The Following Recap: “Pilot”

The Following Recap: “Pilot”
Original Air Date (Fox): Monday January 21, 2013
Season 1 Episode 1

by Julianne Snow:

Created by Kevin Williamson, the mind behind the Scream franchise along with other movies and series, The Following started with a definite bang! With more gore than I would have expected in the 9pm time slot on the FOX network, this is a show not meant for the faint of heart. I’m going to warn you now, there are spoilers contained within this recap, but I have not given you every detail or connection should you choose to watch it for yourself.

Joe Carroll, a serial killer played by James Purefoy, escapes from prison, killing 5 guards in the process. The audience is then introduced to Ryan Hardy, portrayed by Kevin Bacon, who used to be an FBI agent, specifically the agent that apprehended Carroll after he murdered 14 female students on the campus in Virginia where he taught literature. Ryan is contacted by the Bureau after Carroll’s escape and asked to come back as a consultant to help recapture him. What you soon learn is that Ryan is damaged. Physically from his struggle with Carroll that resulted in him being stabbed in the heart, and mentally from the toll of tracking Carroll for as long as he did and having to live inside his head.

With Carroll on the run, the police seek out Sara Fuller (Maggie Grace), Carroll’s last victim and the only one to survive. As seen in the first flashback, Sara testified at Carroll’s trial that while she was lying on the ground, with a knife in her midsection, she shoved the knife deeper, an attempt at severing the splenic artery, hoping to bleed out faster. She is given 24 hour police protection at her home and assured that they will catch him.

Meanwhile Ryan, along with Agent Jennifer Mason (Jeananne Goossen), is investigating Carroll’s prison cell. A quick search uncovers tomes written by Edgar Allen Poe and a note addressed to Ryan. Apparently Carroll is not quite ready to call it quits.

The next piece to the puzzle that appears on-screen is Claire Matthews, the ex-wife of Carroll and the mother to his only child. Placed under police protection, she insists on talking to Ryan who is at the mobile command center meeting with the rest of the FBI team including Agent Mike Weston (Shawn Ashmore).

This is where a number of the smaller pieces start coming together to create a much bigger picture. Since the pieces are delivered out of sequence, nothing really makes sense until you mind works it all out (or you wait for the characters to place the pieces for you). Consider what comes next the abbreviated, re-sequenced events.

Together with Weston, Ryan figures out that Carroll had to have more privileges on the computers at his mandated time in the law library. He also figures that Carroll needed help, so they begin to cross-check guards, library times, and the night that Carroll escaped. One name comes up – Jordan “Jordy” Raines, who himself is one sick and twisted mother——-. He is part of The Following.

A woman in the mobile command centre who has been asked to sit, stands, disrobes to reveal hundreds of words written all over her body, and brandishes a dagger. She implores, “Lord help my poor soul” and promptly stabs herself in the right eye. The words written on her body, plus the ones she spoke aloud before her suicide all belong to Poe. She is part of The Following.

At this point, Ryan is summoned by Claire Matthews, the ex-con’s ex-wife who has a note from Carroll about the affair that took place between them. Ryan dismisses the note, stating that it has nothing to do with why Carroll escaped. You also learn that Claire helped Ryan to figure out the references to the case, long before she knew her husband was involved in any way. During their conversation, Claire brings up Poe’s unfinished work – The Lighthouse – clueing Ryan in to the fact that Carroll wants to finish what he started.

The lighthouse reference is not one to miss either – it pops up frequently throughout the episode.

Ryan and the other agents rush to Sara’s house, hoping they get to her before Carroll does. Sadly, they’re too late and they find that Sara’s next door neighbours – Nico and Will, posing as a gay couple have befriended the young former victim for the sole purpose of keeping tabs on her. Kidnapping her in the middle of the night, the two have left a number of bodies in their wake. They are part of The Following.

Ryan figures out that Sara has been taken to the old Lighthouse Bed and Breakfast and rushes there, alone. He breaks in and confronts Carroll, who bests him with a wooden plank and reveals that Sara is dead. With his story complete, and Ryan’s hands around his throat, he surrenders. But the game is far from over.

Carroll now wants to follow up his first novel, The Gothic Seed, with his next work. A story that Carroll tells Ryan they are going to write together with Ryan cast as the perfect flawed protagonist. Carroll asks a simple chilling question: with 300 serial killers currently active anywhere in the US, how much would it take for one person to unite them into working together.

And that is where The Following comes in, each one of them ready and willing to do whatever it takes. With the newest kidnapping, Carroll’s own son Joey by Denise, one of The Following planted in his ex-wife’s house, what lengths will he go to ensure that Ryan will play along? Stay tuned for what is shaping up to be an incredible show, complete with a plethora of references to Poe that many a dark fiction reader or author is sure to appreciate.

DarkMedia contributor Julianne Snow was first lulled into the horror genre by her parents during an ill-advised viewing of Alien when she was only 4 years old. Since that date, it’s been a given that Julianne will watch and read anything that is horror related. Her short fiction has appeared in anthologies from Sirens Call Publications and Open Casket Press, as well as The Sirens Call and various other websites showcasing short fiction. She is the author of the Days with the Undead series, which can be found on her website dayswiththeundead.com. Her first novel, Days with the Undead: Book One was published in early 2012 and is based on her popular web serial. Find her on Twitter @CdnZmbiRytr.