The third and final season of The Following lacked the momentum of its predecessors without the crucial Joe and Ryan dynamic to anchor the show. Until the magnetic Michael Ealy showed up, no other Joe disciple or mentor could fill the hole that Joe left behind. The Following missed out on an opportunity for a really dark and surprising plot twist.

SPOILERS

Ryan began to dream and hallucinate about a friendship with Joe. Joe also had similar dreams. The Following should have explored this crazy connection and ended with Ryan accepting that maybe the villain IS right! The hero and the villain are similar and made Ryan the villain and potentially the new head of a future murderer cult. This plot twist could have propelled the show into future seasons. Instead Ealy’s character became the new big bad, and Ryan resumed his role as the Bauer of FBI. The last episode was beyond ridiculous-even Michael Myers would not buy the number of death-defying moments in that episode: bullets to the head, falling off of bridges, etc. At least The Following has been put out of its misery.