Ehh, I don't see Kevin Bacon turning full heel to the audience, because the show has to have some redeemable Van Helsing/Loomis-kinda savior against the cult. The show needs that, and that is Bacon.

BUT, an interesting twist would be letting Joe go on for so long, and having Bacon kill Joe because he finally snaps and cuts the head off the snake. Bacon then discovers it's not over and it's only the beginning and Joe was just a smaller piece of a bigger puzzle, maybe even a conspiracy inside the psychology science (think psycho-babble nuts meets Thorn from Halloween 6), that somehow believe this cult is "balance" to mankind.

Bacon goes off the deep-end, and basically becomes Ahab in Moby Dick, swearing up and down there's a conspiracy and he's gonna stop it, and pretty much everyone sees him as a total nutjob, because he becomes more aggressive, unstable, and just kills anything in sight.

The audience is in on it though. It's not a full heel turn, but it does blur the line some, gives Bacon some more dimension than just "i'm gonna hook up with Joe's girl", gives the series long-term gas in the tank for writing and all kinds of directions, and ultimately puts Bacon over as more of the anti-hero he deserves to be, rather than the boring hero they're going for now.

jmo

I think Bacon needs to stay face, but he needs to be crazier, like late-era Loomis. But then again, we're only a few episodes in. If it gets renewed, and some time... it might just get there on it's own. I personally think the big change for his character would be if Joe had his own ex-wife killed and son perminately put in the cult. That would completely drive Bacon over the edge. But leading the cult? I don't see it out of his character. Not the one they're building.

I made the Halloween-reference earlier in the thread, and I remember watching those films and thinking -- "why doesn't everyone literally cling to Dr. Loomis' leg?" Donald Pleasence seemed damn near invincible to Michael, and I always felt if I was in those movies I would be literally with him 24/7, because he seems to constantly 'make it'.

Same thing exists with The Following. Kevin Bacon seems to constantly get out of predictaments, and those who aren't around him, of course -- die.

With that said -- I still think the show is fantastic, and it still is slowly becoming my favorite show on TV. It has so much potential, and I love it's presentation and tone. It's a far better show than garbage like Criminal Minds.

I also thought the twist of turning the serial killers relationship into a Polyandry-relationship was a big twist, because I thought for sure that bitch was gonna kill the gay dude, especially after she found out her lover wasn't a killer. Instead she embraced him, which I did not see coming.

Not to mention how unsettling it was seeing them all together in the shower. At times it seemed a little creepy and risque for something typically on Fox at 9-10p ET on Mondays.

Either way, the show still has alot of potential, but I think more work on Kevin Bacon's character and backstory needs to be done other than he has the hots for Joe's wife. They're starting to make Bacon one-dimension and basically "some FBI profiler with a gun that Joe has it out for".

So far the killers have been far more fascinating to watch, and that's not good when you're star is starting to fade to the background.

Still a great show.

The Americans for me is starting to slow down, but it still remains a fascinating throwback 80's neo-noir series with tons of character development, something you don't see much of anymore.

I've always liked Kelly Clarkson, and am proud to say she was my first AND LAST vote on American Idol. Never even watched the show after her, because thankfully she made it out, but Idol is an embarassing commercial for Ford and Coke.

Clarkson however is an absolutely inspiration female in my eyes. I NEVER throw that phrase around, but I have always had the major hots for her for all the right reasons. She fights for her opinion, without losing class. She fights for her music and her say, despite being an amateur when she started who had literally music producer God's trying to bury her -- Kelly won. She has fought off gay rumors for years simply because she's an old fashioned girl who wanted love before all else and meant it and stuck by it, regardless of how much she was slammed for it.

I remember those years, and I wasn't even that big of a fan. Kelly was harrassed relentlessly, and seemed to stay strong, not lose her beliefs in life & music & business, she stayed HER.

And I was always inspired by that. If more women were like her, not only would the music industry landscape be entirely different, but maybe women in general.

Good for her, best to her, and she can't say this, but I can -- kick his mother fuckin' racist ass.

I was also first exposed to 80s Heart. Mainly because MTV beat that "These Dreams" video into the GD ground when I was a kid. I always enjoyed it, plus in those days, along with Michael Bolton, literally every woman with a pulse loved them.

Then I tried out 70s Heart.... eh, never made the transition. Barracuda, if I never hear that song again for the rest of my life, i'll die happy. Mainly radio ruined a great song, or i'm just weird, I hated it. I listen to select cuts from their earlier albums from recommendations and still just wasn't digging it.

I honestly didn't dig much of Heart outside of that 80s self-titled album. I tried to listen to some subsequent albums, and was just bored.

I think my love of Heart just boils down to that one off 80's Heart album.

Anybody know if this is gonna be streamed elsewhere in real time? I don't have VH1.