Riverdale, which airs on Thursday and — according to Entertainment Weekly — will finally reveal the identity of Jason Blossom’s killer. There have been a number of theories about who Blossom’s killer could be — Hiram Lodge, Kevin Keller, Betty’s father, Mrs. Grundy, and even Archie Andrews himself — but I have a sneaking suspicion that it’s a lesser considered suspect: Veronica’s mother, Hermione Lodge.
This is what we know: Hermione’s husband, Hiram, was imprisoned for a fraud and embezzlement scheme, and he was apparently put there by the father of Jason Blossom, Clifford, so that Cliff could get out of paying a large monthly sum to Lodge Industries. Interestingly, it’s Hermione who doesn’t want to reveal this potentially exculpatory information to Hiram’s lawyers because it might give police a reason to believe that Hiram killed Jason Blossom. As far as we know, Hiram doesn’t have this knowledge; Hermione has withheld it from even him.
Meanwhile, in episode one, Hermione receives a large sum of cash in a bag from Hiram, and yet, she still feels compelled to work minimum wage jobs. One of those jobs is with Fred Andrews, who eventually partners with Lodge Industries on a project to be built at the old drive-in theater. It’s Hermione, however, that facilitates the entire deal, which requires that she forge her daughter’s signature. She threatens to blow it all up and sell the SoDale project to Cliff Blossom, but I think that was a bluff, and that she never had any intention of doing so. She only wanted to manipulate Fred Andrews into going into business with her, and that was her end game all along, from the moment she asked for a job and eventually slept with Fred Andrews.
Meanwhile, we also know that FP and the Southside Serpents left a snake in the diner for Hermione earlier this season over — Hermione claims — money Hiram owed to the Southside Serpents. But why would Hiram owe money to the Southside Serpents unless he was paying them off for killing Jason Blossom or — more likely, since we know FP is not a murderer — paying them hush money not to rat out the real killer?
Here’s what I think: I think Hermione killed Jason Blossom, or — as someone else suggested — she had her butler, Smithers, kill Jason Blossom. I think that FP witnessed the murder, and he agreed to help cover it up in exchange for a blackmail payment from Hiram. Hiram loves his wife so much that he’s willing to help her cover up a murder because he understands why she did it.
In fact, in episode 10, Hiram beseeched his daughter in a letter to testify on behalf of Hiram’s character, writing: “My darling daughter, if you do not testify on my behalf, I’m afraid that your poor mother might be drawn into this awful mess. It pains me to say, but she’s not nearly as innocent as you believe.” I think by that he means that Hermione killed Jason on his behalf, and he needs Veronica to help him get out of prison so he can protect his wife.
Meanwhile, despite a clear motive for Hiram to kill Jason, Hermione continues to insist to Veronica that he didn’t. How would she know? Well, because she killed Jason Blossom.
There’s a couple of clinchers here: In the most recent episode, we find out for certain that FP didn’t kill Jason Blossom, but that someone planted a gun in FP’s trailer. Who could it be? It’d have to be someone who knew that FP wasn’t at home at the time, and it had to be someone who wasn’t with FP at the dinner at Betty’s house. It wasn’t Archie or Veronica, because the gun was planted after Archie and Veronica left FP’s house. But it could’ve been Hermione. How would she even know about Archie and Veronica’s plan? Because they made their plan inside of Hermione’s apartment, which we already know is small. Odd, isn’t it, that Archie showed up at Veronica’s apartment late at night to affirm the plan to search FP’s house?
Of course, if Hiram is implicated in Jason’s murder, Hermione has no intention of rescuing him by confessing. “We’ll cut all ties. He’ll be dead to us,” Hermione told Veronica, coldly with the glint of a sociopath.
Look: We know it’s not Hiram Lodge who is eventually arrested for Jason’s murder. We know that, because Mark Consuelos has been cast as Hiram Lodge and is expected to become as series regular next season. If he’s arrested for the murder of Jason Blossom, he certainly can’t move to Riverdale, but he could fill the space left by Hermione if she is arrested. And in a show that’s all about characters with single parents, it wouldn’t make sense for Hiram and Veronica to reunite next season, because if they did, why wouldn’t they move back to whence they came in NYC? It makes more sense to see Hiram Lodge return to pick up the pieces after Veronica loses her mother to prison.
So, don’t be surprise this Thursday if we learn that Hermione is the killer, just as Hiram is sprung from prison.
