The Following Recap: One Big Happy Family

The Following, Episode 7: "Let Me Go"

Let's start off this recap with some good news.  The Following was officially picked up by FOX for a second season this week!!  (I'm assuming this is good news, if you are watching the show and reading this recap.)  I thought the good/not so good format of the last recap worked really well, so I think I will go with that again.  On the whole, I did think that this episode kind of ramped up the action and that final scene helped to answer a question I, and I'm sure many other viewers had:  How big is this following.  Turns out, pretty big.  So here we go.

The Good

That final scene.  It chilled me to the bone when Emma brought out son to meet father, and we got a glimpse of a large group of followers watching the reunion.  It was all very unsettling and very creepy.  It was like when you watch your favorite show and something happens and you feel really good about it because you feel like these characters are your best friends and you're happy that things are going their way.  Well, imagine having those feelings for real people, real people who have never met you before.  That was the feeling I had.  My question now is this: Will Joe be able to succeed where Emma and Jacob failed?  Will he be able to warp Joey and truly make him his father's son?  This is really compelling and sets up sort of a nature vs nurture thing.  It's almost like the inverse to the Dexter father/son relationship.

Joey.  Joey continues to impress me and be amazing.  I've said in previous recaps that I appreciate that the writers have made Joey aware of how odd everything is.  He is a great combination of gullible and inquisitive.  He trusts easily, like most children do, but he's not afraid to speak up when something smells fishy and do what he thinks is right.  I hope that Joey is able to keep ahold of this moral code now that he is being entrenched with Joe and his followers.  Joey showed lots of initiative in his visit to the garage with Emma where they met with Bo, a mechanic and fair weather follower.  He found Dana in a cage and set her free!  She ended up getting recaptured, but you can't fault Joey for that.  

Joe's escaped.  I was afraid that this wouldn't happen until the season finale, but thanks to some warden blackmailing and an assist from Olivia, Joe is out of prison.  This will definitely ramp up the intenisty in the last batch of episodes and make what is happening even more urgent.  Joe's escape didn't bode well for poor Olivia, since Joe strangled her while Ryan and Weston listened over the phone.  It was nice to have another face to face confrontation with Joe and Ryan in the parking garage.  I'm wondering what role the mysterious Roderick will play now that Joe is out.  Is he going to be a minor bad that Ryan is going to have to face?  I'm interested how future seasons will pan out, now that we know there will at least be a second.

Charlie.  Charlie aka Claire's smitten follower showed up at the garage to take Emma and Joey to Joe.  Charlie is the first interesting, seemingly non-disposable follower that we've been introduced to since the trio of Emma, Jacob, and Paul.  You can tell that he feels very paternal towards Joey when they have their chat after he pretty much saves them from Bo.  He actually keeps his promise too.  Killing Bo, but leaving Dana, the warden's daughter, alive.  Charlie's romantic feelings for Claire complicate things in a way that I don't think Joe has seen yet.  If Joe's plan is to somehow warp Joey, reunite with Claire and make some sort of serial killing first family, Charlie is definitely a wrench in that plan, not to mention Ryan.  I'm wondering if Joe does try to make Joey like him, if Charlie won't try to protect him from that, since he does seem to have some twisted sense of honor.

The Not So Good

Ryan.  I know, I know.  I was loving Ryan in the last episode, but this episode he was back to being oddly characterized.  I'm not sure who the writers want Ryan to be.  Sometimes they want him to be Jack Bauer, like when he is interrogating the follower he shot.  Sometimes they want him to be meek and easily taken down.  I'm not saying that Ryan can't be both, but sometimes the jerk from one extreme to the next can give  you whiplash.  The show is still early and finding it's footing, so the writers still have time to adjust it and I have faith that they will.  It's just a little jarring right now.  This is a minor quibble and the episode was pretty stellar.

So, what did you guys think?  Are you scared for Joey?  Do you think I'm onto something in my theory about Joe's plan or am I totally off base?  Were you wondering what happened to Paul and Jacob?  Let me know in the comments.