History YMMV / TheFollowing

* UncannyValley:
** Those Poe masks. Given the genre, it's probably deliberate.
** And from the second season, ''Joe Carroll'' masks.

* SophomoreSlump: Season 2 wasn't as well-received as Season 1, in large part due to DarknessInducedAudienceApathy, predictable twists, and for having several side characters who either weren't as interesting as Season 1's supporting characters, [[WeHardlyKnewYe or didn't last long enough for the audience to see their full potential]].

* ArcFatigue: Fans are starting to get frustrated over the subplot involving Joe and Ryan's [[FoeYay relationship]] (and [[CreatorsPet Joe Carroll]] in general). Even after [[spoiler:he dies two-thirds of the way into Season 3]], ''he is still on the show'' shoving the new and/or more plot-relevant subplots to the side. It's created a situation in which neither fans who wanted [[spoiler: him written out for Season 3 and feel he no longer fits in the show (obviously he was not) nor fans who love the character and want him to stay (he appears only sporadically and is almost totally OutOfFocus) can be satisfied with his role in the show now]].

* FoeYay: Carroll and Ryan. It's heavily implied in the flashbacks that the two recognized one another as kindred spirits and developed an unusually strong bond before Ryan figured out that Joe was the killer he was looking for. Ryan states about Joe: 'Charm and Seduce. I know what his followers feel. I fell for it. And five more girls were murdered.' WordOfGod states that Ryan developed a strong attraction towards Joe bordering on being romantic and Joe likewise became infatuated with Ryan. Joe himself has stated that everything he's doing is for and about Ryan.
** Also, the whole "love at first sight" exchange in the season finale pretty much elevates the subtext to main text.
** Not to mention Carroll watches [[spoiler:home porn videos of Hardy and Molly - videos it appears he instructed Molly to record!]]
** Even more so in late Season 2, when [[spoiler:Joe refuses to kill Ryan who he considers his best friend and even saves his life in the Season 2 finale. Ryan decides not to kill Joe either.]]

* WhatAnIdiot:
** One of Carroll's cult members tries to get Hardy to stand down...by using Claire Matthews as a HumanShield. Hardy even points it out: ''everyone'' knows he's not going to hurt her.
** Giselle gloats that she [[spoiler:killed Max]] right to Ryan's face (even though she didn't). [[spoiler:Guess who gets stabbed to death half a minute later?]]
** Mandy's decision to [[spoiler:join Lily's family after abandoning Joe. Even though she was ''there'' when Joe coldly broke it off with Lily, it apparently doesn't occur to Mandy that Lily's a vindictive psycho who might torture her for Joe's location and/or kill her to spite him]]. Oops.
** If Emma had killed [[spoiler:Claire ''before'' she shot Robert, she might still be alive, and her plan to convince Joe that Claire ambushed her and killed Robert would've worked out flawlessly]].
** Duncan decides to [[spoiler:take his niece hostage in broad daylight, directly in front of Ryan and Mike with a knife, instead of waiting until the coast is clear. And he stands right beside a hot cup of coffee within her niece's grasp. He's subdued ''seconds'' later.]]
** Tom wasn't exactly smart to begin with, but he should've known better than to [[spoiler:give up Mike to Mark and Daisy without thinking they wouldn't immediately kill him afterwards. Mike even offers to help Tom apprehend Mark, Daisy, and Theo together, but he chooses not to due to his grudge against him]].
** Penny. After everything Theo does to [[spoiler:rescue her from Ryan]], she ends up [[spoiler:staying behind to try and kill him, as opposed to running away with her brother. Guess who ends up wasting all of her ammo and getting shot in the back by Ryan?]]
** Eliza, in spades. Despite never knowing about Ryan, she still proceeds to go after him even through she's managed to stay under the FBI's radar for months, possibly years. [[spoiler:It isn't until ''after'' Eliza begins to interrogate Ryan that he decides to come after her.]]

** Mandy. Yes, she did [[WhatAnIdiot choose Joe over her own mother and join Lily rather than simply fleeing the compound]], but she's still nothing more than a young girl who was under the influence of her cult member-mother and the cult leader himself, whom she lived with and became attached to.

* DarknessInducedAudienceApathy: The villains are AxCrazy homicidal maniacs who gleefully commit ''very'' brutal on-screen murders and we see a lot of the story [[VillainProtagonist from their point of view]]; by and large they are selfish, unrepentant and prone to MoralMyopia, and their competence ranges from Villain Sues to {{Big Bad Wannabe}}s (Joe himself starts as the former and devolves into the latter). The ''heroes'', though, are not the most comfortable people to follow either: Hardy is a vengeful KnightTemplar prone to ProtagonistCentredMorality who allows the villain to dictate his moves; the FBI have many fair WhatTheHellHero critiques to make of him, but they tend to be incompetent and stupid in their own right as both they and Hardy get many minor characters killed; Agent Weston and others become steadily more brutal due to Hardy's influence; and civilian characters (whether major like Claire or one-shoters) are out of their league and make dumb decisions to varying degrees. It becomes difficult to root for anyone the longer the story goes on, particularly since the series so often relies on FridgeLogic, {{Idiot Plot}}ting and DiabolusExMachina to move things forward. As a result, the ratings took a big knife to the gut in season two (and cut down to less than half in season three), albeit no more so than anything else that aired on Fox in calendar year 2014.

* IdiotPlot: The success of Carroll's followers is largely reliant on both local and federal law enforcement being unbelievably incompetent.

* CompleteMonster: [[MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate Professor]] Joseph "Joe" [[BigBad Carroll]] is a [[ItsAllAboutMe megalomaniacal]] SerialKiller and [[AntiHero Ryan Hardy]]'s ArchEnemy. After escaping prison, Joe hunts down one of his survivors and brutally murders her, [[EyeScream first by cutting out her eyes]]. It's then revealed that Joe is the leader of a {{cult}} where [[EvilMentor he trained dozens to become killers like him]]. While he pretends to be a kind and genuine cult leader, he sees every one of his members as expendable pawns; even his son is viewed as a "trump card" so he can raise him to be a killer, and he has no problem with killing his ex-wife after she rejects him and tries to kill him. When Joe's cult is dismantled, he resurfaces [[BigBadDuumvirate and teams up with Lily Gray]], another cult leader, before abandoning her and her followers to be arrested or killed once things go awry. Joe comes across yet another cult, kills the leaders, and starts training the members to become killers too, which leads to a series of spree killings. When [[PreacherMan Kingston Tanner]] calls out Joe on television, his response is to have his son, Preston, kidnapped, force Preston to murder an innocent woman, take a church hostage, and then kidnap Kingston and force him and Preston to kill each other. Joe watches as Kingston kills himself to save his son, and then he murders Preston anyway. After Joe is arrested, he attempts to escape one last time; Joe murders a few prison guards and takes some [=VIPs=] hostage before demanding he speak to Ryan Hardy. Once together, Joe threatens to kill the [=VIPs=] until Ryan confesses that [[VigilanteMan he gains satisfaction from killing people]], just like Joe. A {{manipulative|Bastard}} [[TheChessmaster chessmaster]], AxCrazy yet WickedCultured, Joe Carroll believes that people are just pawns or disposable characters he can use to fuel his desire to kill.

* HolyShitQuotient:
** Reaches epic proportions in the second half of "The Siege".
** "[[WhamEpisode Evermore]]" in spades, culminating with [[spoiler: the quiet, somber death of the BigBad]].

** [[spoiler:Dr. Arthur Strauss]] in Season 3. [[spoiler:Despite being the BiggerBad for the ''entire series'', not to mention Joe's mentor, [[SurprisinglySuddenDeath he's killed very unexpectedly]] by Theo the second he turns his back on him.]]

* MagnificentBastard: Carroll.

* JustForFun/XMeetsY: ''Series/TwentyFour'' meets ''Series/CriminalMinds.''

* CompleteMonster: [[BigBad Joe Carroll]] likes to envision himself as a WickedCultured [[TheChessmaster chessmaster]] and architect of darkness and evil. In truth, he is a megalomaniac SerialKiller who killed 14 girls before agent Ryan caught him ten years ago, setting off their mutual obsession with one another. After escaping from jail by killing five guards, Carroll hunts down the only victim to escape him and brutally tortures her to death- first [[EyeScream removing her eyes]]. It is revealed that Carroll has his own cult of serial killers he rules over, encouraging them to "write their own chapters" by committing murder and personally teaches them how to effectively kill a human being. Carroll casually discards his followers when he determines it's necessary, having no remorse leaving them to their fates or forcing them to give their lives for him. A consummate actor, Carroll manipulates his son Joey, with intention of raising him as a killer and refers to Joey as "his best trump card." For his ex-wife, once she rejects Carroll's designs on her by stabbing him, Carroll decides to kill her as well in front of Ryan. When he hears Carol blame herself for not seeing what Joe was sooner, saying she feels like she killed all the girls herself, Carroll seems to comfort her [[BaitTheDog before killing a man in front of her]] to show her what killing someone is really like, telling her not to take credit for his deeds. Joe Carroll believes people are just pawns or characters in the book he writes and that he can do with them whatever he wants for a good story.

* BaseBreaker: Joe Carroll. He's either a brilliant villain who's well-loved for his chemistry with Ryan Hardy and for his ability [[XanatosSpeedChess to quickly make any situation work in his favor]], or he's a boring CreatorsPet with the same death-craving subplots who's stealing the spotlight from other, more interesting killers.

** Many fans were disappointed when Joe and Ryan's climactic fight in Season 1 abruptly ended with Joe becoming trapped in a ring of fire and presumably dying in an explosion. However, this was [[SubvertedTrope subverted]] when Joe turned up alive in Season 2, leaving open the possibility for a more epic showdown.
** [[spoiler:Lily Gray]] in Season 2. [[spoiler:For all her power and resources, she dies rather easily, and her big confrontation with Joe never even happens]].
** [[spoiler:Joe Carroll in Season 2. Again. After a brief fight with Hardy, Hardy knocks him to the floor and points a gun at him. Carroll has a VillainousBreakdown and begs Hardy to kill him. He doesn't, and Joe is arrested shortly afterwards]].
** [[spoiler:Dr. Arthur Strauss]] in Season 3. [[spoiler:Despite being the BiggerBad for the ''entire series'', not to mention Joe's mentor, [[SurprisinglySuddenDeath he's killed very unexpectedly]] by Theo the second he turns his back on him]].
** [[spoiler: Joe Carroll ''again'', presumably for the final time]] in Season 3. [[spoiler: In the end, it isn't a gunshot or an epic fistfight that kills him. After his hostage situation is resolved, he's quietly led to the public execution chamber and lethally injected [[DiesWideOpen as he stares lifelessly at Ryan.]]]]

* AwesomeMusic: Many episodes end with dark metal/electronic/ambient background songs. These have included:
** "Sweet Dreams" by Music/MarilynManson (''Pilot'').

* BrokenBase: [[spoiler:Joe's death]]. Some people thought his death was [[AntiClimaxBoss very underwhelming]]; others thought it was a proper way for him to go. Some people are upset about his death and believe the show is doomed without him; others are glad that he's gone and believe the show can finally move forward. And then there are those who, understandably, believe that HesJustHiding. Although the fact that the show has been cancelled, rendering the third season the final one, remedies some of the complaints and makes the questions of his possible survival unlikely.

* DarknessInducedAudienceApathy: The villains are AxCrazy homicidal maniacs who gleefully commit ''very'' brutal on-screen murders and we see a lot of the story [[VillainProtagonist from their point of view]]; by and large they are selfish, unrepentant and prone to MoralMyopia, and their competence ranges from {{Villain Sue}}s to {{Big Bad Wannabe}}s (Joe himself starts as the former and devolves into the latter). The ''heroes'', though, are not the most comfortable people to follow either: Hardy is a vengeful KnightTemplar prone to ProtagonistCentredMorality who allows the villain to dictate his moves; the FBI have many fair WhatTheHellHero critiques to make of him, but they tend to be incompetent and stupid in their own right as both they and Hardy get many minor characters killed; Agent Weston and others become steadily more brutal due to Hardy's influence; and civilian characters (whether major like Claire or one-shoters) are out of their league and make dumb decisions to varying degrees. It becomes difficult to root for anyone the longer the story goes on, particularly since the series so often relies on FridgeLogic, {{Idiot Plot}}ting and DiabolusExMachina to move things forward. As a result, the ratings took a big knife to the gut in season two (and cut down to less than half in season three), albeit no more so than anything else that aired on Fox in calendar year 2014.

* FoeYay: Carroll and Ryan. It's heavily implied in the flashbacks that the two recognized one another as kindred spirits and developed an unusually strong bond before Ryan figured out that Joe was the killer he was looking for. Ryan states about Joe: 'Charm and Seduce. I know what his followers feel. I fell for it. And five more girls were murdered.' WordofGod states that Ryan developed a strong attraction towards Joe bordering on being romantic and Joe likewise became infatuated with Ryan. Joe himself has stated that everything he's doing is for and about Ryan.

** Joe Carroll was always good at manipulating people, but he's taken a scary level in competence with the second season. It doesn't take him long to insinuate himself into the Korban and assume a position of power. And it coincides with his admission that he's a terrible writer. The thing that caused the rift between Joe and Roderick was the fact that Joe was more concerned with his new art project than tending to the daily workings of his cult. And now, Joe doesn't have that distraction any longer. He's not deluding himself anymore with the idea that he's any kind of artist. [[TheUnfettered Now he's a full-time psycho]].

* [[HilariousInHindsight/LiveActionTV Hilarious In Hindsight]]:

** Joe's meta, future-predicting nature reaches its head [[spoiler: near his death]]. In the episode featuring that event, he makes it clear that [[spoiler: when he dies, so too will Ryan.]] A few weeks after the episode aired, FOX announced that the series has not been renewed for another season. Crosses over with HarsherInHindsight for fans.

* [[HolyShitQuotient HSQ]]:
** Reaches epic proportions in the second half of "The Siege".
** "[[WhamEpisode Evermore]]" in spades, culminating with [[spoiler: the quiet, somber death of the BigBad.]]

** Pfft! Yeah, like they're really gonna kill off [[spoiler:Debra Parker after she was BuriedAlive]]. ...[[SubvertedTrope Oh]], [[AnyoneCanDie wait]].

** Emma. She's a ManipulativeBitch who has no problem [[AllWomenAreLustful having sex with virtually every man she runs into]], including ''Carroll''. She [[spoiler:leaves Paul and Jacob to die after the FBI storms their hideout]], she doesn't give a damn about anyone except Carroll, and she's more than okay with doing anything he tells her to do, even if ''she knows'' it's not right. But what really turned her into TheScrappy was when she [[spoiler:slashed Jacob's throat, even after he practically begged her to come run away with him]].

** [[spoiler:Tom's death for many fans. He ended up digging his own grave by thinking Mark and Daisy wouldn't double-cross him after giving up Mike]].

** [[spoiler:Micah, the [[EvilIsHammy over-the-top]] FauxAffablyEvil cult leader who wanted to be "famous" like Joe and Lily]].

** Eliza, in spades. Despite never knowing about Ryan, she still proceeds to go after him even through she's managed to stay under the FBI's radar for months, possibly years. [[spoiler:It isn't until ''after'' Eliza begins to interrogate Ryan that he decides to come after her]].

** Mandy. Yes, she did [[WhatAnIdiot choose Joe over her own mother and join Lily rather than simply fleeing the compound,]] but she's still nothing more than a young girl who was under the influence of her cult member-mother and the cult leader himself, whom she lived with and became attached to.

* BaseBreaker: Joe Carroll. He's either a brilliant DangerouslyGenreSavvy villain who's well-loved for his chemistry with Ryan Hardy and for his ability [[XanatosSpeedChess to quickly make any situation work in his favor]], or he's a boring CreatorsPet with the same death-craving subplots who's stealing the spotlight from other, more interesting killers.

** Not only that, but its ''other'' rival show, ''Series/{{Hannibal}}'', which is getting praise from critics for being more "avant-garde" than a lot of broadcast shows (including ''The Following''), is doing rather poorly in the ratings itself, even for NBC.

** Sam Underwood [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiwZJmqcMb0#t=57 has said]] that during the audition process for Season 2, Mark and Luke were advertised as only one character with a SplitPersonality, in order to avoid spoilers. Come Season 3, and that's exactly what Mark has become.

** [[spoiler:Tom's death for many fans, who ended up digging his own grave by thinking Mark and Daisy wouldn't double-cross him after giving up Mike]].

** In Season 3, some fans were hoping for [[spoiler:Neil Perry]] to stick around for quite a while, since he was a calm, FauxAffablyEvil killer [[BewareTheQuietOnes who never rose his voice]] and might've evolved into a HeroKiller. Instead, he commits SuicideByCop in the second episode he appears in.

* VillainSue: [[{{Deconstruction}} Deconstructed]]. Constantly. Joe Carroll, the Gray family, Theo Noble, and countless others, go about repeatedly killing people, outsmarting the heroes, slipping past the FBI, and somehow, always triumphant. This causes them all to become overconfident, which leads to several mistakes being made. [[RealityEnsues And due to the villains' unhinged mentality]], certain characters make stupid errors that either [[TooDumbToLive get them killed]], result in a VillainousBreakdown, [[WhatAnIdiot or result in a perfectly constructed plan being unraveled]].

** Carroll gives his mission statement at the end of the pilot; his ode to Poe, ''The Gothic Sea", was "[[ViewersAreMorons clearly too avant-garde]]. Lost in literati pretense. Now my new story... will play to a much wider audience." On April 4th, 2013, The Following's [[DuelingShows rival show]] Series/{{Cult}} was cancelled due to a perceived lack of viewership, while The Following was renewed for a second season, thus demonstrating the validity of Carroll's belief that a straightforward tale of sex and violence would appeal to a much wider audience than something requiring much more investment. '''''Meta beyond imagination.'''''

* VillainSue: Carroll for the first half of Season 1, where ''everything'' goes exactly as he planned. It also helps that [[WhatAnIdiot every member of the FBI is terribly stupid and incompetent.]] [[IdiotPlot Actually, this could be said about every character who isn't evil.]]
** And this trope is [[SubvertedTrope subverted]] to ''all Hell and highwater'' from "Havenport" onwards, as Carroll's plan flies completely off the rails and a VillainousBreakdown ensues.

* [[HolyShitQuotient HSQ]]: Reaches epic proportions in the second half of "The Siege".

** Tom. Some people already didn't like him [[DieForOurShip for getting in the way of the Mike/Max relationship]] and for having little chemistry with Max. Then he started playing with the IdiotBall, and now most fans see Tom as nothing more than a man who is only in the show to remind us all that...he's on the show. [[WhatAnIdiot And that he's an idiot]]. [[spoiler: Although now that he's killed a fellow FBI agent, he might be regaining relevance.]]

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: Early on in Season 3, Tom finds out via laptop recording that [[spoiler:Mike executed Lily Gray]]. Instead of delivering this information to the FBI as evidence or even using it as blackmail against Mike, he's forced to [[spoiler:smash the laptop]], and this bit of detail is all but forgotten about -- [[spoiler: however, his use of the laptop in the first place forces him to murder a fellow FBI agent to cover his tracks.]]

** After the Season 3 episode "Evermore," [[spoiler:the fandom became rife with speculation that Joe secretly survived his execution]].

** Tom. Some people already didn't like him [[DieForOurShip for getting in the way of the Mike/Max relationship]] and for having little chemistry with Max. Then he started playing with the IdiotBall, and now most fans see Tom as nothing more than a man who is only in the show to remind us all that...he's on the show. [[WhatAnIdiot And that he's an idiot]].

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: Early on in Season 3, Tom finds out via laptop recording that [[spoiler:Mike executed Lily Gray]]. Instead of delivering this information to the FBI as evidence or even using it as blackmail against Mike, he's forced to [[spoiler:smash the laptop]], and this bit of detail is all but forgotten about.

* BrokenBase: [[spoiler:Joe's death]]. Some people thought his death was [[AntiClimaxBoss very underwhelming]]; others thought it was a proper way for him to go. Some people are upset about his death and believe the show is doomed without him; others are glad that he's gone and believe the show can finally move forward. And then there are those who, understandably, believe that HesJustHiding.

* ArcFatigue: Fans are starting to get frustrated over the subplot involving Joe and Ryan's [[FoeYay relationship]] (and [[CreatorsPet Joe Carroll]] in general). Even after [[spoiler:he dies two-thirds of the way into Season 3]], ''he is still on the show'' shoving the new and/or more plot-relevant subplots to the side.

* MoralEventHorizon: Even some of the most diehard fans of Lily and the murder twins were horrified when they [[spoiler:tortured and killed Mandy before setting her dead body up to eat with them at dinner]].

* TheScrappy: Emma. She's a ManipulativeBitch who has no problem [[AllWomenAreLustful having sex with virtually every man she runs into]], including ''Carroll''. She [[spoiler:leaves Paul and Jacob to die after the FBI storms their hideout]], she doesn't give a damn about anyone except Carroll, and she's more than okay with doing anything he tells her to do, even if ''she knows'' it's not right. But what really turned her into TheScrappy was when she [[spoiler:slashed Jacob's throat, even after he practically begged her to come run away with him]].

* DesignatedHero: As detailed above, Ryan and anyone in his orbit will inevitably become this as time goes on, since the show seems to share [[ProtagonistCenteredMorality his warped views on justifiable force in the line of duty]].

** [[spoiler:Dr. Arthur Strauss]] was set up as the BigBad for Season 3, and considering that [[spoiler:he's Joe's mentor]], he could've proven to be a terrifying villain. Instead, [[spoiler:he was [[DroppedABridgeOnHim garroted to death]] in the episode ''directly after'' the one where he finally got out of prison for arguably the same reason Jacob was killed: shock value]].