The Following 2.8: Coalescing?

The second season of The Following has thus far been a little at loose ends - which is to say, a few too many threads with weakly connected villains to provide the kind of intensity we saw in the first season. Not only has Joe been resurrected, but Lily's family, itself somewhat disparate, has played a major role in the havoc until recently, and now Joe as taken up with Micah, played by Jake Weber, the guy who played another Joe, much more affable, on Medium a few years ago.  Fortunately, it looks at the end of episode 2.8 that Joe Carroll may be taking over Micah's following, which could be a big step in the right direction of getting a more unified Following narrative.

Otherwise, although there's been some good development of Ryan's niece - if not the trite story of the reporter who wants the Joe Carroll story - the most interesting character development on The Following season 2 has been with Mike.   The killing of his father by Lily's group for revenge only sent him in a direction he was already headed, a direction towards greater violence towards the following based on what happened to him last year.  Last night Mike nailed it when he confronted Ryan about Ryan's concern that Mike might be turning into another Ryan, which is pretty much exactly where Mike is going.  Ryan, in a realistic portrayal of how over-the-top people react when other people they care about go over the top, doesn't like what he's seeing in Mike.

So The Following, after eight episodes of its second season, stands at a crossroads of sorts.  If Joe can pull all the evil together around him, the second season could gain a focus that rivals the first.  Ryan's niece Max is an important new character, and the mole in the FBI puts Ryan, Mike, and Max in a situation even more dangerous than last year, in which Roderick was just a sheriff not FBI.

I'm looking forward to seeing how all of this develops.

See also The Following Is Back for Its Second Season ... The Following 2.2: Rediscovering Oneself ... The Following 2.3: Coalescing ... The Following 2.4: Psycho Families and Trains ... The Following 2.5: Turning Tides

And see also The Following Begins ... The Following 1.2: Joe, Poe, and the Plan ... The Following 1.3: Bug in the Sun ... The Following 1.4: Off the Leash ... The Following 1.5:  The Lawyer and the Swap ... The Following 1.7: At Large ... 
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