{"id":5595,"date":"2016-05-24T08:00:20","date_gmt":"2016-05-24T15:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=5595"},"modified":"2016-05-23T01:15:40","modified_gmt":"2016-05-23T08:15:40","slug":"mark-watches-hannibal-s03e12-the-number-of-the-beast-is-666","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2016\/05\/mark-watches-hannibal-s03e12-the-number-of-the-beast-is-666\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘Hannibal’: S03E12 – The Number of the Beast Is 666"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the twelfth and penultimate episode of the third season of\u00c2\u00a0Hannibal<\/i>, I am almost glad that there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s only one episode left because I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think my spirit can handle anymore. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0Hannibal<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Trigger Warning: For gore\/body horror, fire\/immolation, torture, and manipulation.<\/b><\/p>\n

That was An Experience.<\/p>\n

It was fascinating to see the show loop back around to its own canon, twisting the events so that Freddie Lounds\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 fate was given to Chilton, despite that the show\u00c2\u00a0also<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0once \u00e2\u20ac\u0153killed off\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Lounds, and now everything is a giant, fleshy mess, and my heart is still racing after that episode, and SOMEHOW THERE\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S STILL ANOTHER ONE. There has to be, though, because the hubris of the team has come back to haunt them, immediately and viciously. Of course, Alana, Jack, and Will are not the recipients of Dolarhyde\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s brand of revenge. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Chilton, who always sought out his own end, who always desired a front row seat to the circus, who got what he wanted in the most perverse way imaginable.<\/p>\n

Jesus, I can barely think about that scene.<\/p>\n

Bedelia<\/b><\/p>\n

Build and destroy. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been Hannibal\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s technique over and over again on this show, hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t it? He built up Abigail, only to destroy her once she served no purpose for him. He built up Alana and destroyed her, too. (Which he cruelly reminds her of in this episode.) The same for Jack, the same for Bedelia, and most assuredly the same for Will Graham. That process gets him off more than anything else. So, I found the therapy sessions throughout this episode to be a necessary chance for the writers to give us insight into this phenomenon.<\/p>\n

No one escapes unscathed, either. Season three of\u00c2\u00a0Hannibal<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0is no longer a procedural. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no longer a show where the killer walks upright and out in the open. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not a story of people unknowingly walking through Hell. No, as Bedelia puts it, they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re all aware of the Inferno, they all know they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re walking through it, and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Number of the Beast Is 666\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is evidence that they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll all do whatever they can in order to escape it. All of these people are morally compromised, and Bedelia is a perfect example of that. She is somehow still practicing, despite that she was complicit in\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 how do you even quantify that anymore? She is not innocent. But neither is Will Graham, who calculated a way to keep himself safe for the moment while offering the Red Dragon their next victim.<\/p>\n

Dr. Chilton<\/b><\/p>\n

Who knew that the placement of one hand was enough? It seems such a tiny thing, and I certainly didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t notice it when Will put his hand on Dr. Chilton\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s shoulder. But in hindsight, the calculation is there. Will realizes he can offer someone else to the Red Dragon\u00c2\u00a0first<\/i>. What kind of person does that make him? Again, the show calls back to the first episode. Are these people observing or participating? Has Hannibal manipulated everyone \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and indeed, his entire world \u00e2\u20ac\u201c so that they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re forced into these kind of situations? I think that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s important to ask, especially since this is also the first time the script brings up the issue of agency. Who has it anymore? If these characters are manipulated or strong-armed into these scenarios, are they just agents of Hannibal\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s destructive chaos?<\/p>\n

I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think the show has answered these questions quite yet, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s obvious that what Jack, Alana, and Will did in this episode directly resulted in Chilton\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s capture and torment. God, is \u00e2\u20ac\u0153torment\u00e2\u20ac\u009d even a good enough word to describe what happens here? Seriously, WHAT HASN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T HAPPENED TO DR. CHILTON YET? The show even reminds us this in the final scenes of Chilton\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s torture: we can see the scars from Dr. Gideon\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s attack on his torso, just before Dolarhyde does THE WORST THING I EVER SAW IN THE WORLD. Sweet god, I thought \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Tome-wan\u00e2\u20ac\u009d was bad, but WHAT THE FUCK\u00c2\u00a0HANNIBAL<\/i>. WHAT ARE YOU DOING, PLEASE STOP.<\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s such a long scene, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. It went on way longer than I expected, and I got to a point where Richard Armitage was completely unrecognizable. How was that him??? How does a person become someone else so\u00c2\u00a0completely<\/i>?<\/p>\n

Honesty<\/b><\/p>\n

In a tragic irony, Dolarhyde comes to realize how much he cares for Reba, so he opens himself up to her and reveals who he really is. BY KIDNAPPING HER AND TELLING HER HE\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S THE RED DRAGON KILLER. Great. GREAT. But it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s such a thematic moment because within this same episode, Bedelia fosters a conversation about honesty and love, too. She postulates that Dr. Lecter\u00c2\u00a0loves<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0Will Graham. (In his own perverted way, of course.) I was struck by how plainly this was stated in the script; the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153murder husbands\u00e2\u20ac\u009d line earlier felt more like a fandom joke, but\u00c2\u00a0this<\/i>? You can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t just write it off as a joke.<\/p>\n

So does Will Graham\u00c2\u00a0love<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0Hannibal Lecter? JESUS, I DON\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T KNOW. I COULDN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T EVEN THINK ABOUT THAT AFTER THE \u00e2\u20ac\u0153LIPS\u00e2\u20ac\u009d THING. Lord, how am I going to make it through this finale??? Maybe I should start praying again.<\/p>\n

The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Number of the Beast is 666\u00e2\u20ac\u009d can be downloaded\u00c2\u00a0here for $0.99<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n

– I am now on Patreon<\/a><\/b>!!! MANY SURPRISES ARE IN STORE FOR YOU IF YOU SUPPORT ME<\/a>.
\n– I\u00c2\u00a0will be at numerous conventions in 2016! Check the full list of events on my Tour Dates \/ Appearances page.<\/a>
\n– My Master Schedule<\/a> is updated for the near and distant future for most projects, so please check it often.\u00c2\u00a0My next Double Features for Mark Watches will be Death Note<\/em>\u00c2\u00a0and\u00c2\u00a0Neon Genesis Evangelion<\/em>. On Mark Reads, Diane Duane’s Young Wizards<\/i> series will replace the Emelan books.
\n<\/b>-\u00c2\u00a0Mark Does Stuff is on Facebook!<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0I’ve got a community page up that I’m running. Guaranteed shenanigans!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"