Charles stole evidence for Betty, Quill & Skull discovered a hidden bug in Jughead's room, and Hiram told Veronica the truth about his sickness on Riverdale Season 4 Episode 14.

Below, TV Fanatics Becca Newton, Jasmine Peterson, and Meaghan Frey debate Betty's threats to destroy Donna, the trio leading everyone to find Jughead's dead body, and their new theory for who killed Jughead.

Betty has made it her mission to destroy Donna's life. How vicious do you think this war will get between them?

Becca: Extremely vicious. We know Donna and Brett get Betty, Archie, and Veronica arrested, and it’s only going to escalate from there. Even with Betty knowing Jughead is alive, it has become too personal between her and Donna.

I don’t think Betty will kill her, but the war won’t end until Donna is either put away or in the ground.

I’m sorry, Donna, but I’m the ultimate wild card. I am the daughter of The Black Hood. The nightmare from next door. I’m training with the FBI and I’m coming for you, you psycho b****! Not Joan, not Jonathan, not even Brett. Just you.

Betty

• Permalink: I am the daughter of The Black Hood. The nightmare from next door.

Meaghan: I agree with Becca. Donna is not getting out of the situation without being taken out of the game by someone taking her out or by her ending up behind bars.

I don't see Betty killing her on purpose, but I could see that being an unforeseen consequence of this war and it might trigger Betty's dark side that they've insisted on shoving down our throats.

Betty: Go to hell, Evelyn
Evelyn: Oh, I’m already in hell, Betty. This is hell. And soon you’re going to be here too because they’re saving a cell for you on Murderer’s Row, down the hall from Old Sparky where they keep all the killer.

• Permalink: Oh, I’m already in hell, Betty. This is hell.

Jasmine: Oh, it's about to be a bloodbath. I'm going with Donna ends up in the ground.

Betty may not do it herself, but she's going to make sure it takes and help along the way.

Betty's attempts to expose Quill & Skull as Jughead's murderer failed one instance after another. Share your thoughts on this messy series of events.

Becca: If Betty wasn’t in the know about Jughead faking his death, I would say she’s acting like a reckless gambler and making the same mistakes Jasmine and Meaghan pointed out in the previous round table.

However, believing this to be part of Betty and Jughead’s plan, Betty's moves serve her purpose of fooling the Stoney’s into believing they’re winning, which is phase 1.

The reveal of the body indicates the next phase, turning the screws on the Stoney’s, has been set in motion. It’s not gambling; it’s speed chess. 

Meaghan: I like the idea that it is part of the long game.

Betty has always been so smart up until this point on Riverdale. It just wouldn't make sense to me that she has completely lost that. Our resident Nancy Drew is just too good.   

Jasmine: I sincerely hope it's part of the long game. I can't wrap my head around Betty being this reckless. I hope she's getting them comfortable in thinking they have her over a barrel before she sticks it to them good.

Speed chess. I love it, Becca!

Mary is now in a new relationship with Brooke. Are you happy to see her moving on in her love life?

Becca: I’m fine with Mary moving on, but Fred/Mary remains my second favorite Riverdale ship.

It’s my headcanon that Fred and Mary were on the path to reconciliation until Fred’s sudden passing. I wish Riverdale had done more with their relationship during Riverdale Season 2 and Riverdale Season 3.

Putting aside my Fred/Mary feelings, I’m not thrilled with Riverdale’s execution of Mary moving on.

Why have three episodes of Frank’s shenanigans when the screen time could have been used for fleshing out Mary/Brooke and Archie’s feelings about it? I’m sure Riverdale could have still found a way to incorporate mercenaries.

Choosing to reveal Mary/Brooke on an episode where it’s an afterthought feels like it's the writers doing it for shock value and not character development.

Meaghan: I am never a fan of reveals like this coming out of nowhere. I am happy that Mary is moving on with her life, but as Becca said, they could have spent less time on the Frank drama and more time developing this character arc for her.

That isn't Riverdale though. They love to shock and awe instead of logical steps for their characters.

Jasmine: I so agree with the others. I have no problem with Mary moving on, but why randomly throw this at us without building up to it? It would have been so much more interesting if they chose to develop this instead of the whole Frank thing.

I can't even say it was shock or awe because, in general, Mary is so underdeveloped that it just kind of happened. I love her, and I'm happy she's happy, but I also didn't care one way or another about this reveal.

And, the timing of it was just weird; it was smack dab in the middle of all this dead Jughead/Stoney stuff.

Hiram came clean to Veronica about his life-threatening illness. After witnessing their heart-to-heart, do you believe him or still think this is all a scheme? 

Becca: It’s a scheme. I wouldn’t be surprised if Hiram is masterminding it, but I’m also open to the possibility of finding out his illness is actually the result of someone, say Hermosa, poisoning him.

One thing is certain, Hiram is not biting the dust anytime soon. 

Meaghan: He only came clean to her after she tells Hermosa she is upset that he didn't tell her? Yeah, I call complete BS.

Given the fact that Riverdale already dropped the bombs that FP and Hermione are leaving the show after this season, we know Hiram isn't going anywhere. He knows that if he didn't go to Veronica and spill about the illness, she would start poking holes in his story and reveal the truth.

Now, he has her right where he wants her.

Hiram: I didn’t want the pity. I didn’t want you to see me as weak. Ever.
Veronica: Daddy, all I want is to be a source of strength for you. I love you. And, we’re going to fight our way through this. Together.

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Jasmine: It's Hiram. Even when he's telling the truth he's lying. I'll always be suspicious of him and question his motives, so I always lean toward him scheming.

Archie, Veronica, and Betty purposely led everyone to find Jughead's abandoned body in the woods. Why do you think they revealed this key piece of evidence?

Becca: Our protagonists have become aware of the fourth wall and know no one watching TV believes a character is actually dead until they see the body. 

The in-universe justification for revealing the body because the Stoney’s wouldn’t want it to happen works for me as well. To paraphrase a character from one of my favorite book series, the first rule of war is to never give your enemies their wish.

Meaghan: If the whole purpose of Jughead faking his death is so that they can bring down the Stoney’s then there has to be a body. Otherwise, you're fighting an uphill battle because there is no "crime."

Betty: You drugged me, Donna You put a bloody rock in my hand, but it was you or one of your demented chums that killed my boyfriend.
Donna: Fascinating theory, but here is what I think you did. Rather than try to explore to the authorities what you were doing with a bloody rock standing over Jughead’s corpse, you hid or got rid of the body. Archie and Veronica helped you, am I right? No need to answer me, I know that’s what happened, just like how I know Jughead’s body will never be found.
Betty: Yeah, why’s that?
Donna: Because if it was, all of the forensic evidence would lead to you, Betty. The crazy girlfriend with the history of mental illness. The perfect murder! No body, no crime.

• Permalink: The perfect murder! No body, no crime.

Jasmine: The Stoney’s didn't want the body found, so they had to find the body. It's as simple as that.

When you're at odds with someone as despicable as the group of Stoney’s, being petty, spiteful, and refusing to give them what they want or are looking for just makes sense. I'm of Betty's mindset: If I'm going down, I'm taking her with me.

Now that we know Betty didn't kill Jughead since she was knocked out with Devil's Breath, share your theory of which person committed the murder!

Becca: My theory about the Jughead corpse is someone else's corpse was surgically altered to look like Jughead.

I’ve considered the possibility of the Stoney’s being the ones who manufactured the corpse. Their plan was to kidnap Jughead and leave the corpse to frame Betty. Jughead let himself be kidnapped and is working from the inside while banking on Betty finding him.

This isn’t my preferred theory. It lessens the transformation of our protagonists from pawns to players. It robs Jughead of his agency.

I’d rather have him out investigating and helping Betty screw with the Stoney’s’ minds than see him at the Stoney’s’ mercy while waiting for a rescue.    

Therefore, my preferred theory remains Jughead self-inflicting the head wound with his switchblade, and Devil’s Breath was used to further sell the act. Once the coast is clear, he stops playing dead and continues investigating to bring down the Stoney’s. 

Later, when Betty realizes the body needs to be produced, it’s arranged with the Riverdale coroner, who was already on Betty and Jughead’s payroll, to surgically alter a body to look like Jughead.

Meaghan: The fact that Dylan Sprouse exists out in the world convinces me that they are going to have Jughead have a twin or a family member who looks almost exactly like him. However, even saying that I'm not sure how it would really play into the story.

I think it says a lot that we aren't even entertaining the possibility of him being dead on this Round Table. We are convinced he is alive.

I just want this storyline to be over because without buying into him actually being dead, the whole plot seems useless.

Jasmine: Yes, Meaghan! I'm just waiting for the damn reveal that he's alive and this was all an elaborate plan. Because I don't believe he's really dead, I just want to see how this plays out.

Charles was knowledgeable about Devil's Breath and is an expert at things like this, and Penelope Blossom has a drug for everything.

What if it is Jughead and he just took something to slow down his heart rate and appear dead or something? And the Stoney’s were behind killing him.

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Justin Carreiro was a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow him on X.