Episode 13, of "The Following," titled "Havenport," was a simple yet not intricate title. We can keep it as a title, I guess. This week was all right, so I will give it a B. Brief summary: the episode was made up of some surprising moves from key characters as well as an unexpected body count.
The episode had an intense beginning with Mike Weston identifying Roderick as a police officer cooperating with the FBI. This led to a chase and, of course, Roderick running away. Here’s my thing, Roderick came in as this big imposing figure.
This is Joe Carroll’s right hand man, even more devious and cold blooded than Joe, but his character shows inconsistencies. He does Joe’s bidding, then let’s Joe put him down.
As cold blooded and ruthless as he is, he can’t be that way toward Joe no matter how badly he gets treated. To make matters worse, by the end of the show he was killed off. It’s not a big loss, but Roderick’s integrity as a character was not maintained and that bothers me as a viewer and a writer.
You know what that means; Joe is going to need a new second in command. My vote is that Jacob will fall in line next to Joe. The key thing to remember about Jacob is that he does have daddy issues. That can be gathered from previous episodes. I think that Jacob killing someone has upset his mental balance and brought out his need for a father figure, whom he is finding in Joe Carroll. But there are obvious boundaries to that attachment; this can be seen when Jacob lets Joey go at the end of the episode. Jacob can see that Joey is in a bad situation but he is not ready or willing to get caught by the FBI despite how much he cares for Joey.
Finally, Emma got a slap across the face! If you are a viewer and a fan of this show and you did not clap your hands and holler for joy when Joe made her cry, then you have serious issues. Emma is just a man hopper. Joe slaps her so she moves right back to Jacob under the guise of making sure he is okay. Come on girl, you just want attention. That probably stems from her mommy issues. But really, I am not a psych major, so who am I to say?
Either way I would have preferred her death to Roderick’s any day. Part of me thinks that maybe Roderick is not dead. That is how unwilling to let go of him I am!
I think the last thing I want to talk about is Claire. If you have been reading these reviews you know how disappointed I have been with her as a strong female leader and character. However, this episode she finally made me proud by scheming against Joe and stabbing that son of a gun. Thank you Claire. Her son is now safe, out of the line of fire, and she can finally let her rage go. I do have conflicting feelings, though. Yeah, her son is safe but she either A) has faith in the FBI to find her, or B) has no regard or care that if her husband murders her, her son will end up in foster care. So, in hindsight, I really was happy he finally got stabbed, but I do worry that it was not a smart move, especially because Joe left off with telling Hardy that it was time for Claire to die.
Finally, one of the other important aspects of this episode is that after finding Roderick, the FBI is hot onto Joe Carroll’s trail. There is apparently no doubt that they will find the cult and the house that Carroll lives in. I guess that’s pretty cool ... I've only been waiting all season for it.
I would end by telling you why I will be watching next week, but the spoiler for next week was just a hot mess. I can only say that I wonder what Joe’s next move concerning the FBI will be, and if he will actually murder Claire.