In the sixth episode of the second season of Hannibal, THIS SHOW IS SO UNREAL, AND I DON’T UNDERSTAND HOW IT CAN CONTINUE AT THIS PACE. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Hannibal.
Trigger Warning: For discussion of violence/gore, non-consensual drugging, and manipulation.
- This show feels like it’s sprinting in one direction, and it’s an absolute treat to watch. I’ve never read up on what Fuller’s master plan is for Hannibal, so I don’t know what he wants his season arcs to be. Will this ever intersect with the story told in Red Dragon? Will it ever go beyond that/ Will we meet any characters from canon that haven’t appeared yet? (While behind-the-scenes stuff is sometimes okay because it’s non-spoilery and adds to the storytelling, this is one instance where, for the moment, I’ll ask that you not share this with me. This is a solitary exception, and it’s because I’m enjoying that I don’t know this stuff.)
- Without knowing any of this, the writing for this season doesn’t feel slow. It’s not sluggish, there are no narrative breaks taken, nothing here is filler. (Even in hindsight, “Hassun” feels much bigger to me than it was on my first viewing.) These people are beginning to put the pieces together, and those pieces are now slowly exonerating Will Graham and implicating Hannibal Lecter.
- Sort of.
- Initially, Crawford is quietly furious with what Will has done; Will takes the opportunity not just to deny that he set Matthew on Lecter, but to give Jack a place to start. He gives two vital details to Jack that explain the Ripper’s behavior: 1) He kills in groups of three or four because he needs to eat all of the meat before it spoils. 2) Hannibal will soon be having a dinner party.
- AND WHEN THOSE TWO THINGS HAPPEN JUST AS WILL SAID IT, THE UNRAVELING BEGINS.
- I realize that I’m going to have temper my expectations in some way because I don’t think Lecter will be suspected by Jack until this season’s finale. Still, I can’t deny how massive the story here feels. Right on cue, Lecter murders a local city councilor and dramatically GRAFTS HIM INTO A TREE. (I realize that this show can be dreamlike and surreal at times in terms of the presentation of these murders, but I’m still bothered by the logistics of what Lecter does here. HOW ON EARTH DID HE GET THAT TREE THERE? HOW DID HE TRANSPORT IT? DOES LECTER OWN A SEMI OR SOMETHING? Like, I get that he killed Isley elsewhere. And I think I caught a glimpse of the same tree in that farmhouse at the end of the episode. But it’s not like you can graft a dead body to a tree and then casually transport it on a trailer. Your headcanons or explanations, PLEASE.) What we then witness is Jack doing what Will asked of Beverly: He ignores all previous evidence, and he goes off what he has right then.
- And by gods, the evidence doesn’t point towards Will Graham anymore, does it?
- But it’s not like Hannibal is helpless or ignorant throughout this. He’s still exerting a great deal of control over events and the people involved in it, namely Alana Bloom. As I said in the video for “Futamono,” I’m glad that the writers had her vocalize something that could have gotten lost in the noise: She’s known Hannibal for years prior to this… disaster. I mean, I said that before, but it’s more important than ever because from her perspective, Will’s accusations are not just baseless, they’re offensive. Yes, it sucks to watch her so willingly discard Will from her life and then rush to the arms of Hannibal Lecter. (EW EW EW EW HE’S SO GROSS.) But what she knows and what we know are two different sets of data. On top of that, she knows for certain (and isn’t wrong about the fact) that Will sent Matthew to kill Hannibal. How else should she have viewed this?
- Hannibal’s conversations with Chilton are also one of the reasons he’s doing what he can to dodge suspicion. It’s why he tricks Jack by serving NOT PEOPLE.
- FOR ONCE
- HOLY SHIT HE DIDN’T SERVE PEOPLE.
- And then there’s Dr. Gideon, who openly confesses to being in Dr. Lecter’s house to Will Graham. I see two possible explanations for what happened here. I would not be surprised if it was Hannibal who compelled those guards to beat Gideon and harm him so that he’d be transferred to a hospital outside of the institute. But that involves a lot of risk for Hannibal, especially since he’d have created two potential witnesses. I think Gideon purposely admitted the truth because he knew that Chilton was listening. He knew Chilton would bring in Crawford, and he knew that this would allow him the chance to be out of his cell. He knew that badmouthing the nurse he killed would inspire his guards to rage, and he knew that the real Chesapeake Ripper would seek him out once he wasn’t under Chilton’s supervision.
- I don’t think he expected the end result, but I’ll get back to that.
- LET’S TALK ABOUT THE DINNER PARTY, which was utterly and wholly upstaged by Raúl Esparza as Dr. Chilton. PLEASE TELL ME THE LOVELY FANNIBALS PICKED THIS UP AND RAN WITH IT. Because HOLY SHIT. Like, Esparza is so perfect as Chilton in everything we’ve seen, and then he’s calling Dr. Lecter “Hannibal the Cannibal,” POINTING OUT THE FUCKING OBVIOUS.
- HIS NAME RHYMES WITH CANNIBAL
- PLEASE, JACK CRAWFORD. PLEASE REMEMBER ALL THE TERRIBLE PUNS. I BEG OF YOU.
- But Chilton’s face is hilarious here. What the hell was that arm thing Hannibal made? Who cares, because that’s the exact expression EVERYONE AT THIS PARTY SHOULD MAKE.
- Oh my god, please liberally use gifs of Chilton in the comments today.
- I only now realize why Jack had to ask Hannibal to take the food. He was asking for Lecter’s consent to remove property from his house. OH GOD, NO WONDER LECTER FIGURED IT OUT SO QUICKLY.
- Unfortunately, he didn’t cook people.
- And even more unfortunately, that fucker drugged Alana Bloom to give himself an alibi. Fuck him. Fuck him forever and ever and ever and ever. It’s so distressing because he knows that even if this all comes undone, it’ll still look bad for Alana. I am so upset by this development, by watching him seduce her with these terrible ulterior motives, and I am actually not looking forward to the day that she discovers what’s truly happened. I feel so hopeless just thinking about it.
- I’m hoping that the discovery of the fishing lures on the guard’s body are now the definitive proof that they need to exonerate Will. It seemed only Zeller was reluctant to believe, but STILL. He couldn’t have committed this crime because he was locked up, so COME ON. PLEASE.
- SOMEONE SAVE WILL GRAHAM.
- I know that in my review for “Rôti,” I was certain that I’d viewed something even more disgusting than the end of the Hannibal film, but ah. ahadfklja adfjkl
- dfsajkl
- dsafjkl
- I don’t feel any particular sympathy for Dr. Gideon. That does not mean I wasn’t completely horrified and repulsed by watching Dr. Lecter SERVE GIDEON’S OWN LEG TO HIM FOR DINNER
- FUCK THIS SHOW
- Also, Gideon’s not canonically dead yet AND I WON’T FALL FOR THIS TRICK AGAIN.
- (Though I would not be surprised if he’s now considered dead. Where on earth would Hannibal keep him?)
- Actually, that question is very, very important because of the end of this episode. Brian and Jimmy discover a clue in the fishing lures that doesn’t lead them to any known victim: a piece of bark from a very rare tree. WHICH IS ONLY LOCATED IN ONE PLACE
- Which Jack goes to alone???? COME ON, JACK, DON’T DO THAT.
- Y’all, I was so scared of what Jack would find there, and it was somehow STILL SHOCKING TO ME.
- Where the fuck has Hannibal been keeping Miriam Lass this whole time??? IN THAT CONTAINER???? OH my godadkfj akl ;ajkldflkjadsfkjlasdfjk
- (Yet another visual nod to Silence of the Lambs. I caught that!)
The video for “Futamono” can be downloaded here for $0.99.
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