‘The Following’ recap: Mike Weston makes the ultimate sacrifice … and it completely destroys him

It’s really hard to type through tears. But thanks to Monday (March 3) night’s episode of “The Following,” it’s unavoidable, so here goes …

Poor, poor Mike Weston (Shawn Ashmore). He was ready to take a step back from the FBI after he beat the crap out of Luke (Sam Underwood). He made the smart, mature decision to take a leave of absence to get his life in order. He even confessed to Ryan (Kevin Bacon) about all the issues he’s been dealing with over the past year — he can’t react to normal situations appropriately anymore. He “clouds over” and acts out, and as a result, he’s alienated all his friends and family. He’s becoming the people he hunts. He hasn’t even spoken to his dad in a long time.

And that is going to haunt him for the rest of his life, since he — along with the rest of the FBI — watched a video Lily Grey (Connie Nielsen) sent hours after recording it of her other son Mark (Sam Underwood) slicing Mike’s father’s throat open in the final moments of the episode. He could do nothing but stare wide-eyed at the screen, completely helpless, as he realized his father was murdered all because Lily wanted revenge on Mike for what he did to Luke. And with that, any innocence Mike had left over from Season 1 went out the window.

After running out of FBI HQ, he completely broke down on the steps outside, and Ryan didn’t know what to do to help his former-protege and friend. He settled for holding the crying, broken shell that was Mike. It was haunting, it was devastating and it was powerful. MVP of the night? Ashmore, for sure.

What does this mean for Mike going forward? Check out Zap2it’s post mortem with Ashmore here for all the scoop he could reveal.

Mike wasn’t the only one dealing with a new world order in “Sacrifice.” After escaping Lily’s international house of psychos, Joe, Emma and Mandy head to a new cult to hide out. Joe has no idea what they’re in for, and tells Emma they’re winging it. That’s not a good sign coming from someone who usually plans at least three steps ahead. They quickly learn that in this new, militaristic, rituatlistic, creepy cult, they’re the followers.

The leader’s wife doesn’t trust Joe (as she shouldn’t), and to prove a point to Joe she picks Emma to be the sacrifice during their initiation into the cult. The leader, Micah, slits Emma’s wrists and drinks her blood — ew. She does survive the ritual, but it was all a ploy to show Joe that he doesn’t have any power anymore. Like Mike, all he could do was sit helplessly and watch as Emma was almost killed. This isn’t going to help Emma’s abandonment issues about Joe.

Can we just talk for a minute about how insane this new cult is? Although “The Following” has been about a cult of psychopathic murderers since day one, this is taking things to a whole new level. At least our Carrollers were semi-logical. All they wanted to do was kill and idolize their favorite author. These new cultists wear monochromatic colors — red, because of course — and masks. They chant weird chants. They idolize some weird made-up symbol. Their leader drank Emma’s freakin’ blood! Seriously. This is not going to end well.

And in one of the biggest “Duh!” moments of the night, Gina Mendez tells Ryan that she finally believes him about Joe being alive, but thinks there is a mole in the Bureau. Um, hey Gina, have you talked to your wife/ex-wife/ex-FBI agent/Carroller lately? Gina doesn’t know how right she is. At least Ryan is smart enough not to trust Gina right away.  

What did you think of “Sacrifice?” Weren’t those final minutes the most intense, emotionally devastating minutes of the entire series so far?

“The Following” airs Mondays at 9 p.m. ET on FOX.

Photo/Video credit: FOX