ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

The Following (FOX) - Series Premiere: Synopsis and Review

Updated on June 19, 2013
Source

For those of you who haven’t had enough of cop-shows, there is a new oneon FOX, called ‘The Following’. The series premiere was Januari 21st at 9/8c, and the series stars Kevin Bacon (X-Men: First Class) and James Purefoy (‘Rome’).

The episode starts with an amazingly easy prison break, with a room full of slaughtered guards that go unnoticed just long enough for killer Joe Carroll (Purefoy) to escape. After the escape, former FBI agent Ryan Hardy (Bacon) is called and asked by the FBI to work as a consultant for the team in charge of finding Carroll. Hardy had been the one to capture Carroll the first time. Hardy agrees to help, fills his water bottle with vodka and leaves. At the prison, he meets the FBI agents he will be working with, including Jennifer Mason (Jeananne Goossen, ‘Alcatraz’), and he finds a note directed to him in the book Carroll was reading, the book Hardy wrote about capturing Carroll. The FBI suspects that the note, which is basically just Carroll telling Hardy he liked the book, is a confession by Carroll that he will try to kill again.

At a field office where the case is discussed and civilians who visited Carroll in prison are gathered for interrogation, Hardy learns that Carroll had restricted access to the internet, and he points out that that could have been a means for Carroll to contact the outside world. While the FBI agents are frantically trying to search in the internet records of Carroll’s activities, a woman who is there for interrogation gets a text message saying ‘do it now’, at which point she takes off her dress, revealing that there is writing all over her body, and she takes an icepick out of her purse. As the officers around her, including Hardy, are trying to talk her out of it, she drives the icepick into her eye. They quickly realize this woman has been set up to do this by Carroll.

Through Carroll’s internet records, they find a connection to a prison guard who turned a blind eye when Carroll was on the internet, and they go to his house. He's not there, but they do find out that not only did he abduct puppies, he also slaughtered them. The man is a dog-killer. The FBI figure it was for practice; Carroll was teaching him how to become a serial killer.

When Hardy talks to Carroll’s former wife Claire Matthew (Natalie Zea, ‘Dirty Sexy Money’), we find out Claire and Hardy had a relationship after Carroll was imprisoned. Claire tells Hardy that Carroll was dead set on finishing what he started. Hardy realizes Carroll will be going after Sarah (Maggie Grace, ‘Lost’), Carroll’s last victim who he never got to kill because Hardy stopped him as he was stabbing her.

When Hardy and Jennifer go to Sarah's house to check on the security that was set in place when Carroll escaped, they find two guards missing; the guards in front of her bedroom. In Sarah's bed they find one of the guards dead, and Sarah is nowhere to be found. Ryan finds a hatch between Sarah’s bedroom and the house next door, and they find the second dead guard in there. As Hardy investigates a picture of Sarah’s neighbors, who seem to have been pretending to be an innocent gay couple for three years so they could get close to her and deliver her to Carroll, he notices the name of a B&B and drives there with one of the FBI’s cars (not informing the FBI, which is obviously always a good idea. Not.)

The B&B is old and rundown, but Hardy has a gut feeling and dammit, he's gonna stick with it!
Hearing a woman screaming, Hardy starts running through the house like a chicken with its head cut off, not realizing the screams sound the same every time he hears them (because it is, quite noticeably, a recording). As he enters a room, Carroll is there waiting, smacking him on the head. Carroll then reveals a dead and eyeless Sarah to Hardy. Hardy lashes out at Carroll, who quickly surrenders, wanting to turn himself in. Hardy is ready to kill him, but is stopped by the arrival of the FBI (damn those tracking devices in their cars!)

It would seem the case is over, if it weren't for Carroll's intricate web of new serial killers, and his desire to 'write' a real life story filled with murder and tragedy, even if it means having his followers kidnap his own son.

What do you think about 'The Following'?

See results

‘The Following’ is actually quite a good series, if you’re able to look past the almost unbelievable happenings. I have mentioned a few in my synopsis, and there are many, many more. Small but unbelievable for instance; Hardy can type the name of the B&B and the location on his touchscreen without making a single error. We all know that is just surreal. Also, how extremely convincing is Carroll, getting an extensive group of people to the point where they would kill and be killed because he told them to do so online. Is this the natural evolution of charismatic killers? Are they able to transfer from face to face convincing towards spreading their charismatic messages online? It’s these kinds of things that are harder to believe, but for me they don’t stand in the way of enjoying the story. Well, not too much, at least.

Concluding; it’s an entertaining show, that does have its downsides. For instance: the murders aren’t very original. After all, how many killers have we seen over the years that have a fascination for eyes? And how many cops-with-drinking-issues? Also, the story can be quite unbelievable at times. (An internet based-murdering-cult organized from prison? Really?) However, the acting is great and the storyline could become a very interesting one if they play it right. If the description of the show interested you at all: watch the show. It may not always be believable, but the entertainment-factor is huge.

'The Following' airs on Mondays at 9/8c on FOX.

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)