The Following series finale aired tonight. Check out our recap to find out what happened in the final two episodes of the show.
‘The Following’ season 3, episode 14, ‘Dead or Alive,’ recap
In the opening scene of the first of two episodes tonight, Mike is wheeled into the hospital with Max trailing behind, bloody and nearly out of her mind. Ryan shows up as Mike’s being prepped for surgery, with Gwen close behind him. He puts protective details on everyone. He knows Theo is going to go after Mike if word gets out the agent is in the hospital.
Daisy is alone in the car when she hears Mark has died. She doesn’t show more than passing surprise before her gaze travels over to Theo, who is sitting under a tree thinking about killing himself. He goes from devastated to absolutely furious before getting up and telling Daisy, “I know what I have to do.”
Ryan pulls Gwen aside and asks her how she’s feeling and tells her that once this is over, he’ll be leaving the FBI. Gwen looks hopeful, but she also tells him she’ll need a lot of convincing before she trusts him again.
Theo goes to Eliza, killing her guards and the men she’s meeting with. She realizes she has no leverage if she refuses to help him — her reputation will be gone — and so she gives him two guys so they can take down Ryan Hardy.
Ryan goes back to the FBI. Agent Campbell tells him she tried to get him suspended, but Donovan blocked her. Ryan is their best hope of finding Theo. The FBI holds a press conference and plasters the airwaves with Theo and Daisy’s pictures. They’re turning up the heat in the hopes of flushing the two killers out of hiding.
Theo scopes out Gina’s house before killing the two FBI agents watching over her, her wife, and their two kids. He gets Eliza’s men to put on the FBI agents’ uniforms, momentarily making her believe everything is just fine.
Meanwhile, the FBI finds Eliza, but she plays it totally cool and doesn’t miss a beat when questioned. She asks for Ryan’s card, and while he and Max don’t give anything away, they go back to the Bureau to look into her past a bit more.
Theo and Daisy have Gina and her wife at gunpoint. Gina calls Ryan to tell her she has a lead on Theo, and then requests he comes over to look at it. Fortunately, Ryan knows something is up and the agents plan on putting together a discrete, handpicked team to head over there.
After Eliza leaves her apartment, she calls Theo to tell him they want Ryan alive. Theo is forced to consent, and after he hangs up, he’s milliseconds away from killing Gina’s wife, but she convinces him to hold off. It takes all the strength he has not to kill her right on the spot for daring to tell him what to do.
Ryan tells his team he needs 10 minutes before they follow him in. He meets the fake agents at the front of the house, but he gets the drop on them and runs into the woods with Theo and his men close behind. Circling back around, Ryan ambushes Daisy, but Theo has already made it inside. With a gun to Gina’s head, he forces Ryan to drop his weapon.
Theo tells Daisy she’s free if she kills the two women and their kids, and then he takes Ryan out of the house. Gina’s wife attacks Daisy and is shot, but it gives them enough time to get into the panic room. That’s when the cops show up, forcing Theo to run without his prize.
Out in the woods, Max is by herself. Daisy tries to kill her, but Max is quicker on the draw. Daisy is dead. Elsewhere, Theo shoots Officer Barton and takes her car. Ryan hears the gunshot and goes after her. He calls an ambulance, but before they arrive, Theo shows up and takes them both.
Read over the final moments of the episode is Gwen’s voice as she leaves Ryan a message about Mike’s condition and her ultrasound. Mike is stable, and the ultrasound went great. She says she’d like Ryan to come to the next one.
‘The Following’ season 3, episode 15, ‘The Reckoning,’ recap
Ryan wakes up in the trunk of a car, and Theo tells him, “Can’t wait to see which one of us survives.” Neither one of them are optimistic about their odds. After being thrown inside a cell in an old prison, Ryan finds Officer Barton barely hanging on.
Max is called to Mike’s side. He has a fever and has to go back into surgery. Gwen finds out Ryan has been taken, but this news is interrupted by Mike’s steady increase in health. He even wakes up enough to help Max figure out where Theo took Ryan and Officer Barton.
Theo refuses to give Ryan to Eliza and tortures him by drowning him — just like he did to Penny. When that gets him nowhere, Theo kills Barton in front of Ryan. Before Theo can move onto Ryan, however, Eliza and her men show up to stop him. This is also the moment we find out Campbell is working with Eliza and why Max’s security feed had a glitch. Max calls Campbell and tells her she got a lead, and Campbell decides to pick her up and take her to the location on the feed herself. She doesn’t tell anyone else where she’s going.
Theo refuses to help Eliza, telling her he has all of her information on servers set to upload to the internet if he dies. She gets her men to torture the shutdown code out of him while she deals with Ryan. She wants to know what Ryan found out about her and the people she works for, going so far as to hold up a picture of Gwen’s ultrasound as a threat.
As Max and Campbell find Theo’s stashed car, Ryan gets the jump on Eliza and escapes. Theo is just as lucky and shakes his own captors. Before they both make it out of there, Theo also threatens Gwen and the baby, and Ryan is left to catch up with him.
Having separated from Max, Campbell is told to fix everything by Eliza, but Theo sees them and realizes Campbell’s importance. As he takes her, Max and Ryan reunite, and he immediately calls Gwen’s protective detail to keep her locked down. The agent calls Campbell, however, who tells him Ryan has been compromised and that they must move Gwen immediately.
Ryan knows how smart Theo is, and so he goes after Gwen anyway. As the protective detail moves Gwen, Campbell shows up to distract them while Theo shoots the two men — and Campbell for good measure. Gwen runs, but it’s only a matter of time before Theo gets to her.
Theo tells Gwen that Ryan is dead, but he’s closer than she may realize. He’s in a helicopter above her, and once he spots Theo’s car, he corners him and goes after the madman on foot. In a serious show of marksmanship (and trust!), Ryan shoots Theo right in the head, freeing Gwen from his grasp.
But Theo can’t be killed that easily. He gets up and tackles Ryan, sending them both over the bridge. Theo went straight into the water, but Ryan held on just long enough to tell Gwen he loved her before slipping away.
The FBI search for both Theo and Ryan, but their bodies have yet to show up. At the hospital, we see a mysterious figure walking the halls, avoiding the authorities at all costs. It’s only when the figure shows up at Campbell’s bed that it’s revealed to be Ryan.
Ryan demands Campbell tell him everything about Eliza and the people she works for. Campbell laughs at him and says he doesn’t have a chance — these are smart, rich serial killers. But Ryan just says, “I can get to anybody.” He is dead after all, and they won’t see him coming. This is the only way to keep his family safe, and he’ll do anything to protect them.
That includes killing Campbell. He makes his escape, pausing only briefly to look in on Gwen, Mike, and Max, who mourn Ryan’s disappearance but also celebrate his child’s life. Gwen is worried about raising the child by herself, but Mike is quick to say she won’t be doing it alone. Ryan walks away, more determined than ever to protect his loved ones.
This concludes The Following, which was cancelled after three seasons on Fox. What did you think of The Following season 3 finale?
We want to hear your thoughts on this topic!
Write a comment below or submit an article to Hypable.