The Following continued to unfold its latest web of intrigue tonight during the fifth episode of the hit show’s second season.
If you haven’t seen the episode or don’t want any spoilers then stop reading now. If you’ve already seen it then carry on reading.
Reflection was very much an episode of two halves tonight and was unusually FBI-lite as Ryan Hardy (Kevin Bacon) and Max (Jessica Stroup) continued to close in on Lily Gray (Connie Nielsen) and her ‘family’. The episode picked up where last week’s left off with Max on the train keeping her eye on follower Giselle (Camille de Pazzis). She departed the train after Giselle tracking her until Ryan turned up. Just as we thought Giselle may get away, Ryan appeared in front of her with a gun to her head. After a quick punch in the face from Max she was out cold on the ground.
When Giselle woke up she was handcuffed to a bed in a motel room as Ryan and Max interrogated her to find out where Lily was hiding the new cult. After playing dumb and pretending not to speak any English, Giselle caused Ryan to lose his temper and he tried to strangle her. Max became alarmed and pointed a gun at her uncle until he released his grip. Then she started to call the FBI which made Giselle beg to make a deal. She told Ryan the location of a factory which she claimed Lily and the followers were staying at.
As Ryan left the motel to go to the location Max expressed disbelief that the cult was there and pointed out that Giselle hadn’t denied that Joe (James Purefoy) was still alive. Ryan told her to stay with Giselle whilst he went to check out the factory. Upon arrival Ryan found the factory empty but it wasn’t long until Luke (Sam Underwood) turned up with one of his ‘brothers’ . Ryan spotted the follower and shot him in the knee. As Luke approached to help, Ryan stepped out with a gun pointed at him. After disarming Luke, Ryan looked about to claim victory until the follower pulled out a gun and tried to shoot him. Ryan backed away and was found on the floor seemingly unconscious before opening fire and killing the follower. He then made a quick getaway and collapsed in the woods as it was revealed he had been shot.
Meanwhile Max kept watch over Giselle who was trying to get out of her handcuffs. A knock on the door distracted Max and as she went to open it, Giselle broke her thumb to slip free of the handcuffs. As Max turned back to Giselle she got jumped (again) and the follower made a run for it. Shortly after she arrived at the factory, which was in fact the original meeting point for Luke to pick her up, and discovered the follower dead. Angry she joined forces with Luke as they hunted Ryan surmising that he couldn’t have got too far as he was injured.
Turned out they were right as Ryan had broken into a remote house looking for a first aid kit. Things got complicated when one of the owners returned. Ryan blindfolded her and hid her away before seeing Luke and Giselle approaching the house. He hid until Giselle entered and the two began to fight. Giselle pulled out a knife and claimed she had killed Max. Seeing red Ryan drove the knife into Giselle killing her. Ryan then fled the house and headed back to the motel where he discovered that Max was actually alive and well.
Over at Lily’s hideout things took yet another turn for the sinister. The rivalry between Lily and Emma (Valorie Curry) heated up as Lily became jealous of Emma getting more of Joe’s attention than her. It’s important to note that Emma also finally ditched that hideous pink hair for something a little more subtle too! Emma continued to ask Joe for answers about why he abandoned her and he admitted he had treated her badly. She tried to tell him the cult was crazy but he assured her he had a plan.
Determined to get Joe on his own, Lily asked Mark (Sam Underwood) to distract Emma for a while. The nicer of the two murderous brothers took Emma to his mother’s studio telling her to start drawing and painting again. Mark poses for Emma and she sketches him. When he asks to have a look he notices there’s no face on the sketch yet. For a minute it seemed the two might be starting a little romance but as Emma tried to reciprocate Mark’s advances he freaked out and explained he doesn’t like to be touched. Emma attempted to leave the studio to discover it was locked and Mark admitted he’d been told to keep her out of the way. Emma threw herself back into the sketching (as you do) and when Mark fell asleep it was revealed that she’d drawn Joe’s face on the portrait. Creepy!
Speaking of Joe, Lily showed him a room in the basement of her house that was set up as a torture chamber. She pulled a sheet off a cage in the corner to reveal a drugged up young girl called Wendy (Lexie Tompkins) whom she offered to him as a sacrifice. Joe reacted badly storming out of the room but later on he returned, let Wedny out of the cage before murdering her on the table Lily had set out for him. Nice. Covered in blood, and apparently raging with lust, Joe went straight to Lily’s bedroom and the two had passionate, blood-drenched sex. Lovely. Do you think Joe is playing Lily or has she reawakened his murderous tendencies?
It was also made clear in the episode that Luke is no fan of Joe Carroll at all. In fact dare we say he was a bit jealous that his ‘mother’ was paying more attention to the infamous murderer than him? That one isn’t going to play out well for someone is it?
That only leaves us to discuss the FBI. There was no development in the Mendez (Valerie Cruz) and Jana (Leslie Bibb) reveal from last week so we’ll have to wait on that one we guess. What did happen was Mike Weston (Shawn Ashmore) started to investigate the death of Judy (Carrie Preston) and discovered that her daughter Mandy (Tiffany Boone) had gone missing. A photo given to him by one of the FBI team finally gave him the proof he needed that Joe as alive and well as Ryan had been saying for days.
Where does the show go from here? The followers are already diminishing in numbers pretty quickly and it seems that Lily could have Emma offed pretty soon. Do you think Emma will meet her maker this season? There’s sure to be an epic showdown. Will Ryan have to face the consequences of his actions after killing Giselle, breaking and entering and holding an innocent woman hostage (and nearly getting her killed)? We highly doubt it.
The Following continues in the US on Monday at 9/8c on FOX and in the US on Tuesday at 10pm on Sky Atlantic.
