Ryan's visiting Joe to try to get information on Strauss. Joe will play ball but only if Ryan agrees to keep coming and visiting him until he is executed. After the first visit, Ryan has to run to the restroom and throw up due to being so shaken by it all. He then heads to visit Max in the hospital who is still recuperating after getting beat up by Daisy. Ryan delivers the bad news about her suspension since the FBI needed a scapegoat. But the investigation must carry on.
Ryan and Mike look through old missing persons cases hoping to connect them back to a student of Strauss, since Joe advises him to look for more of Strauss' friends, students, and associates. Six cases have turned up in the small town of Beacon, New York, so they head up to investigate. The sheriff doesn't want to work with this "rogue" agent, but one of the officers, Hillary, recognises one of the missing people in Ryan and Mike's file as a possible Jane Doe they had found earlier.
Tommy is still using the spy cam feed to creep on Max. She has yet to admit anything about her hookup with Mike but he knows she's hiding more than what she's letting on.
Hillary takes Ryan and Mike out into the woods to where the body was discovered. They find an area with creepy dolls tied up in the trees and briefly encounter a masked man who they chase to a particular area before disappearing. They're able to uncover nine buried bodies at someone's burial ground. Many of the bodies match these missing persons reports and determine that the killer has been operating there for roughly fifteen years now.
This killer is a man named Theo (oh look, it's Michael Ealy!). Over a decade ago, he opened fire in an office complex. Theo is a hacker and was wounded during that shooting. Upon going to get medical supplies, he had a run-in with Strauss, and the rest was history.
Hillary takes Ryan and Mike to a diner to grab a bite while they carry on discussing the case. The diner is owned by Hillary's uncle Duncan, who has been looking after her ever since her parents died. A waitress tells them they should look into the sheriff's son Justin, as there's apparently something off about him. They follow that line of investigation and discover a meth lab he's been running in the woods in which there is also the mask he had been wearing earlier when they previously encountered him. Justin tries to make a run for him but ends up cuffed and brought in. The sheriff comes in while they're questioning Justin and the sheriff is horrified to learn the extent of what his son has been up to. Justin insists that he doesn't know anything about Strauss and the sheriff says that though his son is stupid and irresponsible, he can tell he's not lying. He grabs his son up to process him and take him to the station. Ryan is fine with letting him go, telling Mike that Justin isn't smart enough to be one of Strauss' students.
It's revealed that Strauss and Daisy are indeed in town but they're being hidden in cabin by Uncle Duncan. He comes to visit them and warns that Ryan and the FBI are in town so they really need to leave quickly to avoid getting apprehended. Strauss says they can't leave until their new identities are delivered by his "best student," which is Theo. Theo has been laying low for the last decade and a half, never getting caught for any of his killing. Duncan seems jealous and angry that another student was contacted.
Ryan and Mike are able to determine that Duncan is the one who has been helping Strauss. Duncan tries to hold a knife to Hillary but she knocks her way out of his grip and is emotionally distraught to realise that everything she knew was a lie and that her uncle was the one who killed her parents. The sheriff knows about Duncan's cabin so he offers to show Ryan and Mike where it is. As they're on the their way there, Theo is seen approaching it. We see him reminisce over meeting and getting familiar with Strauss, who coached him through how to better cover his tracks, building on Theo's already strong killing abilities.
Throughout this episode, Theo has been helping Strauss by killing his lawyer and then of course getting these new identities together. He's also meant to be delivering some credit cards for them as well. They had previously had a conversation about Theo being a shark and not swimming above water (of course it's a metaphor for not being caught). But when Theo comes to apparently help Strauss, Theo strangles him to death in front of Daisy, saying he had to do it because Strauss had exposed him and sharks are never supposed to swim above water. Theo and Daisy leave each other alive.
Ryan and Mike let Duncan know about what has happened to Strauss. He is upset to learn about Strauss' death. He says he doesn't know the identity of the killer but says that Strauss only referred to him as "his best student." When Theo returns home, we see he has a wife and two children. Talk about a juicy double life!
Ryan goes to visit Joe to get more information about this "best student" of Strauss, Daisy gets into a car with some unknown (for now) associate, Mike visits Max and the two discuss her knowledge/cover-up of his execution of Lily Gray, and Tommy spies the whole exchange between the two!
The Following airs on Mondays on FOX at 9PM.
Ryan pays a visit to Strauss to tell him that all his scheming is over but Strauss simply says that it's never over and he should look inside himself about what the real truth is.
Tommy is still spying on Max using the screen he stole from the crime scene and sees her ignore him when he tries to call her.
Daisy and Kyle ask Mark to go get medical supplies for Kyle's injury and when he steps out, they leave to meet with Juliana. But Mark was on to them and has followed them there, after which he begins following Juliana. She had given them FBI gear for their latest mission. It should also be noted that Juliana is part of Strauss' legal team.
The FBI is on high alert to make sure security is at its highest possible level. They also have to keep their key witness Carrie Cooke safe. Ryan also has them look into the backgrounds of everyone that has visited Strauss in prison. But Daisy poses as an agent and with Kyle's help, they make a move to access Carrie's hotel room.
Ryan is called to the stand by Strauss' lawyer. An e-mail is put into play that was allegedly written by Clarke about concerns over Ryan and the investigation that happened throughout the previous year. It doesn't bode well for Ryan, and things are worsened when Carrie doesn't show up to the trial. The judge says that if Carried doesn't arrive within the next hour, the case will be dismissed.
Ryan runs out with Mike and Max to try to find Carrie and catch up to Daisy and Kyle who set fire to a van that's filled with the security guards they killed as well as Carrie. They follow after Daisy and Kyle into the woods and Kyle forces Daisy to get away and then makes Ryan kill him by trying to move in with a knife. Ryan calls the prosecutor to tell her what has happened but it's too late. The judge has already dismissed the case and Strauss walked 20 minutes ago.
Mendez has been ordered to suspend Ryan, Mike, and Max, but gives them until the following morning to do an investigation that will connect Daisy with Strauss and prove criminal conspiracy. The group follows a lead to Juliana but Mark has already hunted her down and killed her. Before doing so, he learns from Juliana that Daisy and Kyle had been Strauss' students, and insists that he tell her where Strauss is.
The trio tracks Daisy down to a pier in Red Hook, Brooklyn, where Daisy has met with Strauss and they are preparing to flee the country via a cargo ship. Strauss threatened Ryan that there are more of his students out there but before either side can make a move, Mark begins firing shots at the group from afar with a sniper rifle. Ryan tells Max and Mike to get Strauss, while he himself will go after Mark.
Mike leaves Max alone to go after Mark himself, and Max is outnumbered and knocked out by Daisy who then gets away with Strauss. Mike lands a shot in Mark's leg, which hinders his ability to move quickly. Mike corners him and prepares to kill him but Ryan stops him, saying it's not worth it and will be more painful for Mark if he has to live the rest of his life in prison. Mike lowers his weapon, after which Mark jumps off the ship and gets away too.
Max is badly injured and rushed to the hospital. Mike and Ryan argue in the hospital over Max's being left alone by Mike but Mike reminds Ryan that he would've done the same thing if it had been Joe on the ship. Ryan gets some encouraging words from Gwen, who lets him know that Max will be okay, and Ryan realises that what he needs to do now is visit Joe Carroll. What are Joe's first words of this season? "What took you so long?"
The Following airs on Mondays on FOX at 9PM.
Mark is getting suspicious of Daisy and Kyle and insists on tagging along with their latest killing spree. Daisy and Kyle had already staged a suicide of a college student, though we don't know what their motives are for doing so. Ryan and Max are sent to track down one of Daisy and Kyle's homes in Ohio but it appears to just be a cover-home at which none of their evidence of psychopathy seems present. They run into Daisy and Kyle's dog-sitter and have her call them to issue a warning that they will find them. But despite Daisy's panic, she and Kyle carry on over to the fire department where Max's father used to work and proceed to murder the men working there. Mark also joins in on the killing spree.
Daisy and Kyle meet with Juliana, wanting to get out of whatever set-up they have going on but she refuses and tells them to finish the mission, after which they will be free to do as they please. Max is shaken by this personal attack and ends up hooking up with Mike (reminder that she is still dating Tommy). The whole encounter is caught on camera by the hidden cameras Daisy and Kyle planted. The morning after, Max says she regrets the hookup despite the fact that Mike believes they belong together. The conversation is interrupted by a call from Tommy, who says that they've found Mark's hide-out spot since the FBI had spotted Daisy and Kyle leaving the house in Brooklyn. Mark is watching the hidden camera feed so he's able to get out in time. Tommy finds the laptop with the camera feed and sees the footage of Max and Mike hooking up and swipes the laptop for himself instead of turning it over.
Daisy and Kyle must now target a co-ed at a local university. They had earlier murdered her boyfriend by pushing him in front of a moving vehicle. We still don't know why they're doing any of this but this girl's death has to look like a suicide for some reason. They're caught up to by the FBI, and did we mention that Tommy tries to pressure Max into admitting what she did but when she doesn't, he almost doesn't save Mike when he's hanging off the side of a building? Anyway, Daisy and Kyle get away but Kyle is injured.
The FBI are able to determine that the girl Daisy and Kyle killed was the daughter of the judge on Arthur Strauss' trial (which will begin the next day). Strauss, in case you forgot, was Joe Carroll's mentor and the one who saved Joe after he faked his death at the boathouse.
As for our favourite on/off love-birds, Mike is still trying to convince Max that they belong together but she still firmly believes that he is too obsessed with avenging his father's murder for them to be able to have a successful relationship.
The Following airs on Mondays on FOX at 9PM.
Ryan, Max, and Mike are on a mission to get justice for Clarke's death. They even go on national television where Ryan claims that Mark is responsible for these deaths and that none of what Clarke confessed was true. Max is able to find an old case where a woman was murdered and found with all her joints broken. Ryan then tracks down a many named Wyatt who after being threatened, gives them the e-mail address of Neil Perry, the man who last week murdered Clarke with that freaky box.
Meanwhile, Mark is still furious about Ryan lying during the press conference so he decides the best course of action is to kidnap two reporters, one of which he quickly murders. The female reporter had suggested to Mark that he could use them to get his story out there but she ends up as the only one left to ask the questions.
The group tracks down Neil, who we've seen struggling to tend to his sick, elderly father, while also looking after the wood shop. Neil must now flee with his father and though they get away at first, Neil's father having dementia means he has a tracker on him. This allows Ryan to track them down at a market, but Neil is able to get away once more but without his father. When Ryan and Mike catch up to him again, Neil forces them to kill him by pulling his weapon on them.
The female reporter is able to manipulate Mark into getting upset so she can try to escape but Daisy kills her before she is able to. Daisy is starting to want out of whatever scheme they're involved in, since hers and Kyle's faces are now plastered all over the news and she wants to have evil-babies with Kyle. The pair meet with a woman named Juliana who reminds them there is still more work to be done and they must keep Mark happy. Juliana threatens them, though we don't know the specifics of what she is holding over them. She then gives them a file with information on Max. Mark grows suspicious of them when he finds the file, but Kyle claims that it was supposed to be a present for Mark to kill Max. Mark seemingly is put at ease by this answer, but the 'Luke' voice in his mind warns him to keep an eye of them, as they are up to something.
Ryan asks Gwen to move in with her and she says yes under the condition that he let his walls down. Finally, we see Daisy and Kyle planting hidden cameras in Max's apartment. She nearly catches them but her boyfriend Tommy shows up to take her to dinner.
The Following airs on Mondays on FOX at 9PM.
Mark goes to a garage where he meets an associate named Spider, who has set up a torture chamber that even has an execution chair. Apparently, the plan is for Mark to kill an FBI agent. Mark, perhaps? Or Ryan? Max? All of the above? He heads back to the evil lair to wake up Kyle and Daisy and get the plans going. Kyle is getting sick of Mark but Daisy encourages him to play nice for now since they have plans of their own, though we don't yet know what.
As for our heroes, Ryan and Mike are questioning Andrew Sharp, the man who they arrested last episode that was also the one who picked up Mark. We don't learn much apart from the fact that his wife and kids were just part of a rouse to seem societally normal. What he demands is that they confess the truth about the execution of Lily Gray or else more blood will be spilt.
Meanwhile, Daisy and Kyle stalk a woman at a grocery store and follow her back at her house. They tie her up and force to call her husband to get him home. Her husband is a man named Jeff Clarke who was shown through flashbacks to have helped Ryan and the rest of the group cover up what happened in the woods and coaches Ryan before the hearing.
The FBI are able to track down the garage where Spider and Mark are. They trip a silent alarm that in turn forces Spider to get Mark to a secret passageway that'll get him out through the sewers. The FBI discover a board that has photos of Anna, Clarke's wife, and realise that's where they have to go next. When Clarke returns home, he gets kidnapped while Daisy puts a plastic bag over Anna's head and leaves her for head. The FBI arrive in time to resuscitate Anna but Clarke is long gone.
Mark calls Daisy up to say that they've lost their torture chamber so they have to go with Plan B. Daisy warns that this isn't a good idea but Mark is insistent so she calls up one bad man named Neil who is as scary as they come. Mark then Skypes the FBI to warn them that they need to tell the truth by 8 o'clock that night on television or else Clarke will die. During their hunt, the FBI find that Andrew went to school with Joe. It's a strange revelation because Mark hates Joe and blames him for the death of his family so there's a lot of unanswered questions about who is really calling the shots here and where everyone's allegiances lie. Ryan goes to question Dr. Strauss and he won't say anything that's not cryptic and adds that Andrew is motivated by fear in order to get things done.
As for Clarke, he is able to briefly escape and call Ryan while out and the FBI is able to track the location. But it's shortly after that he is discovered and recaptured. Neil tells Clarke that the metal box he has been soldering is the perfect size for Clarke, adding that he will paralyse Clarke and dislocate him one limb at a time to make him fit. By the time the FBI arrives at the location, a video confession is released onto the internet which they watch in which Clarke admits the truth about what happened in the woods.
By the time the FBI get inside, the killers are gone but they find an empty room with the metal box and blood trailing out of it and Clarke's badge on the top. Though we don't see the contents, by the reaction of the team, it's clear that they all learn the gruesomeness of what happened in it. Mark isn't as pleased because he wasn't able to be present for Clarke's death.
In a continuation of the flashbacks between Ryan and Clarke, we see that around the time of the hearing, Clarke has chest pains which put him in the hospital. While there, Ryan meets his current girlfriend Gwen, who had been the doctor tending to him. In the present, Gwen comforts a crying Ryan in the shower.
The Following airs on Mondays on FOX at 9PM.
Detective Ryan Hardy is at the wedding of his FBI superior, Gina Mendez, and enjoying being there with his new girlfriend Gwen. It's been a year since the events of the season 2 finale. Gwen wants to move in together and then Mike shows up. Things are awkward between him and Max, as she's got a new man, her fellow-FBI member, Tom. That's right, Max joined the FBI. Surprised? You shouldn't be!
Joe is scheduled to be executed in a month. But before we get to that, Ryan needs to give a wedding toast to the beautiful brides. But his toast is interrupted by a waiter working the wedding who throws blood on Ryan and the brides, calling Ryan a liar. The man sobs that Ryan shot his daughter, who was at the Corbin compound, and says her blood is on Ryan's hands. She was just a "lost girl who lost her way." Ryan tells security to let the man go, and the man does so without making any more of a fuss. Ryan still feels guilty about it so he decides to look up the man's daughter. When they arrive on scene, they find that the girl's actual father is someone else entirely.
Enter Daisy, a new psychopathic killer on the scene who poses as a prostitute to lure a couple to their deaths. Enter Kyle, Daisy's beau, also in on the murderous psychopathy. They're in cahoots with the fake-Dad, whose real name is Andrew. When Ryan and the rest of the group arrive at Daisy and Kyle's murder scene, they find that the corpses have been rigged up into a tableau, and the words "Ryan Hardy Lies" are painted on the wall.
Another incident occurs and when Ryan, Mike, and Max show up, they find another message. This time, it says, "Max Hardy Lies," and this causes Ryan to figure out what's really going on here. The killers are recreating moments that the FBI killed members of Carroll Gray's group. He determines that Mark is behind this. Poor little Mark is pulling a Norman Bates but instead of talking to his "mother," he's talking to his dead brother.
This new team of murderers is hitting up an art fundraiser in search of a snobby blonde to fulfil their tableau in which Mike killed Lily. But the FBI have figured it out now so they arrive on the scene but they're only able to capture Andrew and bring him into custody, while the rest get away with the blonde woman in the red dress. Mark pulls the trigger but is incredibly emotional afterwards, begging her not to leave him.
Ryan questions Andrew, who is revealed to be the one who picked up Mark the night that Luke died. He admits he's a sucker for a good revenge tale. Andrew wants to know the time because apparently there's somewhere Ryan needs to be. How ominous. Of course the next crime scene is that of some strung-up "FBI" agents standing over "Lily"'s body and another message left behind, "While you lie, more die."
Kyle implores Daisy that they can't leave Mark, who apparently has no idea "what's really going on," and it's important that it stays that way. Could they be Joe's followers too? Max has a hard drink after her long day. Ryan reaches out to Gwen after trying to push her away earlier. He apologises, saying it's a pattern he has developed of pushing people away but he doesn't want to do it anymore. As for Mark/Luke, he/they are planning to kill an FBI agent the next day. Welcome back, The Following!
The Following airs on Mondays on FOX at 9PM.
Claire asks Mike how it's possible for Joe to still be alive and we also see a flashback of her being visited by Mike and another member of the FBI, telling her she needs to join Witness Protection and cannot tell Ryan. She's struggling with the idea of giving up her life but Mike tells her Ryan would want her to be safe. She cries, saying she can't do this to Ryan, and then we see Mike go in to Ryan's room to tell him that Claire didn't make it.
Following Carrie and Ryan's "post-traumatic sex," she tells him that he can trust her after she catches him coming out of his "secret room." She wants the story but also wants to help him. Emma is annoyed when Mandy interrupts her post-coital bliss with Joe but he tells her that she is simply a girl wh ois still coping with the loss of her mother. Mandy stands outside listening in on the conversation. Emma also wants to be included in the decision making.
Mike fills Claire in on who Lily is and the fact that Ryan is doing okay. Claire is apparently being relocated again and she tells Mike that her son won't be safe until this is over. She doesn't want to find Joe; she wants to kill him. Meanwhile, Joe and Emma are getting the down-low on the members of the cult and who will have skills useful to them and their murderous needs.
Ryan questions Strauss to try to get information that will help him track Joe down and Strauss is informed of Joe's theatrical declaration to the world. He also taunts Ryan about his obsession with Joe mimicking the devotion of Joe's followers. Meanwhile, Mike tells Claire that she needs to stay hidden and take care of herself and her son. Ryan tells Carrie that he wants to officially go on the record and Joe begins priming his new followers to believe that new blood must be spilt in order to achieve redemption. Mandy appears uneasy and it's unclear where her head and loyalties are.
The team watches as Carrie announces on the news that Dr. Strauss has been taken into custody. Of course, this is all part of their strategy. Emma calls Joe in to watch the story, as it's announced that Dr. Strauss is "cooperating fully" with the FBI. Flashback to 1982 as a young Joe is called in to Strauss's office. Strauss tells him that test results show him to be a psychopath.
Just as predicted, Joe calls Jana, but it's Ryan that picks up the phone. Joe is shocked but decides to continue the conversation while the call is traced. Ryan informs him that Jana is dead and they taunt each other. Emma tries to get Joe to hang up but Joe continues talking about Dr. Strauss. Joe tells Ryan he has a holy army ready to rain down on them. Joe is cryptic and poetic, claiming he's going to save the world, one soul at a time, before hanging up. They're not able to trace the call's location. Joe angrily smashes the phone at the wall, and sends Emma and Mandy out.
Some of Joe's disciples are skulking out and about. One of the girls spots a bloke on the street that reminds her of an old school bully and one of the followers admits that he used to pick on "fat" girls so to make it up to her, he goes over and kills the man, telling him "No redemption without blood" (Joe's new mantra) and puts a note inside his jacket pocket. No one notices him commit the murder and when he returns to the van, the girl Tilda wipes the blood from his knife. He tells her that no one should ever make her feel anything less than beautiful. It would be a cute moment, were it not for the murder.
Mike returns from seeing Claire and claims to have been visiting his mother. Max tells him, after Ryan is out of the room that he doesn't have to lie to them. She had gotten worried and had called his mother to check in and he wasn't there. The two exchange flirty glances.
Joe kills a cat to teach some sort of lesson that I didn't hear since I was cringing and shouting "no" at the screen. Young Joe is shown a fresh corpse by Strauss after she died in surgery. Strauss is coaching and priming him to be a murderer. Strauss says that they are the chosen ones. One of the followers tells Joe that she can't do this but Joe is able to twist it around and keep her and everyone else on track. Also, Emma is eying Mandy with suspicion. Joe sends her and everyone else out that isn't feeling right and we're left to assume that the security that followed was tasked with killing them. Also, Mandy steps out through a separate exit with tears in her eyes.
The followers go attack and kill a family in their home and the message "No redemption without blood" is written on the wall in blood. The previous body has also been found with the note reading the same message. Emma tells Mandy that she failed today and that those that came out were put in the hole. Mandy would have been put in there, too, but Joe instructed her to give Mandy another chance. The two have a stand-off and it's clear that Emma has a more formidable opponent than she originally thought.
The FBI track down the followers after using facial recognition on one of them. She fails to kill her target in the restroom of a restaurant and a stand-off ensues between the followers and the FBI. One of the followers slits the girl's throat when she's about to reveal Joe's location. The FBI are researching cults that Joe might have taken over.
Joe performs a ritual to celebrate the return of two of the followers, Tilda and Lucas. He nicks his arm and puts blood on each of their foreheads. He whips them all into a frenzy. Carrie returns to Ryan's place. He tells her that it didn't work and that he would have told them the truth. He's disappointed but she commends him for saving all those people in the restaurant. She's also feeling frisky now that he's begun to show her some trust.
Claire is in her motel and tells the FBI person that she's not going back to Arizona and insists on seeing Ryan. Looks like Claire is headed back to New York!
The Following airs on Mondays on FOX at 9PM.
