The Following Season 2 Spoilers: "The Following" has a pretty big following, but can anyone follow it?

I watch "The Following" on Monday nights. I watch it, mainly, because it's on. My wife watches "The Following" and I'm in the room. The TV is in front of me. I'm facing it.

I understand "The Following" and why Joe Carroll has a following. From Charles Manson to Richard Ramirez (The Vampire Killer) through to today's Jodi Arias, killers get tons of fan mail in prison. Serial killers even more so. But I'm not sure why "The Following" has a following.

I like Kevin Bacon. As I've written before, what's not to like? He's consistent. He's solid. He sometimes completely disappears into his parts and Tom Hanks says he always smells good. Bacon is sometimes the best thing in very good movies. From his impish privileged college smirk in Animal House through his smart-ass dumbass in the classic and hugely influential Diner to his unrecognizable felon in Murder in the First, Bacon is a first degree of separation.

I've been following James Purefoy since his brilliant turn as Marc Antony on HBO's "Rome." He was so funny. He was so brutal. Purefoy's Antony wouldn't get out of bed until he screwed someone. Even that German slut. Maybe especially that German slut. And if he was up all night riding with the legions, he'd f**k someone against a tree. Purefoy's Marc Antony exemplified forza, Roman joie de vivre. I saw. I came. I took a nap. But I gotta say, having followed him through his turn as a billionaire and on "The Following" I notice he's not as diverse as I'd once hoped. Too bad we didn't get to see him doff the mask in "V for Vendetta."

It seems like James Purefoy never wants to be anywhere he happens to be. Purefoy always has this expression on his face that looks like he wants to check his watch. Even in Rome, when watches weren't yet invented, he was checking his watch. He's perennially Jane Fonda in bed in "Klute." There's somewhere, anywhere, that he'd rather be. His words say I love it here, but everything about him, all the time, says what am I still doing here? Don't I have a plane to catch? Last week, Joe Carroll slept with the psycho mom. She says she'd love to lie in bed all day. He agrees, but let's face it. He saw. He came. He should be going.

Jim Carroll is no writer, apparently. He is still an artist. He's an escape artist. A magician who should have been in "The Four Horsemen," starring in his own shell game. He dematerializes from planes, trains and automobiles without explanation. Sure, they try to explain it. But the explanations are kinda lame, really. They work because the writers say they work, but they don't. What also doesn't work is that artistic murder expression.

Carroll used to murder because he was a fan of Edgar Allen Poe. As if that made any real sense. But now he's given a full reign with morticians accoutrements. He's done fine without them. All he needs is a broken piece of glass. That's his art. It's like the writers put the slab in there because it looked cool and spooky and "Silence of the Lambs"-y. But in "Silence of the Lambs" it made sense. It had an inner logic. Besides, there are too many Lambs on TV now already.

Now, the cops, who are they following? These guys don't remind me of Dirty Harry, they remind me of Get Smart. After every single scene that the cops are involved you can say "missed it by that much." These guys couldn't catch a cold in a leper colony. It's no wonder cops shoot more people now as a first response while crime is at its lowest levels in history. They're too f*cking stupid and they're too f*cking lazy. They can't be bothered. These cops are not going to be jumping fences like Al Pacino did in "Serpico." They'll waddle along and get there when they can. If they see a suspect, they'll just shoot so they don't have to run. The collar is too tight around their throats anyway.

Is anyone really following "The Following?" Not just watching it, but following it. The shortcuts that pass as subterfuge. The plot twists that really just throw the whole scenario back to just a few episodes earlier. Does anyone follow the logic of the circumstance? The inner logic of the characters. You don't have to be Spock to be frustrated.