‘The Following’ season 2 premiere review: Sam Underwood steals first episode back

After the NFC Championship Game on Sunday night, “The Following” came back with an episode that tried to capture some of the magic that we saw with the show the first time around. There was Ryan Hardy, finding himself getting back in the world of Joe Carroll despite his claims that he was over it. Claire was dead, and everyone that once worked with the FBI investigation is now trying to deal with the ramifications of having to get back into this traumatic world.

Admittedly, the entire episode would have been slightly more intriguing were it not known already that James Purefoy was coming back to the show, but that’s the sort of thing that comes with TV. At least some of the new followers have plenty of promise. The best (or two of the best?) is played by Sam Underwood, who is the master of playing creepy characters now courtesy of his roles on “Dexter” and “Homeland.” This one was far more terrifying than either one of them, especially since he reenacted “Weekend at Bernie’s” in the most awful way imaginable.

Somehow, none of the killings nor the re-introductions to the likes of Weston and company still prepared us for that stunner at the end of the episode: Seeing Ryan under one of those Joe Carroll masks. What was that all about? This is a guy that seems to be happier than he’s ever been on the surface, but still clearly getting mixed up in some pretty dark stuff. It’s a little confusing, but we’ll go with it for now.

Here is the thing with “The Following”: You have to suspend belief for it sometimes, and it’s not always a show that makes a ton of sense. But it’s pretty darn entertaining, and we feel the same way about it now that we did at the end of season 1. Also, Joe Carroll has the manliest beard ever. This, coupled with Ryan being under a mask, was one of the night’s main events. Grade: B+.