"Riverdale" Revealed Who Shot Hiram and the Answer is Shocking
Warning: Riverdale spoilers ahead.
[Updated 1/30/19 9:00 p.m. ET]: Nothing is ever simple in Riverdale. EVER. And that applies to Hiram's shooting as well. While I had some pretty good guesses as to who got a shot in on Hiram (scroll down to see my thought process), episode 11 revealed the truth as to who attempted to take down the Man in Black...Hermione, FP, and the very much not dead Michael Minetta.
Yup, Minetta is alive (well, not anymore because Hermione takes him out at the end of the episode), and having an affair with Hermione. The two devise a plan to kill Hiram in order for Hermione to get revenge for that time she almost died when Hiram hired Tall Boy to take shots at her during the mayoral debate. As an added bonus, with Hiram's death would allow Hermione to sell his drug business and make a lot of money. So, Hermione hires FP to shoot Hiram in exchange for the position of sheriff. FP is willing to take this deal because he's seeking his own revenge after Hiram had Jughead beaten to an inch of his life on Riot Night.
Of course, that was only half of Hermione's plan. When the job wasn't done to completion, Hermione sent in Minetta to finish it up, using a sheriff's gun in order to frame FP. Of course, Archie just happened to be in the hospital room-also contemplating pulling the trigger on a very helpless Hiram-when Minetta came in. Archie shoots Minetta in the arm and saves Hiram.
A crazy story to begin with, but that's not even the official story they tell the town or Hiram! In order to cover up FP's crime and Fang's accidental murder of Tall Boy, they blame the shooting on the former Gargoyle King. FP sites the fact that Hiram was hiding Tall Boy in another town in order to carryout odd jobs for him, which was more or less true. FP tells Hermione that when he went to arrest Tall Boy, he fought back, which forced FP to draw his weapon and shoot. Unfortunately, Tall Boy died on the way to the hospital.
So, everything gets neatly wrapped up, and FP and Hermione get to walk away free of consequences. Meanwhile, Hiram is awake, and accepting the Tall Boy story, but I have to wonder if he will ever learn the truth of his attempted murder, and what will go down when that news comes out.
Original Post: Episode ten of Riverdale was a wild ride. Not only did we find out the identity of the Gargoyle King, but the seemingly unstoppable Man in Black was also shot down in the safety of his own office. So, who pulled the trigger? Unfortunately, we won't know for at least another week (and that's if the Riverdale writers are being kind), but I've got a pretty solid list of suspects and I'm pretty sure one of them is to blame. Here's everyone who should be questioned in the shooting of Hiram Lodge:
Archie
OK, so the most obvious suspect is Archie. I mean, even Veronica thinks he did it. Unfortunately, the redhead doesn't have an alibi. He was supposed to be taking the SAT at the time, but he bolted out of the classroom after having some sort of panic attack, leaving him unaccounted for during the time of the shooting.
Then, there's also the fact that, plain and simple, he hated Hiram. I mean, it's for good reason. Hiram sent him to jail, forced him to go on the run, pretty much ruined Archie's life. Archie even hallucinated killing Hiram in the previous episode. So, yeah, I don't blame Ronnie for thinking her ex-bae shot her dad.
Hermione
We're still waiting for Hermione to grow a backbone and stand up to her husband, and shooting him would be the ultimate revenge for years of mental abuse. Earlier in the episode, we see Hermione start to really get fed up with her husband, when he asks her to make Claudius Blossom the new sheriff of Riverdale. Not only does she shoot down his idea, but she later appoints FP to the position, a blatant rejection of Hiram's request.
A post shared by Kelly Ripa (@kellyripa) on Nov 6, 2018 at 2:55pm PST
And then there's the issue of Hiram's mistress. We know she exists, but does Hermione? It's quite possible that she recently found out about Hiram's other woman and she is PISSED, like really pissed, like pissed enough to shoot him. And while it may have seemed like Hermione was on the phone with Hiram when he got shot, which would give her an alibi, he could have just as easily been on the phone with his mistress, since he simply referred to the person on the other end as "mi amor."
And doesn't that look like the face of someone who just shot the man laying in front of her? I think so. It definitely doesn't look like a grieving wife, in my opinion.
Reggie
OK, this one is a little bit of a reach, but think about it. Reggie ended up in the best position at the end of all of this, at least in the eyes of Veronica.
Throughout the entire episode, Reggie is upset, because now that Archie is back, Veronica is over Veggie. It isn't until Veronica accuses Archie of shooting her father that the pair officially breaks up and Reggie can swoop in and and finally be Ronnie's number one. So, would Reggie actually shoot Hiram in order to get Archie out of the picture? And is Reggie even smart enough to pull all of this off? Unclear, but it is suspicious that he seems to be the one who benefits the most in the end.
Fred
Fred is one of the more suspicious characters considering the fact that he literally threatened Hiram earlier in the episode literally saying he would "be at peace with whatever the consequences" of shooting Hiram turn out to be.
It's possible that after spending more time with his son following that threat, and seeing how the past year of jail and bear attacks has truly changed Archie for the worst, he rethought his ultimatum. Why wait for Hiram to hurt Archie again when he has already hurt him so much? Isn't that enough of an excuse for a concerned father?
Carolyn Twersky is the Editorial Fellow at Seventeen.com. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram!
('You Might Also Like',)
