Could "Dark Polly" Be The Latest 'Riverdale' Villain?

- Riverdale -
Could "Dark Polly" Be The Latest 'Riverdale' Villain?

It seems like there’s always someone to be a little suspicious of on Riverdale, and usually, that person is a member of the Cooper clan. Unfortunately for Betty, who hasn’t met a member of her family who hasn’t let her down in some major way, this time is no different. Despite the current mystery on Riverdale revolving around the kidnapping of Betty’s sister Polly, I’m not so certain that she’s really “missing” at all. Could Polly be the one behind the kidnappings, all thanks to a dark side of herself?

As a teenager, Polly found herself entangled in a cult called "The Farm" that was really an organ harvesting scheme, and master manipulated her sister Betty into believing that she was a bona fide cat murderer. (Which she wasn’t technically — or rather, it’s complicated.) Polly apologists will say that she suffered major trauma, including the death of her much-loved boyfriend Jason — cut her some slack! And I do — I really, really do. Because if Polly is secretly behind all these trucker kidnappings, it may not exactly be “Polly” who is responsible. In fact, it might be — drumroll, please — Dark Polly.

Images: The CW

We haven’t met “Dark Polly” yet, but we have met Dark Betty — a version of our beloved Betty Cooper who is a little more prone to violence and, occasionally, a black bob wig. It’s unclear exactly how separate Betty’s dark side is from her actual personality, but Riverdale did introduce it for a reason — to show that the iconic “girl next door” isn’t only that. And it’s worth pointing out that early on in the series, “Dark Betty” insisted she be called Polly — such as when she and Veronica tied Chuck Clayton up in his hot tub and poured maple syrup on him. (A weird sentence to type out!)

While Betty’s dark side may be manageable and possibly even an asset to her work in intense fields like, say, serial killer sleuthing, it’s possible that Polly has a dark side that goes a lot more unchecked. It’s even possible that Polly isn’t aware she has the capability to be “Dark Polly” and dissociates completely when she’s in that state, much like how the Farm created a code word (“Tangerine”) to get members of their cult to dissociate.

Perhaps Dark Polly is now working with someone to kidnap women across the Lonely Highway, and getting away with doing so because people still think she’s a victim. She may have faked the blood on the phone booth that suggested to Betty that Polly was killed, all to get Betty and her family off her track. In fact, maybe “Polly” believes she’s really a kidnapping victim, but her alter personality is one of the real villains. (For the record, none of this is even remotely close to how real dissociative identity disorders operate, but it’s Riverdale, and the rules get bent here a lot.)

One reason I suspect Polly is in on this kidnapping situation? So far, we simply don’t have many quality suspects for the Lonely Highway Killer. In each other big villain reveal situation, there has been some big connection to our main characters that make the mystery not only surprising, but also personal. Betty learning her father was the Black Hood made her question whether she could also be capable of such violence. In this case, Polly’s dark side overtaking her completely could very well be the new thing to push Betty over the edge...so let's see if there's one more family member this Cooper can't trust.

Images: The CW

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