" The Following " on FOX - Page 3

Yeah, I found myself wincing at some of the acting & improbable plot developments during the pilot. A shame.

And let me see - we can show:
- People committing suicide by stabbing themselves in the eye with a knife
- Kidnapping a child & putting him in harm's way (at the hand's of the serial killer's assistants)
- Corpses with their eyes cut out (multiple times)
- At least 5 dead prison guards
- Several dead sorority chicks
- 2 dead cops

All with copious amounts of blood.

But it's not ok for a woman to show her breasts on TV? There's something seriously wrong with this country.
More love, less war.

One more thing I didn't buy was ANY sexual tension between Bacon's and Zea's characters. Zero, zip, nada.

Put Zea in a room with Timothy Olyphant, and that works. But I never for one second believed that her & Bacon's characters could ever have had anything together. Ever. It made me think that they mis-cast Bacon in the role (because I know Zea is capable after seeing her on Justified).

I found the story line of the show following many before it. Understandably, it was a pilot and they need to create the background but it played like they checked off one overdone premise after another like clockwork. Also, I know Kevin is the sage but it would be nice if some of the law enforcement officers had experience... beyond following Kevin. Overall I guess (for me) they simply crammed too much into the 43 minutes... ended up more like reading a news report than experiencing the events. Outside of the story line issues it was well done and if it can go anywhere beyond the beaten path it should be entertaining.

The show could also be named "The Edgar Allan Poe Show" easily...

It had some surprises, I didn't watch any sneak peaks to come fresh to the show..

So, what's the deal with the kid, it's Bacon's or the Killer's? I'm pretty sure it was implied that Bacon is the father, right?

My reading, too, was that the kid was the Bacon character's biological child.

I got that impression too. 50/50 on the pilot. Too many clueless cops just standing around until something happens. No one can put two and two together until Bacon shows up, who of course shows no ill effects of drinking straight vodka. Only Bacon can catch Purefoy. I too like Purefoy and hope this opens peoples eyes to how good this guy can be. Too much Thomas Harris in the pilot. Will give it at least two more episodes to see if it goes anywhere interesting. 14? episodes can play out a lot of different ways.

Ive known a few people who could drink straight vodka and harder drinks without ill effect in greater quantities than was shown on the show...Once you get to a certain tolerrance level that little bottle of watter isnt going to do much but "level" you off..From the looks of it thats all the little amount we saw was goign to do to him.....

Maybe vodka straight up could have gotten me to sit all the way thru this pilot....

Goodbye, my dear Natalie Zea.....

I hear you but will still stick around for a while despite the holes in the plot you could drive an 18 wheeler through.

Speaking of Maggie Grace, she is appearing in this season's Californication on Showtime.

And apparently she'll be in The Following next episode, "Chapter Two" as well. I'm guessing flash-backs though

I could only manage one season of that one. Certainly haven't missed it. Same with 'House of Lies' -- I expected a lot more of Cheadle & Bell, and Showtime.

You're tougher than I....only one episode for me.

Yeah, I hear ya.
I did a little better by getting thru 2 episodes with this turd.

I confess that Californication is in my wheelhouse. Charming, screwed up, Hank and his equally charming and screwed up friends and acquaintances tickle me to death. I know that Hank has a critical need for intervention. Maybe I do too.

He is too much of a narcissistic dick-head for me to invest in the series.

For some reason, I doubt that.

What's with the Maggie Grace fans? I remember in LOST folks wished for her character's death each week. Killing her off right away was one of the few things The Following did well.

I expected so much with Bacon, Zea, et. al. but all I got was a season's worth of gore in one show...speaking of which it's OK for all kinds of gratuitous close up shots of dead badly mutilated young women and women bleeding and dying horribly from stab wounds but the networks know not to show more than a quick shot of a vague ball of fur and some blood with a mutilated dog. Can't go there.

I am a fan of the genre but I get the vibe that the mutiliation(s) of the week will get pretty tired in a couple weeks and the who is really a cult killer and not who they seem will also become lame. I'll try watching a bit more only because Annie Parise will be in the next show.

Ohhhh...."Shannon". I saw her recently in Lockout, recognized the face, but couldn't figure where I knew her from. Just caught the encore and liked it, but wonder how long this will last.

After watching this episode I think the negative press about the violent content has people seeing more than was in the show.

Apart from some quick cuts of dead bodies unconvincingly covered in blood this show is less violent than Criminal Minds and far less gory than the continuous decapitations and dismembered, putrifying corpses splattered throughout Bones every week.

I was expecting far more scares and squirms and what was on screen barely registered. even the continuity of the show was off in that regard. Maggie Grace gave a disturbing testimony about how she tried to kill herself to make the torture end, but in the Bacon flashback the entire scene lasted less than 30 seconds. Hardly time for her to even contemplate giving up before Bacon heard the screams from outside (where he was hanging around), burst in and Purefoy had a bullet in the shoulder.

The major flaw with this show and the one which could be its undoing is not the "violence" but the predictability of the plot. I could spot the followers as soon as they appeared in their initial scenes. If the show tries hard to leverage that angle when it's so obvious it's going to make each week less than thrilling. Other than that it was a fairly solid and decently produced show.
Edited by VisionOn - 1/28/13 at 3:56am

They didn't show someone stabbing themselves in the eye. It was off camera with a brief cut afterwards. Same for the eye gouging. It was a few unconvincing photos of people with their eyes closed and some unconvincingly red blood splatter. I didn't even realize they were supposed to be missing eyes until somebody mentioned it.

Same with the death of Maggie Grace. Quick shot of her head, eyes closed, unconvincing blood.

Kidnapping and dead cops? That's barely an hour of time for Jack Bauer and doesn't even include gutting someone to pull out a flash drive or chopping off hands with axes and table saws.

Based on the feedback here, I can only assume that my critical standards must be lowering. I didn't just like it, I loved it.

I'm finding it better now just to leave these kind of forums alone when it comes to most shows. Even the most critically acclaimed shows now get dissected to the nth degree online, it's kind of geekdom rum amok. It seems better in a way just to watch things in an old school way, where you haven't found out hidden meanings in the background of scenes, plot developments, future casting, etc. from people online.

+1

I'm with you there.  As for this show, I thought the pilot was very well done and very cinematic.  The pace was intense and a few intense moments thrown in as well.  I'm sticking around for now and hope it continues its current pace.  I don't generally like shows that just defy belief, but this isn't like that for me - nit picking every little nuance or predicting failure on nothing more than 10 episodes vs 15 is just looking for it to fail.  I'll give it a decent chance unless it loses its way early on and detours into soap or total implausibility. 

And, in typical "CSI" fashion (learned long ago from "X-Files"), they go hunting around the dark house with just a halogen flashlight, rather than just turning the lights on as they get to a room to really see what's there. WHY KEEP THE PLACE IN THE DARK IF YOU'RE LOOKING FOR CLUES???

And why are all law enforcement officers so clueless?

Also, James Purefy is a dead-ringer for Hugh Jackman.

Also, as has been pointed out, with 1-in-4 cast character people apparently "in on the scheme" (like the aliens on "V") and cleverly planted adjacent to "anyone obviously at risk because they've got a history with Kevin Bacon's character" turning out to actually be "an alien", the audience is now already primed to look for these characters every time a new "suspect" appears in the developing story.

For me, I liked it enough to watch another episode or two in order to see how it goes.

My only complaint is they seemed to write the entire episode by browsing through the "writer's cliche" manual.

- The emotionally torn former investigator who still suffers from the physical and emotional wounds of his biggest case. Bonus points if he's a drunk. Double bonus points if nothing can be done without his help.
- The mastermind psychopath who an manipulate others and take down any number of people and disguise himself as one of them in order to facilitate an escape. He's also able to control those members of his "team" from inside prison.
- The messages on the walls of crime scenes to toy with the police.
- The lead character who is pursuing the criminal mastermind and was/is in love with the mastermind's wife.
- The people who support the bad guy and also provide misdirection to led the investigation away from where it needs to be. Bonus points if they're willing to sacrifice themselves in a bloody fashion in front of the lead investigator.
- The main character has to end up alone with the psychopath in some sort of showdown - which allows the psycho to reveal his plans. Bonus points if those plans include the lead character and double bonus points if the lead has to be stopped from killing the psychopath.
- The helpers of the psychopath have to assist in kidnapping someone the lead character has ties to and cares about. They somehow do this despite protection being provided.
- A killer that is inspired by classic literature or the bible.

I'm sure, at some point, someone important on the investigative team will be a mole for the psychopath.

I'll give it a couple more episodes to see where it settles, but it just felt like there could have been so more. I just have a feeling this is going to fall into a "cult member killing of the week" procedural, much the way "Alcatraz" became one. The overall arc was almost invisible there.

At first I thought the show might avoid the Obvious Follower of the Week problem with the officer misdirection in the house, but as soon as the new bureau chief appeared I instantly pegged her as a follower but hoped they might avoid that too. Unfortunately by the episode end it seems clear that was the direction the show was going in. It could be a red herring but based on what we've seen so far and how that scene played out, I doubt it. Subtle this show is not.

The rest of the episode had me wanting the return to the frenetic pace of last week because the predictable kidnappers just had me reaching for the FF button when they appeared. If the kidnappers don't cause a viewer drop I'd be very surprised.

Have to give the show kudos for keeping it mostly serialized and not falling into the old MOW procedural trap. They may use a new crazy every week but they seem to be aiming to keep the main story the prominent focus.

I wasn't going to watch this show from the beginning because I generally abhor violent shows; however, last week I did break down and decide to watch it. It was just ok for me and the violence wasn't as graphic as I expected, mostly implied or shown very quickly. So, last night I decided to take another stab at it (so to speak). And, after watching the gal knife her mother in the back in the kitchen, I decided I have better uses of my time than watching this bullcrap. As they say on Shark Tank, I'm out. For those of you who enjoy this stuff, I'll keep my opinions to myself. I love cop shows, but this piece of garbage is just over the top.

This show is too gross..I'm going back to watching Pretty Little Liars, Dawson Creek, and Greys...Oh Yeah did anyone see the Bachelor?

Methinks there was a hidden message in that post. Maybe we could have a reality show on different ways to take a dump. I'm sure some people would watch that also.