On last night’s episode of The Following, “The Fall,” a showdown ensues at the farm; more cult members are revealed; Ryan Hardy is half a hero.
Copyright FOX Broadcasting Company
By Tara Moore–
Poor Ryan. It seems like no matter how clever and instinctive he is, his pacemaker gets in the way. It’s almost poetic, as if Joe Carroll’s plot is meant to torture Ryan with the fact that he’s not as good as he used to be, and at the moment it seems he’s won, Joe Carroll’s followers remind Ryan that he hasn’t.
When Emma, Paul and Jacob realize Hardy’s there along with the rest of US law enforcement, things quickly spiral out of control. Hardy keeps his cool, riling all of them up when he realizes he forgot about the damsel in distress tied up in the basement. Plotting to get her out, the threesome (no pun intended) gets so freaked out he manages to keep his end of the bargain to her.
But what about Joey? He’s always been the priority but somehow Emma still has his trust even though he’s a bit more skeptical than he was when they first started their adventure. Keeping with the notion that Hardy is always seconds behind rescuing him, Weston gets injured and the mission is foiled.
One step forward, two steps back. Paul is probably on his deathbed, Jacob can either seal his fate and actually kill someone or act like nothing happened and start his life over, but my money’s on another off-book killer on the loose. Plus, Hardy needs him to reach Emma. We’ll see how long that takes.
Every episode I get a little more worried that the Joey plot could potentially ruin the show in the long run (remember ABC’s miss with Missing?) but somehow the complexity of the characters and the revelation of their back stories make up for it. Deborah’s fascination and expertise with cult life now makes so much sense it makes you wonder again the real reason she’s so good at the Joe Carroll Poe cult. But we love her for it, even if we are keeping a cautious eye on her.
As for Claire who picked up on her follower’s discomfort around her, I’m not exactly sure how the FBI found her, maybe I looked away for a second but something seemed really wrong with how quickly she was saved and how Charles got away just as easily. Expect more on that next week. Thinking she was going to see her son put her in a seriously hopeful state that anything but her son would completely break. So when Hardy shows up empty handed, her aggression is completely validated. Even further, her hopelessness makes her just as vulnerable as Hardy, Joey and anyone else wrapped up in Joe Carroll’s twisted tale.
Hold it together Claire, Joey’s gonna need some serious reconditioning if and when he finally gets back home.
