Riverdale: 4 Theories That Explain Why [SPOILER] Killed Jason Blossom

On Thursday night, Riverdalefans and residents alike learned the identity of Jason Blossom's (Trevor Stines) killer. After months of red herrings that pointed us in the direction of everyone from FP Jones (Skeet Ulrich) to Hal Cooper (Lochlyn Munro), the series' Core Four learned that it was Jason's very own father, Clifford Blossom (Barclay Hope), who pulled the trigger on July 11.

But alas -- before we could find out why Clifford "incest is cool with me" Blossom murdered his favorite child, he hanged himself, leaving pretty much everybody in the dark when it comes to his motive. We'll likely find out a little bit more during next week's sure-to-be-explosive Season 1 finale, but until then, we have four solid-ish theories on why Jason had to go.

1. Clifford killed Jason because he's an old-school gangster whose son rejected the family business.

This certainly wouldn't be the most twisted ending to Jason's tale. But it's definitely possible that Clifford offed Jason because his only son broke his heart when he rejected the Blossom name, by rejecting the family drug-slash-maple syrup business. It would be very Sopranos of him, but more importantly, it could pay off in the long run in juicy storylines for Madelaine Petsch's Cheryl, who will be under insanely increased pressure to keep the empire going from her dangerous mother.

2. Clifford killed Jason because he threatened to reveal their secrets to Hiram Lodge.

Finding a bag full of Hiram Lodge's money (that monogrammed bag was a total rookie move, by the way)on Mustang's body can not have been a coincidence. Since Clifford and Hiram were enemies of some sort -- and since Mark Consuelos just joined the series as Hiram earlier this week -- it's entirely possible that Jason learned of the rivalry between the two patriarchs, and planned to somehow use it against his father.

He had an easy "in" with Hiram thanks to all of them working with the Serpents, and joining forces with Dear Old Dad's enemy would certainly be enough of a betrayal to motivate Clifford's response.

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3. Clifford killed Jason because he threatened to go public with Blossom family incest.

We know thatClifford and Penelope (Nathalie Boltt) didn't really care about the whole kissing cousins thing, but we've seen first-hand on Game of Thrones how an incest rumor can destroy a family. Maybe Jason found out the dirty secret and threatened to go public unless Clifford gave him and Polly (Tiera Skovbye) a boatload of money? In Riverdale, stranger things have already happened.

4. Clifford killed Jason because Jason was Patient Zero in the zombie apocalypse.

We're never letting go of the "Jason Blossom was a zombie" theory. And according to showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, Riverdale is open to exploring the supernatural in Season 2, so we really don't have to.

Riverdale's first season finale airs Thursday, May 11 at 9/8c on The CW.

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