Following Fox's "The Following": Serial Killers Break into the Network Lineup

 

 

Fox did a great job of promoting its new series, The Following, and the first episode (aired January 21^st) did not disappoint.  Although at first I thought that this show was just capitalizing on the fact that Showtime’s Dexter is drawing to a close (after all we have to get our serial killer fix somewhere, right?), I think the concept is a bit more intelligent than I first gave it credit for. 

 

The idea behind the program is this:  a serial killer, Joe Carroll (James Purefoy), escapes death row to initiate a chain of copycat killings done in his honor (his “following”).   The first episode starts with his escape and then quickly shifts focus to that of the law enforcers tasked with apprehending him once again.  The most important of this group, of course, is the main character, Ryan Hardy (Kevin Bacon).  I fully admit it was Bacon landing this leading role that sold me on watching the show.  It was an excellent casting choice as Bacon plays the reluctant/troubled hero quite well:  a former FBI agent who, having previously cracked the case on Carroll, is drawn back into the fray.  But, as always, it’s more complicated than that.  Hardy is haunted by this former case – how long it took him to solve it (18 months) and how much it cost him (he was severely injured during the initial arrest of Carroll).  The injury lands him on disability from the agency and his act of publishing a book about the case (as well as his reputation as an alcoholic) further estranges him from his former colleagues.  [Spoiler Alert] And the things that he has been able to take comfort in – that he was able to prevent Carroll from killing his last victim, Sarah Fuller (Maggie Grace), and ensure that Carroll’s wife and child would be safe with him in custody – dissolve in this first episode when Carroll recaptures and kills Sarah and starts a plan in motion that includes the kidnapping of his child. 

 

The program is fast paced and quickly launches into the storyline without much exposition and not with the predictability I might have expected.  In fact, I found many things surprising in the first episode.  I was sad to see Fuller die (as I like Maggie Grace), but it just proves the show is not going to shy away from killing characters that viewers quickly grow invested in; I was impressed by just how much gore Fox was able to get away with showing on network television; I enjoyed the revelation that Hardy had had an affair with Carroll’s ex-wife (a romantic storyline being a mandatory component of any drama); and I was surprised to find that Carroll was actually back behind bars by the episode’s end and that all of the death to follow would not be directly at his hands (the scenes with him in the jail remind me of some from Silence of the Lambs – despite Carroll’s imprisonment, it is obvious who holds the power in this scenario). 

 

So:  so far so good.  I like the way this show is starting and I look forward to watching it play out.  (Although admittedly I might be a bit biased.  I’m drawn to the twist the show provides on the makeup of the serial killer. As an English professor myself, I find the thought of a former literature professor killing victims in tribute to Edgar Allan Poe to be intriguing.)  In my opinion, watching this new series will do more than just give viewers a leg up in games of “The Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.”