Kevin Williamson's Hollywood career has been impressive, and while he's most famous for writing several Scream movies and creating Dawson's Creek and The Vampire Diaries, Williamson was also the creative force behind the Kevin Bacon horror TV show The Following. Over three seasons, Ryan Hardy, a former F.BI. agent who learns that Joe Carroll (James Purefoy) has left prison and is now on the loose. While it makes sense that a member of the F.B.I. would want to capture a serial killer and bring justice to the victims, Ryan and Joe have a very intense relationship.
Although The Following isn't the most popular TV show and it's fair to say that the later seasons are lackluster, the first season is worth watching. There are many reasons why these episodes are excellent TV.
The Character Development Is Great
.jpg?q=50&fit=crop&w=1500&dpr=1.5)
Season 1 of The Following also has excellent character development. The newer characters in seasons 2 and 3 aren't as interesting, and the cult leaders and followers don't pack as much of a punch as they should. But Ryan Hardy and Joe Carroll are interesting characters and viewers will want to keep watching them to see the cat and mouse game that they keep playing.
Kevin Bacon does a good job in the smart haunted house movie You Should Have Left and he excels in his role in The Following. Ryan always wanted to capture Joe and now he is coming back to the industry so he can finish what he started. Complicating things is Claire Matthews (Natalie Zea), Joe's daughter who Ryan has fallen in love with.
While the characters beyond season 1 aren't as compelling, Joe, Ryan, and Claire are fascinating to watch. Ryan and Claire feel like real people who have been put in a scary and impossible situation. Joe is creepy without feeling like a caricature. Since fans know that Joe used to be a prof. and that he's very intelligent, and now he's leading a cult from prison, at least there is some context given to his evil nature.
There's A Strong Story Arc, Like A Horror Movie
The Following aired for three seasons on Fox from 2013 to 2015, and while seasons 2 and 3 are pretty bad (with season 2 focusing on a cult and season 3 seeing Joe Carroll on death row), season 1 is pretty close to perfect TV. The best thing about it? These 15 episodes are well-written, well-acted, and feel like a complete story.
In the pilot episode, viewers learn about Ryan becoming an FBI agent again so he can hunt Joe down. Ryan finds that there are many people who are followers of Joe's and who might be just as dangerous. Halfway through season 1, fans find out that Ryan is in love with Claire, which adds a new layer. There are some problems, as Ryan's colleagues think that he can't really track Joe down, and Ryan has to stand up for himself and keep going.
The season 1 finale, "The Final Chapter," is well-done and the last scene is like something out of a horror movie. Instead of a vague horror movie ending where anything could have happened, Molly (Jennifer Ferrin), who has a crush on Ryan, comes to Ryan's apartment and stabs Ryan and Claire. While fans do have to wait until the season 2 premiere to find out if Ryan and Claire have survived, it's fairly clear that Ryan will live since there are going to be more episodes about him. This conclusion is terrifying and it feels inevitable, as Ryan and Claire are always going to be in danger. Joe will never let them go and Joe and his followers are just as obsessed with Ryan as Ryan is with Joe.
It's Genuinely Scary
Season 1 of The Following is as terrifying as the scariest horror movies, and that's definitely because season 1 is its own, self-contained story.
In an interview with Showbiz Junkies, Kevin Williamson shared how season 2 is a different show than season 1: “We’re resetting the show, we’re telling a whole new show. I sort of see the whole thing as the first season ended the way that Joe Carroll wanted his final chapter of the book to be. In the pilot episode he said, ‘You know, my first book was too avant-garde and we’re going to go a little more traditional this time.’ And, that’s what he did: tradition. The hero killed the villain and it came complete with a Glenn Close surprise at the end with Molly. That’s as traditional as you can get.”
Seasons 2 and 3 are much less scary than season 1, mostly because viewers get to actually see the cult followers. Season 1 is more horrifying because while fans start realizing that there are some evil people out there who believe in Joe Carroll, imagining that there are many of them out in the world is a lot scarier than making them the main event of the series.