By MEGHAN O’CONNOR
Staff Writer
Two weeks ago, “The Following” made its third season debut on Fox. Kevin Bacon returns as Ryan Hardy, the ex-FBI agent who has been hunting down Joe Carroll alongside the FBI for two seasons now. However, at the end of the last season, Joe Carroll was finally caught and once again jailed.
When it was announced earlier this year that Joe Carroll would not be the villain of the third season and that the writers would be opening a “new chapter” for Ryan, many viewers started having doubts about this upcoming season, myself included.
Season three does not start off right where season two ended. In fact, it seems as if quite some time has passed. This season opened up with a happy moment, which is unusual for “The Following.” Everyone is celebrating a wedding and overall it seemed like our characters have, for the most part, moved on with their lives and are happy.
That is, until something happens at the wedding. From there, the episode becomes quite the thrill ride. The audience finds out that yes, Joe is no longer the threat for Ryan, but there is a new threat that could be just as bad, if not worse.
The new threat is much more personal in their attacks. At the first crime scene, the bodies are staged in front of a wall. They’re hanging up by stings, giving the eerie feeling as if they’re puppets. Behind them on the wall, in what appears to be blood, are the words “Ryan Hardy is a liar.”
The FBI once again is calling on Ryan to help because it appears as if these murders are all about him. The murder scenes continue to escalate and Ryan figures out that there is, in fact, a point to the way the scenes have been staged.
However, it is not just Ryan that they’re attacking. This new threat is going after everyone, leaving no stone unturned. This season the attacks are becoming more personal and it seems as if no one will be left out.
One by one, the threat starts going after all of the FBI agents on the show that the audience has come to know and love, revealing information along the way that has not been publicized to anyone except the viewers up until this point.
But who is the new threat? Some old faces are back for revenge and seem to be cracking at the seams. At the same time, there are definitely new faces who clearly have their own agendas as well.
Hunter Parrish, known for his run on the show “Weeds,” is new to the cast, playing a follower. While it’s certainly clear that he enjoys the more gruesome aspects of life and the tasks he is supposed to carry out, it seems as if he is just biding his time until he can accomplish what he personally wants to do. Which begs the question, will there be more than one Following this season?
While all this is going on, the audience is also learning some new personal details involving Ryan. When the second season ended, Ryan was involved with a reporter. When season three opens up, he is no longer with the reporter but with a new woman and the reporter has essentially vanished from the show.
Their relationship seems to be much more serious, giving the impression that Ryan has finally been able to move forward with his life, not just professionally but personally. Yet as things continue to escalate throughout the episode, we see Ryan trying to push the people he cares about away so that they don’t get hurt.
Overall, the season premiere of “The Following” had a lot of intense moments and an amazing plot twist. This is what the show is known for and it’s good to see the writers continuously bring this to the forefront of the show.
Kevin Bacon continues to excel at playing Ryan, even with his new emotional subplots. The supporting cast is just as strong as Kevin Bacon, bringing their A-game throughout their scenes. It was a very strong premiere episode for “The Following.”
However, I could not help but feel like something was missing throughout the episode, and that something would be Joe Carroll. The show from the beginning has always been about Joe, always about trying to hunt Joe down, always about what Joe was going to do next, and suddenly the audience is left without Joe.
There were scenes throughout the episode where I thought maybe, just maybe, he would come back in a surprise twist and I was disappointed every time that he did not show up.
The void is clear throughout the episode. Yes, we have new characters. Yes, there are new villains, but the audience wasn’t looking for new villains. We loved Joe as our cheif bad guy.
I can hope, as the weeks progress, that they will actually bring back Joe, since he usually doesn’t stay away too long. But I can’t help but feel like, if they don’t bring him back, the show might lose its own following. While it was a strong comeback in general, I personally missed Joe too much to really enjoy the episode.
