The Following essentially wants to be nothing but cool moments, and that means there are constant diminishing returns, a trudge through a slog of darkness that becomes unrelenting. With other writers, this could have been a show about what it is that causes disturbed people to seek solace in other disturbed people, or what it is that drives dark hearts to violence. Hell, it could have been a meta-commentary on what it means to try to create “art” out of stories where horror and death are the primary objectives. Instead, Williamson and his team keep hitting the “cool” button until all they have is something like a video game, with each successive level asking players to defeat a new serial killer.
