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'The Following' Recap: Mike Joins Max And Ryan On The Hunt For Joe, Luke Is Fatally Wounded And Joe Leaves Lily

Mike Weston joined Ryan Hardy and Max in their rogue mission to find Joe Carroll while Lily’s plans with Joe fell apart in The Following’s “Fly Away.”

Ryan (Kevin Bacon) is still reeling from his run-in with Luke (Sam Underwood) and Gisele and the moments he thought Max (Jessica Stroup) was dead. While Max stitches up his gun wound, Ryan decides it’s finally time to call Mike Weston (Shawn Ashmore) and the FBI.

Mike, however, shows up alone. After seeing photographic proof that Joe (James Purefoy) is alive, he becomes convinced that there is a mole in the FBI. Someone must have gotten into the FBI records to fudge the DNA tests that proved that Joe was dead after last season. He takes his theory to Mendez (Valerie Cruz), but she doesn’t buy it and subtly urges him to take a few days off as his psych evaluation is still pending (supposedly from the events of the season one finale). Ryan is surprised when Mike shows up alone, but he and Max adapt and come up with a plan. They knew that Gisele must have told Luke where they were, it’s only a matter of time before Luke returns to kill them, especially after Ryan killed two of Lily’s (Connie Nielsen) family members.

Over in Lily’s castle, Luke is struggling to deal with Gisele’s death. When Mark (Underwood) comes to the door to talk to him, Luke answers it half dressed and nervous, as if he had a live girl in his room instead of Gisele’s dead body. Mark forces his way inside and sees Gisele, who Luke says is “just sleeping.” And now everyone, including Lily, is on high alert. Lily has just finished telling Joe about her grand plans to escape to Venezuela, where she has a much nicer house waiting for them and where there is no extradition. Now that Gisele is dead, Lily will have to move up their time table and she tells everyone to pack immediately – they leave tomorrow.

Mike Loses It

Luke, unsatisfied by his mother’s plans, goes to the motel for Ryan. When he gets there, he is immediately taken down and Mike beats him to a pulp even after he’s subdued. Mike’s anger issues are clearly going to become a problem, and Max already has her hands full making sure Ryan doesn’t fly off the handle. Mike continues his violent streak during the trio’s plan to reach out to Lily and make a deal: exchange Luke for Joe Carroll. While making the deal, Ryan has Mike trace the call, so while Max and Mike deal with Lily and Luke, Ryan sneaks up to the mansion hoping to find Joe. Lily, of course, does not bring Joe. Instead, realizing that Joe doesn’t want to go with her, she drugs him and leaves him imprisoned at the house with a few of her assassin children and Emma (Valorie Curry) and Mandy (Tiffany Boone). Instead, she carjacks a poor man and puts a Joe Carroll mask on him and stabs him a few times to ensure Luke’s safe return. Mike isn’t buying it and he stabs Luke a few times himself before Max stops him and lets Luke go.

Max calls an ambulance while Mike goes after Lily and Mark, chasing them through the woods. They get safely to their car parked in the woods, but Mike shoots at them, and the chaos makes them realize that Luke isn’t in the car with them. As Mike aims to shoot again, Luke jumps out at him from behind a tree and tackles him to the ground. After a brief struggle, Mike shoots Luke and Mark and Lily drive away. Luke, despite his being stabbed and shot in the span of five minutes, is still alive and lunches at Mike again. Mike gets him pinned down, and throws punch after punch, almost beating him to death. By the time Max gets him to stop (by pointing a gun to his head), Mike has Luke’s blood splattered on his face.

Meanwhile, Emma wakes Joe up and he kills one of Lily’s ‘children’ so that he, Emma and Mandy can escape. They leave the house just as Ryan reaches it and finds the body of the female assassin Joe just killed. Lucky for Ryan, she’s not quite dead yet, and Ryan prods her to tell him where Joe went. She tells him that Joe is heading to the airstrip where Lily has a private plane waiting.

Joe Eludes Capture

Ryan arrives at the airstrip just in time, as does a swarm of FBI personnel. They force the plane to stop, but find it empty save the pilot who tells them that a man and two girls had almost boarded the plane, but then the man received a phone call and instructed the women to get out. He doesn’t know where they went. Ryan is sure it was Joe Carroll, in fact, he knows it, but Mendez still appears on the fence. Besides, she is completely dismissive of Ryan’s vigilante operation and tells him that not only has he ruined his own career, he’s also ruined those of Max and Mike.

It turns out Mendez’ ex, Jana (Leslie Bibb) tipped Joe off and continues to help him navigate his way out of the area, making sure he doesn’t run into any FBI roadblocks. While Joe slinks out from under the FBI, Lily calls him in a panic, but is relieved he made it out before the police caught him. She tells him that Luke is dead, expecting some sympathy or comfort. Instead, Joe tells her that she tried to control him and he couldn’t care less about Luke or what happens to her in general. If the promo for next week’s episode tells us anything, it’s that Lily will try her best to get revenge for Luke’s death. (Though, Luke may or may not be dead. According to Max, he was taken to a secure hospital in New York with severe injuries.)

As for Mike, Max and Ryan, Max told Ryan that Mike almost killed Luke. When Ryan asked him what’s wrong, Mike just shook his head. Ryan accepted Mike’s stoic, and very Ryan Hardy-like, answer and told them what we all know: the FBI is compromised. They can’t trust anyone and are officially on their own against Joe Carroll and a grieving and psychotic Lily Grey.

The Following airs Mondays at 9 p.m. on FOX.

– Olivia Truffaut-Wong

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