The Following - Exposed - Review
Last week we saw the death of Agent Clarke, Mark start to lose control and a secret become public knowledge.
"No, there is no truth to that" Ryan
Ryan continues to irritate and frustrate Mark by not confessing to what he did to his family. Somehow despite Mark's best efforts the FBI manage to sweep the truth about Lilly under the rug. I don't know who's more determined, Mark getting the FBI to confess or Ryan trying to bring down these killers. They both want the same thing, peace. Mark wants to put his mind at rest, but that can only happen when the world knows the truth, the entire truth. Ryan wants to move on with his life from all the heartbreak and wants to live a normal life with Gwen that can, and will only happen once he ends Mark's reign of terror.
Speaking of Max, there was a glimmer of hope left for her and Mike this episode. There hug seemed intimate and passionate. It's nice to know after all the build up to their relationship last season, and despite it ending quickly, that there's still hope left for them. Both of them, especially Mike needs stability, and they can both give each other that. Even though, Max is with Tom currently I can see him dying soon or turning out to be a follower of someone. He seems shady, and for some reason I just don't seem to trust him, maybe that's just me.
"They're up to something" Mark
Mark is having a hard time trusting Daisy and Kyle. I said previously that they need to up their game if they don't want to be found out, but instead they did the opposite and took huge risks this episode. Lucky for them Mark needs people if he is ever going to achieve his goal. He won't forget their suspicious activity, but he won't act on it, not yet anyway. I'm really eager to find out what Daisy and Kyle are up to and have been anticipating the arrival of Michael Ealy's character since the premiere, and hope next week will be the week he makes an appearance. The show always tends to go at slow pace, whilst the episodes are intense and thrilling, the progression of the story is always incredibly slow. I've always found the pacing a bit frustrating as it means we are left waiting a couple of episodes for the story to actually move forward a decent amount.
Don't get me wrong I do like Mark as a character, he makes for a good "enemy", but he doesn't possess the qualities Joe had to make him the central villain, the main protagonist. Also, the story line currently is far weaker than anything we've seen previously, and I'm wondering how long they plan to drag this game of "telling the truth" out. I just want to see the new villain, and start fresh again. I don't like to be critical of the show, as I loved the first two seasons, but I keep feeling that what we're currently seeing has all happened before except with a different person at the center of things. I'm sure though once the story progresses further than just Mark wanting revenge then it will start to become a more solidified story. I just worry that the time the show does that it might be too late, as the viewership of the show keeps dropping week to week.
Summary
It was another solid episode, far from the best, but far from the worst. The story is progressing slowly, and we are no closer to finding out what's going on as Ryan is to finding Mark. Since the Joe chapter is now over, I initially wanted the show to start fresh with a new villain, that person I expected to be Ealy (from episode 1). I don't mind what's happening with Mark, and his "followers" I just don't want the show to spend too much time focusing on them that we don't get to see much of Ealy's character.
As always, thank you for reading! Let me know in the comments what you thought of "Exposed"
