The Following: Season 1: Episode 3: The Poet’s Fire Review

With this third episode of The Following, there was some moves made by Joe Carroll — or rather his “acolytes,” as Agent Debra Parker stated, but again, there was more exposition. In this episode, there was background of Joe Carroll’s Dead Poet’s Society of sorts and more importantly, the backgrounds of Rick and his girlfriend. Apparently, everyone in Caroll‘s Dead Poet’s society is educated and serial killers, each wanting to create a chapter in Joe Carroll’s book that reflects his affection for Edgar Allen Poe and each with their own trademark or specialty. Rick is the resident pyromaniac of the group — or so we think. One of the FBI agents, Agent Reilly (played by Billy Brown), falls to one of Carroll’s followers as the FBI are tricked. There were dashes as Joe Carroll’s and Ryan Hardy’s affiliation is described in flashbacks. Ryan Hardy was apparently enamored by Joe Carroll and blinded by the fact that he was indeed the serial killer he was looking for. And lastly, the love triangle between Emma Hill, Jacob Wells and Paul Torres heats up…

With the formation of Carroll’s Dead Poet’s Society, I’m assuming this is only a small portion of Carroll’s followers — or these followers are those immediately closest to him. This Society is educated and willingly follow Joe Carroll. Unlike what Debra Parker and Ryan Hardy believe, this is not a cult in its purest sense. The Society is merely acting out a plan, and each have their role in the plan.

Side Notes

Just a couple of side notes on my part…

I think Joe Carroll is a slight reference to Lewis Carroll perhaps — and Ryan Hardy is a reference to Thomas Hardy, and both were significant authors of their times. Ironically, as it relates to The Following, both authors have poet societies dedicated to them, particularly in the United Kingdom. This is a bit twisted as Joe Carroll has his literary society of sorts — and in some ways, he is the Mad Hatter to Ryan Hardy’s Carpenter in The Following so far.