In the eleventh episode of the third season of Hannibal, Dr. Lecter takes matters into his own hands. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Hannibal.
Trigger Warning: For discussion of home invasion scenarios, ableism, and mental illness.
Good lord.
So, NOW THERE ARE APPARENTLY TWO MORE EPISODES LEFT. In the Red Dragon book and film, Dolarhyde is sent to Will’s home at the end, and Will is most definitely there, and THINGS HAPPEN that I won’t spoil for you because everything absolutely unfolds differently than this. In “…And the Best from the Sea,†however, Fuller and Lightfoot are setting up a much different kind of confrontation. Perhaps they knew by this point that there wouldn’t be a fourth season, and I say that because it feels like some huge confrontation has now been put in motion. Bloom and Crawford are angry, so much so that I don’t see how the show can ignore their fury over what Hannibal Lecter’s done.
Good lord, he really doesn’t care about these people at all. Even in his own twisted logic, he’s ready to destroy everyone, even Will Graham.
So, let me start off by talking about Francis Dolarhyde. I admit that I’m intrigued by how much development we’ve seen in him that the original canon never gave us. Part of that’s simply because of the medium. Six episodes worth of screen time is more than one film, and what I remember of the book was… well, I don’t know how to qualify it. Perhaps exploitative? It’s very much the trope of someone with a mental illness being evil with no exploration of what that mental illness is like. This show, however, presents Dolarhyde’s struggle much more plainly, especially as he realizes that he’s falling for Reba and doesn’t want the Red Dragon to consume her. That’s not to say that there’s nothing here that wasn’t in the original canon, but the depth here is substantial. We see Francis struggle with his mental illness, and the show even dispels of many of the hallucinatory sequences to show us how Dolarhyde harms himself and speaks to himself in the voice of the Red Dragon.
At the same time, the dude is a murderer and he’s terrifying. I can’t ignore that, and I don’t want any sympathy or understanding to wash over it. Dolarhyde is shown to be fighting against his urges, but he’s also the reason for the SCARIEST SCENE IN THIS ENTIRE EPISODE. So, I feel like I’ve mentioned it before in reviews, but I have a thing about home invasion scenarios. They terrify me to no end, so much so that I generally won’t even watch movies that are centered around that plot. I knew that eventually, Dolarhyde was going to be sent to Will’s home, but the show brilliantly toyed with me but putting that sequence in the eleventh episode and not having Will around. I WAS CONVINCED THAT MOLLY AND WALTER WERE GOING TO DIE. I was! There are only two episodes left, and I don’t think anyone is safe at this point.
Instead, though, the show has made Molly into her own character. And for someone just barely introduced, I’m so thankful that she’s been give this much screen time. I mentioned earlier how much I appreciated the scenes of tenderness between her and Will, so I think it’s important that there was another story beat to follow up on that. I never doubted the chemistry between these two characters, and I felt heartbroken as Will interacted with them. Hannibal may have ruined Will’s relationship with these people. Walter is so disgusted with mental illness that he urges his father to kill Dolarhyde instead of curing him. (And the horrifying implications of that felt like a punch in the face. If someone’s mental illness is worth death in Walter’s eyes, then that means Will knows that deep down, Walter probably would want him dead, too.) Molly, on the other hand, is far more sympathetic, but she’s not fine with what happened. There’s some guilt there, since she urged Will to go back to work. At the same time, will she always live in fear that someone else might come for Will?
And then there’s Reba. I still don’t know if The Thing will happen, but I’m guessing we’re heading towards that. WHICH CONTINUES TO FREAK ME OUT BECAUSE I LOVE HER SO MUCH AND RUTINA WESLEY IS 100% THE BEST VERSION OF THIS CHARACTER. Every scene she’s in is incredible, y’all. IT IS TOO MUCH.
As stressful as this is to think about, it really is a lot of fun. I love that I can’t figure out how this is gonna end, but “…And the Beast from the Sea†might have given me a glimpse of the end. I think Bloom, Crawford, and Graham are going to do something to get back at Hannibal. But what??? And how???
The video for “…And the Beast from the Sea†can be downloaded here for $0.99.
Mark Links Stuff
– I am now on Patreon!!! MANY SURPRISES ARE IN STORE FOR YOU IF YOU SUPPORT ME.
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