Elena Butler
Staff Writer

Okay, this episode definitely cemented my belief that when it comes to this show, everyone is a suspect and no one should ever be trusted. While Joe is still somewhere in the swamplands of the south, Ryan’s tasks just keep getting more complicated by the minute. I guess if anyone should have serious trust issues, it should be him.

In this newest episode, ironically titled, “Trust Me,” the FBI finally figured out that Ryan’s been keeping close tabs on the case, they do something worthwhile for a change by putting down several followers after a raid, and of course Ryan discovers that he should never let a pretty face fool him.

But there is a lot more that happened, so why don’t we get started?

Previously on The Following…

Lily was the only survivor of the subway murders. Ryan lied to the FBI about knowing anything about Joe Caroll’s followers. We found out Carroll is actually alive and living with a lady friend and her adopted daughter.  The creepy twins tried to kill Lily, but Ryan rescued her. Carroll killed the sleazy town Reverend after he discovered who Carroll really was.

The episode opens with the dead Reverend tied to a chair as Mandy continues to say that Judy’s going to be home and super pissed if she finds him there. She suggests they bury him, and Carroll is helping her carry the body when Judy gets home, asking why the Reverend’s car is in the driveway. Carroll doesn’t even try to hide the truth.

“It’s exactly what it looks like,” he admits to a horrified Judy.

We head over to Ryan’s apartment, where the writers thought it would be super cool to do a dream within a dream sequence, because this show isn’t already a mind-bender as it is. Ryan dreams that Carroll comes into his home and when he shoots him point blank, he replies that he can’t kill him. “If I die, you die,” Carroll says as he plunges his hand into his stomach, Vampire Diaries style. Ryan “wakes up” and he finds himself in bed only to find a follower with a Carroll mask behind a closed door.  Okay, now Ryan really wakes up—you following?—and he’s in the FBI headquarters.  I wasn’t even sure this was reality after all that, to be completely honest.  Mendez shows Ryan the video footage from the art gallery and they decide to run the twins’ faces on the news.  They also show him footage of him running out of Carlos’ apartment and getting hit by a cab. Ryan finally admits that he took matters into his own hands and maybe a few souvenirs from Carlos’ place. Mendez and Mike are not happy.

Back at the new cult’s motel room, Luke seems very proud of his first Ryan Hardy wound, so much so that he doesn’t even want to take painkillers. The twins see their faces on the news but disregard it as something that was inevitable. Emma tries calling Carlos again but he hangs up on her and Mark asks him to call her back. Meanwhile, Emma is still a little butt-hurt that Carroll didn’t tell her he was alive. She gets a call from Carlos, who asks her to meet with him in person and alone.

Ryan pays Lily a visit and once again apologizes for everything that’s happened to her. She knows that even if Carroll’s current followers get caught, there will be more. Lily flirts with Ryan and asks if he’ll come back later to check up on her, to which he says yes. He goes back to his apartment and finds that his alarm has been tampered with. When he goes inside his office, Mike is sitting in front of his evidence board.  Busted.  Ryan tries to explain his theory about Carroll being alive. Apparently, his dad had another son who went missing 14 months ago. Ryan thinks the body belonged to Carroll’s brother and the DNA was tampered with during a break-in at the facility. Mike refuses to believe him. I can’t wait to see his face when he realizes Ryan’s been right all along.

Meanwhile in the south, Judy is upset about Carroll killing the Reverend. He tries to inflict fear in her by suggesting that the cops will think she’s part of his cult if she says anything. Carroll compares himself to an alcoholic, knowing his murderous ways are like an addiction and he can’t simply give it up. He plans to leave by nightfall, even though Mandy isn’t happy about him going.

We head over to an abandoned apartment building, where Emma is supposed to meet Carlos.  Mark shows up instead and introduces himself to her. He looks quite happy to finally meet Emma. She asks him if Carroll is alive and once again wonders why he never shared that piece of information with her. Mark reveals that Roderick—remember that guy?—was the one who had plans to switch out the DNA to fake Carroll’s death. When Emma asks how many followers are with him, he offers to take her back to their hideout.

Back at the FBI headquarters, Mendez shows Mike video footage of Emma exiting Carlos’ apartment the same day as Ryan. They view all the footage until she gets to the house she’s sharing with the rest of the surviving followers and decide to send a team in to bust them.  Everyone in the house gets killed except for one who only gets injured and taken away. Ryan shows up at the scene and Mike tells him that Emma was not in the location when they arrived.  Mendez puts a stop to the conversation and threatens to arrest him if he continues to intervene.  Don’t worry Ryan, you’ll be completely submerged in this whole thing once Carroll gets back and starts asking for you personally.

Over at Carroll’s, Mandy begs him not to go.  Her reason is that she’s never had a father except for him in her life.  Talk about some serious daddy issues.  Judy steps out of the house and asks Carroll where he’s heading.  She wants to know what to do if the police come to investigate but he doesn’t seem to care.  Judy pulls out a gun and tries to shoot him in the back when he turns around, but unfortunately, the gun has no bullets.  Carroll starts chocking her and Mandy runs outside and asks him not to kill her.

Ryan heads over to Lily’s place and immediately starts telling her what happened.  He informs her that he can no longer be a part of what’s going on and is only there to say goodbye.  She asks him about Claire and if he’s moved on, all this while some ominous music is playing in the background.  Lily says that things happen for a reason, like her being on the subway when the murders happened.  Apparently she only took it because she was in a hurry to get home.  She asks Ryan if he’d like to have dinner with her later and he agrees.

Mark takes Emma to the motel room and she sees the news as they’re reporting on the deaths of the followers she was living with.  Luke questions Emma and asks why they should keep her around.  She insists that she was Carroll’s right hand and he will come to her before anyone else.  Carlos makes a comment about nobody liking her and Luke snaps, stabbing him in the neck.  Giselle isn’t thrilled about him beating her to the punch because she had been wanting to kill him since they first met.  They’re deciding what to do with the body when they get a call alerting them that they’ve been compromised.  Mark insists on taking Emma with them.

Meanwhile, Carroll restrains Judy with the intention of killing her.  He goes looking for his knife, which Mandy finds sitting on one of the side tables.  Judy encourages her to use it against Carroll but when he returns he asks her to put it down.  Mandy tells him she doesn’t want to die.  Judy continues to tell her to kill him but Mandy stabs her instead, admitting that she simply can’t let Carroll go.

Back in the art gallery, Ryan calls Mike and asks him to show him the footage from the subway attack again. When he sees it, he discovers that Lily decided not to take the express train even though earlier she said she was in a hurry to get home. Lily is explaining some paintings to a few visitors and Ryan watches her from afar. He doesn’t have to confront her. Lily realizes he knows the truth by the way he’s looking at her and she runs away.  She makes it out to the street and is able to escape Ryan by wearing a disguise. As she’s getting away, she calls somebody to pick her up and then she calls Ryan asking how he figured it out.  Lily tells Ryan that he’s important to Carroll and he was supposed to be her gift to him.  Later, she gets picked up by Luke who refers to her as “mother.”

We head back to the south, where Carroll and Mandy are dousing their house with gasoline. She thanks him for taking her with him and expresses her desire to help and not disappoint. They say a quick prayer and then set fire to the house. The episode ends with intercut scenes of them making their escape in the Reverend’s car, Lily and Luke also driving to another destination and it finally concludes with Ryan staring at a picture of Claire.

It’s only been a few episodes but this season of The Following is so much better than the first.  I’m really enjoying all the new characters and even though they’re sociopaths who just want to murder everything that moves, I can’t wait to see them all reunited with Carroll. He probably won’t be too happy with them at first, but we’ll see. Speaking of first meetings, how jealous is Emma going to be when she discovers Mandy’s taken her place as Carroll’s favorite? Things are going to get so complicated and I cannot wait for the drama. Finally, serious question:  Is Emma going to have another threesome this season, this time with twins?

Leave us a comment in the space below, we’d love to hear from you.

Keep Up With PopWrapped On The Web!

http://www.PopWrapped.com
http://www.Twitter.com/PopWrapped
http://www.SoundCloud.com/PopWrapped
http://www.Popwrapped.Tumblr.com
http://www.Facebook.com/PopWrapped
http://www.Instagram.com/PopWrapped
http://www.Pinterest.com/PopWrapped
http://www.YouTube.com/PopWrapped