User blog:Looperreallyreallysucks/Pure Evil Discussion - Riverdale: Season Three (SPOILERS!!!)

Alright, time to discuss season three of the CW series Riverdale. So... I'm discussion this season exactly a week early, mostly because I simply can't wait to discuss it, so if you watch the show but haven't finished watching season three, SPOILERS ALERT. THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE OF TURNING BACK. Let's begin.

So to start with, Riverdale is a teen/mystery/drama series set in the titular town of Riverdale. The first season focused on a typical whodunit-cum-teen plot. The second season took a darker turn and focused on a serial killer mystery. But by the time the third season ended, the show went INSANE. And calling this season "bizarre" and "confusing" would be an understatement.

Villains like Hermione Lodge, Sheriff Minetta, Tall Boy, the Ghoulies, Claudius Blossom, and Penny Peabody return. We are also introduced to characters like Warden Norton (abusive prison warden), Kurtz (drug dealer), and Elio Grande (greedy, unlikable criminal). However, none of these characters qualify. They either have mitigating factors or fail the heinous standards. We are also introduced to the sweet, wonderful, and innocent Evelyn Evernever. She is a woman in her twenties who goes around posing as a teenager and luring people into her husband's cult. The issue with her is that she's mostly just the said husband's assistant, so while one could say she's heinous, I feel pretty uncomfortable adding her to Pure Evil.

Now, time to discuss the most heinous villains in the series so far.

Penelope Blossom
Short review: Penelope is an abusive b**ch who is revealed to be the Greater-Scope Villain of the second and third seasons. DUN DUN DUUUUN!!! Long review: Penelope first appears in season one. She spends most of the season abusing her daughter, mostly emotionally and sometimes physically. When she's on her best behavior, she's neglectful and cold towards her. In season two, Penelope still behaves hostilely towards her daughter. She also tries to kill her mother, and she sends her daughter to a gay-conversion program. Towards the end of the season, she teams up with Hiram Lodge, and out of all the things she could have asked for, she asks for a brothel. Then in season three, it is revealed that she killed her husband. She also kills her brother and Daryl Doiley (her former schoolmate). Towards the end of the season, it is revealed that she was the mastermind behind the atrocities committed by the Black Hood and the Gargoyle King (see their sections below for details). She then sends Archie, Veronica, Jughead, and Betty on a quest with the intention of having them killed. When the Black Hood makes a mistake that disappoints her, she betrays and kills him. Now, considering how Penelope was responsible for the Black Hood/Gargoyle King attacks along with committing a fair amount of other crimes, I'd say she's definitely heinous enough. But is she Pure Evil? No. She cares about her son and was aggrieved over his death. In fact, ironically, the more heinous she is, the further she stays from the PE category. Why? Because her worst crimes were committed out of anger and grief over her son's death. So the more atrocities she commits, the more we see just how much she loved her son. So "no" to her.

Hal Cooper (aka the Black Hood)
In the first season, Hal initially appears to be a decent guy. Throughout the season, however, we start to see glimpses of his darker side. For one, he often acts like a HUGE a**hole towards his family. He also tries to have his grandchildren aborted. Then, towards the end of the season, Betty makes a speech about how "Riverdale must do better". This fully activates Hal's dark side, and he ends the season becoming the Black Hood and attempting to shoot Fred dead. In season two, Hal kills Miss Grundy by crushing her throat with a cello bow. He then starts to torment Betty (his own daughter) via phone calls, forcing her to abandon her friends and boyfriend. He shoots the Sugarman dead, forces a man named Joseph Svenson to dress up as the Black Hood and get himself killed, nails a girl to a wall with machetes and writes a message with her blood, and kills Dr. Masters by slitting his throat. In the penultimate episode, he reveals to his family that he's the Black Hood, and he tries to kill them in a murder-suicide. Fortunately, Betty and Alice manage to knock him out, and the police arrive and arrest him. Throughout season three, he fools Betty into thinking that he's reforming. Unfortunately, he ends up causing an accident that kills multiple prisoners, and he fakes his own death in the process and escapes. He then proceeds to attack Betty before meeting with Penelope and the Gargoyle King. It is then revealed that he assisted Penelope in orchestrating the Gargoyle King attacks. After Penelope sends Archie, Veronica, Jughead, and Betty on the aforementioned quest, Hal gives Betty two choices: 1) Kill him and take the antidote after drinking poison, or 2) Simply die. This disappoints Penelope to the point where she shoots him dead.

Now, the issue with Hal is this: For one, he has a Freudian Excuse - his parents were sociopaths who forced him to set up an innocent man to be murdered when he was a child. They raised him to believe that it's right to kill "sinners". Because of this, he seems to authentically believe that he's merely wiping out "sin" in Riverdale (similar to how Thanos believes that he's merely preventing overpopulation by killing half of the universe). And since the town of Riverdale is filled with drug addicts, criminals, adulterers, and etc., Hal has a point there. And as someone pointed out on TV Tropes, the fact that Hal was abruptly revealed to be a crazy serial killer towards the end of season two makes it ambiguous whether the scenes of him showing care/affection towards his family in the first season were genuine or not. While he attempts to kill both Alice and Betty, it's still possible that he cares about Polly (his other daughter), since there are scenes where he clearly shows concern for both her and her kids. So in the end, I'm mostly undecided on Hal, but if I was forced to pick between "yes" and "no", I would go with a "no". For now.

Edgar Evernever
FYI, this character has a page here, but it's poorly written, so I'll clean it up once this discussion is over. Anyways, that's besides the point. Let's begin.

So... Edgar first appears in season three. He runs a cult called the Farm, where he would have emotionally vulnerable people lured in. Afterwards, he would hypnotize and brainwash them. Throughout his screentime, he lures Betty's friends and family members into the cult with the intention of convincing her to join. Eventually, it is revealed that Edgar's intentions are to harvest the organs of his followers and either sell the organs or implant them into his wife Evelyn. He ends up attempting to do this to Betty before "ascending" (or, in other words, leaving town with his disciples). The issue with Edgar is this: the fact that one of his motives for harvesting organs is to replace his wife's failing kidneys strongly implies that he cares about her. Also, from what I've been able to gather, his storyline isn't over, so for now, I'll have to lean towards a "no" for him. Once his story arc is over, I'll consider proposing/adding him if he subverts his implicit care for his wife, but at the moment, I don't feel like he counts. Now for the next one...

Chic Cooper (aka the Gargoyle King)
Chic first appears in season two. He impersonates Betty's brother Charles, and he integrates himself into Betty's family, manipulating Alice into believing that he's her long-lost son. When Betty, Alice, and Jughead find out that Chic has been impersonating Charles, Chic claims that he killed Charles in a fight. In retaliation, Betty delivers him to the Black Hood. Fortunately for him, the Black Hood decides to spare him and make him his henchman. Under Penelope's orders, Chic dresses up as the Gargoyle King and starts to lure people in Riverdale into playing the dangerous role-playing game called "Gryphons and Gargoyles". People who play the game end up becoming socially withdrawn, and they complete a series of "quests". Throughout the season, Chic uses this to wreak havoc and cause the deaths of Dilton, Ben, and numerous others. He is last seen attempting to kill Jughead.

Ultimately, I also have issues with adding Chic. Overall, I never really felt like his character screamed "Pure Evil". Back in season two, he supposedly killed Charles and impersonated him (and manipulated Alice in the process). Since season three reveals that Charles is alive and well, the supposed murder of Charles can be removed from his rap sheet. As for impersonating Charles, it's quite simple: that's not even remotely heinous enough. Apparently, he also killed a guy named Dwayne, but that was clearly in self-defense, so that's also not enough to put him into PE territory. And while he's revealed to be the Gargoyle King in season three, he mostly acts as Penelope and Hal's henchman. To add to that, he expressed some remorse while stating that he killed Charles. He could have said it that way to save his own ass since he was at gunpoint, but we don't know. And since season four has been renewed, it's possible that his storyline could continue. So ultimately, I'm undecided on Chic.

Hiram Lodge
Last but not least: Hiram Lodge.

Hiram is a crime lord who's been committing crimes even before the start of the show. He spends the first season behind bars for committing embezzlement and fraud. He pays the Southside Serpents to devalue the profit of the local drive-in cinema. He also has Fred's construction side vandalized. Then, throughout season two, he manipulates Archie into doing his bidding while buying property in Riverdale. He also has Cassidy Bullock and Poppa Poutine killed. In the last few episodes of that season, he starts to commit MEH-worthy crimes. He tries to have Fred assassinated, attempts to orchestrate the death of an innocent teenager in order to start a full riot, pays the Ghoulies to go to war with the Serpents, and frames Archie for Cassidy's murder. In season three, he taunts Archie for his impending imprisonment, orchestrates an ambush when Archie and his fellow prisoners try to rebel, orders Sheriff Minetta to kill all of Cassidy's friends, tricks Veronica into running his illegal bar and casino, and ends up almost beating Archie to death. To add to that, he pays Tall Boy to pose as the Gargoyle King and kill Joaquin. He also runs drugs through the town and takes part in causing the "Gryphons and Gargoyles" chaos and delivers hallucinatory drugs to the Sisters of Quiet Mercy. At the end of the season, he incriminates Hermione, and he gloats to himself that he will do something... horrible to Veronica. We don't know what he's planning to do to her, but given all the evidence, we know that it's not gonna be pleasant.

Out of all the villains I mentioned in this post, Hiram is probably the best fit. At first, he appears to be affable, and he also seems to care about his family. However, we start to see just how much of a greedy and selfish scumbag he is. And by the end of the third season, his "care" for his family is gone. His relationship with his wife becomes outright hostile, and he callously plans to harm his own daughter for "betraying" him. And while he appeared to be grateful towards Archie towards for saving his life, that is ultimately revealed to be a ruse. He also tries to beat Archie to death, so by the end of the day, he proves himself to be nothing more than a greedy and callous criminal. According to the cast list for season 4 on the Riverdale Wiki, he'll reappear in the next season, but if he eventually becomes redeemable, we can just remove him. At this point, his inclusion as a PE is long overdue. Leaning towards a "yes" to him.

Verdict
"Yes" to Hiram; "no" to Penelope, Hal, and Edgar; "undecided" on Chic.