The mid-season turn has come and passed, and Joe Carroll
is out of prison and with his cult. For
the first time this season “The Following” has given me an episode I didn’t
roll my eyes at. The second half of the
season kicks off with an interesting twist to the drama and the bureau losing
faith in Hardy. Also, an interesting
moment in the episode that made me wonder about some of the problems I’ve had
with this show in the past.
The season starts and ends with Joe Carroll’s cult which
almost says to me that the cult will be taking more of the spotlight of the
series. Obviously, the cult has played a
big part of the story so far, but the focus has been on Hardy’s attempts to
stop Carroll’s cult. The cult members
and Carroll got some screen time and characterization, but the episodes were
driven by the bureau’s attempts to catch the members of Carroll’s cult and
bring Joey home. This episode became a
different monster entirely. The cult has
taken the wheel of the show and is dictating the action, which is an
interesting decision for the show runners to make.
Even more interesting than the shift of viewpoint is how
the cult is depicted. This episode
changes the dynamic of the cult.
Carroll, their kind of savior, coming home to them has changed how they
act. Before this episode, the only
members of the cult that we get to know are Emma, Jacob, and Paul, with some
minor cult members floating in and out of episodes. Their characters, while believable people for
the most part, were depicted as severely unstable and obviously disturbed while
being a little cold. The love triangle
between Jacob, Emma, and Paul never made me care for them or had an impact with
my emotions. They seemed like cold
blooded murderers and kidnappers, but in this episode the cult is a caring
place. The killers are still unstable
and disturbed, but they really care for each other. The scene that comes to mind is the sacrifice
scene.
After failing to learn where the FBI is keeping Claire
Matthews, one of the cult members offers his life to Joe. A scene that could easily be brutal is
instead touchingly beautiful. Joe
Carroll embraces is follower and comforts him while he eases the knife into his
stomach, then lowering him gingerly to the floor. The scene made you care about the cult member
and you could feel the love and trust that he and Carroll share. I was actually touched by this horrible
image. It is moments like this that will
make this show worth watching
While all of this is going on, Hardy is facing his own
troubles with the FBI. After a failed
man-hunt and an escaped prisoner, who was only allowed to escape because of
being mistreated by Hardy, the bureau takes Hardy off the case and puts a real
agent, Nick Donovan, in charge. He
obviously causes trouble and frustration amongst Hardy and the few people who
were trying to catch Carroll, but the most interesting part of this story is
how he is introduced. He gives a speech
introducing himself to his agents, and he notes the failures of the bureau so
far. This makes me think about all of
the times I complained about the ineptitude of the characters on this
show. When Nick Donovan shows disbelief
that Carroll could escape in a helicopter are the writers saying they wrote the
characters to be dumb on purpose? I don’t
see why they would do this or what they would have to gain from it, but if they
did write the bureau agents as dumb on purpose then they must hate the FBI.
I actually really enjoyed this episode. Unlike some of the episodes of the past, “The
Following” successfully completed 42 minutes of story without me rolling my
eyes in disgust at the idiocy of a character that allows the killers to
succeed. The plot and character arcs are
satisfying and it gives me a little hope about the rest of this season, and
maybe even this series, although I shouldn’t get ahead of myself.
3/5
No comments:
Post a Comment