Matt Smith reviews the season two premiere of The Following…
And so it returns. I think that’s how the followers of Joe Carroll would’ve preferred to say it, what with their grandiose entrance to a train carriage. At least after the longest ‘Previously on…’ in the history of television.
What with that having to be gotten through, the fates of the Matthews clan are unfortunately glossed over as quickly as the producers probably decided they didn’t need her anymore. Claire dies in less time it takes for the extras on the train to, and Joey is explained away with a line. The most relentless of those exits does bring back the infamous death curse of Ryan Hardy though, starting this series on the rather tragic note the series is used to playing.
Another re-introduction is the train scene, which is a stabby, gruesome return to form. The scene does make up for the time lost between series, in a dark sort of way. And you know something’s going to happen when the camera starts picking out individual faces in a crowd. While the surprise is non-existent from the start, the high tension and guessing game of who the killer is makes a welcome return. Complete with creepy masks, this time unnerving because of their resemblance to Joe himself as opposed to Edgar Allen Poe. Joe Carroll has replaced the mythical legend he was always inspired by, in the most twisted way possible.
Agent Mike Weston makes a comeback, in the evermore set-upon guise of Shawn Ashmore. Starting out as a rookie eager to please, his is the character journey perhaps most underrepresented. An entire series could be devoted to his travels through the dark and murky world he’s been pulled into by Ryan Hardy, one in which Hardy now refuses to help.
His introduction is a horrid mixture of stupidity and exposition (‘the grand jury made no indictments’? How would Weston not know this already and be back on duty? Someone at the FBI has dropped the ball down a sewer, into the caverns and away with the fairies and the writer expects us not to notice), but once he’s there a tumultuous relationship with Hardy is set up and promised. This could be the most entertaining part of the show, as two men who are fighting for the same thing (in relatively similar ways) fight against each other as well.
Another new element introduced is the new set of cults. Now Carroll’s gone, his followers have split up and formed their own groups, still dedicated to his memory. Carroll’s leadership in the first series was interesting in that it turned out to be highly flawed. While the new batch seem equal parts terrifying and violent (with a new dimension of weirdness from a couple of murderous twins), hopefully something else is revealed that makes them as compelling as the main man and his efforts.
The striking imagery and slow burn of the first series make a return. The shot of a murder victim, tied to a bench and forced to read Joe Carroll’s book even in death, is revealed slowly, just as everything else seems to be set up for a more promising payoff later on. And while Joe Carroll’s return could be called either a classic or cliché sting depending on where you sit on such things, it looks like this first episode was more of a shocking (and well produced) prologue to the main story to come.
In that spirit, it is a shame they skipped over the grief Hardy would have felt for Claire Matthews, but like the previous series, it looks like they’re playing the long game. Hopefully that means this episode is just a glimpse of things to come, seeds sown to grow, and that Ryan Hardy and his ever-decreasing band of companions reveal the truth in the end. Whether that’s the truth of what they’re really feeling, the truth behind Carroll and his followers or both remains to be seen. And I can’t wait to find out.
Matt Smith – follow me on Twitter.
Originally published January 26, 2014. Updated April 11, 2018.
