Joe Carroll is still trying write his creepy novel from behind bars and he’s made Ryan Hardy and Claire his key players. But in his book, someone is always supposed to die.
Edgar Allen Poe-obsessed serial killer, Joe Carroll (James Purefoy), moved on to Chapter Two of his gritty crime novel this week, making ex-FBI agent Ryan Hardy (Kevin Bacon) his leading man. From behind bars this guy is still pulling strings like a puppet master — but what happens when his characters don’t do what they’re supposed to?
A new religion
We pick up where we left off last week, with the so-called “village idiot” of Caroll’s followers, Jordy (Steve Monroe), going after a pretty young college girl at her home. Hardy and his agent friends later discover the house and find several dead bodies with their eyes gouged out, and one hung in a crucified position (an homage to his leader Carroll). No one wants to say it, but it looks like Carroll’s minions have actually formed a cult and Carroll is their savior. Heaven help us all.
The nanny and the boys
The nanny, a.k.a. Emma Hill, is still with “the gays” (who aren’t gay, but one may be gay, there’s a whole debate about it) and are taking care of Claire’s (Natalie Zea) kidnapped son. But they really don’t make the best role models.
Emma and Will (Nico Tortorella) have been dating since about 2006, when Carroll introduced them. Emma’s mom was a real jerkface, always putting her daughter down in front of other people. Yet it was still surprising when Emma stabbed her in the back — literally — at the dinner table with a knife. Will totally ate it up and now thinks she’s “amazing.” Plus, these days, they’re always getting it on everywhere in the house. Please, not in front of the child!
Damsel in distress
All hell breaks loose when Jordy sneaks into Claire’s house and holds her captive. Hardy figures out what’s going on and rushes to the rescue. With a gun to Claire’s head, Jordy explains that Carroll told him he had to kill Claire, or Hardy had to kill him. It’s the classic love story: hero saves girl, or is forever tortured by her death. Oh, that’s so Carroll.
Hardy actually gets out of the situation by only wounding Jordy, so when he goes to speak to Carroll in jail he’s happy to discover just how much this gets under his skin. Carroll tries to act like he wasn’t upset that Chapter Two didn’t go the way he wanted and he can’t control everyone. It’s a satisfactory moment, but Carroll doesn’t seem like the kind of guy you want to piss off.
We have a feeling things are gonna get worse from here. Especially because there’s a man in an Edgar Allen Poe costume setting random people on fire in the streets.
Photos courtesy of FOX
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