The Following S03E12 &13 "The Edge" & "A Simple Trade"

I should have know there was something up when "The Following" schedule showed some doubled up episodes. In case you haven't heard the news already, "The Following" has been officially canceled by FOX. At first I was surprised but after giving it some thought, I realized it was for the best. The show has 2 Seasons in the hole and a 3rd about to wrap up and while Season 2 got better later on, it was pretty much the show's last hurrah. Not to mention with Joe Carroll being executed (c'mon, that REALLY should have been the finale) it was unrealistic to think "The Following" would survive. But I'm here until the ship goes down and covering episodes 12 and 13. Let's dive in!

So here we are the last couple of episodes and they were pretty good, a lot of unexpected things to cover but let's work through them. First of all Mark & Daisy have formed an alliance with Theo & his sister Penny. Daisy seems to be the only level head in the group and because of that, I really like her. She doesn't seem driven by a psychological need to kill and just wants to live. She's very personable in the way she's dealing with the death of Kyle, she didn't become hellbent on revenge and she didn't lose her mind, she got outta the game. Granted, Mark forced her back in and now she's stuck with Theo but Daisy was done and was going legit.

That aside, some interesting developments did occur. For starters Tom was revealed to be the killer of Agent Sloan. There are a few things I'd like to say about this. Okay, so Tom was caught with the laptop by Mark & Daisy and pretty much ordered to get Theo his access back and to bring Mark Mike Weston. A few things, I understand that Tom did in fact kill Agent Sloan (on accident) but she's dead and the only two people who know about it are serial killers, untrustworthy ones at that. Tom could have easily taken that thumbdrive to someone and said "Theo is framing me for killing Sloan." then he could have created some elaborate story on Mark threatening to kill Max is he didn't do what Theo said, after all, the laptop did have eyes on Max's apartment (which Max hadn't discovered yet). So Tom could have easily avoided this situation. Not to mention he could have had tactical support for when he and Mike arrived (Theo didn't have eyes on The FBI then). All the ways Tom could have gotten outta this predicament, and he CHOSE to serve up Mike. In the words of Max, "He's a bit of a creep."

NO ONE CARES ABOUT ME!!

I can't say I was all that surprised or felt any sympathy for Tom when Mark threw the acid in his face and for what could have been a nice betrayal had no weight behind it because Tom & Max had no chemistry. He was just a random FBI agent who knew Max. Even Mike didn't act strange around him after having sex with Max (who was Tom's girlfriend at the time) and Tom didn't even give Mike any crap for sleeping with his woman. Yeah, there were a few scenes where Tom shoulder checked and got in his face, but ultimately those scenes were in the context of Mike leaving Max behind, NOT sleeping with her. The point is, no one really batted an eye when Tom got killed and his actions, behavior and attitude didn't really garner much sympathy for him. I'm seriously starting to think that particular actor wasn't good to work with or maybe they just gave him a sh*tty role.

Anyways getting back on topic, Ryan is really losing his mind here (but he's got it back at the end of the episode). His kidnapping of Penny was pretty awesome, with Joe as the personification of his addiction, egging him on to violence, just perfect! And the cool thing about that scene was the fact that Ryan managed to break the smug Penny fairly easily without physically assaulting her (in a way that'd leave scars). Also with Theo having hacked Ryan's personal information, it wouldn't be a stretch that Penny did attack Ryan in his apartment, like that chick said "She doesn't buy it." but in the immortal words of Alonzo Harris, "It's not what you know, it's what you can prove!" and she can't prove that Ryan was lying. That aside, I hope Ryan gets it together, it'd be a shame to have fall apart especially with Theo after him, what with killing his sister and all. Place your bets now for Gwen dying. And to be honest, I almost thought Theo was going to spill the beans to Ryan at the theatre about Gwen being pregnant, he is monitoring her credit card and all.

Speaking of monitoring (horrible segway), Team Theo is falling apart, or feel apart rather. The problem with Mark & Theo is that they have some really big egos and no way to talk to each other. I was really hoping Daisy would swoop in and mediate between Theo & Mark. After all Theo is determined to get Penny back the same way Mark would if Luke was in custody (and he was and they did get him back! Not that Daisy knew that...maybe she did, who knows?) But she could have told Mark that Theo wants Penny back just like Mark would want Luke back, and Mark would accept that and that'd quell his rage, especially if Theo made it clear that he had no intention of handing Mike over. That way, Theo gets Ryan, Mark gets Mike, Daisy gets to disappear and everyone gets what they want. Well, I got what I want, a dead Mark and Penny outta the picture. Sorry but they were just complicating things.

BYE, MARK!

Things didn't end on a victorious note though, Mike got shanked and his fate is unknown and Theo is out for blood, Ryan's blood (and maybe the blood of his unborn child). If Gwen and the baby get it, I am gonna be sorely pissed that "The Following" isn't coming back for a 4th Season. Granted, it'd be a pretty bland season as all the interesting villains have been taken out but I think with a cliffhanger like that, you might be able to squeeze just ONE more season out. Oh well, here's to you "The Following", may your finale resolve all issues (even if those issues are already resolved).