The Following S3 E12 & 13 Deal with the Devil

For those who have not seen the episode, all I will say is that it did not play out like I expected.

Now for those who have seen it, read on because there's spoilers.

So things I predicted and knew was going to happen... I was sure that they were going to go after Theo's weakness, i.e. sister.  I knew that a major character was going to get stabbed but I thought Max or Gwen was going to be the target and I thought it was going to be to death.  I knew Tom was going to be used and that he was going to probably be part of the plan to capture one of the good guys.

Now the parts that were a great surprise was Baconman going full on vigilante, capturing the sis and then torturing her (a little weak on the technique but this is primetime and not HBO).  They seemed to have toned down the graphic aspect of the show since season 1, other than the man in the box episode. I was also surprised that the way Tom was going down was going to be acid to the face, I expected him to be around a little longer and then get stabbed the traditional way.  I was also surprised by Daisy's betrayal against Mark but then this is reminiscent of Emma and her slicing her favorite boy's neck.  I think it is pretty obvious that Daisy is going down in the finale.  

The moment Mike declared his undying love was the moment I was sure him or Max was going to get stabbed.  I was just expecting the stabbing to result in death but I guess they were not ready to go that far in case the show did get renewed.  I still think that if they knew they were getting cancelled they wouldn't have played it so safe and actually killed off Max or the pregnant Gwen.  It would have been very risque since shows tend not to kill off the pregnant girl but it did work well for a certain movie that I will not name.  But most who have seen it know exactly which one I'm talking about. 

The most disappointing thing was seeing Theo play out as such a weak character in these episodes.  Considering all the buildup, I really expected him to pull out some more impressive killer techniques and plans but he is coming off a lot more desperate and short-sighted.  He also seems much more dependent on his groupies than his impressive lone wolf approach in his introductory episodes.  I hope that they step it up with the final episodes to make him or this new evil organization worth all the hype of the prior episodes.  Show some powerful, secret villain moves!

Anyway, it's hard to say what they will pack into the final two episodes but considering this week, I doubt they'll be killing off who I thought they would.  I'll be posting screenshots later on and probably add a couple to my Baconman Series...  Now the question is what new characters or scenes should I add to my collection?  I was doing it all basic MS paint with the help of some Imgur effects but now I think I'm ready to upgrade to trying out GIMP software for my fun little project.


Baconman Series

Will The Following be cancelled?

My prediction is that it's likely to be renewed as long as it does not tank in viewership in the next episode and that there's an upward trend for the episodes leading up to the finale.

If you want to understand how I came to this conclusion, I turn full on nerd below with analysis of some numbers.

Plot Speculations:

Come to the Dark Side...

Based on the need to boost ratings, I predict a major character death next episode.  I believe Gwen or Max will be killed.  If Max is killed then not only will Ryan become Joe's follower but Mike will become Ryan's and then it will continue the original "following" and killer conversion concept so there's a good chance of that happening.  However since there's been only minimal character development on Gwen, it will be much easier to give her the ax and further cement Ryan flying over the edge.

Exhibit A

Historical Viewership

March 31, 2014

9:00	CBS	Friends With Better Lives - Series Premiere	2.7/7	7.99
	FOX	The Following	1.4/4	4.23
	CW	The Tomorrow People	0.5/1	1.114

May 6, 2014

9:00PM	CBS	The Big Bang Theory -R	1.5	5	7.15
	FOX	The Following	1.1	3	3.25
	CW	Jane the Virgin	0.5	1	1.03

Based on Exhibit A, the ratios for March in 2014, which is 4 episodes left to lead up to the season finale 1.89:1:.26.  Now the same 4 episodes away this past Monday had a ratio of 2.2:1:.32.  I am not an expert on the TV industry by any means but I do plenty of analysis for C-level execs who make these kinds of decisions of what products and services get the ax.  Performance against direct competitors and historic performance are all factors into major consideration.

Exhibit B

Season 1

No. in season	U.S. viewers (million)
1	10.42[6]
2	10.10[7]
3	9.01[8]
4	8.79[9]
5	8.39[10]
6	8.58[11]
7	8.81[12]
8	8.15[13]
9	8.34[14]
10	6.66[15]
11	6.57[16]
12	6.30[17]
13	6.36[18]
14	7.04[19]
15	7.82[20]

Season 2

No. in season	U.S. viewers (million)
1	11.18[21]
2	6.02[22]
3	5.84[23]
4	4.76[24]
5	5.19[25]
6	4.61[26]
7	5.16[27]
8	4.86[28]
9	3.95[29]
10	4.07[30]
11	4.17[31]
12	4.41[32]
13	4.36[33]
14	4.42[34]
15	4.81[35]

Based on Exhibit B, part way through both seasons you see a sudden increasing viewership trend so there is an expectation that there will be improvement towards the end of the season.

Exhibit C
Kevin Bacon, Shawn Ashmore and Jessica Stroup have not signed up for anything else to star in for the near future so they're not likely to quit this job.

The Following S3 E11 Demons

Ryan is getting quite boring and predictable... Drink and be haunted by Joe.  As always, don't read on if you don't want to see spoilers.

Ryan's drinking, being dumped (hm.. this seems familiar, Claire comes to mind) and the whole mirror killer thing wasn't too interesting except when the guy went straight to try to machete them in the face.  That was exciting for those few minutes but so glad they didn't try to drag it out for multiple episodes.

The episode had some interesting developments in terms of bringing a little more depth to Mark although not as much as they devoted to Emma in previous seasons.  This is really unfortunate since Mark is much more likeable, overlooking the highly exaggerated personalities of Luke/Mark last season.  This season Mark has been much more gritty, real and truly sad despite his Two-Face like switches between the twins in one body.

Max's obsessed boy toy killing off the FBI agent at the end of the episode was quite a nice turn plotwise but also makes the guys seem like the most desperate boyfriend and worst SWAT officer I could imagine.  Aren't they supposed to be professionals with guns?  I would really hope that real FBI and SWAT officers don't accidentally discharge weapons on each other, accidentally shoot while in darkness chasing a baddie I could see but just up close while trying to stop someone from shooting is another matter.  Plus, isn't the natural reaction to have your hands up and say I can explain rather than charge up to the person and try to grab the gun?

I am half in love with Theo, he is just so cool and smooth.  He also opened the storyline up to an entire evil killer organization that could be just as slick as he is.  I just hope they don't ruin it by having the evil org become ridiculous like Lilly and her random orphans.  Where Joe Carroll was so charismatic from his banter and smooth speech, Theo plays on the pragmatic and mysterious.  He speaks more by not expressing himself and that just makes me want to see and understand him more.  The fact that blood relatives (his children included) really mean nothing to him also makes me curious what is it about his annoying sister that makes him care at all?

I'm just biding time until Ryan's ex Gwen gets killed while pregnant and he goes full serial killer.  Theo is the only thing making this wait less excruciating.

The Following Evermore and Predictions for the Future

Outside of anime, I watch a lot of series and movies via stream.  To find out sites, I'll go over that on another post.  But my recent addiction has been Game of Thrones, Grimm, The Following, Orphan Black and Brooklyn 99.

For a change of pace, I want to, no, I have to talk about the recent episode of The Following.
For those who have not seen it, Spoiler Alert*

I have to say that I had very high hopes for Theo and his character.  His previous episodes were truly bad-ass and showed great potential as the next ultimate villain but the introduction of his sister, Eliza and his somewhat weaker/skittish image in this episode really made me like him less.  I was especially impressed with the actor's diverse role since I've mainly seen him in romantic comedies with Kevin Hart in the past.  I am hoping that they go back to making him look like the next baddest villain since Joe again or make the sister be the hidden ultimate baddie.

Now to the topic you've all been waiting for, Joe's death.  I am both surprised and happy that they finally had the guts to kill off Joe.  Honestly he should have died midway through season 2 because that was probably when things were dragging on unnecessarily.  Season 1 was still the best in my opinion but this season is shaping up to be way better than Lily and the unrealistic family of killers that was last season.  Speaking of which, I really hope they either close off that side story soon or leverage it to introduce an even more insane and unpredictable character.

Predictions for the future:

I think the most predictable path is that Ryan will become the bad guy.  Or his alter-ego who's best buds with Joe will take over when Ryan is black out drunk.  I really hope that they don't go this route unless they can make it very interesting and unpredictable.  Because that would be too easy and Ryan's first follower would likely be Mike.  On the other hand if they keep Ryan as just a vigilante good guy with bad guy methods, he'll continue to remind me of Batman (Robin is such an obvious Mike) so making him go all the way bad would break that association.