Matt Smith reviews episode 10 of The Following season 2…
In the previous season of The Following, the attempted parallels between producers and the show itself was the use of Joe Carroll as a writer. He’d come up with a plan, which actually involved writing a story, and he’d meticulously organised and thought about the eventualities in order to influence those around him. The producers, writers and directors of the first season must’ve been hoping for the same thing and, for the most part, they accomplished their mission of writing something that would take an audience by the scruff of the neck, surprise them throughout and leave them shocked at the ending the producers had constructed.
This season, a similar parallel can be drawn in concerns to Joe Carroll. Again, there’s an obsession, hopefully connecting both Ryan Hardy and the audience to Carroll’s plan. Hardy, stuck in limbo like the audience between seasons, didn’t know what to do with himself besides developing a drinking problem. Hopefully there weren’t audience members doing that, but now Carroll’s back on TV we can refocus on trying to find out what he’s going to do next.
And that brings us to this week’s episode of The Following. Carroll has appeared on television, revealing himself to be alive, and Hardy has refocused his efforts to find him. His obsession with Joe Carroll, while all consuming, hasn’t actually affected anyone else’s life as much as it did previously. He’s grown to become the FBI agent he was before, marking the return of Ryan Hardy.
Something else bought from the first season is Claire Matthews, who in a twist made her return to the series. While this moment, coming at the end of the episode, reeked of shock in order to grab viewers, it’s a little early to comment on whether this is just a calculated move for more audience share or something that will actually lend something dramatically. Joe Carroll’s ability to drive everyone near him to obsession (again, something the producers would probably hope when it comes to audience and show) links to his ability to make people murder. Not just his followers, but both Hardy and Claire, who have forgotten their moral standing in the wake of what Carroll did to them. A neat twist of what Carroll’s influence can do to everyone, on both sides of good and evil.
But Carroll isn’t a God, as much as he’d want to be. Fortunately, he’s made interesting by his very human desire for attention. Why does Carroll do what he does? Before, he was pushed by a love of Poe, but it’s obvious he will use his charisma to gain the infamy that is his true love. The way that’ll be taken away by Ryan Hardy and the FBI actually scares him, and you can hear the desperation in his voice that shows James Purefoy’s performance isn’t just grinning like the fox and gleefully butchering people.
More parallels can be drawn between characters. Everyone’s in bed, everyone’s playing their games. Hardy, using a news reporter to poke at Carroll. The reporter, gaining fame from getting the story first. Carroll, pushing Emma to help him gain followers. The only one who seems to be missing out here is Emma, who in a delightful turn is the one with the most gleeful, and therefore ignorant, smile on her face.
In drawing from the previous season, with the return of Claire and the old relationship between Hardy and Carroll returning, this season might be trying to give the audience what they want. Unfortunately, the ideas and themes bought up in the previous season held up better on close scrutiny. The tragedy of the Hardy death curse is compromised by Claire’s return. And the feeling that the writers of the show planned everything is less evident when the twists come across as shocks designed to keep us watching one more week as opposed to something smart like Carroll planned in the first season.
Like Carroll now, the producers have given up on intelligent writing and have resorted to hopefully passing with charismatic performances, which just makes it seem like things are being made up as they go along. Which is a shame, as some of the parallels discussed above show the series can be a smart one, if it just forgot to worry about keeping viewers interested and just worried about making a good story.
Matt Smith – follow me on Twitter.
Originally published March 27, 2014. Updated April 12, 2018.
