The following: la secta

The Following really is a pretty underrated show. It stars Kevin Bacon and James Purefoy who are both really good actors and are fantastic in this. It's a great thriller from beginning to end. The first season is the best but the other two are still worth watching. I actually think it had another season left in it but I guess they wanted to end it before the quality dropped too much. Each episode ends with you wanting more so this is a show that's good to binge. Admittedly some of the story is ridiculous but if you can just turn off your brain and just enjoy it for what it is then I promise you'll have a good time watching this.

At this writing, The Following is rated 7.7, but most of the reviews are very negative. How can that be? Personally, I find many of the criticisms of this show undeserved.

The Following is not for everyone. It is a very dark and violent tale that takes gore to a new level.

This crime drama is a two-character dance between Joe Carroll, a college professor who turns his academic expertise about E. A. Poe into a cult-driven real life tale of murder, and Ryan Hardy, the object of Carroll's rampage. Both men are intelligent. Like Holmes and Moriarty, they duel in the darkness.

Both men are obsessed. Ryan Hardy (Kevin Bacon) is an alcoholic, plagued by guilt. In the end, he is addicted to Carroll, like Ahab to the white whale. Joe Carroll (James Purefoy) is obsessed with the story he has plotted and cast Hardy in as the tragic hero.

The Following is, really, a horror story. As such, one should recognize the basics of the genre and not disparage them. The surprises hidden in the darkness. The character who, against all good judgment, investigates the shadows. The actor who is compelled to go it alone when reinforcements are advisable.

As a horror story, The Following gives us a worthy villain who, via his army of minions who can be as scary as zombies, terrorizes with an uncanny ability to strike at will.

The Following plumbs the depths of insanity and obsession. Not everyone will want to go there, but the story is literate and the chills are frequent.

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'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.