Upon reading many of the User Reviews for "The Following", I have noticed that the people who bash it have no idea what they are talking about, with all due respect. Most of their "arguments" fall into 3 categories: 1.) The F.B.I/Police are incompetent. 2.) Joe Carroll/The Cult has ridiculous resources and influence. 3.) The convenience of the plot.
So, the FBI are incompetent according to these people. Apparently, you should send a SWAT team everywhere you go, because if you don't you obviously are being a "drooling idiot". People complain about how Ryan supposedly never calls for backup. For example, when Ryan, Mike, and Debra went to the house that supposedly was the home of Daniel Monroe, why didn't they call for backup? There are multiple reasons for this: 1.) They were only there to talk to Daniel Monroe, you don't send a SWAT team just so you can talk to a witness. 2.) Debra DID try to call for backup, but Monroe had a cell phone jammer. When she attempted to walk outside to call for backup, she had to stop because Jacob was in the house. 3.) They didn't get backup beforehand because 3 federal agents is more than enough just to talk to a witness.
Aside from that, the very fact that they found Daniel Monroe is testament that they're not incompetent. According to Roderick, Daniel (the leader of the disbanded militia Freedom 13) was living "off the grid" and Roderick, whom had extensive contact with him, didn't even know where he lived. Some other feats the FBI have accomplished so far are: finding and raiding the farmhouse, killing Paul, saving Joey, finding the house even though Roderick had tampered with the property records, killing Joe Carroll (depending on the outcome in Season 2), saving Claire from being kidnapped by Roderick and Vince at the motel, captured Roderick, saved the surrogate Claire Matthews from being killed by Amanda, capturing Alex Lipton during his sniper shootout scene, deducing the massacre would occur at the evacuation center, and killing/imprisoning most of the cult members.
The next argument made really doesn't make any sense to me. According to them, Joe Carroll and his cult have ridiculous resources and influence.
Let's start with the first; resources. I assume what these people are talking about is the military presence in the cult. This was thoroughly explained, their tactical resources came from old Freedom 13 members due to Roderick's friendship with Daniel Monroe. Their technological expertise came from the Freedom 13 members and Charlie Mead who was a Corporal in a Cyber Surveillance Unit in the Military.
The influence the cult had was due to it's charismatic leader Joe Carroll. He recruited followers from inside and outside of prison, in addition to Roderick recruiting when Joe was in prison. Some people have been quick to say that the idea of Joe recruiting from inside prison is preposterous. However, when Joe was using the internet while in prison, the guard monitoring was Jordy, whom Joe had befriended and manipulated due to his cult susceptibility. As for Joe's ability to get people to do his bidding, that's the whole premise of the show. If you're going to attempt to reject Joe's ability to manipulate being plausible, I suggest you watch a show that isn't about a cult.
The last common argument is that the plot is apparently convenient and doesn't make sense. Some alleged examples of this are Claire's surrender to the cult, the followers conveniently appearing, Joe escaping from prison twice, and the house the cult lives in.
The first is Claire's surrender. Claire gave herself up to the cult in order to see her son, it's not like she arbitrarily did it for no reason. She even said when she did it "take me to my son". If your son was kidnapped by a cult of serial killers and the FBI had not found him in a considerable amount of time, I doubt you would be thinking clearly.
As for followers "conveniently" appearing. The only possible instance of this is the blonde police officer from the raid on the farmhouse. But, Roderick had assigned her there beforehand, it's not like she joined the police force the day before.
Joe escaped from custody twice causing people to ignorantly say "look! the police are stupid!". Jeez, if only I could think of another serial killer who did the EXACT SAME THING. Ted Bundy, the murderer of 36 women escaped from custody twice, and he did it without the help of a cult of serial killers.
Last, "how does a cult of serial killers live in a house without being discovered?" Well, Roderick was the Sheriff of the town in which the house was located. He had access to the property records and modified them to essentially hide the house. Plus, they didn't have any neighbors.
In conclusion, most of the arguments made against this show can easily be debunked. Also, most of the reviews don't even bring up actual points, they just say "The writing is bad" without giving any evidence to support it.
So, the FBI are incompetent according to these people. Apparently, you should send a SWAT team everywhere you go, because if you don't you obviously are being a "drooling idiot". People complain about how Ryan supposedly never calls for backup. For example, when Ryan, Mike, and Debra went to the house that supposedly was the home of Daniel Monroe, why didn't they call for backup? There are multiple reasons for this: 1.) They were only there to talk to Daniel Monroe, you don't send a SWAT team just so you can talk to a witness. 2.) Debra DID try to call for backup, but Monroe had a cell phone jammer. When she attempted to walk outside to call for backup, she had to stop because Jacob was in the house. 3.) They didn't get backup beforehand because 3 federal agents is more than enough just to talk to a witness.
Aside from that, the very fact that they found Daniel Monroe is testament that they're not incompetent. According to Roderick, Daniel (the leader of the disbanded militia Freedom 13) was living "off the grid" and Roderick, whom had extensive contact with him, didn't even know where he lived. Some other feats the FBI have accomplished so far are: finding and raiding the farmhouse, killing Paul, saving Joey, finding the house even though Roderick had tampered with the property records, killing Joe Carroll (depending on the outcome in Season 2), saving Claire from being kidnapped by Roderick and Vince at the motel, captured Roderick, saved the surrogate Claire Matthews from being killed by Amanda, capturing Alex Lipton during his sniper shootout scene, deducing the massacre would occur at the evacuation center, and killing/imprisoning most of the cult members.
The next argument made really doesn't make any sense to me. According to them, Joe Carroll and his cult have ridiculous resources and influence.
Let's start with the first; resources. I assume what these people are talking about is the military presence in the cult. This was thoroughly explained, their tactical resources came from old Freedom 13 members due to Roderick's friendship with Daniel Monroe. Their technological expertise came from the Freedom 13 members and Charlie Mead who was a Corporal in a Cyber Surveillance Unit in the Military.
The influence the cult had was due to it's charismatic leader Joe Carroll. He recruited followers from inside and outside of prison, in addition to Roderick recruiting when Joe was in prison. Some people have been quick to say that the idea of Joe recruiting from inside prison is preposterous. However, when Joe was using the internet while in prison, the guard monitoring was Jordy, whom Joe had befriended and manipulated due to his cult susceptibility. As for Joe's ability to get people to do his bidding, that's the whole premise of the show. If you're going to attempt to reject Joe's ability to manipulate being plausible, I suggest you watch a show that isn't about a cult.
The last common argument is that the plot is apparently convenient and doesn't make sense. Some alleged examples of this are Claire's surrender to the cult, the followers conveniently appearing, Joe escaping from prison twice, and the house the cult lives in.
The first is Claire's surrender. Claire gave herself up to the cult in order to see her son, it's not like she arbitrarily did it for no reason. She even said when she did it "take me to my son". If your son was kidnapped by a cult of serial killers and the FBI had not found him in a considerable amount of time, I doubt you would be thinking clearly.
As for followers "conveniently" appearing. The only possible instance of this is the blonde police officer from the raid on the farmhouse. But, Roderick had assigned her there beforehand, it's not like she joined the police force the day before.
Joe escaped from custody twice causing people to ignorantly say "look! the police are stupid!". Jeez, if only I could think of another serial killer who did the EXACT SAME THING. Ted Bundy, the murderer of 36 women escaped from custody twice, and he did it without the help of a cult of serial killers.
Last, "how does a cult of serial killers live in a house without being discovered?" Well, Roderick was the Sheriff of the town in which the house was located. He had access to the property records and modified them to essentially hide the house. Plus, they didn't have any neighbors.
In conclusion, most of the arguments made against this show can easily be debunked. Also, most of the reviews don't even bring up actual points, they just say "The writing is bad" without giving any evidence to support it.