What are some of the most bone headed moments of the series... - The Following (2013) Discussion

[–] ehaas-3 10 years ago

- Ryan Hardy going to that cult camp to capture Joe and instead of waiting for back-up he throws his celluar phone away and proceeds alone (we all know how that turned out).

Yea, this show definitely has a million things like that, but it's pretty much intrinsic to the action/suspense genre and even the archetypal concept of a hero.

People want to see St. George slay the dragon, not an army of perfectly good bowmen, which would make more sense but be kind of boring. For another example, what idiot would send James Bond on those missions alone or with only one partner?

- After deducing that Lily is a follower instead of playing it off and arresting her, he gives her the menancing I know who you really are look - of course she runs and gets away.

He figured it out in his head, but did he have enough evidence to arrest one of the richest people in the world and beloved patron of the arts who was officially an attempted murder victim?

--One thing I thought was kind of short-sighted was that the government didn't put some kind of difficult to remove tracking device in Joe's body once they figured out he had a widespread cult and since he'd escaped once before.

Of course, he would have found out and removed or neutralized it eventually, but it would have at least allowed them to retrace his steps up to that point.

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[–] LilyJ 10 years ago

I hope more people post in this thread because I came here specifically to see if anyone else commented on that.

There were times I threw my hands up and just walked away because some of the people were just bumbling around like idiots.

****SPOILER****
Off the top of my head, when Claire got the upper hand on Joe at the end of season 1.

She broke a bottle over his head and stabbed him in his stomach wound.

I mean, you didn't think to stab him a few times in the neck or something?

Granted this would have ended the series early but come on, I'm getting tired of the get-the-upper-hand-on-the-killer-hit-them-and-run -away-bit.
*****

I'm trying to look at this from a panicked person's point of view but in law enforcement there were just too many bone head moves.

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[–] jeffsodaman 10 years ago

I hope more people post in this thread because I came here specifically to see if anyone else commented on that.

This thread didn't go unnoticed by me. It's just that it's a very difficult thing to answer since I'd have to consult my list of goofs.

*opens the list and it extends all the way to the floor*

I've been kind of busy so I've only managed to scan through the first 20 pages so far.

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[–] LilyJ 10 years ago

Haha, can't wait to hear them.

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[–] discostu004 10 years ago

Writing it, pitching it, green lighting it, airing it

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[–] urmeltinmahead 10 years ago

In the previous series when the twins turn up at that hotel out of the blue and it never gets discussed or explained just hey that was lucky! The writing is atrocious and the ending to it just sucked...it was like a classroom of teenagers (no offence sorry I know you could do better) wrote it.

Been there, done that, seen it all before.

The Following just was drivel.

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[–] TriggerPullerUSMC 9 years ago

LOL I have to agree there are so many horrible moments. This show obviously has the laziest writers and director(s) in TV history.

This show is gloriously bad. It is now kind of fun to watch each episode to see how many times they manage to let the bad guy briefly win and and to see how obvious the next scene will be.

It seems like in every episode someone merely walks up behind someone and takes them out. Ryan has had someone sneak up on him in at least 95% of the episodes.

I think the worst one is season 2 on the subway platform Giselle someone they know is dangerous merely walks up behind Ryan and knocks him down.

The is simply lazy writing- instead o taking the time to think up a more realistic confrontation the writers seem to just say ok- We need the bad guy to have a leg up on Ryan- so in this scene Ryan will turn to the left and the bad guy will come up from the right side and knock him out, down or over something. They did get really tricky once and had Ryan stabbed in the neck with a syringe.

Apparently Ryan is transferring his ability to cover his 6 on to others as well. I am not sure what the formula the writers use but it is something like- Ok this character is in law enforcement and he or she has either shaken Ryan's hand or has had at least 1 monolog with Ryan present- this character is now unable to detect someone coming up from behind.

Another thing that happens to characters that Ryan interacts with is what I call loss of tactical skills. Ryan somehow magically takes away the good guy's ability to remember even basic training academy stuff.

Again, this is a sign of laziness on behalf of the writers. Need to move the story forward and create tension? Have a good guy go in to a dangerous situation all alone without any back up so they can either be written off the show or can be captured and briefly harassed by the bad guy.

Sometimes the writers are so lazy that they combine the inability to check 6 as they say with bad tactical judgement. Example, Max the niece walks up to an obvious set up attack where the father and son were working together so they could introduce the huntsman. The Huntsman who is obviously committing a felony is told by Max the only responding LEA to step back and she then turns her back on him. MAYBE a rookie would do that but probably not.

The worst part about this show is what it says about America- Clearly the writers, producers and directors, feel like we are so stupid that they could do all of this lazy stuff and some people will still love the show.

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[–] Brightfame 9 years ago

100% what you have said. The entire premise is beyond preposterous.

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[–] PuppetRonnie 10 years ago

Pretty much the entire series.

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[–] DuJen 10 years ago

I'm just in season 1 but why do they keep returning Joe's victims (Sarah, his wife) back to their homes and guarding them there?! How about a nice secure safe house in an unknown location? That seems pretty boneheaded to me!

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[–] discostu004 10 years ago

Because it is written by braindeads for braindeads

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[–] XXtuXX 9 years ago

Maybe not boneheaded, but just things that happened that made no sense

-Why did Jacob get into the car with Emma, a cold blooded killer, at the end of Season 1? Whyd did he tell her he wanted to leave? She had no doubts over her actions no reservations with killing, so what gave him the bright idea to share so much with her?

- They sent two cops to the area where the compound was to search homes?

-Why do they make the black characters so annoying in season two? Carlos was an idiot for no good reason but for us to not care when he died

-They totally dropped the EA Poe references which took away from the mystery and creepiness of the whole plotline

-Joe's swamp family was the dumbest, worst part of any show ever

-Claire's emotions where so all over the place. She was yelling running, and doing way too much without the guarantee that she wouldn't cause her son to bekilled

-When Weston and Ryan were driving the cult member on the dirt road, they drove probably 20 mins or so, and Ryan just leaves Weston in the woods.to walk a hella long time by himself with no phone or anything, and they just unearthed their dead friend so he has that on his mind to think about while he trudges through while possibly fearing that a follower will seek revenge lol. ashole thing to do

-How did Oscar get away with so many murders for long

-why did the militia guy take a prostitute back to the compound by gunpoint and yell that he trusted her when he found the wire? She didn't go willingly. he was raised in a paranoid extremist family but he trusts the prostitute?

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[–] Arheos 9 years ago

This has just started showing up on TV. From the get go, Ep1. I was already in WTF mode when he managed to escape, then when he killed the duo and officer in the house (Nevermore). I shut it off after he went to lighthouse.. The going alone in there, no weapon, no backup, just killed the show for me. Even the recording was too predictable. I couldn't take so much stupidity.
Neeext..

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[–] XXtuXX 9 years ago

I obviously have more since I finished the series (why did i do it?)

-The whole character of Mandy was bone headed. Dumb to trust a serial killer, dumb to go with him to anther cult, dumb to trust serial killers she abandoned

-Were we supposed to feel sorry for Tilda because she was teased for being fat?

-All the cops and FBI were amazingly dumb. How do you not search Joe for weapons before the execution

- it didn't make sense why Ryan was "like Joe". he's an agent saving lives. he never showed pleasure in killing like they said he felt (for power). seems like they just made that up

-hated theo. the acting was poor

-hated what they did to Max's boyfriend, pretty much made him ill someone so we wouldn't feel badly when max cheated.
they just laughed his death away in the end.

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[–] Ehrgeiz 9 years ago

-The whole character of Mandy was bone headed. Dumb to trust a serial killer, dumb to go with him to anther cult, dumb to trust serial killers she abandoned

She was by far the dumbest character in the whole series.

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[–] daveyh (641) 3 months ago

I've only watched the first few episodes and completely agree with this one. Especially after what happened at Sarah's house. To then have the same protection arrangement for claire in the next episode, and later, megan (when they thought she was innocent and that her husband might come back to kill her) was beyond dumb.
The cops and federal agents on this show were straight out of a lifetime movie

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[–] bsolomo4 10 years ago

I'll never understand why the agents never check their surroundings before focusing all their attention onto one target. Every time they've done that, someone has come up behind them and ruined their whole day. Case in point: When Joe's second cult came after the reporter and spray painted the car, the agent driver could have handled that while the agent in the back seat could have surveyed the scene. Instead, the agent in the back focused on the person spraypainting and someone who was already standing alongside the car wiped him out.

I have something to say; It's better to burn out, than to fade away!!!

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[–] rockhard11693 10 years ago

He was captured purposely. He didn't want the FBI to come and ruin his opportunity at seeing joe so he purposely was captured by the cult security. No one realized that? Lol I thought it was smarter since FBI screws up constant in this show. Still love it though

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[–] skane110-1 10 years ago

I think it's completely ridiculous the way that the FBI is portrayed on this show. There's no way that any of that would ever be done by the real bureau.

1. The FBI in a millions years would never send three agents out constantly who are working on a case that they are extremely connected to. Just the fact that Ryan was the one who caught Joe, and also had a romantic relationship with his ex-wife would keep him from ever working on the case after Joe escaped. Anyone in law enforcement is always kept from working personal cases since it totally affects their ability to do their job. Just look at Mike killing Lily Gray out of revenge for murdering his father instead of arresting her. She was on her knees for christ's sake, he only killed her out of revenge and that's the very reason why people shouldn't work on personal cases. Ryan also made a million mistakes and basically allowed a lot of innocent people to die as a result, although the blame also lies with the FBI as well, which brings me to the next issue.

2. There have been many scenes where Ryan practically begs and pleads to work on the case because for some reason his bosses don't care. It was so stupid in the beginning of the second season where Ryan believes that Joe is still and his bosses disagree and only begrudgingly allowed him to track Joe down. In real life, if an agent strongly believes that an incrdibly dangerous serial killer is still alive, the FBI would totally investigate that, and they would also asign a whole different team of agents to do so.

3. Almost every time Joe, Mike, and Max go out to investigate anything, it's always just the 3 of them. They never have backup unless they call for it at the last minute when it's not even useful anymore. One good example is when the reporter lady was missing and they needed her to testify at Strauss' trial. When they realize where she is, only Joe, Mike, and Max go. They end up not being able to save her and also having to chase after the couple that murdered her. They obviously needed more agents to go out there, instead of just 3 for crying out loud. And again, Ryan has a romantic relationship with her and yet, they still send him out there to find her. Are they that low on manpower? Sending at least one other agent out there would have helped to capture the killer that got away. Also, the scene where Max is brutally beaten could have easily been avoided if more people were there.

4. What's also ridiculous is that even though there are way too many cop-related shootings going on in real life, that doesn't give this show the leeway to have the agents constantly murder people left and right, including ones that don't even pose an immediate threat. They're basically going around killing a bunch of Joe's followers just for being one of Joe's followers. There have also been a huge amount of scenes where the bad guy was shot just for running away, and the person shooting them doesn't even attempt to run after them. In reality, anyone with a badge and a gun is trained to only shoot and kill someone in the most dire of situations. They also always have their gun taken away from them and put on a suspended leave pending a full investigation into the shooting, and they also have to take a psych exam before they're able to return to work. There's also the possibility of them losing their jobs due to their reckless behavior. Ryan, Max, and Mike would've been fired at least 20 times each during the show's run.

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