Did Hal Cooper really die on Riverdale? His transfer to prison looks like a suspicious red herring

Spoilers coming for Riverdale Season 3, Episode 19, "Fear the Reaper". It's a universal truth that when a character on Riverdale "dies" off screen, they are almost always alive. Take Penny Peabody, who returns in the episode of April 24, or Mad Dog, who is supposed to have died in july and is now present and explained. So when Veronica tells Betty that Hal Cooper died on Riverdalethere are reasons to be skeptical.

Everyone knows that Betty's father is not good – he is the Black Hood, after all, and has been in jail since the shocking revelation of Season 2. But since his daughter started visiting him in jail, they have been bonding. It's an incredibly stupid thing for Betty – to confide in her father, a serial killer – but she does not have a lot of choices because her mother is so deeply ingrained in the farm that she's in love with her. chaining to a bed has no effect. on his allegiances (seriously, did Betty really think it would work?).

But despite repeated cursing that she's never going to talk to her father again, Betty continues to thread the visitor's pbad and tell Hal everything Alice does. The latest news is that Edgar Evernever and Alice are getting married and planning to adopt the Polly, Juniper and Dagwood twins. Hal becomes extremely agitated when he hears this news saying to Betty, "No, that can not happen, Juniper and Dagwood must be protected!"

But before all this happened, Mr. Cooper asked to be transferred to Hiram's new private jail, which Betty corrected this week. She asks Hiram Lodge a favor saying, "My father is incarcerated two hours away in a cell without a window, it's a horrible place, he heard about your installation and the fact that some cells even a view of the Sweetwater River. "

So we feel pretty suspect when Veronica announces the news to Betty that her father, the dearest of the two, was killed during her transfer to this private prison. Moreover, we never see anything of this happening, which in Riverdale-speak, probably means that Hal is now on the run. And that can not be good news for anyone, including Betty. He seemed extremely upset when he discovered the existence of Juniper and Dagwood. It would not be surprising then that he goes directly to the Farm to make Edgar Evernever his next victim.

It also leaves us wondering: what happened exactly in transit? Although Betty is right in saying that Hal's prison is a horror, is that really the only reason he wanted to be moved? It would not be excluded that Hiram and Hal had misconceptions and that all this was arranged so that he could escape. That said, this could be the case of Black Hood: organize someone to attack the public transport vehicle, arrange for his death and allow him to get away.

The third possibility is that Mr. Cooper really wanted a better cell and that someone else kidnapped him during his move. And the fourth, and perhaps the craziest possibility of all, is that Hal really is dead. But we have been burnt so many times before with these savages Riverdale cliffhangers, only so that the characters appear safe and sound in the next episode. So until we see Hal die physically, do not trust anyone.

For the moment, Hal's fate is in abeyance. But if he's really free, Alice and Edgar would do better to watch their backs, because hell has no fury like a despised serial killer.