Wait, Matthew Crawley is DEAD??** And in Other TV Obsessions: The Following

(**Consider this parenthetical text my Downton spoiler alert for the three other people in the world besides me who didn’t know that.)

Imagine my surprise tonight (Tonight, for F sake! Two nights later!) when I learned that there were two episodes of Downton Abbey beyond the episode that I thought was the season three finale, back when I was all smug because I lived in the EU and got to see Season 3 before all you commoner American viewers. And tonight I learned that – WHAT THE?!?? – he’s DEAD? She’s PREGNANT? I thought the season ended with a very civilized luncheon on the lawn with everyone alive, but no, somehow {shakes fist at sky in grief and astonishment}–How, god … HOW???–I missed the last episode of season three. My god. The train of my binge TV viewing has come right off the track. I feel like missing the show where he died is somehow like missing his funeral if he were my actual boyfriend husband lover. I am unfinished, incomplete, pas fini. Because Matthew Crawley was a gentleman. And let’s get to the real heart of the matter: he was hot as freakin’ lava. Just look at the smolder he puts off.

RIP, Matthew. And to all the guys who want to hook up with Lady Mary, take heed: You’re either gonna get screwed to death, run off the road by a truck, or something much worse. Sex with O’Brien maybe?

**

In other news, is anyone watching The Following with Kevin Bacon? I’m really into it and finally caught up tonight to the current episode. (Or did I? If anyone tells me that Kevin Bacon dies in episode six – which would be a miracle if you did because it’s not even aired yet – I’m gonna just turn my Hulu off forever.)

If you don’t know the premise, Kevin Bacon is a boozing ex FBI agent who helped catch a serial killer/author years ago, and in the process got his heart stabbed by said killer and now wears a pacemaker. (So he’s boozy and he has a bad heart. Man, none of the characters I like can catch a freakin’ break.)

KB is asked to come back to the FBI staff to help solve a rash of serial killings that the FBI believes is somehow connected to the serial killer even though he’s in prison. Over the course of the show, we learn that the imprisoned killer has a cult of follwers (hence the name I guess) who are doing his killing for him while he’s in prison. How thoughtful. “You never know” who’s one of the cult – said in quotation marks because after the first couple of shows, you sort of do start to know … or you think you do anyway; you start to suspect everyone as being part of the following, which is part of the allure of the show, at least for me. That and it’s super dark and graphic, more so than most network TV I’ve seen, anyway.

Plus it’s Kevin Bacon, so there’s that. Give it a watch if you haven’t already … if you like dark, that is. And share any theories of followers if you have them – I want to discuss!

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• Cults, Serial Killers, and Edgar Allen Poe: The Art of the Following (nowherebutpop.com)
• Sizzling Kevin Bacon Performance In New Show ‘The Following’ (contactmusic.com)
• Fox Defends Violence in Kevin Bacon’s ‘The Following’ (aceshowbiz.com)