Joe calls Hardy to gloat about winning this round. He also wants to cheer Hardy up so he keeps playing the game. He tells Hardy he needs to be a functioning alcoholic.
Claire arrives at Joe’s house, and Jacob brings her up to her private room. He leaves some clothes for her. Claire wants to see her son and refuses to listen to Jacob. Jacob throws her down and tells her that Joe has allowed him to hurt her, so long as he doesn’t cut or bruise her face.
Molly brings Joe all of the evidence she has on Hardy. Apparently she was enlisted by Joe to follow Hardy. She lives next to Hardy, and has journals and videotapes.
Parker comes to Hardy’s apartment to check on him. She doesn’t want him to give up on the case. She thinks he needs the case, and she tells him that she needs him to solve it.
Roderick asks Joe when they can begin work on the next part of the plan. Joe says to wait a bit and they will soon enough. Roderick tells him that the people are eager to get working and are growing impatient. Joe snaps at Roderick and Roderick leaves. Has Joe been manipulating his own followers all along?
The FBI has found the location of the internet signal used to broadcast the recruiting video for Joe’s cult. Hardy and Parker go to check it out, and it turns out to be a fetish club called Whips and Regrets.
The owner, Hailey, tells them about a man named Vince who helped set up her internet. She was unaware that he had routed Joe’s website through her internet. She tells Hardy and Parker she can get them Vince.
Hailey has received a package for Vince, which Hardy opens to find some kind of chemicals, most likely used for bombs. Hailey emails Vince to tell him the package is there, and the FBI will set her up with a wire.
Vince shows up to get the package and Hailey is mad at him because she saw him on the news being involved with that cult. She helps him with the package, and then Vince forces her into his car. Hardy tells Parker not to help her so that they can follow Vince and see where he goes.
Vince takes her to an old military armory, where the cult trains new members. Hardy and Parker are outside waiting for backup. Vince finds the wire on Hailey and attacks her. Hardy and Parker go in without backup and find Hailey, but Vince is gone. He only kept her alive because it would take more time to help her if she were alive than if she were dead.
The SWAT team finds some people in a cage down in the basement. As they are breaking the cage open, Hardy reads something in a journal about a two-week deprivation period for recruits. Before Hardy and Parker can radio to the team, the 3 people in the cage attack the SWAT team, killing two of them. Hardy ends up killing at least two of the recruits, and all three are dead at the end.
Joe is having dinner with Claire, but Claire doesn’t get why he is doing this. Joe knows that Claire will love him again. She tells him the only way that could ever possibly happen is if she shows him the man he used to be by letting her see Joey.
Joe is interrogating Roderick about Vince’s disappearance. Roderick confirms that he allowed Vince to leave. Joe punches him and tells Roderick that he does not make decisions anymore. He hopes Roderick hasn’t ruined things for him. Roderick says, “you mean us?” and then walks out. It really does appear that Joe has no intentions of whatever plans were made, and is purely out for himself.
Claire is washing up in her room when Joe comes in. He tells her he believes in his heart that she will love him again. He then lets Joey into the room and leaves as Claire and Joey reconcile. While Claire and Joey are reunited, Joe is in his office watching one of the tapes, which appears to be nothing but Molly and Hardy having sex. That was pretty weird.
Hardy arrives home and hears a noise in his apartment. It is Molly, who came to bring him his mail. She is super sweet and nice to him, and he has no idea that she is actually working for Joe. A flashback is shown of Molly visiting Joe in prison, and she says that she will join him, if she can kill Hardy when the time is right.