The Following S3E8 - "Flesh & Blood" Recap

Theo has indeed killed Tucker and disposes of the body by putting it through a meat grinder. Afterwards, he heads home to be with his wife Cindy and their two children.

Donovan is still convinced that the FBI needs to find Tucker, Manitech's now-deceased CEO, but Ryan remains convinced that Tucker is just another person being framed. Donovan is taking over for Mendez more permanently because she has put in for early retirement.

Joe meets with a psychiatrist as he needs to pass a psychological evaluation before being put to death. During the meeting, he picks the lock on his cuffs and kills her and a guard. He does a bit more stabbing but eventually manages to make it outside where Ryan is waiting for him and tells him to get in. Of course it's all just Joe's mind wandering. He's still locked up!

Theo's wife is getting suspicious of all these "work trips" he's been taking and has gotten in cahoots with her neighbour Nancy to try to determine if he is cheating. (That's a more probable theory in their minds than the actual problem - he's a serial killer). Theo catches on that Cindy is suspicious so he's quick to figure out a course of action to deflect suspicions. He also tells his wife that he wants to do something she's wanted for some time now - have another baby.

Ryan, Mike, and Max are more determined than ever to follow the leads on Manitech. They find that the file of a man named "Sam Lewis" is a bit too perfect. Their investigation pings a warning to Theo, who hacks into the records to morph all of the photos of Sam into other faces. All visible information of him is gone now. Ryan and Mike visit the address of the home on file while Theo watches them from hidden surveillance feeds. There's little to nothing for them to find since no one lives there. However, they do find a hard copy of an ID badge with Sam's face on it. Ryan warns Mike that this seems like a trap once he's spotted the cameras and tackles Mike into a bathtub just in time as Mike has set off some C4 explosives. The laptop and suitcase they had found were destroyed, and all the explosives were constructed with basic, simple materials and are therefore untraceable. The upside of this? Donovan believes them now. The only remaining course of action since there's no digital copy of "Sam's" face is for Max to meet with a sketch artist.

Joe has declined to choose a method of execution so it will default to lethal injection. He's further upset to learn that Ryan has declined his invitation to Joe's execution. Ryan's relationship appears to be in trouble. He gets into hot water with his girlfriend after not telling her that he had been shot. Ryan then forgets about the plans he had to have dinner with her and her boss. When the topic of the death penalty comes up, with the doctor disagreeing with Joe Carroll being sentenced to death, Ryan kicks him out and it triggers another fight with his girlfriend.

Theo throws his wife Cindy a surprise birthday party as part of his plans to deflect her suspicions of him. But nosey-Nancy makes it clear to Theo in the kitchen that she knows he's lying and keeping secrets and even tries to bring her husband Bob in on it all. So of course this means that Theo kills Nancy and Bob to make it look like a murder-suicide.

Mendez visits Ryan to say she's in on this case to catch Theo. It's one last case before she's out for good. They follow a lead to a man named Eldon Wick, who vetted Theo so he could get a job at Manitech. They head to Wick's place and in his basement, find ears dangling from the ceiling. Ryan also hallucinates seeing Joe down there. This certainly doesn't bode well. Mike finds a body with the brain exposed. Wick pops out and tries to get away but Ryan catches him. Wick won't give up any information but when Ryan offers him fame/notoriety and newspaper headlines with their names linked, Wick starts to give up the goods. He says that the man (Theo) came and found him a year prior, threatening to expose Wick's killings unless he vetted him. Theo had left behind a USB drive which he never destroyed.

The drive has Theo's signature on it so the FBI's tech team is able to trace Theo to Maryland. The code Theo used was also used to hack the system as well as the now-deceased Bob and Nancy's e-mails. On the way to Maryland, Max spots a photo of Theo on Nancy's Facebook page. From there, it's a quick move to follow the trail to Theo's wife's records and from there they find her address. Theo gets an alert on his phone that the FBI have accessed Cindy's records and he is less than pleased. Once again, Theo must cover his tracks. He proceeds to drug his children and kill his wife. He seems semi-apologetic, given the circumstances, and says he'll cherish the memories they made together and keep it with the others he's collected. So just how many families has he created and destroyed on this path of his?

The FBI descend on Theo's house but he's already gone. They find Cindy dead on the bed with candles lit around her as well as flower petals strewn across her body. Thankfully, they find that the children are still alive. Mendez is shaken from the fact that the children could have been dead and it's the final straw. She quits for good this time. Then, Ryan gets a call from Theo who threatens him to say that this isn't over. He warns Ryan that he doesn't even realise half of what Theo is capable of.

The Following airs on Mondays on FOX at 9PM.