The Following: Season 1, Episode 14: 'The End is Near' Recap

“The Following”, season 1, episode 14, “The End is Near”

In the mansion, Joe Carroll watches his surveillance footage of Ryan Hardy when he was in bed with Molly. He watches them have sex, and then afterwards, he hears Hardy mutter the phrase “You can’t kill me, I’m already dead.” Carroll finds some kind of inspiration in this as he plays it over and over again.

The next morning, Carroll asks Emma if she understands his new plan, and she does. He goes to touch her, but she flinches away, and he apologizes for hitting her before.

At the Sheriff’s Station, the agents get word that Donovan is still in surgery, but that they’ve got a full description of the mansion from Joey. Parker sends out her troops in search of the house.

Meanwhile, at the mansion, Carroll leads his followers in a prayer. “In death, there is life. In death, there is love. In death, there is everything.” He tells his followers to be strong and reiterates how important that timing is for their new plans. One of the followers reassures him that they’ll get Carroll and Claire out of the house safely.

In the hall, Jacob expresses his doubts about Carroll to Emma and says that his new plan is crazy, and that he isn’t thinking straight because he’s hopped up on booze and pain killers. Emma tells him to suck it up.

In the sheriff’s station, one of the agents points out to Hardy that the property records don’t match with the topography maps, and that they’ve clearly been altered. They zoom in on one of the locations, and Hardy realizes that it’s the mansion.

The FBI drive to the mansion, crash through the gates, and storm inside. It’s completely empty, except for one of the followers hanging by the neck in one of the rooms.

In a house elsewhere in town, Vicky and Phil Gray pack up for their vacation. Vicky, in the garage, is surprised by Emma and Jacob. They say they thought the house would be empty, but they work with what they have. Vicky runs back into the house, locking to door behind her. Inside, she hears Phil call her name. She rushes to him, and finds Carroll and Claire, and Phil with a large wound on his head.

In the mansion, Parker orders that all cars containing more than four people be searched, and all boats leaving need to be searched. They’ve managed to find almost 50 sets of prints in the mansion.

Hardy and Parker search Carroll’s office, and Hardy spots a book of Edgar Allen Poe that Carroll left behind. It contains a note from Carroll addressed to Hardy. Hardy realizes that Claire must have done something to Carroll to upset his plans, so that’s why everything is changing. Parker points out that Claire is still alive, so Hardy still has the chance to save her, but Hardy says that Carroll is only giving him the opportunity to watch her die.

In the Gray residence, Carroll ties up Vicky and Phil, telling them that he only needs to stay there until nighttime, and then he’ll kill them. Claire tells him not to terrorize them.

Jacob gets more and more anxious and can’t believe that Emma or anyone else is on board with the plan, and he says that he thought it was going to be just him and Emma.

At the sheriff’s office, the team compile a list of everyone who has every visited Carroll in prison and match them to the finger prints. So far, they have over 50 people, but they have no idea where they are now. Hardy sees a crowd gathering around the station and goes outside. Weston follows, and asks if he thinks the followers are in the crowd. He does.

A new reporter begins to interview a woman who then begins to quote Poe’s “The Mask of the Red Death”, and then stabs the reporter. Hardy tackles her to the ground, and she smiles.

He drags her into interrogation, and she begins to quote the story of Annabelle Lee. She asks if Hardy is going to grieve the loss of his love when she dies. Hardy asks her if she wants to die, and she says yes. So, he flips over the table, slams her against the wall and holds a gun against her throat. He demands to know where Claire is, but she won’t tell him. He asks why Claire has to die, and she reveals that it has to happen for him to be reborn.

In the Gray residence, Carroll cooks dinner for the Grays and Claire. Claire promises them that they will get out of this alive, and when Carroll asks why she would make promises that she can’t keep, she tries to tell him that he can use them to get a message to the FBI. He points out that he already has that covered, and that he already got his message to Hardy.

In the garage, Jacob sits in the car when Emma finds him. She says that it looks like he’s going to leave, so he gets out of the car. Emma apologizes for what she’s turned him into, and he forgives her and kisses her.

Inside, Carroll struggles to open a bottle of wine, and Claire volunteers to do it for him, but it would require him to untie her hands. He asks Phil if he trusts his wife, and he says he does. So, Carroll cuts her hands free and she opens the wine. He asks for the corkscrew back. Then he asks Phil if he would die for his wife, and Phil says he would. He begs for Carroll to just kill him and let his wife go.

The doorbell rings. It’s the police doing safety sweeps. Phil tries to yell for help, but Carroll holds a knife to his throat. Emma goes to answer the door, and the cops ask if everything’s okay. She says yes, but one of the cops realizes who she is. She quickly draws a gun and kills them both.

Upset, Carroll gets up to check on them, and Claire grabs the wine bottle and smashes him in the head with it. He falls the ground, and she grabs a fork and stabs him in his previous stab wound. She quickly grabs a knife and frees Phil and Vicky, and she runs out the back door with them.

Carroll calls for help, and Emma and Jacob rush to his side. He tells them to take the car and track down Claire, and kill the other two.

Back at the sheriff’s office, Hardy and the team try to figure out why the woman was quoting from “Mask of the Red Death”. Weston points out that it’s about people who feared a plague and sought shelter from it, but death found them anyway. They realize that residents of the town have been seeking refuge in the evacuation center.

That night, Parker addresses the police and SWAT members, telling them to go in and detain anyone who looks suspicious, but not to cause a panic.

Hardy, Parker, and Weston go inside. Hardy quickly spots a man he saw earlier outside to police station. He and Weston go to confront him, but he gives some kind of signal, and the lights inside cut out. The followers inside begin killing people.

In the woods, Claire and the Grays are still on the run. They find a road, and spot a car coming. Claire flags it down, but Phil points out that it’s his car, and that they’ve found them. They run back into the woods, but Emma and Jacob quickly capture Claire. They let Phil and Vicky go.

In the evac center, Parker does sweeps with another agent in the other rooms of the building. The other agent is taken out, and she is quickly overcome by two followers. One holds he steady, and the other pulls out a knife. She struggles.

At a dock, Emma and Jacob arrive with Claire and find Carroll waiting for them. He says that his plan has gone perfectly. The FBI is distracted by the evac center, and he and Claire are free to make their getaway. He loads her into a boat, and she says it will never work. He says he’s willing to take the risk. He locks her in the cabin, and starts up the boat, and slowly pulls away.

Emma and Jacob get into the car; they have to meet another follower. Jacob stops her. He says it’s just the two of them, and that they have a full tank of gas, and that they can just leave. She says she can’t, and he says he’s going to leave whether she comes with him or not. He says he loves her, and he loves Carroll, but he’s not willing to die for him. They share some kisses. She explains that she loves him and Carroll, but she doesn’t know how to love them both. She pulls out a knife and slits his throat. She holds his face as he bleeds to death.

At the evac center, they go over the damages: five dead civilians, countless injured, and nine dead cult members. Weston rushes to them and says that Parker is missing.

Two followers elsewhere drag Parker, kicking and screaming but bound, into the woods. They drop her into a box in the ground. They ask her if she has any final words, and she tries to tell them that they don’t have to do it. They agree, but say that they want to do it. They advise her to take shallow breaths, and they put the lid on the box, and begin to bury her alive and she sobs.