by Violet
Violet recaps Season 2 Episode 7 of The Following, titled Sacrifice, where Joe brings Emma and Mandy with him to another cult, and Lily has a few plans up her sleeve to get revenge! Following the recap, Violet shares her thoughts on the episode.
Episode Recap of The Following, Season 2 Episode 7: Sacrifice
- Joe, Emma, and Mandy arrive at the Korban Community, where they are taken in by gunpoint and with bags over their heads. Mendez tells Hardy she believes him that Joe Carroll is still alive. Weston tells Hardy he’s going home because he can’t control himself. Max tells Hardy she was suspended, and tries to convince him to stop. But he confesses his new life was all so he could find and kill Joe Carroll.
- Joe, Emma, and Mandy are forced to wear matching white garments and masks. Max intervenes with a father seemingly abusing his son in a parking garage, but the boy turns a video camera on her, and the man chloroforms her and abducts her. Hardy receives a video message from Lily with video of Max’s abduction.
- The cult’s leader, Micah, sends for Joe, who begs Micah’s help and offers his “humble service” in exchange for Micah’s hospitality. The FBI searches for Max, and it turns out Weston has not left after all. They get an image of the kidnapper from a surveillance camera. Meanwhile, Max’s kidnapper has hung her with her wrists above her head, and is delighted when he sees that she has a tattoo, prompting him to show his collection of tattoos he has cut from other victims.
- Hardy visits Luke in the hospital to ask for his help finding the kidnapper. Luke reveals the kidnapper’s name is Kurt, better known as “The Huntsman,” a serial killer with whom the FBI is familiar. The FBI finds his full name and address through DMV records. Julia, Micah’s wife and head deacon, gives Joe a lie detector test, a process she calls “The Reckoning.”
- The FBI goes to the Huntsman’s house, where they find his wife and son. His wife thinks he’s on a business trip. Hardy and Weston figure out that the son, Chris, shot the video, and get it out of him that Kurt has a cabin. During the lie detector test, Joe tells Julia he wishes to become part of Micah’s flock and start a new life. Julia reports to Micah that Joe was truthful.
- Max tries to talk Kurt into hunting her, but he doesn’t go for it, so she kicks him, and is able to free herself and runs away. Hardy, Weston, and the FBI arrive at the now empty cabin, while Kurt hunts for Max in the woods. The FBI uses the K-9 unit to track Max. Weston finds Max. As she stands, Kurt shoots at her, but he misses, and Hardy shoots Kurt before he is able to do any harm.
- During a cult ceremony, Emma is chosen as the sacrifice. Micah slits her wrists and drinks her blood, as the others hold Joe back. Afterward, Joe is upset at Julia for singling out Emma. Julia reports that Emma is still alive, but warns Joe that she doesn’t trust him, and that the only reason he is here is because her husband wants him here. Lily sends another video message, in which Mark slits the throat of Weston’s father. Hardy comforts Weston.
Violet’s Thoughts on Season 2 Episode 7 of The Following: Sacrifice
So, that was a pretty crazy and creepy episode. Not that most, if not all, of The Following episodes aren’t creepy, but this one especially so. I think it was because we see other followers unrelated to Joe Carroll, and witness just how crazy they are, and what they are capable of, even in the absence of Joe Carroll’s influence. It just makes you wonder, how many cults like this are really out there, in the real world, that nobody really knows about because they are so secluded?
Anyway, so in this episode we find out what Joe’s plan was: he was going to go to the Korban community and essentially take over it, thereby automatically getting a new crowd of followers for himself. He had originally found out about it from a guy named Robert, who was one of his many visitors while in prison. (Sounds like Joe had a great time in prison, getting visitors all the time, getting letters from fans… Seems like there was never a dull moment for him!) Unfortunately for Joe, he was under the impression that this was a weak cult, that could easily be overtaken, so he was quite surprised at the greeting that he, Emma, and Mandy got at the gate. I think Joe will still eventually take command of the cult, but it’ll just take awhile longer and not be as easy as he thought it would be. Micah appears to be pretty territorial right now, but according to Julia, her husband wanted Joe around. Looks like Julia will be Joe’s real problem.
Did Joe pass the polygraph test, or was Julia just telling her husband what he wanted to hear? I think he did pass it, having overexaggerated his lie about not liking his breasts, thus establishing a reading for a lie, and then I think he calmly lied the rest of his interview, making it appear that he was telling the truth. He also warned her that lie detector tests don’t really work on people like him, psychopaths and sociopaths, which she was probably already aware of. Knowing that, it was probably just a formality for him to go through “The Reckoning” process, and she was going to be suspicious of him regardless of what the results were.
Of course, the other big story this episode is Lily hiring the Huntsman to kidnap and kill Max. I thought she might try to go after Joe, but she probably has no idea where to begin looking for him, and she knows where to find Hardy and his family, so Hardy was the easy target here. Luckily, Max is a trained police officer, and very athletic, so she was able to escape. I’m glad Weston stuck around. But really, did anyone actually think he was going home? I did not see it coming that Lily was going to go after Weston’s family though! I thought it would be all Hardy. How’s this going to affect him going forward? I predict Weston and Max finding comfort in each other.
Looks like in the next episode, Hardy goes after the man who essentially made Joe Carroll who he is today! Interesting…
Scenes from The Following, Season 2 Episode 8: The Messenger
Here are scenes from the next episode of The Following, titled The Messenger:
