FRIENDS FROM COLLEGE

Article first published as TV Review: FRIENDS FROM COLLEGE on Seat42F.

First, there was Seinfeld. Then It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and Happy Endings. Now, we have FRIENDS FROM COLLEGE, premiering tomorrow on Netflix.

FRIENDS FROM COLLEGE is another comedy about a group of pals who aren’t all that likeable, and yet, because of terrific actors and magnetic, entertaining personalities, we’ll want to keep watching them, if not rooting for them.

This series isn’t a retread, though; it’s the natural evolution of the trend. Seinfeld was a light, fun, nonsense sitcom, and proud of it. Sunny took it a bit dirtier, while Happy Endings matured the emotional heft. FRIENDS FROM COLLEGE deals with real issues and isn’t laugh-a-minute with one-liners, but it is amusing, and it does feel like a premium cable comedy, something that would also be at home on HBO, as well as its berth on Netflix.

We begin with Ethan (Keegan-Michael Key, Key and Peele) and Sam (Annie Parisse, Person of Interest), carrying on an affair they’ve been having since college. Both are married, but both unions have some serious problems, so they regularly hook up when they can. It’s that not often, since they live in different cities. As the pilot begins, Ethan announceshe’s moving back the Big Apple, restoring their friend group from their Harvard days, but complicating the tryst.

Ethan and Sam are the most central characters at first, so even though they may not be likeable, they need to be people we can relate to. And they are. Ethan loves his wife, but he doesn’t always want what she wants. He’s an author considering breaking into Young Adult fiction, tired of his award-winning novels not selling, but detests the genre for reasons that perfectly describe him. Sam thinks her husband is dumb, and is a little more desperate for escape, though she clearly likes her (rarely seen on screen) children.

Yes, these are people with arrested development, lacking the emotional maturity they need to progress. We all remember times like that, or may still be struggling with some of the emotions (although hopefully making different choices). I am eager for the affair to become public knowledge to see what happens, but at the same time, I worry what that would do to the friend group at the center of FRIENDS FROM COLLEGE.

The other four primary players are: Ethan’s wife, Lisa (Cobie Smulders, How I Met Your Mother), who has just taken a job at a horrible hedge fund; rich trust fund lothario Nick (Nat Faxon, Married); aspiring (and failing) actress Marianne (Jae Suh Park, The Big Short); and oft-overlooked book agent Max (Fred Savage, The Grinder, Wonder Years). Lisa has the most material of the four in the first half of the season, and Cobie excels at it, but Max has the funniest bits, and Marianne seems like a simmering cauldron ready to erupt.

Yes, they are all too involved in one another’s lives, and it’s not entirely realistic they are all still so close, but it’s a premise one can overlook to enjoy all of these great actors playing together. Toss in Max’s partner (Billy Eichner, Difficult People), who doesn’t like Max’s friends, and Sam’s husband (Greg Germann, Ally McBeal), who seems to have levels that haven’t yet been explored, and this is the makings for a long-term series I’d enjoy watching. I hope Eichner and Germann are promoted to series regular in season two, as I love how they are outsiders who don’t get the friend group, which is a valuable thing to have when telling this story.

While this may not be completely original territory, and as I’ve said, it’s hard to like most of the characters, I could not stop watching, plowing through half the season before pausing to write this review, and eager to watch the second half as soon as I’m done. This is a great cast, and the story, while at times frustrating, is compelling. I hope it runs a good, long time.

FRIENDS FROM COLLEGE will release all eight episodes of season one tomorrow exclusively on Netflix.

The Following Reaches "The Final Chapter" (For Now)

Article first published as The Following Reaches "The Final Chapter" (For Now) on TheTVKing.

FOX's The Following ends its freshman run this week with "The Final Chapter." Ryan (Kevin Bacon) is lured to a lighthouse by Joe (James Purefoy) for a final showdown. Of course, Claire's (Natalie Zea) life hangs in the balance, and of course, Ryan doesn't take anyone with him to the confrontation, including Mike (Shawn Ashmore). There, the two men have it out with one another once and for all.

I am a bit disappointed with the end of The Following's showdown between Ryan and Joe. I really feel like Ryan should have learned his lesson and trusted a few people. "The Final Chapter"'s plot only makes sense if we believe that Joe knows Ryan so well that he can predict his every move. And maybe he does. But, as a viewer who has watched all fifteen installments thus far, I feel like Ryan should have learned to out-think Joe, at least on some level, and brought along back up.

The climax where Ryan kills Joe, sort of, in an exploding building also feels a bit contrived. The moment we don't positively see Joe catch on fire or blow up is the one where fans of the genre will absolutely know, deep down, that no matter how it looks, Joe has survived. How he would think far enough ahead to plant a body there, or could fake dental records after a body is discovered, is stretching believability. But Joe has got to live on.

With those complaints out of the way, though, I must say that the hour is mostly excellent. I really like how we get to see bits of Ryan's soul. We understand how he and Mike can torture Alex (Charlie Semine), as Parker's (Annie Parisse) life hangs in the balance, and even why the other FBI agents can look away. When Ryan coldly murders Alex, one worries about Ryan's stability, but Alex's death is deserved, and Ryan doesn't put him in the coffin, which would be poetic justice, but not at all hero-like.

Despite Ryan's flaws, he is the hero. Joe casts him as such, and the moral compass Ryan displays backs that up. He crosses some legal lines, to be sure, but his motives are always pure, and his goals are noble. He doesn't unnecessary cause anyone harm, even the bad guys, as he kills Alex quickly once he's used all Alex knows to try to save the day, rather than continue to mess with him.

I'm sad that Ryan and Mike are too late to save Parker. I really like her, and like many of The Following's character, she dies too soon. However, part of the draw of the series is its unpredictability, and the way people can perish without warning. It appropriately builds suspense when it should, and as regrettable as it is to lose Parisse from the cast, and as false as it may feel to have them find her just barely too late, it is a shock that she is dead, and an example of surprising and engaging storytelling.

I do hope Mike and Ryan can work out their friendship. Ryan shuts Mike out a bit because, as close as they've grown, Ryan is a loner. He trusts Mike more than he trusts most people, but Mike still doesn't get to come to the light house because Ryan feels he must take on the burden himself. I don't think Ryan would have shot Mike in the foot to get him not to follow, though Mike must think it's a possibility, so I hope that isn't what keeps them from working together again.

The final moments of "The Final Chapter," in which Molly (Jennifer Ferrin) attacks Ryan, are a great cliffhanger. This installment makes pretty clear, whether Joe is dead or not, there are still threats out there, such as Molly and Emma (Valorie Curry). Some may have been brought out by Joe, but some of the threats Ryan will eventually face, as the show has been renewed for season two (and stands a good chance of living longer), won't be Joe-centric. This is a series about a man fighting evil, and evil will always exist, no matter how often it is stopped.

Now, does The Following go a bit too far, having too many people being stabbed and surviving, then bouncing back to their jobs too quickly? Yes, that can certainly be argued. But some grade-A acting and tight plot work keeps the flow going and the series enticing. I really like The Following, and look forward to its return.

Follow The Following

Article first published as The Following Series Premiere Review on Seat42F.

Grade: 97%

FOX is known for high-octane action dramas that are also about good storytelling. In THE FOLLOWING, premiering this Monday at 9 p.m. ET, not only does it follow in this proud traditional, but it uses a well-known group of actors and a seasoned creator, Kevin Williamson (Scream, Dawson’s Creek, The Vampire Diaries), to deliver one of the best network series in the genre to date.

As the story opens, after a suitably intense first scene, we meet agent Ryan Hardy (Kevin Bacon, Mystic River, Apollo 13), an alcoholic, washed-up fed who once captured a notorious serial killer named Joe Carroll (James Purefoy, Rome, Resident Evil). Joe is on the loose, and with some new agents by his side (X-Men’s Shawn Ashmore, not to be confused with twin Aaron, and Law & Order’s Annie Parisse), Ryan has to track down Joe all over again.

While the hunt is on, THE FOLLOWING takes time to show us some of the previous events in a series of flashbacks. We are introduced to Sarah (Maggie Grace, Lost, Taken), the victim Ryan saved from Joe’s killing spree, and Claire Matthews (Natalie Zea, Justified, The Other Guys), Joe’s wife, whom Ryan previously had a sexual relationship with, during the first go-round with Joe. Ryan checks in on them both in the present day, concerned, and hoping that they can lead him to Joe.

Other than that, it’s hard to tell you much. FOX would like me not to spoil the various plot twists that make up the hour, and after thoroughly enjoying the story, I agree that everyone should watch the episode for themselves. It’s a thrilling ride, with plenty of the unexpected happening, and it would be pretty rude to give you a heads up about those things.

This also makes it hard to talk about the series going forward, or what it will be. The story is significantly different at the end from what it appears to be at the beginning. so I can’t write about the premise very much without spoiling. So I won’t.

What THE FOLLOWING does well is set up an intense situation. As publicly released materials on the show’s official website have already revealed, the show will deal a lot with what would happen if serial killers in many different areas formed a network, rallying around a central figure. It takes an element of society that it already dangerous, and heightens the threat, with a support network helping the bad guys complete their evil missions. This is exactly what is happening.

There is also the Battlestar Galactica element of the enemy hiding among us. On that sci-fi show, the villains are Cylons, robots that look like humans, live as humans, and may not even know they aren’t humans. In THE FOLLOWING, serial killers masquerade as normal people, and like in BG, they could be anybody. This makes for a high-stakes guessing game sure to engage viewers.

Of course, we have the flawed hero in Ryan, a familiar enough trope at this point. Bacon brings something fresh to the table, though, as the latest in a string of well-respected, highly talented film stars that are transitioning to the small screen for the great roles offered. Bacon takes Ryan, and immediately sets up someone fans will get behind and root for, even as we wish we could help him through the internal and external traumas he is dealing with, forgiving him his slipups because of what he has endured.

There is a simmering tension in the air, as THE FOLLOWING makes us wonder what a person is capable of. We get both sides of the spectrum, hero and villain, both intelligent and capable, and both ripe for exploring humanity through the prism of. Obviously, Joe’s actions are heinous, but the show seeks to get into his head a bit. At the same time, Ryan has clearly taken almost all he can possibly take, but, somehow, he has to find a way to overcome his failings and be the man the public need him to be to protect them.

Ryan is starting a step behind, Joe, of course, not knowing the game is already afoot. But the chemistry between these leads is great, and surely the upper hand will go back and forth between them repeatedly over the run of the program.

What makes THE FOLLOWING even better than the typical series are the literary and artistic references. Edgar Allen Poe plays a huge role in influence, with a thumping heart beat even accompanying one scene in a brilliant way. Joe thinks that there is a beauty in the murders he commits, and while THE FOLLOWING will not glamorize or agree with Joe, we see the elements in his act that he attributes to the more noble pursuits.

In short, THE FOLLOWING works on many levels, and is extremely well put together in every category. It takes what FOX did with Prison Break and 24, testosterone-fueled dramas, and pumps it up with some braininess that elevates the game. This is a fascinating story with plenty of mystery and suspense. It should become a much-watch for many very quickly.

Want to read some of my fiction? It's on my website, JeromeWetzel.com! Also, for the latest updates and article links, as well as commentary on episodes I don't fully review, please follow me on Twitter!