The Following 1.13

[girlofprey]

Well, RIP Roderick. I'm assuming he's dead, anyway. He got shot a bunch of times and they didn't seem concerned with him at the end of the episode. I mean, they were too busy letting people stab them in the eyes I guess, but still. It's a shame, because I probably liked Roderick the best out of the last few episodes. And not just because he's Wes. He was amused and annoyed by everything. And his character made sense from one second to the next, unlike almost everyone else's. Oh well.

I do kind of like The Following's tendency to kill off characters randomly and with no warning, but at this point it's sort of like they keep setting up potentially interesting characters and then getting rid of them before they get interesting. Which is fine, but if we're genuinely supposed to only really be interested in Joe, Claire and Ryan, maybe they should write them better. Just sayin'.

So. We basically still have Emma. Who I'm willing to be interested in if the whole thing with her being traumatised by killing her mother, and not really being likely to get what she wants out of Joe/the cult thing comes back, and comes good. If the ending is going to be her getting over her mummy issues and Jacob getting over his daddy issues and then riding off into the serial killer sunset, I'm going to not care. Unless it's them both sort of getting over their issues and then dying. I could manage with that, I guess.

Claire's stabbing plan wasn't great, but it was better than her 'living with Joe and trying not to get pregnant again' plan, I guess. Also, Joey's an idiot. Like, if you don't trust Jacob RUN AWAY WHEN YOU SEE HIM. Or run away WHEN HE'S BUSY HAVING A SHOOTOUT. But no. Also, it's a shame they can only get the FBI boss guy on board by making him as ridiculous as Ryan and the gang. But I'm guessing he won't be on board at all next week, due to being severely injured. Oh well.

Comments

[elfinessy.livejournal.com]

Yeah - I kinda enjoy it but I don't like Clare and I don't like Ryan. Oddly Joe's the only one I do actually like and I don't think that's right....

[girlofprey.livejournal.com]

I'm not really a big fan of Joe, although he does seem to be the only one having fun. I do kind of like Ryan, even though he's ridiculous, and I did like Claire up until I saw her reaction to being locked up in a cult house. They locked the gates??? How could they??? But it's so hard to take any of them seriously when they're all just idiots. And apparently, they're probably the only common thread that'll take us through to the second series.

I just find it so strange that the whole show is so different from the concept they were talking about before it started, and so different from how it was in the first few episodes. I really don't know how they're going to carry what scrap of a plot they have into a series 2, and apparently it won't be on the strength of all their characters. Because most of them are dead.

[elfinessy.livejournal.com]

That's the problem with "high concept" shows - they have an arc and once it's done, it's done, which is right as long as a) they have an arc in mind and b) they are allowed to complete it.

[girlofprey.livejournal.com]

Yeah, when the show first started I kind of hoped it'd get a second series because I liked the first few episodes and I really like Kevin Bacon, so it'd be nice to see him around more. But even then I just couldn't see how they'd do it, because to end the season they'd either have to catch Joe, which would be the end of it, or not catch him, which would be rubbish. But then they did get a second series. I'd be genuinely interested to know if the nonsense they're writing now is a product of a quick rewrite to eke out the concept, or if this is genuinely, somehow, what they always had in mind.