Season synopsis
Contains spoilers for this season and earlier seasons.
After Fred Andrews is shot at Pop's, Archie tries to protect Riverdale by organizing the Red Circle, while Betty and Jughead investigate a new threat: the Black Hood, who sends Betty messages and attacks people he calls sinners. His murders and riddles turn the town against itself. Archie grows more committed to armed vigilantism, and Jughead's loyalty shifts toward the Southside Serpents as he and Betty struggle to stay close across the town's North Side–South Side divide.
The Black Hood's campaign reaches into the Cooper home, and Betty's father Hal is eventually exposed as the killer. Hal had manipulated another man into posing as the Hood, so the unmasking does not end the violence: a copycat continues the attacks, and Sheriff Minetta later names Tall Boy, whom he reports dead, as another Hood. Meanwhile Hiram Lodge tightens his hold over Riverdale, using Archie and Veronica's trust to advance his plans. The Serpents face a fight with Penny Peabody and the Ghoulies, and Jughead gives himself up to protect his friends before F.P. rescues him.
At the end of the season, Archie confronts Hiram and wins the student body presidency, but the victory lasts only moments. Police arrest him at school for the murder of Cassidy, a crime actually committed by Hiram's associate Andre during a mountain trip. Hiram has framed Archie to punish him and clear a path for his own control of the town. Betty and the others are left to face the consequences as Archie is taken away in handcuffs.