The Following: Season 1: Episode 6: The Fall Review

With the sixth episode of the first season of The Following, FBI Agent Debra Parker’s family background has been revealed, and it has been tainted. Perhaps this is to suggest that she may have joined a cult before. What better than a specialist in cults than one who has experienced it before. In the meantime, Ryan Hardy and Megan are harassed by Joe Carroll‘s trio of followers, Emma Hill, Paul Torres and Jacob Wells. Ryan Hardy taunts Paul and Jacob to stall for the arrival of police and the FBI to the house in the country. Meanwhile, it is revealed additionally that Emma has some “mother issues” in her art. On the other side of town, Charlie reveals to Claire Matthews that he is her follower — or more properly said, stalker. Eventually, the FBI and police raid both places, but there are several casualties, including Agent Mike Weston who is injured in the process. Ryan Hardy and Claire Matthews are reunited, but others are less fortunate. And Carroll’s attorney, Olivia Warren, is once again placed in a tough bind by the man she represents.

Roderick seems to be a major player in Joe Carroll’s plan, and he is a close friend of Carroll’s. In Edgar Allen Poe‘s poem The Fall of the House of the Usher, Roderick is the main character and has a shattered mind. While in The Following, this hidden person has a lot of pull in the Carroll’s overall plan. More importantly, Joe Carroll’s network of followers may be more intricate than even the FBI expected.

Overall, this is revealing episode but anticlimactic towards the end. The season is drawing to a close, but these episodes have been tepid as of late. Again, perhaps a different television network would allow more freedom for Kevin Williamson, the producer.