So, a woman with a psychotic serial killer for a husband tries to escape her ex-husband’s creepy cult mansion with her son in hand by running toward the front gate. I repeat, Claire Matthew’s (Natalie Zea) brilliant escape plan is to run to the front gate of her husbands’ cult plantation? The start of this episode was not too promising with a stupid move like that from a supposedly intelligent woman. Either way, she got caught and got absolutely nowhere.
Meanwhile, Roderick (Warren Kole) and Joe Carroll (James Purefoy) are not becoming any cozier with each other. In fact, it’s hard to tell that they even liked each other at one point. Despite the rising tension, I think it’s clear Roderick is up to something. He is always trying to get under Emma’s (Valorie Curry) skin. It could be a schoolboy crush and that he’s simply being mean because he likes her, or it could be that he has an evil plot afoot because he has also been chatting up Joe’s wife Claire.
Ryan Hardy (Kevin Bacon) and Debra Parker (Annie Parisse) all the while are working with their co-workers at the FBI to dissect all the information from the underground training facility discovered last episode. And, of course, they find something that could lead to Carroll! A man, and linked to that man a house with it an address! So, big surprise, they travel to the house and find two men. The twist is, Carroll finally tells Roderick that if he wants it done right he better go himself. Anyway, Carroll and Jacob (Nico Tortorella), who is becoming even more and more of a studly killing machine, travel to said house to commit some murders before supper time, no big deal.
Even bigger twist, our favorite novice FBI agent is back on the scene. That’s right Mike Weston (Shawn Ashmore)! He has gone from good cop to bad cop. And as soon as he has almost heeled from his last round with Joe’s crew, Joe himself threatens Mike for the second time. Some guys just don’t get a break.
In between all this craziness, Claire thinks it will be brilliant to sneak into her husband’s study to read her husband’s work in progress. Okay, I would be curious too. However, goading your serial killer husband when he is already in a state of rage does not seem like the best move to make. She clearly has no tact or desire to stay alive. It’s no wonder Joe, in a state of desperation seeks sexual attention in the form of Emma. Pardon my French, but she is a conniving, despicable, loathsome little slut. The only smart thing Claire did this episode was strangle that girl.
But the best and most interesting part of this episode was when it is revealed that Ryan Hardy is a murderer; he killed the man who killed his own father by forcing him to overdose. Now, that causes me, as a viewer, to like the hero of this show even less. That totally crosses the boundaries of everything we, as viewers, know about heroes and villains. Each of our characters are motivated by love and hate and the need to kill. Carroll has a need to kill, but he is also motivated by the love he has for his wife and son. Ryan Hardy loves no one and doesn’t really care for anyone or at least won’t admit to it. I wonder, is there a secret psychological need for Ryan to experience those he loves dying?
This episode was playing its audience, for all the juicy stuff was at the end. These screenwriters gave a good strip tease without giving up all the goods until the final chords of the song.
So here’s what I am wondering for next week: Will Claire smarten up when it comes to Joe? Will Joe continue hooking up with Emma? What is going on with Jacob?
And the two main reasons I will be watching next week: to see what Roderick’s end game is and to see how revealing Hardy as a murderer is going to affect the plot of the show. But really, screenwriters, I bow to you. Ryan Hardy as a murderer was a good, solid plot twist. Sufficient to say, this viewer is satisfied for now.
