" The Following " on FOX - Page 21

...wonder why they didn't take the opportunity to slip in an in-show product endorsement right at that moment?...the cell carrier that is robust enough to penetrate a shallow grave when your life depends on it! Can you hear me now?

Yeah, you're right .. and I think it was CTU (I did not look that up .. ) .. I should have qualified my statement on "The Following" by mentioning that it was some of the simple things like the lack of use of bulletproof vests...

And I think Sutherland with his breathy delivery and urgency was better suited than Bacon maybe ..

CTU, of course! It's a sign of how long the show has been off that I couldn't even remember that.

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I don't know, I can't really agree with you.

They've shown how Hardy and Claire's relationship formed. They've shown how Parker's attitude toward cults formed. They've shown background on several of the characters. That's at least an attempt on character development, however feeble. If what you said about characters development in this show (or lack of), I wouldn't have an opinion on them, and wouldn't hate them like I do.

Parker has been caught alone so many times, I was actually rooting for her to die. she was apparently incapable of learning. Dang, I think it's been proven even rats can learn. Maybe if they wrote her character to be developmentally disabled, I would have given her a pass. But as far as I can tell, she is supposed to be not only at a normal I.Q., but in possession of a college degree.

Sent from my Nexus 7

Hated the ending....I wanted Emma to die a horrific death more than I wanted Joe to (of course maybe he didn't either).

I don't know how people are even allowing that it is possible that Joe is really dead. That's not the way this genre works. When the writer wants the big bad guy to be dead, he shows the death in an explicit manner. This show revels in that type of thing (within the bounds of continually loosening broadcast standards), and the very fact that we didn't see that means he is still very much alive. If this episode was shot before the renewal announcement (not sure-it was around the same time they were wrapping up) I would bet that one of the filmed endings did show this explicit death, but since the show was renewed they didn't have to use it.

The only possibility for Joe not coming back is if James Purefoy quits the show, but it is extremely unlikely that he isn't already contracted for a second season.

Yeah .. maybe now Joe comes back as a horribly disfigured Two Face style and he's out for even more revenge this time ..

Yes, he's definitely alive, the head of the network basically says as much,
You don't kill off one of the "two most compelling characters on television" and expect the "thrill ride (to)continue".

Any other way he's coming only on flashbacks, like interviewing his recruits in the prison visit...

If I was the FBI I take a look at that visitor log and arrest everybody in it.. (at the very least investigate/follow them)

good one ..

No doubt it was written both ways, one with Joe dying for real and no knifing of Ryan and Claire scene, and the ending we actually got.

You forgot...

AND this time, it's personal!

Since they do so many flashbacks, any chance they just amp up the Joe flashbacks and have him really be dead?

No. That would require some creativity something sorely lacking in Kevin Williamson's writing.

Oh, but remember-the warden was under The Followers' control for a while. Maybe he destroyed those records. I am remembering some footage of visitors though....but then maybe all those records/footage were only on computer and were deleted by The Folllowers master hacker...or maybe one of the FBI turned out to be a follower and disappeared with the records.

See how they've written this show so that The Followers are capable of almost anything?

It's not a stretch to think a couple of the Followers might even be writers on the show.

that's the thing: I have no doubt they've figured out a way to have a body standing by with some JDNA (Joe DNA) sprinkled liberally all over it to fool the FBI. Joe will then pop up at some point to declare himself alive - probably through some video sent to Hardy's phone after he thinks he's done with the case.

Of course, the date/time stamp of the file will tell them it was shot after his death and they'll do some sort of zoom/enhancement thing on something in the background which turns out to be a digital clock with the date or a newspaper.

Hardy will immediately try to call Clare, only to have Joe answer the phone.

"Clare can't come to the phone now - she's been sealed up behind a wall somewhere...."