When it comes to television I’m behind most everyone in the world. I just can’t keep up with everything that’s supposedly good on television and continue watching as many movies as I watch in any given week. There just isn’t enough time. However, when I like something I stick with it and in the case of “Hannibal“, I watched the first episode of the second season the day after it aired back at the end of February. It was largely as I remembered the first season ending — snowy, bloody, gruesome, metaphorical, etc. However, I just wasn’t feeling it so I didn’t want to force the issue.
So, over the course of the second season I let the DVR fill up with all thirteen episodes and over the last few days I watched those final twelve episodes. I was riveted and love how each of these episodes not only expands on the mythology that’s being created, but each episode can stand on its own. In a day and age of cliffhangers, and “Hannibal” has its share, it’s amazing how often characters will die in this show or major revelations will come to light and the story continues on in that very episode. Or even more importantly, if a character does die at the end of an episode — the death of Beverly Katz (Hettienne Park) for example — their death will be a driving force of the next episode, which is to say there’s reason for the delay in the full revelation.
[amz asin=”B00CWIMY3O” size=”small”]I’m also a very big fan of the way the show plays with the audience’s mind such as the opening of what I believe was episode ten, “Naka-Choko”, when Will (Hugh Dancy) admits to Hannibal (Mads Mikkelsen) that he killed Freddie Lounds (Lara Jean Chorostecki) in such a nonchalant manner and I’m sitting there going, “What the fuck?!” The show does this so often I can’t tell you how many times I try and sit back and remember the actual events taking place versus what the characters are telling me. It’s wonderful to have a show that keeps you on edge not only narratively but on a cerebral level as well.
The acting is also a big reason anyone would be tuning in regularly. Mikkelsen delivers such a great Hannibal Lecter that it manages to stand alone and doesn’t even need to be compared to Anthony Hopkins, which would be only natural if Mikkelsen wasn’t up to the task. It took me a while to come around on Dancy, but I think that mainly has to do with me taking some time to get used to Will Graham in general. I had some issues with the first season and I felt they hit Will’s psychological issues a little hard. Obviously, the more you watch, the more we begin to realize that was the point.
Oh, and this is a very random aside, but at one point I got to thinking about how it’s rather cliche to have a character, a villain in particular, that listens to classical music the way Hannibal does. How often in movies is a “super-villain” introduced and he’s listening to opera or something like that? However, with Hannibal it’s an extension of his character. He’s listening to classical music in his car as he and Will drive down the road and it makes sense. You get the idea it brings a calming sensation to his character. He’s mastered his emotions (until they explode as we have seen), but he’s a snake that doesn’t strike until that perfect moment and he rarely misses his mark. Wonderful…
Fishburne is a great compliment to Dancy and Mikkelsen and I even love the FBI lab forensics team (Scott Thompson and Aaron Abrams) and I was sad to see Park go. I’m not a huge fan of Chorostecki as Freddie Lounds, but I don’t think we’re meant to be fans of Lounds any way, so no biggie, but as much as the main cast may impress, it’s the guest stars and infrequent members that really push this thing over the top.
Gillian Anderson is phenomenal and that season two finale (I’ll get into that more in a second) was something wonderful. However, and correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t it somewhat reminiscent of the ending of Thomas Harris‘ book “Hannibal”? I know the movie went a different direction, but if I remember correctly, isn’t it Hannibal and Clarice flying off together at the end of “Hannibal” in the book? Perhaps this is an attempt to create some sort of synergy between latter episodes?
Other standout performances belong to Raúl Esparza as Dr. Chilton, Eddie Izzard as Gideon, Katharine Isabelle as Margot Verger and, of course, Michael Pitt as Mason Verger, in a role where Pitt seemed to be saying, “See, I could have played The Joker in The Dark Knight too.” Hell, if this new incarnation of whatever it is Warner Bros. is doing with the Justice League needs a Joker, don’t overlook Pitt.
Compared to how Verger was handled in Ridley Scott‘s Hannibal, the subtlety here was marvelous. Anyone that’s read the book or was familiar with Hannibal likely had an idea what was coming, but the way it all played out was so excellent. It’s also another example of how that scene where we’re left in the dark, not quite sure for a second what might have happened after Will frees Hannibal, other shows might have left that resolution for the next episode, but not “Hannibal”. Here we got so much more, rewarded for tuning in each week, not with cliffhangers but with moments of competent storytelling.
This brings me to the ultimate season finale where not one, not two, but three major characters are left bleeding to death (no, I don’t see any chance for Abigail’s survival). Will we see Will, Jack or Alana (Caroline Dhavernas) in season three? Hugh Dancy recently discussed the question with TV Line saying:
“That’s the million-dollar question. We have definitely got a history on our show of people surviving against all the odds — and I think to some extent that will continue. I mean, we don’t need to do a ‘Game of Thrones‘. I do see the appeal and the great realization in television that ‘Oh, we can kill people, we can lose people — as in life!’ But then there also can be a bit of a swing back in the other direction where you say, ‘That doesn’t mean we have to.’ Especially in our show, which is one step above reality.”
[amz asin=”B001ODEP8U” size=”small”]Let’s be realistic about this whole thing, I think it’s quite obvious Will is going to survive and I’m pretty sure Jack will as well, this show does seem to have some (if not a large) allegiance to the novels, which creator Bryan Fuller has even laid out in detail telling Assignment X
When you get into season 4, you get into the literature. And so season 4 would be ‘Red Dragon,’ season 5 would be the ‘Silence of the Lambs’ era, season 6 would be the [literary] ‘Hannibal’ era, and then season 7 would be a resolve to the ending of that book. ‘Hannibal’ ends on a cliffhanger. Hannibal Lecter has bonded with Clarice Starling and brainwashed her and they are now quasi-lovers and off as fugitives, and so that’s a cliffhanger.
It might be interesting to resolve that in some way and to bring Will Graham back into the picture. So once we get two more seasons, say, of the television show, those are the aren’t-novelized stories, and then we would get into expansions of the novels after that and kind of using the novels as a backbone for season arcs that would then be kind of enhanced.
[amz asin=”B003H4I5JO” size=”small”]I actually disagree with Fuller on him believing the end of the book “Hannibal” is a cliffhanger. I actually don’t think the end of the show’s second season is a cliffhanger, that is, if we didn’t already know there was going to be a third season. If we didn’t know there were going to be more episodes we would simply assume Hannibal and Dr. Du Maurier were flying off to live their lives together having duped everyone, all of whom they’ve left in their bloody wake.
Fuller’s statement does confirm, however, Will Graham is going to be around for a long time. It also means if the show is able to reach a fifth season the casting of Clarice Starling should be more than enough to ensure a season five and six.
As for the future of the show, I’d like to see Hannibal caught rather quickly into season three, or at least midway through with the season finale hinting at the events of Harris’ “Red Dragon“, a story in which Jack is very much alive. It would be great to see early signs of Francis Dolarhyde as well and obviously there will also be a wedding for Will as he and his wife Molly will need to move to the Florida Keys after the eventual capture of Hannibal Lecter.
Then again, in the book, Beverly Katz and Dr. Alan Bloom (she was a he in the book) are very much alive in “Red Dragon” so who lives and dies remains a question mark, which makes it even more exciting… for me at least.
