The Following Series... My Thoughts and Reviews

#TheFollowing     #MyReviews

For those who haven't yet watched this series, my review contains spoiler. 

The Following is a crime thriller which has a strong following of its own. It is one of those psychopath killer mystery that makes you wonder about its script writer i.e. how could a normal person write the extents that are shown here, yes it means it goes to that extent.

Just to give you a quick summary of the show, it is based on a psychopath serial killer Joe Carroll, played by James Purefoy, who is fixated on and is obsessed with an ancient writer Edgar Allan Poe, who wrote in 1800s. He is that charming professor in a college on whom every girl has her eyes on, however, being a professor was not just his profession, he also liked part-time killing job. In his obsession he murders 14 innocent women in most gruesome way and shows no remorse whatsoever. If you cannot tolerate murder shows, the description itself will give you nightmares, hence wont write here. 

Ryan Hardy, played by Kevin Bacon, is a retired FBI agent who catches Joe initially and now is reinstated in Bureau after Joe's escape. Its Ryan's job to catch Joe again, as he understands him best, however it should be noted that they both share a different relation in Joe's head which is not of cop & criminal, instead it is of friends and best buddies ever.

The series attraction point is the cult that Joe creates even while he is in prison. He has numerous followers which neither FBI or any other agency is able to comprehend. Although their loyalty is worth noting, the factor that haunts the viewers is the fact that all his followers have murdered at least once and they take pleasure in doing it. In few episodes they even  describe which is the way they like murdering best, is it stabbing, strangling, suffocating or something else. One of the dialogues of the show is, 'I like killing, Killing is what I do...'. Kindda scary hey!

The show has 3 seasons so far and in each season the writer introduces a next level psychopath. The first season it is Joe Carroll, who is charming professor who kills women to satiate an undefined need to kill. Next is Lily Grey & her twins who are obsessed with Joe Carroll and their psychopathy is even beyond him. The latest is Theo Nobel who is a genius, ghost, excellent hacker and kills just to have fun. Throughout the show many other psychopath killers are introduced as well, some of them are so aggravating that they will chill you to your soul and make cases like 'Suitcase murder' (not that I should compare with real life incidence) look like child's play

You might wonder why would someone watch such gruesome show, and the reason is, it's simply awesome. It is one of the only murder shows where FBI is short-handed and criminals are at least 10 steps ahead of them. They play, lure and kill agents and officials as if only they are trained to get murdered at hands of these killers (well apart from our 3 lead FBI agents Ryan Hardy, his niece Max Hardy played by Jessica Stroup and her boyfriend Mike Watson played by Shawn Ashmore). 

Apart from awesomeness, the show presents excellent thrill which keeps you on edge of your seat and always makes you wonder what will happen next. However, it is a very 'heavy on mind' kind of show and the one that you cannot watch just by downloading or ordering a CD or Netflix. After an episode, you need a break, although I didn't do that and had a Following marathon weekend, trust me and don't do that, I got worse nightmares.

The show also teaches us something very crucial. It teaches us that we should always be on guard because a psychopath doesn't show traits of psychopathy in his/her usual behaviour. The most charming person you know, your neighbour, person behind you in a queue and even your partner can be a psychopath. Not saying that you stop trusting people and start accusing everyone, but its always good to stay on guard so that you are safe at all times.

My rating for the show and creative psychopathy is 4.5/5, however, don't watch if you can't tolerate shows with ruthless killing and murdering for pleasure kind; It is not for weak-hearted people. However if you can watch all this and like a good thrill and mystery then its is must watch and don't think watching & liking this show will make you or show  you as psychopath. I love this show and hey, I am not one.

The show just finished airing season 3 and I would have loved to see it come back for season 4, but unfortunately, much to my and all other fan's discontent, FOX has cancelled Following.  They always do this with good shows!!!

Anyways, all in all, it was a good watch, if you catch on running on your TV do watch, else grab a copy, you are missing on something really good.

Till then

Take Care