History Series / TheFollowing

''The Following'' is a 2013 TV series starring Creator/KevinBacon.

* WeaponOfChoice: Carroll told his followers to find their own voice (gimmick) for their killings.

** KnifeNut: Carroll, naturally. Most of his followers follow suit, such as Emma (well, Paul thinks so, as would [[spoiler:her dead mom]]), Jordy, and even [[{{Pyromaniac}} Rick]] has a moment to suggest a new appreciation for knives...

* KillEmAll:
** In the climax of "The Reaping", [[spoiler:Lily's mercenaries descend on the Korban compound and slaughter everyone there. Joe, Emma, Robert, and the rest of the "Chosen," who have already left, are all that remain.]]
** And in the following (no pun intended) episodes, [[spoiler:Emma kills Robert, Claire kills Emma, and the FBI kill the other cultists.]]
** By the series finale, ''all'' the main characters from Season 1 and a large amount of supporting characters are dead except for [[spoiler:Ryan, Claire, Joey (both of whom were PutOnABus), and Mike]].

** Carroll's new cult in Season 2 wears ''all red''. {{Foreshadowing}} [[KillEmAll much?]]

* AdultFear: At the end of the pilot, [[spoiler:little Joey's babysitter is revealed to be part of Carroll's cult, as she kidnaps Joey and takes him to Sarah's not-really-gay neighbors]].
** [[spoiler:They also start teaching Joey how to kill]] in "The Poet's Fire".

* ShootTheShaggyDog: After spending all of "Boxed In" desperately searching for [[spoiler:Agent Clarke, the FBI finally finds him in the end. ''[[StuffedIntoTheFridge Stuffed inside a metal box]]'']].

* StuffedIntoTheFridge: Done literally with [[spoiler:Agent Jeffrey Clarke]]. Even after he publicly [[spoiler:confesses that he ran the Black Ops. team that resulted in Lily Gray being executed, Neil still kills him and stuffs him inside the metal box he built for the FBI to find]].

* RealityEnsues:
** For all of Joe Carroll's [[TheChessmaster Chessmaster]] pretensions, his cult didn't take that long to implode, because that's what happens when you try to get a bunch of [[SurroundedByIdiots violent unstable sociopaths]] on the same page and working together toward a common purpose (a common purpose, mind you, that not even ''Carroll himself'' seemed to be clear on). Only a handful of people involved have enough sanity to even know what they're doing. The only reason the cult is still around in any form at all is because the cops are even more incompetent.
** The second-season premiere also depicts the aftermath of the Havenport Tragedy: [[spoiler:Mike Weston has been suspended from the FBI pending a review of his conduct during the investigation. And at some point during the intervening year, Hardy hit rock-bottom, ending his friendship with Mike and becoming something of a Conspiracy Theorist.]]
** Upon keeping on showing up at Carroller related crime scenes, Hardy gets arrested in "Family Affair" after showing up at a more recent one.
** When an apprehensive serial killer tries to stab a woman in the bathroom, she hesitates. Then the victim in question sees the knife, shoves the killer out her way, and sprints out the bathroom screaming for help.
** In "The Reaping", Mike coldly executes [[spoiler:Lily Gray as revenge for her killing his father]]. But at this point in the show, Mike barely knows right from wrong anymore, the police have been incompetent when it comes to catching the villains, [[BreakTheCutie and he's no longer stable, having been physically and mentally tortured throughout the show]]. Given his state of mind, and the dozens of times [[spoiler:Lily]] has gotten away with everything she's done, Mike figured he'd be doing the world a favor killing her.
** [[spoiler:Kyle]] gets shot in the back by Ryan [[MadeOfIron and walks it off]]. Later on, after exerting too much energy and not being treated properly, the wound worsens and slows [[spoiler:Kyle]] down to the point where [[spoiler:he can't flee from Ryan and is forced to commit SuicideByCop]].
** With [[spoiler:Carrie dead]], Ryan absent from court, and with an e-mail discrediting Ryan's statement to the jury, [[spoiler:Dr. Arthur Strauss is declared not guilty]].

''Destined'' to be beloved by tropers, as the BigBad is essentially using this site as his ''playbook.''

* NotSoDifferent: Inverted when Parker tries to pull this on Emma. It doesn't seem to work.

* MadnessMantra: The young woman at the FBI command center repeatedly chants, "Lord, help my poor soul" (Poe's supposed FamousLastWords). [[EyeScream Then she stabs herself in the eye the way Carroll did to his own victims.]]

In 2004, Joe Carroll ([[Series/{{Rome}} James Purefoy]]), a professor of literature at a small Virginia university, murdered 14 female students. He was eventually captured by Ryan Hardy (Bacon), an FBI agent assigned to investigate the murders, who saved the life of Carroll's last victim in the process. However, while doing so, Hardy was stabbed in the heart and forced to leave the bureau due to his injuries. Hardy later wrote a book about the case.

* YourCheatingHeart: Averted by Hardy and Carroll's wife Claire; while they became emotionally involved and the FBI felt their relationship was unprofessional of Hardy, they only had their first kiss after Carroll was in jail and the divorce was finalized.

* FirstEpisodeSpoiler:

* SmugSnake: A huge amount of the cultists are incredibly smug even when caught, as many are [[NietzcheWannabe Nietzsche Wannabes]] who think of their deaths as part of Joe's ultimate plans. They have a tendency to either commit suicide or be killed in a hail of gunfire.

* TheVillainMakesThePlot: Carroll and his followers have been planning this for years, and the FBI taskforce is mostly playing catchup, though things increasingly do not go according to plan.

* ThatManIsDead: [[spoiler:Jacob]] tells [[spoiler:Emma]] "The [[spoiler:Jacob]] you loved isn't here anymore."

** In one of the most shocking examples yet, [[spoiler:the tenth episode of Season 3 sees ''[[BigBad Joe]] [[ArchEnemy Carroll]]'' almost certainly dead by lethal injection.]]

** Emma and Paul both seem to genuinely love Jacob, who cares about both of them. [[spoiler:Doesn't stop Emma from abandoning them, though.]]
** Unless he was acting (which isn't impossible), Carroll seems to have genuinely loved Claire and Joey, as shown by how emotional he gets when [[spoiler:he and Joey finally meet face to face in "Let Me Go"]].
** All three members of the Gray family may be ruthless serial killers, but they still love each other like any normal family would.
** Neil Perry loves his dementia-stricken father more than anything in the world. [[spoiler:Getting discovered as a killer by his father is what drives him to SuicideByCop]].
** [[spoiler:Theo Noble appears to care for his sister.]]

** For all her... ''issues'', Emma seems to be above hurting Joey (though the fact that he's Carroll's son probably helps with that).

** As noted in below, Hardy manages to troll Carroll in episode 13, and starts mocking him. When Carroll tries to turn it around and resume a HannibalLecture, Hardy just hangs up on him.

* SerialKiller: Carroll, Carroll's followers, Arthur Strauss, Theo Noble, Lily Gray, Mark Gray, Luke Gray, Kyle & Daisy Locke, Andrew Sharp, Neil Perry, and Duncan Banks are all examples from this series.

* AntiHero: Hardy is not one of the easiest people to get along with, has a less than flattering reputation with the bureau aside from the fact that he caught Carroll, and is implied to have a drinking problem.

* PleaseKillMeIfItSatisfiesYou: One of the most evocative scenes of the first season has Charlie Ward begging Joe to kill him for his failure with Weston. Joe hesitates, due to his God complex in not wanting to take what turns out to be one of his most trustworthy pawns off the board, but ultimately does what he enjoys doing.