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Recap: 'The Following' - 'The Fall'

Ryan is really interested in the Threesome, while Claire finds a fan

By Sonia Saraiya Tuesday, Feb 26, 2013 1:54 AM

Natalie Zea on Monday's "The Following"

Credit: FOX

Last week's cliffhanger starts this week's "The Following," in which Ryan unwittingly makes himself the centerpiece of a hostage situation. It's a tense episode that demonstrates a bit of a tonal shift for the show—one that moves a little bit away from Ryan's internal dramas and instead focuses on him as a hero. That's great, because it lets some of the other characters' narratives take up space for a change. Here's the good, bad, and meh:

The Good:

What I loved about this episode of "The Following" is how the story is anchored in the character development of three of the series' central women: Emma, Claire, and Agent Parker. Emma and Parker in particular share a particularly tortured bond--each is trying to play the other over the phone during the prolonged standoff in the mansion in Duchess County. As I've said before, Emma is truly the serial-killing heavyweight of the trio taking care of Joey. She's the one with truly cold blood; the one willing to stab ruthlessly with kitchen knives; the one excited to teach Joey the true rules of right and wrong. In "The Fall," she loses her temper and tasers Ryan, right in the pacemaker--the only one of the kidnappers to inflict violence in the whole standoff. And she's the only one that escapes the standoff to continue her mission, delivering Joey to the next waystation.

Emma is bloodthirsty, but she's also more emotionally complex than either Paul or Jacob--capable, clearly, of devotion and intimacy, as well as of great violence. And she's the one giving all the orders in the farmhouse. So when the FBI starts talking to the kidnappers, it's no surprise that Parker reaches out to Emma. Unlike the others, she doesn't see a serial killer when she sees Emma--she sees a woman profoundly twisted by a seductive cult. She identifies Emma's issues with her mother and tries to use both those and her art as entry points for a deeper conversation.

Added to that is her own past. We unexpectedly get a lot of Parker's backstory in this episode--which is great, because in my mind she's one of the strongest characters--and discover something truly horrible, which is that she raped by a cult leader when she was a teenager, because her parents gave her to the leader as a kind of offering. The two scenes that demonstrate this horror are in fact the most terrifying in the episode, especially considering that Parker is later shown trying to reconnect to her parents, and they are entirely unable to see her as anything less than a disappointment. (Over-the-top? Yes. Engaging? Absolutely.)

What I like best about this dynamic is that it's never quite clear who's playing whom. They're both fully aware of what the other woman is trying to do--Emma knows that Parker wants her to get emotional, and Parker knows that Emma's stalling--but at the same time neither can refrain from at least pretending to play the game. Their conversations are taut, and the chilling resolutions to both characters' stories in "The Fall" seem poised to reveal more. Emma's abandoned both of her lovers to fend for themselves somewhere in rural Virginia, and Parker finds herself contemplating her horrible past--a past that clearly could easily come back to haunt her.

Paul and Jacob have an almost heartbreaking arc in this episode as well--after Emma abandons them, they're forced to rely on each other, and it's honestly really upsetting. It becomes clear, as soon as Emma leaves, that these are two idiot kids who have no idea why they're involved with Joe or Emma or this whole operation. It's too late for them to fully escape the consequences, but considering they manage to escape in the last minutes of the episode, they have a redemption arc waiting in front of them, should they be inclined to pursue it.

"The Fall" is also a good episode for Claire, Joe's beleaguered ex-wife. She's abducted (obviously) by the man who picked her up outside the restaurant and promised to takes her to Joey. He turns out to be an ex-military psychopath who has been stalking her, at Joe's behest, for two years--her "follower," as it were. (Lightbulb!) I liked seeing Claire's grit at confronting her captor, both when she tries to escape and then when she casually tries to seduce him. She's been a bit too much damsel-in-distress in the last few episodes, and my favorite thing about "The Following" is showcasing those women victims who fight back.

The Middling:

I'm interested in the "The Following" transitioning from a show about serial killers to a show about a wacky, secret, serial-killing cult, but I worry that the many different representations of the weird and horrific might be too much to handle for such a slim show (the season is going to close out with 12 episodes total). Cults are weird and creepy enough--adding kitchen-knife serial killing, surveillance, stalkers, and kidnapping to the mix just seems like an awful lot of work. At some point, the show will lose the element of suspense or surprise if they've already thrown everything they can at the wall.

Plus, I feel like the secret-sleeper-agent plot device is running out of steam, fast. It's one thing to accept that Joe installed one of his followers as Joey's nanny--another to imagine that he would have been able to plant and mobilize law enforcement agents in various parts of the state to do his bidding.

The Bad:

It occurred to me tonight that this show would be much easier to handle if the producers would lay off a little on the heavy-handed sound cues and slow-motion filming. It's one thing to be reminded that Ryan has a heart condition, and another to have heartbeats playing incessantly in the background every time he stumbles while running. Similarly, the last few moments of this episode are way, way too over-the-top, and that was mostly because of cliched direction. The background song, the repeated shot of Ryan and Claire embracing, and the slow-motion as all the characters arrived at their tidy conclusions for the week feel far too forced, as if the writers know there is no actual ending to the episode, so they are inventing one with camerawork and lighting. All it does is underscore that this is a show that is not trying very hard.

Odds and ends:

*** So, can Mike still be a sleeper agent for Joe if someone else in the cult just shot him? My guess is, sure, why not?

*** "Paul, this is so not the time!"

*** Any guesses on what's going to happen to Paul and Jacob? Maybe they'll run away and start a new life together.

*** This was a kind of different episode--what did you think?

Related Searches: TV, recaps, The Following, The Fall

Guest

I think you mean 15 episode season, not 12.
February 26, 2013 at 3:58AM EST Reply to Comment
Liz

This was the first ep where I actually liked Ryan. I am a huge Kevin Bacon fan, and this was the first ep where we got to see some of that swagger most of his characters have. Favorite interaction of the night: when he threatened to snap jacob's neck
February 26, 2013 at 4:28AM EST Reply to Comment
- svetlana That was my favorite part if the episode too! What bothers me about the show even more than the secret plants is how completely inept the cops are. It just doesnt strike me as believable that it takes hours for any kind of law enforcement to show up. Even out in the sticks they should have more than a handful of cops available.
  February 26, 2013 at 9:20PM EST
user

That Joe's follower Roderick should be able to, at short notice, get two guys capable of intercepting and infiltrating a SWAT operation, killing four officers and getting everybody out of the house is the biggest "jump the shark" moment of the show so far.
February 26, 2013 at 5:28AM EST Reply to Comment
- Bob Why? we don't know who Roderick really is yet - or what kind of weight he carries. And who said they "infiltrated" the operation? They could have been on the SWAT team all along, just waiting for a chance to be of service
  February 26, 2013 at 10:17AM EST
- notWalt Bob - I think they explained that they were NOT a part of the swat team. Instead, after killing two of the swat guys, they took their uniforms and shot two more swat guys.
  
  It's still A LOT to buy into.
  
  They need to show more of Joe before prison, to establish how mush of this following he had in place before he was locked up. If they are telling us that he recruited them all from prison, I think I'll be done with this show.
  February 26, 2013 at 11:13AM EST
- Jonas.Left "Jump the shark" is supposed to refer to a series that's waning in popularity after airing several years pulling out an over the top gimmick in order to rekindle interest in its viewers. Now, using "jumped the shark" means someone wants to be the first person who's cool enough to be over a show.
  February 27, 2013 at 2:43AM EST
Ed

I don't get it Claire was kidnapped, and the FBI failed to rescue her, but she is hugging Ryan at the end of the episode... What?
February 26, 2013 at 8:17AM EST Reply to Comment
- notWalt Uh, The FBI did rescue her, but didn't catch her follower.
  
  Her "reunion" with Ryan... their last time together he said he wanted to talk about their relationship, but first had to go rescue her son. He ultimately failed so she was upset but eventually understands that it isn't his fault.
  February 26, 2013 at 11:08AM EST
- KristiLoo I was confused about this too. I didn't see the FBI rescue her? The FBI men stood around bewildered that they eluded them... which also... I don't understand why they didn't follow them through the secret door since they were literally about 5 seconds ahead of them.
  
  This made no sense.
  February 27, 2013 at 2:07PM EST
- notWalt Agree Kristiloo. Anyone should know just from watching a couple TV shows (and hopefully the FBI gets better training than that) that when you storm a warehouse to capture someone, you DON'T SEND EVERY SINGLE AGENT THROUGH THE SAME DOOR -- you know, send someone around back, etc!
  
  (Oh, and when they were standing around bewildered, Claire was still there... so I guess they didn't rescue her as much as they really just scared off the captor.)
  February 27, 2013 at 2:23PM EST
- KristiLoo Thanks for the "Claire-ification" ;) I totally missed seeing her standing there. Makes a lot more sense now.
  February 27, 2013 at 2:35PM EST
- Jana I definitely had to rewind it - I missed that she was pretty much thrown at the FBI.
  February 27, 2013 at 11:37PM EST
Richard

SPOILER ALERT for this ep!

I gave up on this show completely after 40 minutes into this episode. Once it became apparent that anyone and everyone works for Joe and the cult, I literally walked out of the room. I'm OK suspending a lot of reality--you HAVE to do it for so many shows on TV nowadays--but seriously, this episode was getting out of hand. Everyone apparently works for Joe, and the likelihood of that happening on one level, let alone the the three or five levels in this episode, is completely unfeasible.

The fact that anyone at any time can work for Joe does not add any intrigue whatsoever to the plot, it just gives the creators another reason to extend the season with predictable plot points. Unlike the episodes before this where they actually had to fill air time, now they can just build false drama and wrap it up by making someone blow the whole thing because they are a Sleeper Agent In Joe's army.

Lastly, Joe himself, an excellent, intriguing character for the first two eps, is now nothing more than a predictable ringleader. There's nothing interesting here. He just mugs for the camera and acts all-knowingly...there's no longer any high drama or witty dialog from him.

I'm over "The Following" after this episode. And as someone else mentioned in the comments earlier, this ep really got them back into liking Kevin Bacon & what he's doing with the character (his smugness with his captors was outstanding).
February 26, 2013 at 8:57AM EST Reply to Comment
Dan3320

Yeah I gotta say - the show is engaging, sure. But man, this is putting "24" to shame with the amount of "moles"/Joe-plants that happen to arrive at the exact right time and place. I would like the overall story arc much more if they didn't keep using plot contrivances to keep Joey under Emma's control. Do we even care about Joey? I don't, and that is a big problem for me.
February 26, 2013 at 10:30AM EST Reply to Comment
notWalt

OK, I have been giving the show some slack because I've liked some of the performances. But this episode stretched reality a bit too far.

Mike gets shot! But it hit his vest and he's really fine! But somehow he had ended up down on the ground, appearing dead, until Ryan gets to him??????? I get that the bullet hitting the vest would have hurt a lot, but he goes down like a sack of potatoes and lets them escape?

And the sleeper followers needs to stop. The blonde cop seemed obvious to me. I can buy the babysitter and the neigbors. But Joe installed a cop (which took how many years?) in the town where the farmhouse was located, just in case she might come in handy????

They need to focus on the characters and motivations and lose the gimmicks.

Also, are they influenced by LOST or what? The flashbacks seemed like they had similar sound-effect for transition. Except they felt awkwardly placed in this ep. And that closing scene, with shots of different character, music playing, seemed like a LOST episode ending, especially early in that series.

I'll give it another couple weeks, but the show is losing me.
February 26, 2013 at 11:05AM EST Reply to Comment
- kikidee I think the cop was not installed, but "turned". There are people in every organization with backgrounds making them willing to do "anything to belong". They just needed to find the right small town cop. Roderick sent the two men to help out the trio in the farmhouse, and they shot the swat team. Then they dressed up as swat members to get the rest of the "cult" out of the farmhouse. It is a little implausible about Mike being knocked "unconcious", unless he a) hit his head when he went down, or b) is in fact another "sleeper" - perhaps even Roderick - who was playing with Ran a little. Ultimately, the show is trying to have us trust no one except Ryan.
  February 26, 2013 at 1:39PM EST
- FistOSalmon The Mike thing was stupid but could have been addressed with better editing, the way it played he seemed out for awhile. If they'd shown Ryan coming up faster or maybe a quick spot of blood and "It went through but I'm alright" I'd have been okay with it.
  
  The cop thing I can buy as part of the overall plan to keep the kid in that house ahead of time but the number of wanna be serial killers working for Joe is at or near it's ceiling as is the "plans within plane" scenario. There just aren't that many people that want to be mass murderers or we'd have a lot bigger problem with mass murderers, it's not like we have a shortage of people in this country willing to join cults.
  February 26, 2013 at 4:03PM EST
- Jonas.Left FISTOSALMON Actually there are hundreds of serial killers operating within the U.S. at any given time and thousands worldwide. Creepy but true. There are also many people who have homicidal fantasies who never actually act out on them, and its been demonstrated that Joe has convinced at least a few of them to turn their desires into reality. Also mass murderers kill several people at a time in public venues and generally are killed or caught because they are so out of control. Serial killers usually take only one victim at a time with weeks, months, or years between killings. They tend to be sneaky and discreet and hard to catch. Its not uncommon for dozens of related murders to go unrecognized as the work of a serial killer, meaning there could be many more than are estimated. Unfortunately, the number of Joe Carroll types is one of the plausible aspects of the show.
  February 27, 2013 at 3:02AM EST
DefRef

What I liked most about this episode was how everyone on the good guys side was crawling into the heads of the bad guys to mess with them, especially Bacon with his "I don't care if I live, so you have little leverage with me, you twits" attitude.

What is weak about the show is the "surprise" moles like the blonde deputy which I automatically suspected when she first appeared last week. Something about her or the vibe of the show put a light on her.

The glaring plot hole for me is how every single member of the following that we've seen has visited Joe in prison, but no one at the FBI has said, "Get the visitors logs and contact every single person who came to see Joe NOW!" The alluded to a secret web server or site last night, but come on.

Finally, there's a single thing that can happen to end everything: Kill Joe. I'm not sure why he hasn't already been executed unless he's in a state without a death penalty or is in the middle of the 20 years of appeals that it takes to execute a serial killer in America. Regardless, all someone needs to do is have an "altercation" with another prisoner occur followed by a statement that, "Joe died in prison. Darn. Anyone see the two cartons of cigarettes I had? No? OK."
February 26, 2013 at 1:53PM EST Reply to Comment
- Jonas.Left I thought the same thing about killing Joe, until they kidnapped his son. Now if Joe dies, who knows what they'll do to the kid. I think it would be interesting if Ryan figures out a way to take Joe hostage and threatens to kill him unless his followers deliver the boy to the authorities.
  February 27, 2013 at 3:07AM EST
- DefRef I meant (but didn't make clear) that after they recover Joey and roll up the rest of the known followers, they whack Joe and start letting everyone who visited him in the can know that they're on the watch list and if anything weird happens, the FBI will be calling on them first.
  February 27, 2013 at 9:27AM EST
Jessie

If our FBI agents were all this clueless and bumbling, we would be in a lot of trouble. Two swat team members allowing two armed men to approach. It's embarrassing .. A bunch of nuts outwit the cops, FBI, ATF, seriously! I know it's just a TV show but be a little realistic.!
February 27, 2013 at 9:09AM EST Reply to Comment
- Wjp I know it's America and everything and everyone has "rights" and all but really... After being sentenced for killing over a dozen women women and responsible for the deaths of countless others, he should be cut off. No calls. No visitors. No lawyer. Then what? Oohing to follow
  March 1, 2013 at 11:23PM EST

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Recap: 'The Following' - 'The Fall'

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Option 1

Option 2

Option 3

Guest I think you mean 15 episode season, not 12.

Liz This was the first ep where I actually liked Ryan. I am a huge Kevin Bacon fan, and this was the first ep where we got to see some of that swagger most of his characters have. Favorite interaction of the night: when he threatened to snap jacob's neck

user That Joe's follower Roderick should be able to, at short notice, get two guys capable of intercepting and infiltrating a SWAT operation, killing four officers and getting everybody out of the house is the biggest "jump the shark" moment of the show so far.

Bob Why? we don't know who Roderick really is yet - or what kind of weight he carries. And who said they "infiltrated" the operation? They could have been on the SWAT team all along, just waiting for a chance to be of service

Ed I don't get it Claire was kidnapped, and the FBI failed to rescue her, but she is hugging Ryan at the end of the episode... What?

notWalt Uh, The FBI did rescue her, but didn't catch her follower. Her "reunion" with Ryan... their last time together he said he wanted to talk about their relationship, but first had to go rescue her son. He ultimately failed so she was upset but eventually understands that it isn't his fault.

KristiLoo I was confused about this too. I didn't see the FBI rescue her? The FBI men stood around bewildered that they eluded them... which also... I don't understand why they didn't follow them through the secret door since they were literally about 5 seconds ahead of them. This made no sense.

KristiLoo Thanks for the "Claire-ification" ;) I totally missed seeing her standing there. Makes a lot more sense now.

Jana I definitely had to rewind it - I missed that she was pretty much thrown at the FBI.

DefRef I meant (but didn't make clear) that after they recover Joey and roll up the rest of the known followers, they whack Joe and start letting everyone who visited him in the can know that they're on the watch list and if anything weird happens, the FBI will be calling on them first.

Jessie If our FBI agents were all this clueless and bumbling, we would be in a lot of trouble. Two swat team members allowing two armed men to approach. It's embarrassing .. A bunch of nuts outwit the cops, FBI, ATF, seriously! I know it's just a TV show but be a little realistic.!

Wjp I know it's America and everything and everyone has "rights" and all but really... After being sentenced for killing over a dozen women women and responsible for the deaths of countless others, he should be cut off. No calls. No visitors. No lawyer. Then what? Oohing to follow

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Guest

I think you mean 15 episode season, not 12.

Liz

This was the first ep where I actually liked Ryan. I am a huge Kevin Bacon fan, and this was the first ep where we got to see some of that swagger most of his characters have. Favorite interaction of the night: when he threatened to snap jacob's neck

user

That Joe's follower Roderick should be able to, at short notice, get two guys capable of intercepting and infiltrating a SWAT operation, killing four officers and getting everybody out of the house is the biggest "jump the shark" moment of the show so far.

Ed

I don't get it Claire was kidnapped, and the FBI failed to rescue her, but she is hugging Ryan at the end of the episode... What?

notWalt Uh, The FBI did rescue her, but didn't catch her follower.

Her "reunion" with Ryan... their last time together he said he wanted to talk about their relationship, but first had to go rescue her son. He ultimately failed so she was upset but eventually understands that it isn't his fault.

KristiLoo I was confused about this too. I didn't see the FBI rescue her? The FBI men stood around bewildered that they eluded them... which also... I don't understand why they didn't follow them through the secret door since they were literally about 5 seconds ahead of them.

This made no sense.

Jessie

If our FBI agents were all this clueless and bumbling, we would be in a lot of trouble. Two swat team members allowing two armed men to approach. It's embarrassing .. A bunch of nuts outwit the cops, FBI, ATF, seriously! I know it's just a TV show but be a little realistic.!

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