THE FOLLOWING (NETFLIX)

Spending a luxurious ten days in Arizona, I stumbled upon this psychological, thrilling series starring Kevin Bacon and James Purefoy. It does not fall into the iconic realms of “Foyle’s War”, “Morse” or “Endeavor” but with sensational, compelling performances fills the hours with mesmerizing titillation, shocking, mangled, surprises and the poetry of Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1949). Created by Kevin Williamson, with Marcos Siega directing, its premise cements viewers’ attention and admiration throughout.

Intwined in his “six degrees of separation” Kevin Bacon stuns with his versatility and magnificently scores as “Ryan Hardy” an ex FBI agent, united with agents in search of serial killer “Joe Carroll” (maliciously marvelous portrayal by James Purefoy); Carroll’s seductiveness as a  professor is keenly evident in the classroom, impossible to resist, his students morph into horribly mutilated victims. The true brilliance of “The Following” is the cat and mouse relationship between Hardy and Carroll; theirs’s is an unhealthy bond that deepens as the series progresses; Poe’s dark and demonic poetic references percolate at the “heart” of Carroll’s cunning, cult-inspired congregation; killing, death, a path to enlightenment; sickening, but convincing from his charismatic, compulsive orations. The plot intensifies with the affair between Ryan and Carroll’s ex-wife “Claire Matthews” (sensitively, intuitively depicted by Natalie Zea); chemically perfect partnership.

“The Following” oftentimes flirts with unreasonable tropes, gratuitous gore, “nevermore” analogies but will perpetually resonate with confounding protagonists; personages yet to be replicated in filmic fantasies.

THREE & ½ STARS!!

Peneflix