The following…really must insist that you man up.
Though it’s the first of the final three “The Following” episodes of the season, instead of speeding up towards that endgame, “The Reaping” seemed like more of a stall.
We join Ryan Hardy this week as he’s successfully infiltrated Carroll’s compound. Sadly, Ryan’s just in time for Joe’s latest sermon, where he’s preening like a rock star for the crowd and again hilariously having to be told the name of one of his devoted followers. He’s recreating his sacrifice game from two weeks ago, but is now forcing Kingston Tanner’s kidnapped son Preston to play. It’s a bit of a snore and weighed down by more blather from Joe about blood and religion so I was thrilled when Ryan finally just fired a shot at him so he’d shut up. And him disappearing into a crowd of masks and robes was a cool visual, though he later turns himself in so he can gleam some clues about Joe’s master plan.
Ryan’s capture allows for the first substantial, face-to-face showdown of the season between him and Joe. Predictably, Carroll drives the conversation with his delusional proclamations that he and Hardy are best friends, soulmates, can’t survive without the other, whatever. And Ryan spoke to my soul with his snarky retorts (I snorted at his casual “You too, buddy” response to Joe’s grandiose greeting). Kevin Bacon and James Purefoy are always a good time playing off each other. And the stage is set for his preoccupation with his rival to once again trip Joe up (I loved Emma’s unnerved reaction when that follower asked if this is what happened last year). I didn’t like how it concluded, though. They didn’t even bother cooking up a contrivance as to why Joe wouldn’t kill Ryan. He literally just says he can’t and leaves. Ridiculous!
They really seemed to ramp up Ryan’s “Rambo”-ness in this episode, right? He took out several armed guards with a ridiculous amount of ease early on. And when a squad of goons stormed the campus and shot up the literal red shirts (snerk), he took them all out single-handedly and barely broke a sweat.
There’s something very off about the preacher. His grief over his son’s situation feels very manufactured. And the moment when he tries to engage with Mike and prays for/with him was also a bit odd. Kingston Tanner is somewhat both Joe Carroll’s opposite and on the same side of the coin. It’d be interesting if it turned out that Kingston is another one of Strauss’ students and there’s a more personal reason why Joe targeted him.
Ryan may have located Carroll, but Lily Gray starts the episode still searching for him while Mike, Max, and the FBI are looking for her. There were a lot of little things going on in this plotline that annoyed me. First, Mike and Max get fresh evidence that points them to property records in suburban New Jersey, but literally a second later, Agent Clarke calls to say they already found her safe house. How? Then, we see that Lily again is working with a group of mercenaries. Considering her money and resources, would the men she hired really use a credit card under an alias the FBI knows about? Or not scrub their hideout down so they wouldn’t be identified? Or not disable the GPS in their rental car? Finally, where the heck did Lily’s bodyguard randomly disappear to, allowing Mike to easily ambush her? Sloppy plotting all around.
The show seems to think that Mike killing Lily was a major shock, but honestly, I would have been more surprised if he hadn’t. The morphing of Mike into Ryan – starting last season and really ramping up since his dad died – has not been subtle. That said, I thought Shawn Ashmore and Connie Nielsen both did a nice job with the scene. I particularly liked that Nielsen played Lily as composed and unflinching as she met her maker, no girly hysterics just because she had a gun pointed at her. Though it does seem kinda weird that Lily never had a final face-off with Joe, now I’m curious to see what the grieving twins cook up for revenge because you know that’s going to be good.
In Claire Matthews news, her minimal screen time was spent trying to convince Carrie to broadcast a message from her to Carroll, believing that hinting at her survival would throw him off his game. At first, Carrie isn’t on board (which, blah. I never liked Carrie, but I think the character was much more interesting as a ruthless reporter instead of Ryan’s lovesick bed buddy), but eventually gives in. And Joe (who briefly reminisced about her with Ryan) was indeed taken aback by Carrie reading a poem that clearly has some significance for him and Claire. I’m sure Ryan won’t be thrilled about both of his ladies hitching targets to their backs like this, but I do hope Claire continues to be proactive going forward.
So what did you reap from “The Following” this week? Share what you sowed in the comments section!
