The Following
I read The A.V Club somewhat religiously. I love television shows and sometimes, it’s nice to go on the site and read some eloquent wording reaffirming your own opinion. However, there are times when you differ from your favourite site. It’s almost satisfying to read, in rage, a reviews opinion on a show you are enjoying. It’s like a comedy roast, especially when you can actually see its points but you don’t care, because you’ll love this show no matter what.
But I don’t read anything on the site as much as I do its entertaining insulting reviews of The Following. For me, reading The A.V Club dragging The Following through the truth dirt has become almost as entertaining as watching the show itself.
Recently cancelled, The Following revolves around Detective Ryan Hardy who is still reeling from his biggest catch; serial killer and professor Joe Carroll. After nearly being butchered by the murderer, Hardy has moved on from his life. However, a mysterious cult has started killing in Carroll’s name, and Hardy is pulled into the case. As Carroll’s ex-wife, and Ryan’s ex-lover, Claire becomes a target, it all goes a little pear-shaped when her son is kidnapped by the cult… Then it gets worse before it gets better…
Just joking, it never gets better.
Why is it Bad?
There is no denying that The Following is imperfect television, perhaps teetering on bad. Re-watching this after I completely disregarded Hand of God for being needless pathetically dribbling with gore and darkness, it’s difficult to explain what’s so compelling about it. The interesting premise is stretched out beyond belief that you are straining to keep up with the different aspects of the show. It quickly dissolves into a romp that doesn’t quite gel it’s elements. The Edgar Allen Poe parts are picked up and dropped quicker than you’d like and the gruesome deaths over-saturate any tension between Carroll and Hardy. Not to mention the utterly terrifying villain Carroll is wasted by the mid-season because they make him somewhat of an impetuant loser. He becomes this hybrid of every literature student who regales poetry to you on your first date; spitting out lines about metaphors and allusions to his victims whilst trying to be sinister. It doesn’t work, they make him laughable and it completely disengages you from the dark and brooding atmosphere it revels in.
Why is it Good?
Well, for a start Kevin Bacon is always excellent and he is fed some humorous lines which are relished against the drab “poetry” spouted by every Carroll obsessed killer. Plus, whilst the show cannot figure out what agenda it’s going to be, when you figure out how you’re going to enjoy it, it becomes a riot. Is it camp? Is it dark? Is it both? Well, if you take the last one then you are in for a thrilling ride. The Following may masquerade as something like True Detective but this is actually a happy marriage between the ludicrous and the gothic. Plus, it’s Kevin Bacon. Heck, the dude appears in our EE adverts and yet still is enjoyable to watch. Here, he’s brilliant and with every quip, you love him a little bit more. And, James Purefoy (totally a Slytherin) is great as Caroll, even if the writing isn’t.
Apart from that, I can’t quite tell you why I love this show, but I do. I really do. The Following isn’t a terrible series, it just isn’t as good as it should be. Whether it’s the hammy writing or strained acting, the show never does anything extremely good and chooses to wallow in its smugness. It’s like listening to that first year creative writing student who thinks that each of their poems has to include “redolent” or “blood” in their work and you have to achingly sit through pages whilst they think they are the next Sylvia Plath (this is totally not me, by the way, no siree). It’s self-indulgent and pretentious with no reason to be…
And, in some ways, that’s kinda brilliant…