The Following Recap: “Mad Love”

The Following Recap: “Mad Love”
Original Air Date (Fox): Monday February 12, 2013
Season 1 Episode 4

by Julianne Snow:

The fourth installment of The Following, titled ‘Mad Love’, starts off at the farmhouse where Emma, Jacob, and Paul are holding Joey who has no idea that he’s been kidnapped. The group is in the basement discussing what to do with Paul’s new ‘guest’ Megan, a young girl that has been brutalized by Paul and is now tied to a chair. Jacob tells Paul that he screwed up to which Emma agrees. Paul, on the other hand, seems to be past the need for secrecy and stealth, telling them that he truly doesn’t care about being identified at this point. Emma orders Paul to kill Megan, giving him a knife, but Paul passes the knife to Jacob on his way out, instructing him to kill her before mentioning again that he is “tired of all the lies”.

Perspective switches to Claire’s house and the video of her son killing things with Jacob. The scene itself is somewhat jumbled as there’s back and forth between Claire and Ryan about finding her son intermixed with Parker trying to ascertain what she can from Weston about the video itself and his state of mind after the death of a fellow agent.

Parker and Ryan decide to go and visit Carroll in prison, their intent to ask him about Maggie. During this scene we’re treated to a flashback of Ryan who is brought home drunk by another woman, a memory predicated by a telephone call from Jenny. When the perspective returns to the present, Ryan is talking to Carroll, playing to his conceit, asking him about Maggie and Rick. They tell him that Rick is dead and Carroll figures out that the talk is just a fishing expedition for information concerning Maggie. Carroll decides to give them more information than they were expecting, revealing that Maggie is really Margaret Schuller, an Arkansas serial killer who was never caught. He also discloses that Maggie found him.

Back at the farmhouse, the group is trying to get Maggie on the telephone but she’s not picking up. Emma asks again about the situation in the basement, exposing that she knows about Paul and Jacob’s tryst during their turn as gay lovers. Paul lets her know that his attitude has nothing to do with jealousy and everything to do with Jacob’s lies. The issue that Paul finds so unacceptable is that while Jacob may have told everyone that he has killed, the truth of the matter is that he has not.

Back at the task force headquarters, Ryan, Parker and Weston are viewing footage of Maggie killing a man caught on a surveillance camera back when she lived in Arkansas. Ryan receives another phone call from Jenny, which he does take this time. On the phone is Maggie, who has now taken Jenny, his sister, hostage. Taunting Ryan, Maggie asks him how he would like her to kill his sister. When questioned if Carroll knows about this, Maggie simply replies that she’s gone off book.

The scene switches again to the farmhouse and a conversation between Emma and Jacob. She tells him to take care of the situation in the basement and confronts him about not having killed anyone. She asks him “why are you a part of this?” to which Jacob replies “because I want to be.”

Back at the task force, Ryan is on his way out. Since he was instructed by Maggie to not tell the FBI or she’ll kill Jenny, he doesn’t confide in Parker. In a conversation with Parker shortly after Ryan breezes out, Weston learns that he got a call from Jenny and rushes after him. Confronting Ryan, Weston tells him that he knows about Jenny and through a sequence of events ends up going along to help him.

On the way to Brooklyn, Weston again tries to bond with Ryan but he’s just not interested. Parker calls but Weston doesn’t pick up. Once in Brooklyn, the two make their way to Jenny’s restaurant. Ryan wants to make sure that Jenny is safe and tells Weston about the door in the kitchen of the restaurant. Ryan enters the building alone, looking through the darkened building for Maggie and Jenny. When he finds a chair with a note that says “PUT THIS ON”, he sits and places the blindfold over his eyes. After a while, Maggie enters the room and hits him over the head, knocking him out.

In true dramatic style, the perspective again flips to the farmhouse basement where Jacob has removed the tape from Megan’s mouth and allowed her a drink of water. As Megan pleads for her life, you can see that Jacob is very torn. In a flashback, we see that Carroll does in fact know about Jacob’s lack of murderous prowess, stating simply that Jacob will kill when he’s ready. As a viewer, you wonder if this will be the moment that Jacob fulfills that prophecy and you’re rewarded with Jacob picking up the knife and dragging it along Megan’s skin, torturing her with what is to follow.

Back in Brooklyn, Maggie has laid Joe on a table and tied him up. Jenny is also tied up with a front row seat to whatever is set to happen to her brother. Maggie reveals to Ryan that while Jenny may live, she’s still going to suffer from the psychological damage of watching her brother die. In another flashback, you learn that Jenny and Ryan are all that is left of their family – that their parents both died tragically as well as their older brother who died in 9/11.

In another perspective shift, the viewer is drawn back into the basement as Jacob slits the ropes that bind Megan, telling her to get out and to run. She makes her way up the stairs and out the door. Emma sees this and screams for Paul before rushing out the door after her. The pair split up in their search, ultimately cornering Megan. Emma takes a step forward and drives the knife into Megan who falls to the ground.

In Brooklyn, Maggie tears off Ryan’s shirt as she talks about his pacemaker and how much he needs it. She goes on to explain the damage that an electromagnetic field can do and that if she does that, she won’t actually be killing him since the initial injury was inflicted by Carroll. As Ryan struggles to live, his body getting weak from the lack of oxygen and his irregular heartbeat, Weston makes his way into the building. Shooting Maggie and killing her, Weston has arrived just in time to save Ryan’s life.

Meanwhile, back at the farmhouse Emma and Paul are cleaning up. They are talking in the bathroom and it’s truly a bonding moment for the two of them. Down in the basement, Jacob is horrified to see that Megan is back, alive and tied to the same chair.

Back to Brooklyn and Ryan, who is getting checked out by the paramedics. It turns out that Maggie did no lasting damage to his heart, or his health. The good news is that they now have Maggie’s cellphone but Parker is still angry with the decisions that both Ryan and Weston made. Ryan asks Jenny to get out of town for a while, knowing that she may still be a target for Carroll and the Following.

At the farmhouse, Jacob goes searching for Emma and Paul, surprised to find them in the shower together. Looking contrite, Jacob is welcomed into the folds of their arms, hearing the words “we’re not giving up on you”.

Ryan goes to see Claire at her house, telling her they have Maggie’s cellphone and that the FBI expects to have an address within two hours. Claire is relieved and the last moments that viewers see are Claire imploring Ryan to stay and him refusing.

The previews for next week’s episodes look fantastic!

DarkMedia contributor Julianne Snow was first lulled into the horror genre by her parents during an ill-advised viewing of Alien when she was only 4 years old. Since that date, it’s been a given that Julianne will watch and read anything that is horror related. Her short fiction has appeared in anthologies from Sirens Call Publications and Open Casket Press, as well as The Sirens Call and various other websites showcasing short fiction. She is the author of the Days with the Undead series, which can be found on her website dayswiththeundead.com. Her first novel, Days with the Undead: Book One was published in early 2012 and is based on her popular web serial. Find her on Twitter @CdnZmbiRytr.