There were no new followers with their own chapters to write this week.  Instead, there was some unfinished business which Joe Carroll wanted Roderick to make right.   When he wasn’t making s’mores with his son, Joey – how creepy was that father-son scene – Joe was demanding that Roderick find his ex-wife, Claire, and bring her to home to her family.  The cult had found out where Claire was staying, the allegedly “safe” place – a motel in the middle of nowhere – and Joe told Roderick, that since he’d failed – twice – it might be in his best interest to do what he was told.   No mistakes this time.  Roderick tried to tell Joe that he had other business to attend to, like being a sheriff, but Joe wasn’t taking no for an answer.  Roderick enlists the aid of two “special” followers – a couple of guys who were raised by militia members, and the same two who’d found out where Claire’s hideout was.

Jake, having arrived the night before, is having a very bad dream, in which he kills Emma.   For what it’s worth, I wished that it wasn’t a dream.   He’s also seeing and talking to the ghost of Paul who’s reminding Jake that Emma is nothing but, in his words, “a selfish bitch, and always was.”   I can’t disagree with ghost-Paul on that one either.  When Jake wakes up, he sees Emma standing over him and she’s telling him how much she loves him.   He wants to know why she didn’t reach out to him like he did her, and wonders aloud if she thought they were dead.   She pleads for his forgiveness, telling him that she was only doing what Roderick told her to do – take Joey and run.   Jake tells her that he wouldn’t have left her behind, no matter who was giving the orders.

Ryan wants to interrogate Amanda Porter, but Nick and Debra tell him that she’s already talking up a storm – only it’s all about her favorite books and movies and just a bunch of nonsense.  Instead, Ryan goes to see Claire at the motel, where she’s being guarded by U.S. marshalls and Nick isn’t upset this time with Ryan insinuating himself into the security detail –  in fact, he thinks it’s a good idea.  She asks him why she wasn’t allowed to see anything on the news and Ryan tells her about Amanda Porter’s plan to kill everyone named Claire Matthews.  He also lets her know that Joe Carroll and Company have hacked into the FBI’s phones and they know where she is.  He says that they have to find another place that’s safe, and she starts packing her stuff to go.  The Marshall’s see, on their lobby-came, that a large group of people have entered the motel, some of whom look like cult followers.  Ryan and Claire exit through the back while the marshalls position themselves to give them cover.  Roderick has killed a motel maid and taken her master room key.  The followers then conduct a room by room search for Claire, after killing a couple of marshalls in the hallway.  They find the now not-so-secret room, but it’s locked and double-locked, so they just shoot the remaining marshall, right through the door.

Ryan and Claire have made their way to the car and Ryan removes a tracking device from under the wheel well, but a follower grabs Claire.  She elbows the follower and pulls away, giving Ryan an opportunity to shoot him and they drive off.  Ryan tells Claire to remove the SIM card for her cell phone, and we see that the fallen follower was wearing a Kevlar vest, so he’s still good to go.   Ryan and Claire drive to a house where they’re greeted by an old friend and Colleague of Ryan’s, Tyson, who knows a thing or two about hiding places.  He’s been in witness protection for four years.  Nick and Debra realize that Claire and Ryan are off the grid and the two agents think that’s an even better idea.

Joe is trying to convince Jake that he should give Emma a second chance.    He wants Jake to let Emma explain that she was only doing what she’d been told and that the two of them should settle their differences.  Joe, of course, would like to see Emma back in someone else’s bed in case Claire shows up, or he’d have a few explanations to make, too.

Tyson, Ryan and Claire are having a chat about the old days and another woman who Ryan dated after he’d left Claire.  Molly wasn’t a serious girlfriend, more of a distraction because, as Ty tells Claire, she is the only woman Ryan was every seriously in love with.   While they’re talking, Claire notices something on her sweater.  It’s a tag that the follower put on her when he grabbed her at motel.   They know exactly where she is and they’re coming for her.  Ty and Ryan grab every gun in the house and prepare to do battle.  Before the real action begins, Claire, who paid close attention to what Ty told her, assures Ryan that she loves him.  Ryan tells her that loving him is a really bad idea because people who get close to him usually end up dying, but then he says that he loves her, too.

The followers have the place surrounded and fire a shot through a window.   Tyson moves outside and starts shooting back, killing one follower.  Ryan gets Ty back inside and they see that he’s been hit twice.

The followers start banging on the door, shouting to Claire that she should just come out, go with them and see her son.   Claire does exactly that, running down the driveway, with Ryan chasing her.  She gets into the SUV with the followers and they drive off.  Ryan can’t go after them because they’ve flattened his tires.  Maybe Claire isn’t so reckless or irrational after all.  Sure, this is the second time that she’s gotten into a car with a follower, but what has the FBI done so far that’s gotten them any closer to finding Joe Carroll, the followers or her son?  If she’s inside the place, she might be able to send her own messages out and point the FBI in the right direction.   She certainly can’t make it any worse than it already is.

Emma checks in on Jake to see if he wants to talk about their relationship.   She wants to win his trust back and Jake kisses her.  They undress and begin to make love.  The ghost of Paul appears and he’s looking very disappointed in his friend.  Jake jumps out of bed and runs into the bathroom where he has an argument with Paul.  Paul says that he’s dead because of Emma and she betrayed both of them.  Jake “kills” Paul  a second time, with a knife and then goes back into the bedroom with Emma.  He tells her how he smothered Paul with the pillowcase and that means that he’s now a killer, of his best friend and that it’s all because of her.   Jake warns Emma that he’s developed a taste for killing and she should watch her back.

The FBI has come across a password by hacking, finally, into some cult programs.  They find a website with a man in an Edgar Allan Poe mask, inviting people to enter their names and email addresses, so that someone can get back to them with further information.    Joe’s in need of some new followers and this might be the chance for the FBI to infiltrate the cult, or, at the very least, start tracking their accounts to find out where they’re holed up.   Ryan drops by the hospital to see how Ty is doing and gets a phone call from Joe.  He asks about Ty and tells Ryan that he sincerely hopes that Ty hasn’t joined the long list of dead loved ones.   Joe, just to make Ryan squirm even more, tells him that Claire is coming back to him willingly, because they love each other.   Ryan says “I’m done.  I quit.”   Joe chides him, saying that he can’t quit now.  This is his chance for redemption and a rebirth.  According to Joe, with every passing day, Ryan is coming back to life.  Ryan tells him to go to hell.  In a flashback, Tyson is warning Ryan not to push Molly away and to give her a chance.  Molly, however, is now walking into the warm embrace of Joe Carroll, leaving us to wonder just when she became a follower – before she met Ryan, and at the behest of Joe, or after their breakup, because hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

Empress