The Hunt - The Following Mini-Review and Recap (spoilers)

Another week, another series of brutal homicides. Michael Ealy as Theo is the show's current standout. After 'The Following' has introduced and abruptly killed off several promising killers like Neil the box maker and Dr. Strauss, the producers have settled on Ealy as a super-genius hacker and serial killer, Strauss' "best student," who isn't afraid to get down and bloody. Whether it's cutting off a man's hand to get his attention, or bonding with fellow serial killer Duncan (Tim Guinee) over the sacred moment of killing, Ealy stands out among an increasingly moribund show cast.

The only problem with them oohing and aahing about how Theo is always one step ahead of them, and is an incredible genius, is that they say the same thing about half the serial killers that come down the pike. Remember when Joe used to be that guy. Yeah, they have to keep bringing in new serial killers, and they all have to be smart enough that the FBI can't trace them right away. But it gets old after a while. Yes, Theo is good with computers and covers his tracks. There's at least one killer a year who does this.

The producers seem to be drawing more on the past in another effort to up the ante. They brought back Afton Williamson, the S&M mistress and computer hacker, a few weeks ago. Now they've dragged in Deputy Marshal Scott Turner, and one-eyed Nick Donovan (Mike Colter: soon to be Luke Cage on Netflix) to be the pain in Ryan's backside now that Gina is off undergoing a disciplinary hearing. Does anybody really like these internal FBI feuds? And we haven't seen Nick since season 1. Two years later they're hauling him out? Should Colter be busy making a superhero show? Okay...

Gwen is absent except for being seen briefly at the end snoozing next to Ryan, and Mark Grey is also gone for now. And the odd decision to keep Joe Carroll (James Purefoy) essentially off-camera isn't helping. The dream scene with him and Ryan shooting pool and having some brewskis was kind of fun. But the rest of the time, the producers don't seem to know what to do with him. Judging by the previews, they'll make more use of him next week.

This week's episode did plunge into familiar horror movie tropes. Two U.S. Marshals get picked off pretty easily on a deserted country road, and there's a "serial killer stalking the young woman in the dark" scene near the end that doesn't go anywhere. But overall, the episode did a good job of giving us more of the current killer du jour, Theo.

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Two U.S. Marshals are transporting Duncan when they get a reroute from the FBI. They switch roads and their GPS shuts down, and then their engine computer system. The marshals are unable to get a phone signal, and the male marshal, Corey, gets out to check the engine. Meanwhile, Duncan smirks at the female marshal, Gillian. When Corey doesn't respond, Gillian gets out and finds Corey's flashlight on the hood, but no sign of Corey. Drawing her gun, Gillian looks around and Duncan pounds on the window. She spots Corey lying off to the side, covered in blood, and Theo stabs Gillian from behind.

Theo opens the back door and Duncan insists that he has no idea what his name is or where he lives. The killer silences him and says that they have work to do, and they take off into the fog.

At the penitentiary, Ryan asks Joe who Strauss' best student is. Joe insists that it's him, but Ryan tells him that Strauss mentioned another killer. He explains that Strauss is dead and his "best student" is responsible, but Joe refuses to cooperate without information about Ryan's new girlfriend. Ryan starts to go and Joe explains that Strauss was careful to keep his students isolated from each other. The deputy warden comes in and informs Joe that his official death warrant has been issued. Joe will be executed in seven days.



The next day, Ryan is called to the crime scene. Mike is already there with a team securing the scene. Scott Turner is there and Ryan offers his condolences. Mike figures that Theo is responsible and shut down the SUV remotely. Ryan explains what Joe told him about and figures that Theo freed Duncan for a reason.

At a park restroom, Duncan changes into the clothes that Theo has brought. He thanks Theo for freeing him, and Theo warns him that he will only let him liv if he helps him tie up some loose ends. Theo explains that creating the fake IDs for Strauss left him exposed,  



Ryan meets with his team and introduces Turner, and then says that they're dealing with Theo. Nick Donovan comes in and Ryan reluctantly greets him, and Turner excuses himself. Once they're alone, Nick says that the director put him in charge while Gina awaits her disciplinary hearing. He explains that he's there to usher in a new era of transparency and tells Ryan to think whether he has a part in it. Once Nick leaves, Ryan tells Mike that they're going ahead no matter what Nick says.

Max is shooting at the range and winces in pain. Ryan comes in and points out that she was only assigned to desk duty. She says that they're close to a break on the fake email, and Ryan assures her that she doesn't have to prove anything to anyone. Mike comes in and exchanges awkward greetings with Max. He then tells Ryan that they've tracked the passport serial numbers to a government office in Queens. The employee in charge of inventory, Luis Serra, was recently suspended for negligence. Ryan and Mike head out while Max eyes the target.

Luis is with his friends at his apartment drinking and playing cards. He leaves to meet his girlfriend and takes the stairs, just as Duncan and Theo arrive and go into the apartment. They ask for Luis and the men refuse to tell them, and Theo cuts off the leader's hand. He then repeats his question.

Ryan, Mike, and Turner arrive a short time later and discover that the stairway door is damaged. They enter the apartment and find Luis' three friends, cut up into pieces.



At FBI HQ, Tom approaches Max and asks how she's doing. He advises her to take a sick day and Max refuses, telling him not to mother her. She goes in and Erin congratulates her on figuring out how Theo got into the server. He used an outside vendor, Manitech Security, to breach the system. Nick comes in as Max prepares to call Ryan, and Erin explains that Manitech employees undergo government background checks. He sends Erin to check it out, and Max asks to go with her. She insists that she's good to go and Nick reluctantly agrees.



At the crime scene, Ryan tells Turner that Theo isn't making the mistakes that Joe did out of ego. Mike checks around and confirms that the neighbors saw Luis leave the building at 11, just before they got there. They've been unable to trace Luis and figure that he's using a burner. Ryan figures that Luis can identify their guy and they have to get to Luis first so they can identify Theo.

As they wait for Luis to come out, Duncan chats nervously about what they did. When Theo wonders if he talks so much when he kills, Duncan says that it's sacred time and Theo agrees. Luis comes out and Theo tells Duncan that he has something to take care of. Duncan assures him that he can handle it and Theo repeats his instructions to destroy all of Luis' backup files and computers. He makes it clear what will happen to Duncan if he fails and walks away.

At Manitech, Max and Erin talk to the owner, Tucker Moore, who assure them that they'll have full cooperation. Theo is there at his job and talks to a co-worker who explains why the FBI is there. He wonders why Theo is there, and Theo says that something came up that he had to deal with personally.

Duncan follows Luis down the street as he buys flowers and goes to his girlfriend's apartment. She lets him in and Duncan watches.

At FBI HQ, Ryan and Mike bring Nick up to date. He tells them that Max isn't there, assuring Ryan that she'll be behind a desk looking through computer data.

At Manitech, Peter Collins, the man who oversees the FBI firewall, complains that Max is looking for a lone hacker when she should be checking for a team. Collins insists that no one man could handle it all, but Max points out that all the evidence points to a single hacker. Tucker agrees with Collins, but Max points out that they've ruled out the possibility of a team. Theo listens in and then goes to Collins' office as the work day ends. He and downloads files onto his computer and goes back to his desk, and Max bumps into him. Max asks for a bathroom and Theo gives her directions.

Mike is heading out and Tom shoves past him. When Mike calls him on it, Tom reminds him that he abandoned Max. Ryan and Turner arrive, interrupting them to say that they have a lead on Luis' girlfriend Danielle, and Mike heads out with them.

At Danielle's apartment, Luis and Danielle are having sex when she sees a news report on the slaughter at Luis' apartment. Luis realizes that Theo is coming after him and tells Danielle that they have to go. He hears a thumping noise in the next room, takes a gun out of his duffel bag, and goes to investigate. Luis finds nothing but when he goes back to the bedroom, he finds Danielle in the bed, cut apart. Duncan knocks Luis out from behind before he can react.

Mike, Ryan, and Turner pull up to Danielle's apartment and go inside. They find Danielle's corpse but no sign of Luis. Ryan realizes that the killer took Luis to where he prints out the passports, and calls in a CSU team to search the place and find something that will lead them to Luis.

Duncan drives to Luis' hideout and gets him out of the trunk at gunpoint. He admits that Theo will probably kill him eventually, but there's nowhere for either of them to run.


At Manitech, Collins continues looking for the breach point. Erin calls Max away and says that she's found a discrepancy in the employee access logs. The last week's files were corrupted, but she restored them and confirmed that an employee accessed the FBI server on the same day that Strauss' legal team received the Clarke email. Theo listens in as Erin says that the employee--Collin--called in sick the previous day when Strauss was killed. Max and Erin go in and arrest Collins, and Erin takes him to FBI HQ while Max orders everyone out so she can call in a team to secure the place.

Duncan orders Luis to hand over the backups. Luis refuses, realizing that he has nothing to gain, and Duncan beats him and repeats his question. After a moment, Luis points to a cabinet.

Max calls Ryan and says that they have Collins, but he was at Manitech that morning when Luis' friends were killed. Theo listens in as Max asks her uncle about the passports, and Ryan admits that it's too soon to tell. One of the employees, Kent, comes over to the conference room and says that he was with Collins the day before at a B&B all day. Kent admits that he didn't say anything earlier because Collins has a wife, and explains that someone could have hacked the access logs and make it look like someone else infiltrated the FBI. Max asks Kent to help him figure out who framed Collins.

Duncan ties up Luis and burns all of the backups. He prepares to shoot him, but Theo calls and says that he needs Luis to do one more job before Duncan kills him.

Mike checks in with Ryan and says that they found Danielle's car. There were a bunch of parking tickets from a warehouse near the marine terminal. Mike has hacked the traffic footage and spotted the car, and Ryan and the others head out.

Kent shows Max how someone cloned Collins' operating system and put it on an external drive. He starts to narrow it down, but the server goes offline. Kent goes to boot it back up and discovers that someone has unplugged the leads. Theo comes up behind him and stabs him to death.



Ryan and the others meet Tom and his team at the warehouse. Tom says that they've secured all of the entrances, and refuses to shoot to wound because it'll put his men at risk. Mike takes offense, but Ryan tells Tom to do what he has to.

Max goes to the server room to find Kent, and locates his corpse just as the lights go out. She calls for backup and then draws her gun, and makes her way back to the office. Theo moves carefully up behind her, but the sheriff's department arrives and he slips away as Max identifies herself and tells them to secure the building.



Ryan and the others go into the warehouse and open fire on Duncan as he waits for Luis to finish his work. Luis takes cover and Duncan runs off, and Mike leads a team after him. They split up and Ryan closes in on the killer... and Duncan doubles back and shoots him in the chest. However, Ryan kicks him down and shoots him, and then checks to make sure his Kevlar vest caught all of the buckshot.

Later, the EMT tells Ryan that he was lucky to survive. Mike finds the fake passport that Luis was making, and Luis says that his client contacted him anonymously online and paid him triple his usual fee. He admits that Duncan burned the email copies and the HST lead him off. Max calls to tell Ryan what happened, and he sends her a photo of the passport. She confirms that it's Tucker.

Tucker returns home and finds Theo waiting for him, gun ready. He says that his whole plan is to hurt him.

When Mike and Ryan return to FBI HQ, Nick tells them that Tucker has disappeared and they've put out a statewide alert. Erin has found email evidence confirming that Tucker was in contact with the Lockes. Ryan figures that it's too easy and a hacker like they're dealing with would never leave such obvious evidence. Nick orders him to find Tucker or he'll put someone in charge who will.

Theo returns home and finds his wife Cindy in bed with their two sleeping children. He gets in with them and hugs Cindy.

Ryan goes to a bar, drinks, and shoots pool with Joe. Joe assures Ryan that he believes in him, and assures him that he'll always be there for him. They hug and share a toast... and Ryan wakes up from his dream.