THE FOLLOWING Post-Mortem: Shawn Ashmore on the Mike Twist in 'Sacrifice' - Give Me My Remote : Give Me My Remote

THE FOLLOWING Post-Mortem: Shawn Ashmore on the Mike Twist in ‘Sacrifice’

March 3, 2014 by  

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[This post contains spoilers for the March 3rd episode of THE FOLLOWING. Please do not read further if you haven’t watched “Sacrifice.”]

THE FOLLOWING has never been shy about delivering brutal twists, but “Sacrifice” brought one of the cruelest deaths so far: as payback for Mike “killing” Luke (in actuality, he’s in captivity and injured), Lily killed Mike’s father and sent a recording of it to Ryan’s phone.

Mike — who had already been teetering on an emotional breakdown last week when he beat the heck out of Luke — understandably broke down, finding comfort in an understanding Ryan. (And seriously, massive props to Shawn Ashmore (Mike) who has just been killing it.)

So where does Mike go from here? Ashmore teased a bit of what’s to come for his character…

Where does Mike even go after this?
Shawn Ashmore: It gets very dark for Mike. Mike is on a revenge trip now. It’s not something that’s going to happen immediately for him: he is after Lily Gray; he is after Luke and Mark. There is no doubt about it. There is a form of grieving he goes through, but it just motivates him even more to get on the case. I’s another step of Mike falling down the rabbit hole and becoming more hurt, becoming more damaged. So it just continues. He’s definitely on the trail of Lily, Mark, and Luke.

Does he resent Ryan at all for what happened?
SA: No. I don’t think there’s any resentment. It’s not his fault. [Mike] has taken on this case many, many times, and he could have stepped away many times. There were many times he could have decided this was not the right thing to do for him . I don’t think he stayed on the case for any kind of loyalty to Ryan, and so I don’t think he places any blame on him. He places the blame right where it should be: on the murderers.

That’s at least a healthy mindset.
SA: Yeah. I think where Mike sits, and where his drive and his vision are, I think they’re clear. I don’t think it’s too cloudy. I don’t think sometimes he knows what the right thing to do is — whether he should try to kill them, whether he should try to apprehend them — but he’s not [in doubt] about who’s to blame.

Since he will be going through all of this, will we get to see more of Mike at home or with his family?
SA: Yes. In episode 8, there’s definitely some mourning where we see him interact with his family, and we get a little history of who they are, where he came from. It’s not a huge portion of the story, but we definitely get to see more. We get to see behind the curtain a little bit. What he’s family is like, what that dynamic is like. And more than anything, I think Mike feels to blame about this. If he hadn’t been on this case, his dad would have never been involved. And with his family, I think there’s some blame placed on Mike for being a part of this and for sticking around. The domino effect that started when I nearly beat one of our murderous twins to death, that sort of started the whole thing. So Mike thinks he is to blame.

Since they do have Luke in custody, does Mike ever try to approach him or put his anger out there?
SA: No, there’s no real interaction. I don’t think they’d let Mike near him, at least procedurally, you know what I mean? There’s no big interrogation, there’s no big face-off.

Now obviously, as the story unfolds, we’ll probably see more interactions between Lily and her psychos and Ryan and Weston. But it’s not a direct interrogation, because I don’t think Mike would be allowed anywhere near that.

Is there any question about letting him even continue on with the case since it now is so close to home?
SA: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I think that Ryan is questioning Mike’s ability. And Mike, as he said in episode 7, he wants to step away; he knows he’s there. He knows things are wrong. But how do you step away when your father has been killed in front of you? There’s no question. I think Ryan is worried about him, but I don’t think you can ask your friend to step back after something like that happened. That would be like asking Ryan to stop [chasing] Joe after Joe had Claire killed. You can ask, you might think it’s the right thing to do, but how do you ask your friend to not take revenge after something like that happened.

It would be a bit hypocritical, for sure.
SA: Yeah. And both of these guys are sort of on the same wavelength — they have different ways of doing things, but they’re on the same code. And I think this is about revenge. They’ve both been through the meat grinder, and the only way to get any sort of satisfaction now would be to take these guys down. I don’t think either one of these guys is going to step in the way of the other one when it comes to doing what is right for their code.

Where does Max fit in with this?
SA: I think there’s a very clear — they both have this very important person in their lives that counts on them, so they’re interacting. And I think there’s an attraction between them. They got off on the wrong foot, but the more they interact, the more they like each other, and that ball will start rolling.

But [as far as romance], you have to remember we’re in the middle of this intense murder spree investigation. I think they like each other, I think they’re potentially interested in each other, but I think there’s a lot of things standing in the way of them getting to know each other more than working on the case and helping Ryan out.

And to be fair, the more people anyone gets attached to, the more potential collateral damage for the cult members to take advantage of.
SA: Absolutely. Max [became] a target…for that very reason. She was someone that means a lot to [Ryan]. It’s dangerous for Ryan, and it’s dangerous for Mike, and it’s dangerous for Max, now, to have people you care about, because we’ve all seen what happens when you interfere with these people: they go after the ones you love.

Given Mike’s focus shifting towards Lily and since Ryan has always been centered on Joe — and since Lily and Joe are now firmly split — are they going their separate ways in terms of investigating?
SA: I think it’s one and the same. Although Mike’s revenge plot is against Lily, he’s still very dedicated towards getting Joe. After [episode 7], Lily sort of disappears. She has the resources and funds to go. And [Joe] has a whole new plan happening. So we’re not back at square one, but we have to start working the clues again, we have to start working the investigation. And that leads us to one over the other sometimes, but we’re tracking both of them. And we’ll get them. We’ll get our guys.

We’re at the halfway point of the season, in terms of viewing, but you’re close to the end of production. Is there anything coming up that has you particularly excited for fans to see?
SA: We’re shooting episode 14 out of 15 right now. So I don’t actually know what the finale is yet. But the build up to the finale is amazing. And there are a couple of little reveals that I think are really going to blow people’s minds. I don’t want to give anything away, but there are definitely things I think…our show does a great job of keeping everyone on their toes and surprising them when we can. And there’s a surprise coming up — I feel like it’s episode 10 or 11 — that I don’t think anybody will see coming, and I think opens up this world a little more, and it’s emotional thing, too. It’s a nice character beat for some of our characters. I can’t give too much away, I don’t want to ruin it, but, yeah, there’s definitely some things coming up in the next four or five episodes that I’m really looking forward to the audience seeing.

I know you can’t give too much away, but does it involve Mike in some way?
SA: It definitely involves Mike. It involves all of our key characters, but Mike is definitely involved. He’s right in the middle of it.

So, let’s hear it…what did you think of “Sacrifice”?

THE FOLLOWING airs Mondays at 9 PM on Fox.

Related:

THE FOLLOWING’s Shawn Ashmore: ‘Things Get Dramatically Worse’ For Mike
THE FOLLOWING: 9 Teases for ‘Sacrifice’
THE FOLLOWING: ‘Sacrifice’ Photo Preview

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Comments

One Response to “THE FOLLOWING Post-Mortem: Shawn Ashmore on the Mike Twist in ‘Sacrifice’”

  1. Christine on March 7th, 2014 12:05 am

    This episode was just brutal.