'The Following': The Story So Far

What have you missed if you are just tuning in to episode 4 of 'The Following' tonight?

1) Ryan Hardy (Kevin Bacon) plays a former FBI agent who previously captured serial killer Joe Carroll (James Purefoy). In a fight with Carroll, Hardy is stabbed in the heart, but survived, causing him to require a pacemaker, and, thus, leading to his removal from the FBI. But Carroll escapes prison, and Hardy, having published a book on Carroll and is considered an expert, is called back to act as a consultant.

2) Dr. Joe Carroll was a professor of English Lit at Winslow University, and loved the romanticism of Edgar Allen Poe. In his passions and worship of Poe, he murdered 14 female students (working on a 15th) before being stopped by Hardy. In prison (The Virginia Central Penitentiary), Carroll manages to collect a group of followers who seem to worship him and the ground he walks on. He uses this to his advantage, and uses them to enact his plan of revenge against Hardy from within prison.

3) Sarah Fuller is the only victim to have survived Carroll’s attack. Carroll was stopped when Hardy heard her screaming and came to her rescue. Years later, when Carroll escaped prison, she was put under watch, and her neighbor, gay couple Billy Thomas and Will Wilson keep a close eye on her.

4) Claire Matthews, Carroll’s ex-wife, and her son Joey are also put under protection once Carroll escapes. Claire and Hardy had a sordid love affair shortly after the divorce, and Carroll is very well aware of it. Joey is watched over by his nanny Denise Harris.

4) No one can be trusted.

5) Billy and Will, followers of Carroll, kidnap Sarah and bring her to Carroll so he can finish his unfinished work. Hardy arrives, but it’s too late. Carroll surrenders himself to Hardy, content to go back to prison. Carroll informs Hardy that this is only the beginning, and he wants Hardy to write another book about him, only this time, they can work together.

6) Denise kidnaps Joey, and brings him to a rendezvous point with Billy and Will, all who have been working with Carroll the whole time. Billy and Will were planted there and told to act as a couple to lower Sarah’s suspicions. Denise was planted in Claire’s house to keep tabs on their son Joey.

7) No one can be trusted.

8) Jordy Raines, a prison guard at Viriginia Central Penitentiary who had originally helped Carroll escape, hopes to be a great serial killer like Carroll. He kills a group of sorority girls, and takes Claire hostage, only to get shot by Hardy and taken into custody. In custody, he is manipulated by the FBI into revealing that Maggie Kester is one of them. Once he realizes he messed up, he kills himself.

9) Rick Kester, another follower, attacks and kills Todd Faulkner, a literary critic who single-handedly ruined Carroll’s book career. His wife Maggie Kester, played innocent the whole time, and the FBI set her up with protection. She manages to kill Agent Troy Reilly before Rick shows up. Together, they try to flee, but Hardy kills Rick and Maggie vanishes.

Analysis of “The Following”s meeting place shows there are at least 9 unique handwritings found there. We’ve met 6 so far… Who else could be left?

Make sure to watch "The Following", Mondays at at 9pm et/pt, only on Fox.