Trying to Follow the Bacon...With much admiration for Kevin Bacon from previous film and tv roles, I honestly made an attempt to see the potential in The Following. Dark brooding hunky Cop-guy Ryan Hardy (a little nod to author Thomas Hardy, creator of one of my most-loved literary characters, dark brooding tragic figure Good Guy Jude Fawley perhaps?) in battle of wits with Joe Carroll (James Purefoy) dark brooding hunky Literature teacher who oh, by the way, happens to be a sociopath serial killer obsessed with Gothic cult poet Edgar Allan Poe.
For a little light, possibly intellectual escapism, I tried. I really did, but I couldn't get past the 4th episode. It felt too much like a 20-something's soap opera with gratuitous soft-porn and cringey scenes of young female Zombie-like waifs committing suicide. Another reflection of popular culture that glorifies and sexualises the violent death of, or dead bodies of, beautiful women. Too bad they didn't choose to use Echo and the Bunnymen's song "The Killing Moon". Original and the best. Sorry Kevin, to quoth the Raven, "nevermore". That's what happens in life, the agony of losing something..in this case, the hope of finding a great tv series again.
