"Paul Levinson's It's Real Life is a page-turning exploration into that multiverse known as rock and roll. But it is much more than a marvelous adventure narrated by a master storyteller...it is also an exquisite meditation on the very nature of alternate history." -- Jack Dann, The Fiction Writer's Guide to Alternate History

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

The Following 2.4: Psycho Families and Trains

Family loomed large in The Following 2.4 tonight, in a whole bunch of intersecting ways.

Lily Gray, as we found out last week, is the mother of the twins, and she presides over a family that includes other psychos including Gillian - whose sheer love of killing makes her one of the most dangerous of the following we've encountered so far - and Emma, who deep down wants to be part of a family, including a mother's love, second only to her wanting Joe.

On the other side, we have Ryan and his niece Max, who, I've got to say and even though there's no need for comparisons, I'm beginning to like better than Lizzie in The Blacklist, because Max is more straightforward, not whiny and neurotic, and not marred to Lizzie's lamo husband.  But, in any case, Ryan and Max make a great team, and her getting on train with Gillian was a great way to end the episode, with sounds of the train track echoing into the black tunnel and screen and Ryan's fears.

Meanwhile, there's yet another family connection - this one a mix of good guys and killers.  I don't like the new FBI woman on this case at all - so far she's been an annoying, uncreative martinet - but the stunner that she and Jennifer share a family, including joint custody of kids, which Joe has just been embracing as he makes his way back to New York, was another reminder that we can take nothing for granted on this series.

This FBI-psycho connection, by the way, could cut both ways - to the detriment and death of Agent Martinez, or the same for Jennifer, or both.  And, if Martinez gets the better of this, she could even get a pathway straight to Joe via Jennifer.   Maybe Mandy, who's shaping up to be sagest killer of all, was right when she wondered if Joe would do well to kill Jennifer.

Back to the train, and speaking of NYC, I also thought that the entire Grand Central Terminal chase and scene was great television, with a train mix that Alfred Hitchcock would have enjoyed.  The Following this year has more cinematic power than ever, which, given its subject, makes it powerful indeed.




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