Matt Smith reviews the second episode of The Following season 2…
With the sensational prologue played out on our screens last week, it’s time to settle down and set out stall. Now is the time to set up for the series to come. So, in a dump of possible plot avenues perhaps rivalled only by the movie Prometheus, questions without answers are behind every corner with this week’s episode of The Following.
The series, and the characters themselves, seem to be hiding things from its audience. When did Joe Carroll meet his new family? How much does he know about the new branches of his cult? Did the producers think they’d get it past the audience in creating an almost-exact copy of Agent Parker from the first series? And, in the fantastic paranoia-filled tone of the series, who is the lone survivor of the first episode’s train massacre, really?
While she could be a follower, it looks at the moment like she’s filling the shoes of Claire Matthews, the murdered former love of Hardy’s life death being somewhat skipped over in last week’s episode. And that’s where this week’s episode feels a bit cold, as each character that was cut from the previous series seems to have been replaced. They even have a young child for Hardy to rescue this week. And with a fantastically obvious piece of exposition, Agent Parker is replaced. Hopefully this series is something new, as opposed to just retracing steps.
The window into Joe’s new life, as he attempts to hide away with a new family, is interesting as he fields questions about why he’s a killer. With events of this week, it’s almost as if the titles of this week’s and last week’s episode (‘For Joe’ and ‘Resurrection’ respectively) should have been switched, as the murders committed in honour of Joe have revitalised him in the most sinister way possible.
Something that does make a welcome return is Joe Carroll’s twisting, turning style of delivery. At times a snake, at times as if twisted by one, James Purefoy’s performance of a stumbling, self-questioning leader is probably the most layered character at this point, closely followed by Kevin Bacon’s Ryan Hardy. Purefoy’s stumbling delivery is at times equally comical and frightening as he struggles to decide what to do. What will happen when a man with such obvious power over people doesn’t quite know what his plan should be?
Ryan Hardy is a lot more driven. Chasing through the streets after getting hit by a car last week, it’s almost as if his pacemaker doesn’t make the slightest difference to his physicality anymore. He’s fighting off criminals like the pacemaker isn’t even there. He and every other protagonist should have realised by now, however, that call traces never work as they’re supposed to.
To sum up this episode, the tone of the overall series is just about maintained but it suffers from an overabundance of setting up plot points and character arcs. New characters are also set up but relationships seem too similar to the first series for them to matter that much. Really, it’s more about whether The Following can give a good enough pay off for the stumbles of this episode to be worth it. From previous efforts I’d be willing to bet it will be worth it, but only time will tell.
Matt Smith – follow me on Twitter.
Originally published January 29, 2014. Updated April 11, 2018.
