Look, I’ve read the read the critics’ reviews (well, they got to see through episode four…) and I know what the pros think. And that’s fine; everyone believes its an average show. But going into The Following, I sort of figured what I was getting myself into: a gory thriller reminiscent of The Vampire Diaries‘ heyday. And guess what? The Following delivered. A lot of the criticism seems to stem from the fact that the show is taking itself way too seriously, but what I’ve always admired from Kevin Williamson as a writer is that… well, he doesn’t exactly write that way. In fact, the episode proved it tonight, and it’s very much a show that is aware about all of the chess pieces it has strewn out on the board — from the cliché washed up ex-cop, the nasty and entangled relationship he shares with the criminal, and that criminal’s love affair with watching souls escape from the “windows” of a human body.
I don’t know of any other way to express that after the entirely too blatant final scene between Ryan and Joe where the latter explained meticulously that everything that’s happening is a story. What’s a story without a love interest? A flawed hero? I’m well aware that if the characters are not fleshed out entirely, then the entire meta factor of the scene may very well become moot at some point. But at the exact same time, I’m all too ready to allow the show to entrance me week after week.
It’s not just the ice pick to the eye. It’s not just a serial dog killer. Or any of those moments that caused me to flinch away, though it is those things. It’s just good ol’ fashioned thrills and chills tied together decently with a love of literature, specifically when it comes to Edgar Allen Poe. And I’m sort of okay with that.
Thank goodness, too, because I was looking forward to this series for some time now… being a fan of Kevin Williamson’s as I am (and seeing how much Vampire Diaries disappointed me for a time).
What more can we expect from a broadcast series than decent writing, good acting, and breakneck pace?
Other thoughts:
- “They aren’t gay! They’re murderers!” What in the world was this? I can’t stop laughing at that notion.
- I kept thinking that Sarah was played by Sara Canning but then the actress would tilt her head a bit and it was obvious it was the daughter from Taken. “You will be taken!” And she was.
- But thank goodness that other cop is no more after the pilot, right?
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Michael loves TV. You can find him at home, where he spends all of his time watching TV with his best friends couch and cable access.