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Let’s see here: An exploration of an emotionally complicated subject, a nerve-wracking mystery slowly being unwound… and some absolutely cringe-inducing gore. Yep: This is an episode of Hannibal.
This episode largely hinges around three plot threads: The FBI chases down a creepy apiarist setting up beehives in people’s skulls; Bella Crawford struggles with her lung cancer; and Will Graham continues his chess match with Hannibal.
First off, this is one cringe-inducing episode just on the level of body horror; if this and the “human mural” scene that opened the second episode is any indication, they’re really upping the nightmare fuel this season. The human beehive that opens the episode is creepy enough, but then there’s the goreless yet profoundly disturbing scene where an acupuncturist, played by Amanda Plummer, lobotomizes some poor bastard while all he can do is quiver there paralyzed. Even for this show, that’s one hell of a disturbing moment.
Plummer doesn’t get much screen time, but she’s one of this show’s most troubling psychopaths not least because of her quietly proud monologue at the end about easing pain and end of life. This plotline is lightly touched on, but it’s a superb demonstration of how this show can twist the knife.
Bella, meanwhile, struggles with her need to control her life versus helping Jack say goodbye. It’s anchored by a great scene between Jack and Bella as Bella tries the ganja for the first time in a long time, and she and Jack talk about end of life. It’s some quietly powerful acting, and it’s good to see the show finally pick up on this plotline again; it’s what makes Jack more than the loud bossy guy. It’s also surprising in how this show treats the topic with such elegance and sensitivity, even though it devotes maybe fifteen minutes total to it; there are “serious dramas” that don’t show nearly the class this does around a tough topic.
Finally, there’s Hannibal, who seems to be getting a thrill out of just how far he can push teasing the FBI, even as Will shows a surprising ability to match Hannibal at his own chess game. Hannibal’s games may, however, have come back around to bite him: Beverly breaks into his house and uncovers his larder… right before Hannibal himself shows up. We know what ultimately happens in his kitchen, and a large piece of how it comes to that fight just locked into place.
Some more thoughts:
- The show does a really clever job of incorporating last season’s footage into Will’s recovered memories.
- Watching Jimmy and Brian odd-couple it through a horrifying murder really shouldn’t be this entertaining.
- If Gina Torres doesn’t get an Emmy nomination for her work in this episode, it’ll be further proof the Emmys suck.
- The episode’s opening is a real tear-jerker as well: Poor Will seems to blame himself for Abagail’s death, even as the show uses his love of fishing as a metaphor for the games he’s playing with Hannibal.
- Either Chilton is firmly convinced Will’s insane and is trying to game him… or he’s a bit slicker than anybody, Hannibal included, is giving him credit for.
- Oh, and good news for those wondering if Hannibal will get a third season: The ratings are up. The fact that all thirteen episodes will air in an unbroken streak through the end of May is probably going to help.
What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments.
NOTE: Future recaps will run Sunday, so keep an eye out there.
Is it too much of a stretch to think Beverly found Abigail’s body at the end of the episode? I don’t know why he would’ve kept it, and Beverly could’ve seen anything to have her react that way, but it was the first thing I thought.
Honestly? I’m betting Abagail is not dead yet, and that’s what Beverly found. After all, Hannibal likes his meat fresh…
That was a really great episode. Plummer’s character might be my favorite killer-of-the-week(s) yet. And the lobotomy scene and its aftermath were both horrifying. The Bella scenes were magnificent, and the final scene was masterfully done. Also Hannibal’s clock-face, and Chilton being unexpectedly credulous of what Will had to say. Very curious to see where that goes.
Chilton became a much more interesting character with this episode. Although I suspect playing games with Hannibal will go poorly for him.
I’m late to the internets today, but damn, I’m glad we’re getting recaps of this show here now. Did anybody else get the feeling the opening scene from this season was kind of leaving it open as to whether or not Jack made it out of Lecter’s house? Like, “OK, if we get picked up for another season, he lives but Hannibal gets away; if we get cancelled he dies there and Hannibal covers it up and keeps being a people-eater?” It seemed calculatingly open-ended, almost. I’m glad, ’cause I don’t need another Deadwood in my life.
That’s good news, @Dan Seitz. Thanks for the reply, as always. You’re a fine poster.
It is, a bit. But honestly, if NBC cancels this show it’ll probably go to Amazon Prime; NBC isn’t paying most of the bills.
Although this show exists in a heightened universe, one that I’m immersed in, I can’t help but wonder if the show’s creators ought to explore an example of the more realistic kind of serial killing. There’s almost too much artistry around the countless deaths on display here. It may not be part of Fuller’s sensibility to explore the pathology of an ill-educated, whitetrash, squalid, mundane killer of prostitutes that all so often happens in reality. Hannibal may be an apex predator* but maybe we could spend some time with multiple Multiple Miggs? Best bring some shampoo.
*at the end here, when he’s stood still facing Beverley, I was thinking “What, he’s fucking bulletproof now?” Then whoosh. Lights out. I was also thinking the bullet in the ceiling was deliberate; Beverley trying to create evidence.
I remember reading an interview with Fuller somewhere saying that he has no interest in having more realistic serial killers. He considers the stuff they do on shows like Criminal Minds to be a lot more disturbing and violent than what they do on Hannibal.
Wow, the preview for next week was a real record scratch. I was just assuming Hannibal had killed the baliff and judge in a different manner deliberately. Nope. Another killer.
The coin toss: He saves Bella – denies her her controlled death – on the toss of a coin and yet strategically it’s the right move as it further beholdens Crawford to him for saving her life and means Crawford is going to be further distracted as her life/death is protracted. And Hannibal decides to do this on the toss of a coin. That has to be the most psychopathic and ironically the cruellest act he’s performed yet. This show is on another level.
Oh Beverley. Alone, let’s check the basement. Goddamit. “You know, fightin’ in a basement offers a lot of difficulties. Number one being, you’re fightin’ in a basement!” I was surprised that there was a possible torture chamber down there. I mean surprised it was obviously on site, in his house. Although I do now recall a line from the books about it.
Here’s a great link about Fuller’s vision for the Red Dragon arc, the Clarice Starling problem and the series as a whole.
[www.craveonline.com]
Random thoughts: I actually found the scene where they were examining the victim who was still alive far more disturbing than the autopsy of the victim that had been turned into a beehive. Also Hannibal’s ‘Picasso Face’ during Will’s hallucination/dream was surprisingly unsettling. Then the sequence in Hannibal’s house was just fantastic. Which was more suspenseful, the scene where Will chases Tobias through his basement/workshop – or Beverly investigating Hannibal’s basement?
I’ve got to admit, the eyeless walking corpse is pretty damn terrifying. But the way that lobotomy scene just kept going and going was cringe-inducing. This is a show that LOVES playing with audience foreknowledge and man, the minute the guy realizes his nerves have been severed…GAH!
@LastTexansFan: Yes! I forgot about that. When the scene started, I assumed he was dead (and they’d propped him up for some reason) because they were talking about him like he was already gone. Then when he moved, it freaked me out a little bit (like so many things in this episode).
Yeah the eyeless slack-jawed “alive” victim was far more disturbing to me than the dead one. And then duo just talking about him like he was already a corpse (which he pretty much was) made my skin crawl.
Ok @Old School Zero has got me thinking: Ideal casting for Francis Dolarhyde, Clarice Starling and Buffalo Bill?
They don’t (yet) have the rights to any characters that were first introduced in Silence of the Lambs or Hannibal. He’s working on it though, if the numbers keep going up, then maybe he can convince (Orion?) who ever is holding the rights.
I’m actually 99% sure that the “Red Dragon”/”Silence Of The Lambs”/”Hannibal” seasons are going to be almost entirely different from the books. As I’ve noted elsewhere, the show’s already had a Clarice: She was murdered. Same with Jame Gumb; he was in the season opener as “James Gray”. He was also “Tobias Budge” from last season. Hell, they even knocked off Benjamin Raspail.
@Old School Zero I love Michael Shannon as Dolarhyde,
Not that they could get him, but I think Aiden Gillen (Littlefinger) would make a very interesting Dolarhyde, though I’m not sure he’s big enough. It’s hard to think of someone who is both imposingly large and otherworldly creepy for that role. Michael Shannon?
For Clarice, my actual fantasy casting would be Jena Malone. Young enough to be coming out of the academy, has an intensity that I think could work outside of YA novel-ish movies, and could really work with the look of the show.
Buffalo Bill seems very tough to think of someone who could pull that off. Ted Levine was such a force in that movie. If Michael Pitt wasn’t already Mason Verger, I’d think he might be good for it. Instead, maybe… Jackie Earl Haley? Or Michael Emerson for a different twist on things?
@LastTexansFan: This isn’t answering your question (again) but I did want to comment about how outstanding the casting on this show is. Amanda Plummer was perfect as the acupuncturist/mercy killer and the actor that plays Chilton is superb. He’s the perfect blend of intelligence, ego, and ‘smarminess’. This version of Chilton is much more compelling and interesting than his predecessors. So whomever they cast Verger, Buffalo Bill, Dolarhyde – I’m sure they’ll make good choices.
I think they created the Miriam Lass character because they couldn’t use Clarice Starling. Hopefully they get the rights sorted out and we see all of those characters.
@warrenbishop I would think if they want to go into Red Dragon/SotL that they have to get the rights to those characters. Yes it’s clever to make up new ones out of anagrams from supporting cast members but those three are so important to the arc of Hannibal Lecter.
They don’t have the rights to Clarice Starling do they? I know we’re going to see Mason Verger at some point, but what about Francis Dolarhyde and Buffalo Bill?
I am doing my best to convince everyone I know to watch this show and they are sooo stupidly hesitant. It has become the only show I actively look forward to each week. Mads Mikkelsen is amazing in this, as he has been in everything else he has done. Seeing him play Lecter is seeing Lecter played right. He makes Hopkins look cartoonish by comparison. The last scene with him hitting the light switch and sprinting into the dark was dynamite.
Agreed, I was telling a friend today, that this is the best show currently on television.
I was almost a walking stereotype watching this episode: The black guy in the movie theater shouting at the screen during a horror movie. The sequence when Beverly decides to go to Hannibal’s house (despite Will’s explicit instructions to stay away from him), was really suspenseful. I was on the edge of my couch thinking “Beverly, you’ve got some evidence, now you need to get the hell out of there…don’t go down in the basement..no…don’t do it..”
Then the shot when she turns on the lights and Hannibal is standing behind her was just fantastic. I know it was inspired by Clarice in Buffalo Bill’s basement, but it was still really well done – in fact it was more genuinely suspenseful than alot of horror movies I’ve seen.
I didn’t think they could top the corpse mushrooms, but the corpse beehive was really close. I’m going to have a hard time deciding on my halloween costume this year.
@Dan Seitz
Oh, yeah, that thing had me dropping my jaw. I was trying to think of what it brought to mind; Hieronymus Bosch wasn’t quite right, but it was where my mind went to right away. And the payoff to that storyline thread was really sweet.
My big one last season was the totem pole. Not really a well-developed plotine, but goddamn what an image.
This show gets under my skin like no other show can. Not even True Detective haunted me as much as Hannibal does. It really is a grotesquely beautiful piece of television.
Has anyone thought about the HUGE format change that’s going to have to happen after Lecter inevitably gets caught? Mads will be without his suits and food and just be stuck inside a cell. And what happens after Red Dragon when we get no more Will Graham at all??
@Dan Seitz Well that’s good. I want more of this calculating, confident Will Graham.
Season 4 will be Red Dragon. Season 5 will be Silence of the Lambs (if they get the rights). Season 6 will be the movie Hannibal. Season 7 will be the conclusion.
Supposedly, that’s season four. They’ve already hinted that Francis is out and about; in the first season, Alana Bloom talks about a “biting” killer.
@bhammer100 Oh wow I thought next season was for sure going to be Red Dragon and the Francis Dolarhyde storyline.
It will be interesting to see how the writers approach that. But apparently we have at least one more season before that happens. ***** SPOILERS***** Fuller said that season 3 will be the manhunt for Hannibal.
I nearly soiled myself during the scene when Plummer gives that guy a lobotomy.
Do you think Fuller is running with these Thomas Harris characters as a full on reinterpretation of the Hannibal story? I only ask because Beverley was still in the later novels and in Red Dragon it was Will who catches Lecter (and from the flash forward at the beginning of the season it looks like Jack Crawford will either end Lecter or be ended by him).
@Old School Zero I had the same thought when they had that scene with Hannibal and Anna Chlumsky last season, that it was very similar to the scene in Red Dragon.
@warrenbishop I do recall the hospitalization that develops the real distaste with Freddie Lounds (due to the photographing of those wounds), but I swore he was considered mentally fragile (just never was touched upon with Ed Norton in Red Dragon).
@LastTexansFan: My memory is hazy, but I thought Will Graham was hospitalized after he caught Lecter, due to wounds he suffered in his arrest. I wasn’t expecting him to be in prison, before Lecter, under suspicion of murder.
@warrenbishop Wasn’t it touched on in the books that Will Graham was institutionalized for a brief time?
@LastTexansFan
Yup. Just in time for Allison Brie to take over as Clarice Starling.
/fantasy casting
//internet explodes
@LastTexansFan: I’m really enjoying how the reinterpretation is allowing them to craft surprising storylines. For example, I LOVED the last sequence of the final season, when Hannibal goes to the BSHCI, and it’s Will Graham behind bars. I did not expect that. So every episode they find ways to take familiar material and do interesting things with it. Their writing staff is exceptional. If they could’ve brought the same level of creativity to Walking Dead, I would still be watching it..
@Old School Zero If the show survives long enough though we’re going to have to say goodbye to Will Graham. He’s barely mentioned in SotL and also nonexistent in Hannibal.
@LastTexansFan
I’d be fine with that, since I think the dynamic they have going between Will and Hannibal would be even that much more captivating once Hannibal doesn’t have to hide his tendencies any more and is on the other side of the cell. With all the good casting on this show, I’m very curious who they would get for Dolarhyde. Tom Noonan is still Dolarhyde in my mind, but he’s much too old now.
@old school zero
That is what Bryan Fuller has said. Season 3 (fingers crossed) will be the man hunt for Hannibal.
@Old School Zero While I would like to see another season of suave debonaire Hannibal instead of him being locked up (see above for my concerns there), I think Fuller said he’s going by the books season by season. Not a straight reinterpretation, but I’d be surprised if next season isn’t Red Dragon.
@JusttheBadassFarts @LastTexansFan
And they already sort of did that scene with the former Jack Crawford protege finding “The Wounded Man” drawing in Hannibal’s office right before he attacks her. I wonder if Hannibal’s going to escape Jack and the next season will be Will trying to hunt for him after he’s gone to ground.
@JusttheBadassFarts That’s my thought as well. Especially after seeing that baddass fight scene between Jack and Hannibal there’s no way Will is the one who finally subdues him. I doubt Fuller is going to kill off such an important character as Jack Crawford.
I assume they’re just ignoring the scene from Red Dragon where Will catches Hannibal – that just doesn’t fit with this show at all.
You might notice the show has been steadily creating alternate characters from “The Silence Of The Lambs”, and then murdering them.
At this point he doesn’t have access to any of the other books, so I think he’s going to be taking some liberties. For example Cynthia Nixon name comes from the character that Ray Liotta played in Hannibal (if I’m remembering that correctly)
As for the fate of Beverly check out Fuller’s post episode interviews at av club if you want some spoilers.
@Dan Seitz It does add some unpredictability to it, like I was entering this season fully expecting Will’s stay with Chilton to be a two-episode affair so he could get back to catching Lecter like canon. But now, I have no idea what to think.
The rights are apparently a tangled mess. For example, Mason Verger is coming this season, but Paul Krendler is from the same novel and apparently they aren’t allowed to use that character.
It seems to be a goulash of homage, borrowing, and reinterpretation. I know Kade Prurnell is an anamgram for Paul Krendler from the books. I guess there are some limits on which characters/story arcs Fuller can and can’t make use of, so the writing team is getting creative and taking liberties.
I love the call-backs to other Fuller projects that keep showing up in Hannibal. Naming the apiary-acupuncturist “Kathy Pimms” absolutely won me over. That Bryan Fuller guy is a good egg.
Haha yes I was thinking about the bee episode while I was watching it, but it only dawned on me after that her name was Kitty Pimms!
#this
AH! YAY Recaps! This must be what it feels like to get something I want!
Thank you sir. I won’t miss a single one!
We’ll be running these every Sunday, so keep an eye out!
I’m to the point where I can’t imagine anyone else playing Hannibal better than Mads. Like, seriously, that last scene with him standing in the low light and just his cheekbones made it through the shadow? HOLY SHIT!
I also like that’s he’s a bigger actor, size wise. I can’t imagine buying any actor who has played the character making it across that room and taking down an agent.
Jack Hawkinson does a superb job with the cinematography. The way he managed to both warmly light Amanda Plummer’s office and make her look terrifying was amazing stuff.
Pulls off both the classy and the creepy. Dude is great.
I was worried that, after watching True Detective, Hannibal wouldn’t seem as good as it had been, but the first three episodes have been incredible! I love the fact that they’re filling in the gaps from season one without any hand holding or ridiculous exposition. Poor Beverley though…
Yes to a regular recap at last. Comment to come regarding the episode.
Beverly, nooooooo!!!!!
I know there’s basically a 0.0001% chance she survives, but I’m not giving up until it’s official, because Beverly is awesome.
@Patty Boots: Another gruesome thought. I wonder if he’s going to ‘serve’ Beverly to Jack? And I wonder what he’ll make.
@Patty Boots: I was hoping the same thing – but that last shot of the bullet coming up through the floor told me she’s a goner. As I mentioned in an earlier comment, I had to restrain myself not to shout at the tv: “Beverly don’t go down in the basement…”
@Dan Seitz Yes but Hannibal also just cashed in a bunch of points with Jack for saving his wife. I’m sure he’s feeling a bit more than invincible.
We’ll see. Hannibal knows that making an FBI agent go away will tighten the net around him, especially since Beverly probably left notes. So, dead, no. In a baaaaad place? Absolutely.
The AV Club are posting a weekly walk through interview with Bryan Fuller of each episode if you really want to know what happens next. The interviews are excellent and really flesh out the episodes
If nothing else, I’m glad to see that one actress getting work in non-French speaking North American stuff. She is stunning.
Alana Bloom?