2.10 Teacher’s Pet That changed this week. During one of Joe’s revival meetings with the red robes of Korban, Emma brings over a large ginger cat. Joe talks about the glory of sacrifice, and how to take care of resistance and the value of persistence, and then he takes the cat from Emma, pets it, and strangles it until its neck breaks in between flashbacks. Joe killed a cat (off screen, thankfully) and not only does it turn off the viewing audience, it also turns off several of the cult members, who ask to be excused from killing duty (only to end up being thrown in the reeducation hole by Emma). It’s a particularly stomach-churning moment, if only because Joe’s a serial killer of people and the show has shied away from showing the progression of most serial killers from animals to people. Then again, Joe is kind of teaching Serial Killer 101 to his religious cultists, so perhaps that was a necessary part of the display to weed out the non-hackers. It’s amazing to me that Joe’s cult leader scenes work as well as they do. He’s charismatic, and as Dr. Strauss says, Joe’s naturally good at finding out weaknesses, manipulation, and gathering together a cult of personality. Toss in some basic knowledge of religion, some public speaking skills, and some animal cruelty and Joe is apparently working hard to turn Korban from a peaceful cult into a dangerous bloodthirsty cult, and he seems to be succeeding with each passing week, even if Mandy doesn’t seen to be following along quite like she should. (She can’t even bond with Emma over their love of matricide!) Brett Mahoney’s script finds that fine line between funny and stupid and walks it very well. Joe might know his pronouncements are meaningless, but his followers don’t. Mahoney sprinkles in some nice moments, like the murder-cute between Tilda and Lance and a pretty funny scene between Ryan and Joe that has the two men openly mocking one another over the phone while the NSA tries to trace the call. Strauss and Ryan’s discussion of Joe was also pretty fun, if only because Strauss recognizes that Ryan just might be a psychopath, too. Even though I have a lot of difficulty with violence against animals and little to no problem with violence against otherwise innocent humans, I don’t think it’s enough to make me check out on The Following. It was definitely a downer moment, but perhaps it was necessary to keep me and other heartless folks like me from getting too much amusement from Joe’s televangelist impression. There’s only room for one anti-hero in The Following, and it’s clearly Ryan Hardy. Read Ron’s review of the previous episode, Unmasked, here. US Correspondent Ron Hogan would love to have a giant orange cat like the one Joe killed this week (except not dead but alive and cuddly). Find more by Ron daily at Shaktronics and PopFi. Follow our Twitter feed for faster news and bad jokes right here. And be our Facebook chum here.
