That box reveal, however, does represent what the show does best: being creepy without having to be gory. The contents of the box are discussed before and after its reveal, sitting in a sparsely lit abandoned hallway with a little trickle of blood oozing down around it. It’ll be burnt in your brain for weeks, no doubt, and the show, whose gleeful acts of public violence can be intoxicating, needs to learn how to slow down for moments like this more often.
The second episode of the season delves a bit more into the dynamics of the new followers, who are revealed to be followers of a psychopath other than Joe Carroll. They set up a sting to trap the FBI into admitting past transgressions, reigning in the family of one of Ryan and Mike’s coworkers to get them all to admit the truth. With so little characterization given to the new crazies, it’s hard not to compare them to the likes of Emma and the twins from last season. They’ll undoubtedly get their own let’s-kill-our-mom moment in the sun, but for now, they read a little more blah than GAH!
“C’mon, lets go kill some people,” mutters a character barely halfway through the season three premiere. It’s an invitation that holds no subtext to the recipients watching, the most squeamish and morally upright of which will probably have switched the channel before the title card rolls. But that’s okay. The Following, while darkly fun, has never been – or aspired to be – more than what it is: a serial killer drama with a penchant for the dramatic. Hints at the return of Carroll should tie in those long-running fans, but I’m not sure what the show has to offer newcomers, if anything. Again: that’s okay. Season three doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it does at least start spinning it again, especially following season two’s uncomfortably protracted continuation of the Carroll arc.
Like a serial killer itself, the show has shown desperation to re-stage the same scenes and the same crimes, over-and-over again, wanting Bacon and Purefoy to face off as long as possible. But, repetition, as they say, is the death of art. And though The Following may not exactly be appointment viewing anymore – the show’s most gasp-inducing twists still essentially boil down to: THEY’RE CRAZY! – you’ve gotta hand it to the show runners for at least attempting to finally leave Carroll behind, if only sparsely.
And that’s arguably the biggest issue here: it’s a show that’s felt long in the tooth since the season one finale, and hasn’t fared very well in attempting to justify its own existence following that episode. Season three, while safe, does appear to be slightly more reinvigorated following the growing repetitiveness of season two. It’s a tempting box to open, and open it you will – repeatedly, thanks to some nasty cliffhangers – but every time you close it, leaving its very specifically grisly contents behind for another week, it may begin to get harder and harder to re-open.
Good
Like one of its insanity-prone followers, The Following re-stages the same crimes and re-visits the same story beats in its season 3 premiere, but still manages to entertain thanks to a game cast and the usual shower of guilty pleasure mayhem.
The Following Season 3 Review