The Following - Season 3 Recap "The Reckoning"

In the season 3 (also series) finale of The Following, we pick up where we left off with Ryan being captured by Theo along with that fellow agent who is now suffering from a gunshot wound.  Theo takes them to an abandoned prison where his plan is to torture and kill Ryan to make him pay for killing Penny.

Meanwhile, Max and the rest of the FBI are in search mode to find Ryan and Theo (oh and that fellow agent too).  They’re reviewing highway cameras to try and figure out where Theo went and how far away he’s gotten.

Theo receives a call from Eliza during this and she informs him that her people want Ryan Hardy alive, not dead, throwing a major wrench into Theo’s plan.  He basically tells her to screw off, he’s doing what he wants and good luck finding him.

Back at the hospital, Mike is still not out of the words as Max comes by to check on him.  It’s there that she reveals to Gwen that Ryan has gone missing but that they’re doing everything they can and will find him.  It’s here that the doctors give good news on Mike and tell them he’s progressing well.

Over in the prison, Theo has begun torturing Ryan by dunking his head in water (similar to how he tortured Penny), and after slitting that fellow agent’s throat, is about to make him suffer more when Eliza and her people show up to sort of save the day.  They take Theo away and begin questioning Ryan about his knowledge of them.  Ryan really does have no damn clue who they are and soon enough, is able to break free and start to escape.  Theo – who had actually begun to get tortured himself – is also able to get away but not before learning (through a pretty thin plot point of seeing Gwen’s ultrasound) that Ryan is about to be a father.  Just as he slips past Ryan, he tells him he’s going after Gwen and the baby and that he’s going to make him suffer now for the rest of his life.

Max – still at the hospital with Mike – discovers Theo’s whereabouts (again, through a pretty thin plot point of hidden highway cam footage) and calls Agent Campbell (Diane Neal of Law & Order: SVU) to inform her.  This is all well and good; however, we’ve just learned that Agent Campbell herself is working for Eliza and her people (major plot twist).  Campbell tells Max she’ll go with her to follow the lead and keeps the information discreet from everyone else in the office.

Able to track down the prison – to Campbell’s frustration – Max takes off the find Ryan who has just gotten free.  She guns down one of Eliza’s henchman who is about to shoot Ryan and the two are reunited to go after Theo who he himself is going after Gwen.  Theo, by the way, captures Agent Campbell and uses her to get to Gwen.

Told by Agent Campbell, Gwen and her security detail are led out of Ryan’s apartment but are ambushed in the basement by Theo.  He shoots and seemingly kills everyone but Gwen to capture and take her away.  Ryan and Max – in a common pattern for this show –arrive just a little too late to find Gwen’s been taken by Theo (though Agent Campbell is still alive).

Getting away on road with Gwen held captive, Theo reveals to her that he’s going to kill her after she gives birth to Ryan’s baby and raise it as his own.  Ryan and the FBI though are able to track him down though by helicopter, leading to a face-off between the two on a bridge above a river.

Theo holds Gwen at gunpoint and it looks as if Ryan’s going to give up to save Gwen’s life, but quickly (seemingly) shoots Theo in the head to save her.  Ryan and Gwen embrace, thinking everything’s way too resolved for this show when Theo gets up (the bullet merely grazing his head) and tackles Ryan overboard the bridge.  To Gwen’s horror, Ryan is still hanging on the side with Theo having gone over.  He tells Gwen he loves her, before letting go and falling in too.

The next day, a search crew is unsuccessful in finding Ryan and Theo who are both believed to be dead.  We find Max and Gwen back at the hospital, sharing the bad news with Mike, who has awaken.  Suddenly, we see an anonymous figure entering the hospital, who looks as if it’s Theo, but turns out its Ryan, having survived the fall.

He heads to Agent Campbell’s recovery room and tells her he knows she was in on it and gets what information he can out of her before killing her.  Ryan’s coming after Eliza and her people.

As he’s slipping out of the hospital, Ryan sees Gwen, Max and Mike together, content they all have each other before walking out of the building.  End show.

Overall, I’d say this was a pretty good season, though the choppy writing and convenient plot points at times certainly effected the quality of the show.  I think it would have been interesting to see where season 4 went with Ryan – now believed to be dead – going after Eliza and her company, unaware he’s alive but…as is the case with shows that just don’t do big enough ratings, they end.

Grade: B+

Overall Grade for the season: B

Notes/Questions:

• So I guess we never find out what happened to Mendez and her family?
• I believe Ryan meant to only graze Theo with his gunshot as he wanted Theo to knock him over the bridge.  As he tells Max earlier in the episode, he can never be happy with the danger in his life, and I think knew Gwen could only be safe if it was believed he was dead.
• For a guy who got stabbed multiple times in the back, Mike looked pretty damn healthy in bed.
• I guess Agent Campbell got what was coming to her?