Violet recaps Season 2 Episode 2 of The Following, titled For Joe, where we find out more about what Joe’s new home life is like, and the twins continue their creepy murders. Following the recap, Violet shares her thoughts on the episode.
Episode Recap of The Following, Season 2 Episode 2: For Joe
- The new lady in Joe’s life in the South knows who he is. He calls her his salvation, but appears restless from the news about the murders. The FBI analyzes the murder of the girl on the park bench. The twins go out, and command Carlos to stay in the hotel with Giselle.
- Hardy visits Lily Gray at the art gallery where she works. One of the twins poses as a flower delivery guy so they can gain entry into a family’s house, then they kill the husband and wife who live there. It is unclear what the plan is for their young son.
- Lily tells Hardy she doesn’t know Joe Carroll, and that she read up on Hardy. After Joe’s woman, Judy, gets done with a client, a Reverend, we learn that Joe is posing as Judy’s brother, Daryl, a war veteran. Emma wants to know more about Carlos and his new friends. The twins sit down to dinner with their dead victims, who they pretend are their parents.
- Hardy returns home to find Max there, and tells her what happened with Carlos. She encourages him to go to the FBI, but he declines. Joe accesses the Baltimore Gazette classifieds online and finds a message from his friends. We learn that Judy wrote Joe letters in prison and thought she could fix him. Joe promises Judy’s daughter, Mandy, that he won’t leave.
- Hardy gets a phone call from Luke, introducing himself. Max traces the call, and Hardy goes to the address against her wishes. When Hardy goes up to the roof, he gets a call from Luke on the phone that was left there. Hardy looks across the way and sees Luke wearing a Joe Carroll mask, and tells Max to send units to the address.
- Hardy enters the house, and finds the son, Ben, in a closet. The Reverend stops by to see Judy while she is out. The FBI shows up to the crime scene and they’re upset about Hardy obstructing justice. Mike tries to talk to Hardy, but he ignores him. Luke calls Hardy and threatens to harm Lily.
- The Reverend implies that he knows who Joe really is. Joe goes after him, the Reverend punches Joe, and Mandy hits the Reverend in the head with a shovel, knocking him out. Joe ties him to a chair and wonders what to do with him. Hardy runs to Lily’s art gala, and sees one of the twins from across the room.
- As Lily and her companion leave through a deserted part of the building, the twins show up wearing Joe Carroll masks. They stab the man, but Hardy and FBI agents who were at the gala are able to save Lily. Hardy and one of the twins fight, then Hardy removes the mask and sees that he is dealing with identical twins. The twins run off, and one gets shot by Hardy on his way out.
- Mike reprimands Hardy for nearly screwing things up, and tells Hardy he should call him if something happens, but then says he’s done with Hardy. Hardy apologizes to Lily for putting her in danger, but she is grateful to him for his help. Joe says that he thought he could be reborn anew, but realizes that he is inevitable, so he stabs and kills the Reverend.
- Carlos gets a call on the phone labeled, “Joe,” but it’s Emma. He asks if Joe is with her, but she says Joe is dead. Giselle hangs up on her. Meanwhile, Joe comforts Mandy after she witnessed him killing the Reverend.
Violet’s Thoughts on Season 2 Episode 2 of The Following: For Joe
This is shaping up to be an interesting season of The Following so far. One of my favorite parts has been hearing Joe speak in a Southern accent rather than his normal British accent! Quite humorous. In this episode, For Joe, we get more of an insight into what Joe’s life has been like since we last saw him. Apparently, this woman, Judy (played by Carrie Preston, who many of you know as Arlene from True Blood) wrote letters to Joe while he was in prison (Joe sure seemed to have a lot of friends visiting him in prison, so makes sense that he would get a lot of fan mail as well!) and thought she could fix him. It is unclear at what point Joe went to live with her, and whether it was always part of his plan after he was done in Havenport. Knowing Joe, who seems to always have everything planned out, it was probably something he planned to do all along. After all, Judy lives in what seems to be a very secluded area out in the middle of the woods, so it would be the perfect place for Joe to hide out without having to worry about people recognizing him.
Unfortunately for the Reverend, someone did recognize him. I have to admit, I wasn’t really sure what Joe’s frame of mind was at this point. At the beginning of the episode, when he hugged Judy and called her his “salvation,” he had a look on his face which suggested he was not being sincere, and that he was just the same old Joe, biding his time until another opportunity came along. But then later on in the episode, when he has the Reverend tied up, and is debating whether or not to kill him, I was surprised. It actually sounded like he really thought he was a changed man, “reborn,” and leaving his life of killing behind him. But obviously, if he really thought that, he was only lying to himself. It was only a matter of time until he felt the need to kill again. But then after he kills the Reverend, he seems genuinely sorry, and comforts Mandy. Earlier in the episode, he had promised Mandy that he wouldn’t leave, and at the time I thought it was just an easy lie for him. However, the way he acted toward her at the end, it seems like he may have genuinely meant it when he said it, and that it will be another internal struggle for him when it comes time for him to leave.
As for Hardy, he’s still trying to conduct his own investigation, without the FBI, which is leading to tensions between not only him and the FBI, but him and Mike. The sad thing is that Hardy doesn’t even seem to care about his relationship with Mike at all. Then by the end of the episode, Mike is done with Hardy. Or so he says. We’ll see. It’s still kind of bothering me how they threw in this niece from out of nowhere. At least she is having the sense to try to convince Hardy he needs to go to the FBI. Of course, Hardy isn’t having it. And now that Lily Gray pretty much validated everything Hardy did, that pretty much took away any sort of remorse he had after getting chewed out by Mike. Lily is definitely seeming suspicious though. I’m really feeling like she’s part of the cult even more now. She just seems to be coming onto Hardy really strong, though in a subtle way. Unless this is just the show trying to put forth a new romantic interest for Hardy.
The twins just get creepier and creepier the way they play and interact with the bodies of their victims. I’m wondering what their agenda is, other than getting Joe to come out of hiding, and exactly how they select their victims. It seems to be pretty specific, rather than random. Oh, and I have to mention that we got the answer to one of my questions from last week, which was whether Emma knows Joe is alive. We find out when she calls Carlos that she still thinks he is dead. Although after that phone call, I’m pretty sure she’ll figure out that he is still alive, and will try to join up with Carlos as her best bet of getting in contact with Joe.
Overall, I’m intrigued by this season of The Following thus far, and looking forward to seeing where it all goes!
Scenes from The Following, Season 2 Episode 3: Trust Me
Here are scenes from the next episode of The Following, titled Trust Me:
What did you think of Season 2 Episode 2 of The Following, titled For Joe? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
