The Following Episode 202
“For Joe”
Written By: Vincent Angell
Directed By: Joshua Butler
Original Airdate: 27 January 2014
In This Episode…
Where in the world is Joe Carroll? He is living in some cabin the middle-of-nowhere Arkansas with a prostitute named Judy and her teenage daughter Mandy. Judy and Mandy know exactly who Joe is; Judy wrote to Joe while he was in prison. But to Judy’s “dates” Joe is Daryl, Judy’s brother who is trying to put his life back together after a tour in Afghanistan. One of Judy’s regular clients is the skeezy town reverend. He comes over looking for a little action, but Judy is out on a “date” that will probably last all night. The reverend naively sits to wait for Judy and puts the TV on. Before he had arrived, Joe and Mandy had been watching a program on the Joe Carroll cult. The show is on for only a moment before Joe’s mugshot appears. The reverend recognizes Joe as Daryl, and he leaves abruptly. Joe knows this can only lead to problems, so he chases after and pulls the reverend from his car. The reverend gets a good punch in, but Mandy rushes out and knocks him out. When the reverend wakes, he is strapped to a chair and Joe has dropped his cheesy southern accent. Joe toys with him, pretending to be wrestling with a crisis of conscience. Ultimately, and despite Mandy’s pleas for him not to, Joe eviscerates the reverend. Joe, ever the doting father figure, holds Mandy and soothes her as she cries.
The twins are up to no good back in New York. They broke into a posh brownstone, killed the mother and father, locked the child in a closet, and sat down to a “family meal” with “mom” and “dad.” Dead, of course. After dinner, the residents are propped up formally in the living room in front of a fire, “dad” with a lit cigar and glass of brandy in his hands.
Ryan gets a phone call from Luke. It takes only a moment for him to realize that Luke is part of the Carroll cult (at least one of them, anyway) and has Max trace the call. Luke teases Ryan until Ryan brings up daddy issues - the line goes dead. Max got the location anyway, and Ryan rushes there. He begs Max not to call the cops, not just yet, for fear that the sirens will scare Luke away. But the trace sends Ryan to an empty brownstone, one that has been vacant for awhile. Following the trace, he goes up to the roof, where a cell phone rings. He answers - Luke is on the other line, and Ryan sees him, wearing a Joe mask, in one of the houses across the street. Ryan finally lets Max call the cops. The cops arrive and they are greeted to the grisly tableau. Naturally, neither twin is anywhere to be found.
Ryan is scarcely out of the crime scene when Luke calls back. This time he is taunting Ryan about Claire, and about his fondness for blondes, having seen him talking/flirting with Lily earlier in the day. Luke is watching Lily right now, at a museum fundraiser, and insinuates as much. Ryan races off. Lily has just finished her speech by the time Ryan arrives, and her friend David escorts her off stage. She is tired and wants to go home. He takes her out a back way. Mark calls Ryan this time, and their eyes lock across the crowded party. Ryan gives chase, stopping to warn the undercover FBI agents at the party (who at first refuses to acknowledge he is an agent). In the back hallway, David realizes he and Lily are being followed. Their pursuer appears, wearing a Joe mask, and Lily freaks. Another “Joe” appears, boxing them in, and they descend, stabbing David. Ryan shows up as Lily runs and passes her off to a waiting agent then pursues the attacker. The two men wrestle to the ground and Ryan wrests the mask off. Luke shows up, sans mask, and Ryan does a double-take - enough time for one of the twins to kick him while they escape. Ryan makes a few last-ditch efforts to shoot the boys. He catches Luke in the arm, a flesh wound, but they escape.
The cops arrive. Agent Phillips is furious that Ryan has gotten involved and threatens to file obstruction charges. Agent Mendez is a little more understanding, but wants Ryan to back off. Mike is furious. Not just because his mentor is playing games, but because he has essentially turned his back on him. He is hurt. But Lily thanks Ryan, reminding him that he saved her life. She holds his hand.
Also: Carlos is all over the news, which has Emma feeling a little twitchy. She reaches out to him through the Baltimore Gazette, which was the cult’s “failsafe.” The ad placed in the Gazette was by Carlos, but intended for Joe. Joe got the message, with a phone number, but had not called it. When Carlos’ phone, labeled “Joe,” rings, he is surprised to hear Emma’s voice. “Are you with Joe?” he asks her. “Joe’s dead,” Emma says, but suddenly she is not so sure. Giselle, listening on Carlos’s end, hangs up the phone. Emma is shaken.
Dig It or Bury It?
My first concern was that one (or more) of the FBI agents at the museum event would be cultists, or that David would be a cultist. It seems that the days of “everyone happens to be a cultist when it is convenient” are a thing of the past. For that, I am grateful.
Prophecies?
I foresee a clash of cults coming. Emma is not going to stand for a splinter cult - and she certainly won’t take kindly to another woman shacking up with Joe.