The following: la secta

I'm going to make this special - 2 reviews in 1. The first will be about the actual series and the second about, well.. idiots.

First thing's first. It's certainly a great start - and I'm not talking just about the good, tragic, dramatic plot but the cast too. We all know that having Kevin Bacon in a movie is a great plus but having James Purefoy as the charismatic serial killer is absolutely amazing. The characters fit on Kevin and James like a glove and they, developing a "nemesis relation" really highlight one another.

The start of the series was off the charts, it was action filled, in a word - extraordinary! Half way through it, I immediately asked myself: How can they keep this up for at least a season?! The answer came in no time. Excellent! Now for the second part of the review. After delighting myself with this first take on "The Following", I jumped back here to see how many people felt just as excited about this new series as I was. Unfortunately, I immediately saw a great deal of idiotic, so-called reviews.

I feel I have the right to call them idiots for a simple reason. Through the magic of deduction, those who complained and rated this '1' read the description (at least the one here on IMDb). Now, I ask you this: You have to be an idiot to read "psychotic serial killer" in the plot and expect him to plant flowers and feed the children in Somalia, right? Damn right! I urge these people to go back either to "Lady and the Tramp" (which was good by the way).. or to those that paid for the disgusting reviews.

Final note: This review is posted after the 1st episode and my rating is 9/10. This will probably (hopefully not) drop as we advance into the story.

GREAT START!

After season 1 addition: Americans / Brits.. if you feel your cops are smarter than this, then.. you've been fooled by all the Sherlock Holmes movies. They are damn straight dumb, and they don't give a s*it about you.. just like in The Following.

Started well but got tiresome after a while. Seemed like twists for the sake of twists. Gave up during Season 2.

Okay so I am reading all these reviews about how bad the plot/story line is, I for one don't understand all the bad reviews???? It's a weekly TV show its not some grand movie that is suppose to have a start and finish its a weekly TV show that's suppose to continue on and on and if you think about cults like Waco and militias like Ruby Ridge well Law enforcement isn't always the most competent and these cult leaders do set up camp right under our noses so its just not that far fetched, look how long Bundy killed before getting caught, but this is from someone who liked Criminal Minds I tend to like shows that get into the criminal psyche. Kevin Bacon is superb and James Purefoy looks like he is having a great time playing this charismatic psychopathy. Lighten up watch this for the entertainment that is a weekly TV show its not meant to be the next great movie of the century that's what Captain Phillips, American Hustle or 12 years a slave is for.

Very watchable series. It's not perfect but few things are. Purefoy is fantastic as the psychopathic serial killer / cult leader. Great performance and completely believable, charismatic and menacing all at once. Really he steals the whole show although Bacon is also very good. I always think he's a bit underrated as an actor yet I've rarely seen him give a bad performance.

Series 1 is the best. Series 2 is not quite as good as it starts to lose focus and ramble a bit. Series 3 is verging on a series too far. The newer characters are more caricature than anything else. Theo and his sister are pretty one dimensional, the plot becomes very thin and much less credible. Purefoy doesn't feature so much in it and it just all becomes a bit messy and drawn out. Trouble is if you watch series 1 and 2 you will want to see how it all ends up but just grit your teeth and you'll get through it!

So the 9 stars are really for the first two series. Definitely worth a watch.

I have to say I really enjoyed The Following more than I though I would. It follows FBI agent Ryan Hardy (Kevin Bacon) as he chases notorious serial killer Joe Carroll (James Purefoy) who escaped death row. Hardy is the one who originally caught Carroll after he killed 14 women. While Carroll was in prison he developed a cult of his followers who will go to any lengths to prove themselves to him and that included murder, abductions, sacrificing themselves, etc. This is an edge of your seat cat and mouse series that's definitely worth a watch. It might have gone a season too much but even that last season is a decent watch.