Just when Ryan thought he had finally put the events of one year ago behind him, someone had another idea. Joe Carroll may be in prison, but he clearly isn’t the only threat. Check out our recap of The Following‘s season 3 premiere.
‘The Following’ season 3 premiere, ‘New Blood,’ recap
One year later.
Gina Torres is dressed in white and marrying a lovely woman with Ryan and Max in attendance.
Max points out a raven-haired beauty making eyes at Ryan from the bar, and when he goes over to greet her, they share a sweet kiss before she drags him onto the dance floor where he insists he “doesn’t dance.” (There’s no doubt that Kevin Bacon got quite the kick out of that line.) There’s an incredibly shifty waiter making shady looks at them.
Mike wanders in after some time, and Max seems shocked to see him. He is quickly introduced to her new beau, who works in hostage negotiations.
We get flashbacks to the FBI investigating hearings regarding the Joe Carroll case and the methods Ryan and company employed to catch him. They were found to have committed no wrongdoing, so no charges were filed against them individually.
Back in the present, Ryan chats with his girlfriend (the girl from the bar) on the balcony, only to beg her to come have some cake. Just as Ryan leaves, that creepy waiter guy from before cuts her off and asks some pointed questions about Ryan and his involvement in the Carroll case.
We then see Ryan giving his toast for Gina and her new wife, only to be interrupted by a man throwing blood on him. The man is furious with Ryan for killing his daughter at the Corban compound. He calls Ryan a liar and compares him to Joe, saying that he is no better than Joe after shooting his daughter. He thinks Ryan and Joe should be sharing a cell on death row.
Ryan and his lady friend are lounging around the morning after the wedding, and they quickly get to the point. Ryan feels guilty for not remembering the names of the many that lost their lives in the Carroll investigation.
Mike Weston has been hard at work tracking any and every thing Mark Grey. Gina Mendez mentions they believe they have rooted out most of Joe Carroll’s remaining followers, but with that crowd, you can NEVER be sure you’ve gotten them all. Ryan reminds them to be constantly vigilant, as you never know when the next threat will come calling.
In a hotel lobby, a woman enters with long dark hair. A man and woman already in the lobby proposition her to liven up their second anniversary. When the paid woman gets them upstairs, she and the husband make short work of tying his wife to the bed. Just as they start the proceedings, an awful lot of noise interrupts. The man jumps off the bed to investigate and finds a maid tied up in the closet. The paid woman makes short work of the man, stabbing him in the throat, and quickly moves on to his wife, landing a death blow to her abdomen. Both die quickly, and soon another knock is heard at the door. A man enters and asks, “You started without me?” We learn that he is married to the young murderess. She seems to have been turned on by the act of murdering the two, and the living lovers take on the names of the deceased and begin their own sexy times. (Yeah, and you thought Mark and Luke’s deathly dinners were creepy.)
Ryan and Mike do a little catching up. Ryan tells Mike that he’s moved on from the Carroll drama, and that Mike will too, just as soon as they catch Mark Grey. Mike doesn’t seem too sure of that, but he acquiesces. Max then enters the room and we get a flashback.
Mike is packing a bag and preparing to take off just a month after catching Joe. Mike wants to hunt Mark down, not just to bring him in, but to kill him. Max does not and cannot agree with him, and so when he chooses to leave her, they clearly are finished with whatever romantic entanglement may have begun.
Back in the modern day, Ryan gets his hands on the file regarding the girl killed at the Corban compound, and he clearly feels terrible about her death. He then goes to her parents’ home to apologize and share his remorse. He talks to the wife, and then asks to see the husband, but the man she introduces as the father is NOT the man from the wedding. Ryan’s definitely at high alert now.
We then see the man from the wedding enter the hotel room from before. He insists that they have to “make this perfect” regarding the murdered bodies before him or “he’ll kill us all.”
The FBI is called to the murder scene in the hotel room. The bodies of the couple have been arranged in a menacing tableau, and the words “Ryan Hardy Lies” are written in blood on the wall behind the woman’s body. There is little to no evidence, but Ryan being called a liar twice in 24 hours is no coincidence. They all hope they can identify the man from the wedding sooner rather than later. Ryan has a feeling that these murderers are not done.
The happy, murderous couple and the fake father are working together, and keep referring to another man. The older man is clearly irritated by the couple’s coupling, but he knows that their work comes first. After some angry words, he leaves to do the next part by himself, whatever that means.
Ryan leaves FBI headquarters to talk to Gwen, his girlfriend, and basically let her know that this newest murderous puzzle may keep him fully occupied for a while. She accuses him of trying to push her away, but he insists he is just warning her that this will probably take all of his attention, and that he wants to keep her away from it. Clearly, Ryan is trying to keep Gwen from joining the Hardy-curse-brood of dead people he cared about.
Ryan, Max, and Mike arrive at the address listed on the driver’s license issued to their mystery man (the fake father) within the last 12 months. Before that license, the man didn’t even exist, AKA, textbook alias work.
They cautiously enter the building, and as they start to climb the stairs, they discover hundreds of pictures plastered to the wall. They are all of a man in distress. They have inadvertently stumbled onto another tableau similar to the one in the hotel room, but this time the blood on the wall says, “Max Hardy Lies.” Ryan quickly puts it together. The tableau is of Luke’s final moments. A man lies dead on the floor, another man is crouched low beside him, and a woman stands set back from the scene, just like it played out in last season’s finale. They are pretty sure that this is the work of Mark Grey.
The living Grey twin has dyed his hair blond, and cooks for two, only the second person is just a mirror attached to Luke’s clothing, giving him the impression that his brother is still a part of his life. He even affects his brother’s voice to complete the ruse, complimenting himself on a stellar meal, even better than Martha Stewart.
Now that Ryan has pinpointed the reason for the tableaus, the FBI is pretty certain that Mark has his own followers now, as the scenes are much less rudimentary than the dinner scenes Luke and Mark had set up before.
Mark is asked to join the murderous trio for the next scene, and he refuses. As soon as the man leaves the room, Mark shifts from his own voice to that of his brother, Luke. Clearly, losing his brother has forced him into some sort of psychotic break and now he seems to be trying to keep his brother alive by sheer force of will.
Mendez wants to know why Mark is accusing Max and Ryan of being liars. Ryan passes it off as just a part of Mark’s clearly addled mind games.
Mark is ready to join in the fun, and leads the group of killers out of their dwelling, having donned a beard, glasses, and cleaned himself up. He has situated himself high above a party, choosing the victims for the next tableau, the one of his mother’s death. The man from the wedding spills a glass of wine on a woman’s dress, and then insists she use an empty bathroom downstairs. As she tries to clean up, Mark appears behind her in the mirror.
Ryan & Co. show up just in time to see the fake father in the party, and he takes off on foot. Ryan follows him into a basement, and the two are quickly fighting. The man gets loose and finds a door, and escapes outside only to be fenced in, and then caught by Ryan. Mike asks where Mark is, and the man says they’re too late.
Mark (and Luke in his head) drive the still breathing woman out to a deserted lane. He positions her just as his mother looked before Mike shot her, then he takes Mike’s position and shoots her. After he takes the shot, his composure breaks, and he embraces the woman, begging his mother not to leave him, even though this woman is clearly not his mother.
The wedding guy is in the interrogation room, fake crying when Ryan walks in. When Ryan asks him where Mark is, he also asks who Mark is to him, and we find out that this is the man in the van from the finale. The man asks for the time, telling Ryan that he has someplace to be.
We then see Ryan, Mike, and Max arrive at the tableau of Lily Grey’s death. “While you lie, more die” is painted on the ground. The woman of the murderous couple wants to run, but her lover insists that they shouldn’t.
Max is clearly rattled by the goings on, and takes to a drink at home. Ryan returns home to dig through his Joe Carroll files, and then ushers Gwen in.
Mark sits down to eat with “Luke” and while cutting his food proclaims that while that day was hard, tomorrow will be easier. Tomorrow, “one of them dies.”
We want to hear your thoughts on this topic!
Write a comment below or submit an article to Hypable.