The Following - New Blood - Review: "While you Lie, More Will Die"

The Following - New Blood - Review

Last season's finale saw Luke gunned down and Joe re-captured. This season continues a year later after the events of Season 2, and picks up with Ryan Hardy, reformed and refreshed, and actually living a positively normal life... until now.

"While you lie more will die" - Mark

The chilling message Mark leaves for the FBI team was just one of the creepy things "New Blood" had to offer. It's a new year, which typically means a new villain. Except this season, the show is continuing over from last season with Mark becoming one of the main villains. I say "one" because we know Michael Ealy is coming to the show and will play Ryan's new nemesis. It also became apparent that Daisy and Kyle who are supposedly "Mark's followers" are a part of something bigger, meaning they are probably with Ealy's character.

The Following takes us down a path that seemed more twisted, and darker than its previous seasons. This episode was more intense and suspenseful than horrifying which is what Seasons 1 and 2 focused on. I don't mind that, as I prefer it when the show mixes things up a bit, it allows the writers to think outside the box instead of re-using the same material. The show also seemed to start quicker than its previous seasons with the episode diving straight into the story that will expand into our season.

It's fair to say that Mark was pretty delusional last season with all the things he did, but this season the writers have taken it to new heights. The loss of Luke has damaged him emotionally, and physically. Mark continues to believe Luke is still with him by talking to himself as if he and Luke were having a conversation. This is where Sam Underwood shone. He portrayed excellently Mark's split personality of himself and Luke, and he deserves some attention for that. It's never easy playing two characters, but playing two people as one person is very hard to pull off, especially if one of them is dead, and he did it perfectly.

We saw Mark escape last season after witnessing his brother's death. As you can expect from a killer who had a close relationship with his family he wants to enact revenge on those who were involved in their deaths. The way Mark and his followers presented how his family died to the FBI using string, and brutally creating a re-enactment of how the FBI killed them was exquisite, and much more creative than the typical death scene we would see.

One thing's for sure Mark is coming for you Ryan, Max and Mike.

"I covered up an execution" Max

It's been a year since the events of Season 2 occurred, and a lot of things have changed. Max is now with Tom, a Bureau agent, who for some reason I don't trust. You never know what to expect with this show, so I'm open to every possibility. Ryan has also moved on with Gwen, a nurse. Whilst he has moved on romantically he hasn't quite moved on from his past with Joe. He continues to hold himself responsible for the deaths of so many people, and this is only furthered when he saw all the dead bodies this episode. We've seen Ryan over the seasons develop into a cold-blooded killer after witnessing people close to him, who he cared for, die, because of his relationship with Joe. It's changed him emotionally; he will continue to do what is necessary now to bring down these killers, even if it means losing himself even more.

As for Mike, he is still continuing his search for Mark, and his relationship with Max was a casualty to that. After spending so much of Season 2 building up their relationship, I've got to say I'm a little-disappointed things collapsed so quickly between them, but I guess he would've never been happy with her until he'd caught Mark.

Gina Mendez returned after she was absent for the most of season 2. She is getting married which is where our opening scene took place. There are so many new relationships forming which can only mean one thing, loved ones will be used as leverage. We've seen it many times before, and introducing new partners for nearly all characters just has heartbreak written all over it. The Following never allows anyone to get a happy ending, so I expect one or two deaths to come, and I think we can also expect someone close to our team to be working for one of the new villains as well.

The première contained so much misdirection, which is what I enjoy most about the show. One twist took place at a hotel where a woman was approached at the bar by a couple. It was hard to actually notice which one was the killer and which one was the victim. The show made effective use of tension to build up to the reveal as to which ones the killer. It turns out it was the pretending hooker. Misdirection also happened in the opening minutes with the incident at the wedding; it appeared the man named Andrew was about to pull a knife out, only to instead splash Ryan with a drink.

What was cleverer was the bigger twist, which was that Andrew didn't have a daughter and was, in fact, a killer not a father. Each of these twists packed a punch and was intense, which made the episode so much more suspenseful.

As for Joe, well he doesn't appear this episode, but we learn he is on death row. I don't know what they plan to do with Purefoy this season, but I hope we get some more Ryan and Joe scenes as both actors playing off one another last season was fantastic. They have great chemistry, and scenes, where they interact, is always something I can look forward to.

Summary
The show predictably started with a première episode introducing us to a few new followers, and showing us what happened to all of the characters that survived last season. The episode whilst good wasn't as horrifying as most of last season, but I expect that to change in due course when the story develops. All in all, it was a solid season première, which sets the stage for another promising season.

As always, thank you for reading! Let me know in the comments what you thought of "New Blood"

About the Author - Robert Fruin

Robert is a sixth form student from the United Kingdom, who is currently studying IT, Media and Business Studies. Robert is a huge fan of the ended ABC series LOST, he has seen it many times over and has even visited some of the filming locations for it. Robert mainly watches drama series such as Game Of Thrones and Person of Interest, but has a soft spot for the comedy The Middle. Some other shows he watches are Grey's Anatomy, The Walking Dead and The 100. Some other interests include Cycling, Kayaking and Photography.Robert is currently reviewing Aquarius, Black Sails, Helix, Intruders and Z Nation. Feel free to connect with him on any of these social media sites.

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