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Title: The Following
Genre: Crime/Murder
Year(s): 2013 - 2015
Basic premise: A serial killer is using a “following” - literally, people following him on social media - to carry out his crimes.
Starring: Kevin Bacon, James Purefoy, Shawn Ashmore, Jessica Stroup
Seasons: 3
Written/created by: Kevin Williamson
Nationality: American
Best episode(s): Not sure but the opener was amazing
Worst episode(s): Don’t think there were any
Staus: Cancelled, or maybe finished, not sure. Done, anyway.
What does or did this show mean to me? I tend to watch a decent amount of cop shows, particularly ones about serial killers (it’s a problem, I know: I’m working on it, honestly. I only have
two severed heads in my freezer these days. Hey, you gotta start somewhere, right?) but I like them to have a good hook - no pun intended - as they can be very formulaic. This was anything but formulaic.
One good quote: I’m getting rid of this. How am I supposed to remember quotes from shows I watched ten years ago? Who the f
uck is this Trollheart wanker anyway?
I’m not sure I’d necessarily say I’m a fan of Kevin Bacon. I liked him a lot in
Tremors, and he’s great in
City on a Hill, but I’m not a
Footlose kind of guy, I hated him in
Hollow Man and he drives me mad with those EE ads. If you’re not this side of the water and haven’t had to suffer through those, consider yourself lucky. But it kind of doesn’t matter, because although he does a really good job in
The Following, the series really stands or falls on the delightfully dark unhinged but oh-so-reasonable serial killer played by James Purefoy. The basic idea is that Joe Carroll, Purefoy’s character, is a multi-murderer who escapes from prison in the pilot episode in a sort of homage to
Silence of the Lambs. He’s an English teacher, an author, and a man capable of manipulating people, so when he gets out he already has a huge entourage of people waiting to help him, all linking up through social media, hence the name.
Be warned: it’s very gory and visceral at times, but the efforts of Bacon to track Carroll down almost make you want to root for the serial killer, even when you see how brutal he is, or his followers are. There’s also some sort of subplot running through the show where his followers murder in the style of Edgar Allan Poe’s stories, never quite got that but it is a while now since I saw it. I read Carroll is also trying to get back with his ex-wife, who of course does not want to have anything to do with him, and I think Bacon is now involved with her, which makes things that little bit more difficult. Serial killer/cop shows are, as you say over there, a dime a dozen, but this one caught my attention and I thought it was very well done. I've also been a big fan of Purefoy since his
Rome days, so that helped.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUutBr42Ouw