The Following Episode 3: The Poet's Fire Promo And Photos

The second episode of The Following aired last night, giving us the next chapter of Kevin Williamson's creepy new drama series and leaving off with yet another disturbing sequence as we saw, once again, what the people in Joe Carroll's cult-like following are capable of. Check out the promo for next week's episode, "The Poet's Fire."

The title alone appears to be a nod to the masked (presumably) man glimpsed at the end of last night's episode. And here's a preview image that follows up on that as well...

As though being a killer isn't creepy enough, they have to add a Poe mask and in that guy's case, a "pet" raven to the unsettling picture.

Ryan Hardy questions whether there's even more people in this cult than the six they know of. Meanwhile, creepy Jordy has a little secret. And it looks like there's even more tension with Emma, Paul and Jacob. Emma gives me the creeps, but I'm pretty sure she's supposed to, so that's not a complaint. Last night's episode certainly gave us a demonstration of her dark side.

Less creepy, somehow, is Joe Carroll. Maybe it's the fact that he's the leader and he's built to be charismatic and disarming, but as menacing as the character has proven to be, it's not entirely difficult to see how his personality might draw people to him, especially if he's preying on people with insecurities and a need for attention and approval. I'm not sure that would apply to Ryan Hardy, but who knows what's really going on in his head? We're only just getting to know him. And that brings us to this interesting photo, which shows us a flashback of Ryan Hardy and Joe Carroll looking friendly with one another.

Even Hardy is almost smiling. And judging by his professor clothes, I'd say this was before Carroll got caught.

The Following airs Mondays at 9:00 p.m. ET on Fox.