‘The Following’ review: Did you see [spoiler’s] death coming?

“The Following” is at this point one of those shows that you’re either going to love or despise, and really the best thing about Monday night’s episode was that it showed a complete and utter willingness to go all-out with its storytelling. When they proclaim that “no one is safe,” they really mean it on this show. This made Monday night’s episode especially exciting, as we saw something happen that we never saw coming.

Ever since the love triangle with Paul, Jacob, and Emma was first established, we really thought that this was going to be something that played out for at least a full season (and quite possibly longer). Instead, what we ended up seeing here was the shocking death of Paul this week at Jacob’s hands. It was sad and yet poetic that this was how he got his first kill, as he put the man that he secretly loved for most of the past few years out of his misery. Meanwhile, Emma was off somewhere being silenced by Joe Carroll, and then made to feel extremely awful when Jacob turns back up on the scene.

As for the Ryan Hardy story, there is a part of this that is getting somewhat tiresome in that we know more or less what is going to happen every week: Ryan takes part in some sort of mission (this time to take down a follower named Amanda Porter), and once again his own past was thrown into question (this time with Claire). The one thing that was a nice change? That for at least this one episode, the bureau actually got a win as Amanda is in custody. Once you consider how far along we are in the season, we have to hope for more little victories soon prior to the finale.

Overall, what did you think about tonight’s episode of “The Following”? Be sure to share some of your thoughts below, and you can also read some more news on the show’s second-season renewal over at the link here.

Photo: Fox