In this week’s episode of The Following, Joe is living in Arkansas under an assumed identity. The only ones who know who he really is are his girlfriend Judy and her daughter Mandy. Joe’s new name is Daryl, and everyone thinks he is Judy’s brother, which is kind of mind boggling considering she is a prostitute and he just sits outside on a bench while she conducts her business.
Judy questions him about the cult subway murders, but he claims to know nothing about it. She tells him that they have a good thing going and she doesn’t want it ruined. They hug, and Joe has a certain “I’m a lying jackhole” look on his face.
Hardy is using his shamelessly promoted tablet and major name search engine to look up Lily Gray, the survivor of the subway attacks. He finds that she is an art dealer and goes to see her. He asks her a bunch of questions that the FBI already asked her, and she admits to him that she looked him up online. I’m surprised they aren’t already in bed together.
So what I totally missed last week was that the girl the twins killed was not a totally random aside. They had posed her dead body on a bench for the cops to find. That went way over my head. This week, Weston and Mendez determine that she was posed to reflect a certain passage in Joe Carroll’s book Gothic Sea.
Luke and Mark leave Carlos with Giselle, who wants him dead. She even tells him so in French. He doesn’t understand French. But, they need to keep him alive until/if Joe calls.
Mark and Luke force their way into a family’s house and kill a husband and wife. One of the twins tells the other to take care of the kid. He goes into the boy’s room with a Joe mask, and motions for the boy to keep quiet. Then it fades to black.
Emma is still confused as to why Carlos was a part of the subway killings. Her friend tells her that Carlos must have made some new friends. Emma wants to know who they are.
Mark and Luke are in the victims’ house cooking and listening to music. They set the table and have dinner with the dead mom and dad. They are talking to them as if they are their actual parents. Where is the kid?
Hardy’s niece is in his apartment when he gets home. She was snooping around and found the evidence he took from Carlos’ apartment. She wants him to tell the police. Apparently Hardy has some crazy theory about Joe that she wants him to tell them about too.
Judy goes off on a job, warning that she may not be home that night. Mandy show Joe a help wanted ad on a website, which apparently is how he is receiving and sending messages to his “friends”.
Mark and Luke set up the mother and father, I’m sure in another scene from Joe’s book. Luke calls Hardy, telling him they may be meeting very soon. When Hardy asks him about Joe, Luke hangs up. Max is able to trace the call, and Joe goes to confront him, telling Max she can call the police after he looks into it first.
Hardy arrives at an empty building. He ends up on the roof, and the cell phone they tracked rings. Luke is on the other end, and Hardy finally sees him coming out of the house. He tells Max to call the police and he goes into the house, finding the dead couple. Hardy hears noises upstairs, and I was relieved to find out that they didn’t kill the child; they just locked him in the closet in his room.
Mendez yells at Hardy for investigating on his own, and she threatens to arrest him if he interferes again. Luke calls Hardy again, indicating that he is watching Lily at some event. Hardy rushes to the event, and sees Mark on the phone. He chases after him, before alerting an FBI agent that Lily may be in danger.
Lily is leaving with a man named David when two men in Joe masks confront them. They attack David, stabbing him in the stomach. Hardy arrives in time to save Lily, and gains control of one of the attackers. He pulls the mask off, finding Mark. He then looks up to see Luke, who asks him if he is surprised. He kicks Hardy, and they run off. Hardy shoots at them, hitting Luke in the arm.
Hardy tries to tell Weston about the suspects but Weston doesn’t want to talk to him. He is mad because Hardy endangered lives by playing by his own rules. Hardy offers to bring Lily to the hospital to visit David, who will recover. He apologizes to Lily for being reckless, but she reminds him that if he wasn’t there, she would probably be dead. She takes his hand to reassure him.
Throughout the episode Joe is clutching a piece of paper with what appears to be a phone number on it. Carlos’ cell phone rings, and he assumes it is Joe calling him. Instead it’s Emma, asking him where she is. He asks her if she’s talked to Joe, and she tells him Joe is dead. Giselle hangs up the phone.
The reverend, a client of Judy, comes calling, and insists on waiting until she gets home. He turns on the TV, and finds a news story about Joe, immediately recognizing that Daryl is Joe. He hurries to leave, but Joe catches up with him. The reverend punches Joe, but then is knocked out by a shovel by Mandy.
The reverend wakes up to find himself tied up in the house. Joe is debating on whether or not to kill him, and Mandy is protesting for him to leave the reverend alone. They quote Socrates back and forth, but Joe eventually kills the reverend, saying “I am inevitable”. Joe consoles a crying Mandy, who tells Joe that “Momma gonna be home soon. And she’s gonna be mad.”
