The Following (TV Series) Pilot (2013) User Reviews

Crime - Check, Drama - Check, Thrill - Check

[Aptosblue · 9/10 · 22 January 2013]

Okay so most shows labeled thrillers usually are, well, not thrilling. I can honestly say the pilot gave me a thrill and kind of scared me, not in the classical sense, but it got my heart going.

Kevin Bacon is was outstanding and I can see why he took this role, the script is quite amazing. Kevin Bacon plays ex-cop Ryan Hardy who was taken out of the field after getting stabbed near the heart by a serial killer he was chasing while saving a girl.

James Purefoy plays Joe Carroll, who is the primary antagonist. Carroll isn't any regular bad guy, he's a genius and an artistic man. He thinks himself as a modern day Edgar Allen Poe who thought "The death of a beautiful woman is the most beautiful thing in the world".If you've seen the movie Law Abiding Citizen, well he is kind of like that guy, he maneuvers his killings from prison. He really is the perfect villain as the protagonists can maintain contact with him, even visually, they still know he is the one who is perpetrating the killings. Making this show very unique.

With an above average plot and two very good actors, how could this show go bad? If the rest of the series is anything like the pilot, this show will have great success. This show isn't just another sheep in a field of snow, it's new, different, and has a twist.

Really a Great Pilot! Bacon vs Purefoy!

[ShelbyTMItchell · 9/10 · 25 January 2013]

It is much better than the Alcatraz one last year! It has character development. And that it has characters you want to care about.

Kevin Bacon is the lead character, as worn down protagonist and alcoholic Ryan Hardy, now an author. As he was the only law enforcement agent that brought down the main antagonist Joe Carroll, played with great acting by British actor, James Purefoy.

Carroll is a professor whom also has a wife that is a professor and ex-love interest to Hardy, Natalie Zea who's son Joe is Carroll's son.

While except for one agent, Shawn Ashmore who worships Hardy, the other agents view him as a liability. Rather than an asset. But Hardy must slowly yet surely gain their trust since he was in charge of the original case of Carroll's.

Maggie Grace is only in one episode as she is trying to get into a movie career. So won't spoil how she fits into the show.

Great start and a great pilot! Kevin Bacon and James Purefoy rocks!

1.1 ***1/2

[edwagreen · 9/10 · 9 February 2013]

Edgar Allen Poe coming back to life and throw quite a curve as this interesting series seems to suggest.

A college literature professor, an expert on the latter author, goes over the top and begins killing women. His imagery of death coincides with Poe's fascination with this morbid subject.

Kevin Bacon stars as the agent who brought the serial killer to justice only to be physically hurt by him. Bacon has also carried on an affair with the professor's wife.

Even though our professor has been apprehended following his escape from jail, it now appears that he has formed a cult of fellow killers who follow his every command. You begin to wonder who is in this cult and what shall happen next.

Is anyone really safe here?

Too Much Plot?

[Hitchcoc · 8/10 · 16 August 2017]

I enjoy Kevin Bacon who has taken to playing law enforcement officers with dark beginnings. He is relatively unresponsive to inquiries. He goes rogue. He has paid a price for his successes: a bad heart and a broken soul. In this one, a psychotic college professor (I wish life had been so exciting when I taught college English) is submerged in Edgar Allen Poe. He is serial killer, attacking women. He is horrible in his methodology and starts off the first episode by killing three guards and escaping. He has is sights set on Bacon, who sent him up the river. He has become the head of a cult, so his tentacles reach beyond his location. I will watch another one of these, but I don't know if I want to see young women slaughtered week after week. A couple of interesting plot elements are the total incompetence of the police and the complexity of his far reaching control. Still, it is quite good so far and pretty engaging.

AMAZING! Hold onto your seats! It's CRAZY GOOD!!!

[jmcamueller-589-673709 · 10/10 · 22 January 2013]

LOVED this! Literally on the edge of my seat the whole time... I screamed once... LOL There are amazing twists and turns... AMAZING!!! I kept thinking it was a movie because of the non stop action but then realized it will be on EVERY WEEK!!! I would recommend definitely not for a weak stomach as there is a lot of violence and blood but it is AN AMAZING SHOW! It's Taken meets Silence of the Lambs with a little bit of James Patterson... Finally something that can keep you guessing and will have me looking forward to next week already!!!! HURRY UP!! When I heard Kevin Bacon was going to be in it, I set my DVR because he is amazingly talented... I have now watched it and it is a now being recorded for the whole serious as PERMANENT RECORDING FOR SURE!!! AWESOME! It's on FOX... SET YOUR DVRS!!