8A - Monday, January 28, 2013
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
TV REVIEW
Intense 'The Following
lacks final destination
Kevin Bacon
sizzles in serial
killer thriller
By RADHIKA MENON
Daily Arts Writer
TV has never been afraid
of serial killers. Most notably,
Showtime's "Dexter" and CBS's
"Criminal
Minds" explore B
the inner work-
ings of these
flawed mur-
derers. Dex- Following
ter Morgan is Pilot
America's most
beloved serial Mondays at 9 p.m.
killer (if that FOX
sort of thing is
even possible),
and the cast of "Criminal Minds"
repeatedly walks us through a
day in the life of solving these
types of crimes. What's distinct
about these two shows is that
they openly take on the perspec-
tive of either the criminal or the
detective - never both - with
little room between the lines.
FOX's "The Following" takes
aim at this middle ground, per-
sonifying both ex-FBI Agent
Ryan Hardy (Kevin Bacon, "Mys-
tic River") and psychopathic seri-
al killer Dr. Joe Carroll (James
Purefoy, "Resident Evil"). The
new dark drama focuses on Eng-
lish-professor-turned-murderer
Carroll's ability to create a net-
work of followers from the con-
fines of his prison cell using the
Internet. Using these new pawns,
he escapes from jail, setting alco-
holic Hardy back on his trail.
What's most interesting about
the premise is the actual con-
struction of Carroll's followers,
all of them ready to sacrifice
4
THIS is happening
James Murphy
lit up Pontiac
A
"Give me Bacon or give me death"
their lives for his cause. There
isn't much time spent figuring
out the how and why of their
involvement, but the ambiguity is
intriguing and will hopefully be
explored in later episodes.
At a first glance, "The Fol-
lowing" is incredibly smart
in throwing off viewers from
guessing what comes next.
Periphery characters are shown
to be wholly replaceable, which
is both a strength and a weak-
ness: While it shows the truly
ruthless attitude of Carroll, it
also detracts from creating a
set of accountable secondary
characters. Those who populate
Carroll and Hardy's world seem
to have their days numbered -
but maybe that's the underlying
point. Yet, the ability to surprise
the audience with both plot and
character motives is no doubt
the show's greatest asset, and is
one that is called upon time and
time again.
The show is incredibly fast-
paced and entertaining, moving
through each storyline swiftly
in order to set all of the pieces
in motion. Bacon lives up to the
hype of his first notable network
television role, showing restraint
in Hardy's persistence. Purefoy
easily embodies the cruel and
calculating serial killer, mak-
ing Carroll relatable enough to
add dimension. Together, Bacon
and Purefoy rightfully carry the
show - their few scenes togeth-
er are excitingly charged and
intense.
Still, "The Following" feels
incredibly one-dimensional;
beyond the literal good-guy-
bad-guy chase, there are not
many other moving pieces.
The characters - though made
dynamic through the fantastic
performances - don'thave much
meat on their bones. There's a
backstory of the two men shar-
ing a lover, but it doesn't add
much to Hardy's determination
or Carroll's murderous ways.
The whole episode seems to
be building toward one moment;
one unaccomplished goal of Car-
roll's before he was hauled off to
the joint the first time. But that
moment comes and goes within
the hour, leavingthe trajectory of
the "The Following" somewhat
unclear. The show itself has its
moments, but none with such a
distinct destination.
Overall, "The Following" is
immensely gripping and well-
acted; if nothing else, you should
get excited for Kevin Bacon on
your television every week.
By ANDREW ECKHOUS
Daily Arts Writer
Pontiac is a peculiar place to
see James Murphy, the ex-lead-
er of our dearly departed LCD
Soundsystem. The city is well-
known - among high schoolers,
at least - for its 18-and-under
club nights and men with copious
amounts of hair gel. James Mur-
phy, au contraire, is a style icon
whose former band's final gig
was at Madison Square Garden.
Maybe that's why he took almost
five hours to set up his turntables.
The barrage of no-name open-
ers wasn't particularly offensive,
and the crowd was too drunk to
care - except for the ennui-laden
hipster chick.in front of me, she
seemed miserable. But when it hit
midnight, people started getting
a little antsy.
Finally, at 12:40, we got our
first glimpse of Murphy. The
crowd - which was a head-
scratching combination of Ponti-
ac locals, intoxicated parents and
chambray-clad yuppies - had
been danc-"
ing along First seen on
unper- -the filter
turbed
for a few hours at this point, but
found its second wind upon see-
ing the man with the fantastic
beard set up four -four! - turn-
tables.
As a child of the digital DJ
revolution, I was astonished that
someone could have the manual
dexterity and timing to sync up
everything by hand, but James
Murphy is simply a product of a
more noble time. I could actually
watch him select records for the
hour-and-a-half set he played,
and his choices were damn-near
flawless. He may believe that he's
"losing his edge," but I didn't see
any hint of that. a
Murphy's underground pedi-
gree was on full burn as he
played deep tracks from all sorts
of funk, soul, rap and early elec-
tronic records. His set seemed
like something that would've
been played in the underground
clubs where Murphy developed
his skills. No huge bass drops, no
house beats, just live sampling
and a crowd that would've been
stopped in their tracks had they
been able to stop dancing.
- The original version of this
article was published online on The
Filter, theDailyArtsblog,onJan.27.
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