When Riverdale’s fourth season ended abruptly earlier in 2020 (due to a COVID-19 related production shutdown), one of the season’s big mysteries was left unsolved: who’s been sending those creepy, voyeuristic VHS tapes to Riverdale’s residents?
And why have they graduated from merely filming houses to play-acting some of Riverdale’s most traumatic murders (or would-be murders, as with Jughead and — maybe — Mr. Honey).
Will this mystery be wrapped up in the first few episodes of Season 5? Or will the Voyeur follow our faves all the way through the time jump, and still be plaguing the town of Riverdale seven years into the future?
Put your theorizing caps on, because it’s time to examine all the potential clues and hints and try and solve this mystery ourselves. Here are six theories concerning the Voyeur's identity, why they’re doing what they’re doing, and where their storyline could go.
The Kid Is Not All Right
John Padden, co-host of The Riverdale Register podcast, has an intriguing suspect in mind when it comes to the Voyeur: the one and only Jellybean Jones (Trinity Likins)!
As John tells me over email, Jellybean kept popping up in one or two scenes an episode towards the end of Season 4, which to John, felt like “the writers reminding us that Jellybean exists.”
He also points out that “she keeps getting excluded from things” and we know she has access to a family video camera, since Jughead was behind a camera when he was filming the behind-the-scenes documentary of Carrie: The Musical in Season 2, and Jellybean’s quasi-stepmom Alice is a newscaster.
But the best evidence, John thinks, is that Jellybean has access to everyone’s secrets: “The Cooper-Jones house is home to many secret meetings and revelations in Riverdale, and based on her most recent appearances, Jellybean is there all the time.”
Is scaring the pants off everyone as the Voyeur "her method of acting out, her rebellious streak," as John suggests?
The Red Herring Did It!
One possibility is that a newly introduced side character, one we haven’t even met yet, will be revealed as the Voyeur at the start of Season 5, only for the VHS tapes to pop up again after the time jump, indicating to the core Riverdale crew that the wrong person was caught.
This could be a way to get everyone back to Riverdale seven years later, too — one more mystery for the gang to solve for ol’ time’s sake. Remember when the RHS janitor was revealed as the Black Hood in Season 2, only for the real Black Hood to eventually be revealed as Betty’s dad?
The Riverdale writers love a red herring.
Back to the Secret Society
One thing that keeps nibbling at the corner of my mind is that these play-acted murder tapes often involve one or more people — so who does the Voyeur have helping them out?
The Stonewall Secret Society crew (Brett, Donna, etc.) was dealt with earlier in Season 4, but what if they’re slated to pop back up again when we least expect it? Like, as the Voyeur(s)? They were all writers, and it’s not that big a leap from writing creepy short stories to making amateur creepy short story films…
The Name’s Cooper-Smith-Jones, Charles Cooper-Smith-Jones
Sidenote: what is Charles’ last name, anyway? Regardless, it seems possible that everyone’s favorite FBI Agent/half-brother, in cahoots with Chic (who once pretended to be said half-brother), is behind the tapes. I spoke with Instagram fan account @rvdgirls, who also brought up Charles and Chic as suspects.
“I think Chic wants revenge for what the Coopers did to him,” they pointed out, “[and] maybe [Charles] is still mad at Alice and F.P., or he’s just doing it for his boyfriend.”
Think about it: Charles popped up in Riverdale around the same time the tapes did. He’s already wiretapped phones to listen in on Betty and Jughead talking. He’s secretly involved with Chic, who already brought mayhem to town. And, because Charles has positioned himself as a helpful FBI guy, he’s privy to a lot of the town’s secrets — plus, he can easily direct the investigation away from Chic and himself.
@rvdgirls agrees: “The video tapes are pretty detailed, so that means someone from the inside is doing it.”
Another Jones Bites the Dust
Skeet Ulrich is leaving Riverdale, and what if the writers decided that the best way to wrap up his character arc is to reveal him as the Voyeur and send him packing?
F.P.’s motive for making these weird, stalkery, pseudo-snuff films is almost non-existent — at least, as far as my imagination can stretch —b ut who knows? Weirder things have happened on Riverdale.
Un-lucky Penny
I trust Penelope Blossom about as far as I can throw her, and that’s not very far since she’s a grown woman. She’s always a suspect: no matter the crime, no matter if she’s supposedly turned over a new leaf, no. matter. what.
Plus, it’s just so like her to want to sow discord and discomfort among all the residents of Riverdale. Since she (and the entire Blossom empire, sometimes) seem to exist out of time — not in the modern day, exactly — I certainly have my doubts about whether or not she could maneuver the whole VHS operation the Voyeur’s got going (even though VHS is an outdated technology). However, it’s not hard to imagine her seducing the video store clerk and getting him to help her out…
One thing’s for sure: the Riverdale writers always have a twist up their collective sleeve. There is at least one confirmed newbie coming to town. Could Tabitha Tate perhaps have been spying on the Riverdale folks all these years? Maybe she’s just been dying to be part of this Town with Pep and the VHS tapes were her best way in…
Image: Jack Rowand/The CW