The Following 1.12
Apr. 10th, 2013 12:42 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
girlofpreyWell. That was a curiously mixed bag of some genuinely interesting and unexpected - for me - character moments, vs some of the most inexplicable plotting I have ever actually seen from the show.
We began with Claire having LITERALLY THE FINEST PLAN TO ESCAPE A CULT/GROUP OF MURDERERS I HAVE EVER SEEN. It was beautiful in it's simplicity. My dad wondered why the cultists were all hanging out in the woods, waiting to emerge eerily. It was a good question, but one that never got answered. Claire in general just doesn't seem to grasp the concept of what living in a house full of murderers is actually going to be like, which is probably something she should have thought of before giving herself up to them, son or no son. I mean, they haven't blackmailed her into telling her son murder is cool by holding the lives of innocent people hostage, like I thought they might. But still, her general indignation that they would be violent and not thinking maybe they would be watching to make sure no-one, especially the people they kidnapped, escaped, is perplexing to say the least. I assumed that she gave herself up to Roderick partly to save Ryan's friend and possibly Ryan from being killed AND to get to Joey, and that she was prepared for the consequences. But if she genuinely thought she'd just turn up, hurl some insults at Joe, then get Joey and walk out then...wow, Claire. Just wow.
Then we had the FBI agents who ONCE AGAIN, after the fiasco of last week, decided that they would lead a raid on the house of what might be a super-connected arms dealer/militia guy with just three agents. Then there was their technique of interrogating a suspect by chaining to a radiator in his own living room, and following his advice about how to get around his house and deal with his jamming technology. A house with no cell phone signal, which they didn't decide to check before entering the house. Then there was the cultist guy who went with Joe and Jacob to get rid of said militia/arms dealer guy, but forgot to wear his Kevlar this time. Unless I was confused and Ryan shot him in the head. This time. It didn't look like Ryan shot him in the head.
Briefly in the middle, there was the fact that Joe apparently, for some reason, had sharpened a pencil ON TOP of his laptop. As far as I could tell? I mean, I know he was stressed, but. That is not good computer care. There was Claire deciding to see if she could use the house internet to send an email. Because it's not like they're really good at making sure no-one and nothing gets out of that house if they don't want it to. Unless she really was going to Joe's computer to read his book, like Roderick told her about, which is what I assumed. In which case you have the fact that she made Joey watch the door so she could read it in secret, and then immediately told Joe she'd read it when he got home. I guess she wanted to get to the end? Without anyone stopping her?
The one rule I remember about Claire from last week was that no-one was allowed to cut or bruise her face. Emma hit her in a way that suggested she should have done one or both, and I genuinely thought that might end up being a confrontation she and Joe would have, but no. They just had sex instead.
Also, Ryan apparently HASN'T thought that maybe his neighbour is a cultist. Or he just has a really, really good gameface. His general, low-level lack of trust in anyone they meet during the investigation, and his general tendency to shoot cultists dead, suggest to me that maybe there will be a 'twist' when she finally does try to kill him, and he'll be all "I suspected for a while, OBVIOUSLY". But there's no guarantee anyone will be that on the ball, of course.
But then we ended with the revelation that Ryan has, in fact, killed someone in cold blood. Which I did not see coming, until he made that comment about "making sure you don't do anything you can't live with". Maybe there really is a place for him in Joe's cult, after all. It doesn't seem to have given him any amazing, serial killer recognising superpowers though. And once again, it was - he was forcing the guy to take heroin at gunpoint, and I know the guy was high, but he was saying "I don't need anymore". Like, I'm pretty sure that point at which you think you have a say about how many drugs you inject into your body is not when you're being forced to do so at gunpoint. Still. Ryan's a mur-diddly-urdler. And Joe didn't pick up on his slight slip during the conversation. Hmm.
OH MY GOD AND ALSO, we had Roderick come up at the end, when if he'd talked to Joe at all, he knew that the FBI agent who SAW HIS FACE was somewhere on the scene. Never mind the fact that Mike gave them all a picture and a description of his accent and they didn't even slightly recognise him. NEVER mind the fact that they still have that prison visiting hours footage and signing in book that they could probably pull him off of IF THEY TRIED. Unless he hacked into the system and deleted it. But didn't delete Emma or Paul or Jacob or anyone else visiting Joe. Ugh.
We began with Claire having LITERALLY THE FINEST PLAN TO ESCAPE A CULT/GROUP OF MURDERERS I HAVE EVER SEEN. It was beautiful in it's simplicity. My dad wondered why the cultists were all hanging out in the woods, waiting to emerge eerily. It was a good question, but one that never got answered. Claire in general just doesn't seem to grasp the concept of what living in a house full of murderers is actually going to be like, which is probably something she should have thought of before giving herself up to them, son or no son. I mean, they haven't blackmailed her into telling her son murder is cool by holding the lives of innocent people hostage, like I thought they might. But still, her general indignation that they would be violent and not thinking maybe they would be watching to make sure no-one, especially the people they kidnapped, escaped, is perplexing to say the least. I assumed that she gave herself up to Roderick partly to save Ryan's friend and possibly Ryan from being killed AND to get to Joey, and that she was prepared for the consequences. But if she genuinely thought she'd just turn up, hurl some insults at Joe, then get Joey and walk out then...wow, Claire. Just wow.
Then we had the FBI agents who ONCE AGAIN, after the fiasco of last week, decided that they would lead a raid on the house of what might be a super-connected arms dealer/militia guy with just three agents. Then there was their technique of interrogating a suspect by chaining to a radiator in his own living room, and following his advice about how to get around his house and deal with his jamming technology. A house with no cell phone signal, which they didn't decide to check before entering the house. Then there was the cultist guy who went with Joe and Jacob to get rid of said militia/arms dealer guy, but forgot to wear his Kevlar this time. Unless I was confused and Ryan shot him in the head. This time. It didn't look like Ryan shot him in the head.
Briefly in the middle, there was the fact that Joe apparently, for some reason, had sharpened a pencil ON TOP of his laptop. As far as I could tell? I mean, I know he was stressed, but. That is not good computer care. There was Claire deciding to see if she could use the house internet to send an email. Because it's not like they're really good at making sure no-one and nothing gets out of that house if they don't want it to. Unless she really was going to Joe's computer to read his book, like Roderick told her about, which is what I assumed. In which case you have the fact that she made Joey watch the door so she could read it in secret, and then immediately told Joe she'd read it when he got home. I guess she wanted to get to the end? Without anyone stopping her?
The one rule I remember about Claire from last week was that no-one was allowed to cut or bruise her face. Emma hit her in a way that suggested she should have done one or both, and I genuinely thought that might end up being a confrontation she and Joe would have, but no. They just had sex instead.
Also, Ryan apparently HASN'T thought that maybe his neighbour is a cultist. Or he just has a really, really good gameface. His general, low-level lack of trust in anyone they meet during the investigation, and his general tendency to shoot cultists dead, suggest to me that maybe there will be a 'twist' when she finally does try to kill him, and he'll be all "I suspected for a while, OBVIOUSLY". But there's no guarantee anyone will be that on the ball, of course.
But then we ended with the revelation that Ryan has, in fact, killed someone in cold blood. Which I did not see coming, until he made that comment about "making sure you don't do anything you can't live with". Maybe there really is a place for him in Joe's cult, after all. It doesn't seem to have given him any amazing, serial killer recognising superpowers though. And once again, it was - he was forcing the guy to take heroin at gunpoint, and I know the guy was high, but he was saying "I don't need anymore". Like, I'm pretty sure that point at which you think you have a say about how many drugs you inject into your body is not when you're being forced to do so at gunpoint. Still. Ryan's a mur-diddly-urdler. And Joe didn't pick up on his slight slip during the conversation. Hmm.
OH MY GOD AND ALSO, we had Roderick come up at the end, when if he'd talked to Joe at all, he knew that the FBI agent who SAW HIS FACE was somewhere on the scene. Never mind the fact that Mike gave them all a picture and a description of his accent and they didn't even slightly recognise him. NEVER mind the fact that they still have that prison visiting hours footage and signing in book that they could probably pull him off of IF THEY TRIED. Unless he hacked into the system and deleted it. But didn't delete Emma or Paul or Jacob or anyone else visiting Joe. Ugh.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-04-10 09:56 am (UTC)They need tasers. They know how much the cult would rather die than be caught, they need tasers and tranquilisers. And competence. Just a tiny bit of competence would go so far in their investigating.
How are they going to find plot for another season? They can't all carry on being this terribly stupid. I loved Joe patronisingly telling Ryan he was bright because he knew he couldn't kill Mike. I hope he was being as sarcastic as he sounded. Although his ridiculous cult is nearly as dim as the police so it's a bit kettle/pot. I suppose it makes sense for the cult to be stupid and make no sense, because Joe is really bad at writing books. Maybe he'll hire a ghost writer and things will pick up.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-04-10 08:29 pm (UTC)I am genuinely wondering if getting a second series for their show caused them to rewrite the plot in a way that made no sense, or whether it was always going to be this bad and the network should have held off for a few more weeks. But I don't know about their second season. The FBI now sort of knows about the house, with another four weeks to find it, and the cult is sort of falling apart, with everyone hating and trying to kill each other. So I can't imagine their current set-up continuing. Maybe the cult will split up, so next season will be Joe and Joe's cult vs ex-cultists vs FBI vs the public. I feel like I could vaguely root for a cult offshoot run by Roderick and Emma, for a while at least.
I have a private hope that in the last episode Ryan will reveal, to Joe and the rest of the cult, that he murdered a guy, and he wants them to know that, the fact is, killing ultimately just won't make them feel better, so they should just be murderers who get over it. And then like half the cultists are like 'well, we like YOUR religion way better'. And then season 2 will be CULT WARS, between "Carrollism" and Hardyism. While Ryan tries desperately to explain to his new cult that that's not what he meant. But since the handful of FBI agents actually on this high-profile case ended up getting killed, he has no choice but to accept their help. That probably won't happen though.
In fairness to the FBI, I suppose even when they do catch cult members alive they tend to kill themselves while hooked up to machines that should let people know they're trying to kill themselves, and taking cyanide pills from inside their own skin. Maybe they have just given up catching cultists as a bad job.
Have you seen the transcripts people made of what they could see of Joe's book? I found one here (http://heartsojetlagged.tumblr.com/post/47540917768/this-is-a-story-about-death-with-it-comes-great). It's...remarkable.