You know what I could use a little more of in Hannibal?
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Taking the novels of Thomas Harris and stripping them for emotionally wrenching, deeply disturbing parts and tossing out the rest, showrunner Bryan Fuller has managed to evade most of the big traps of simply translating prose into film. And they’re all really tough calls.
On top of that, the promo for the episode reveals that Dolarhyde might have some unexpected help in going after Will – Hannibal.
I also liked Will pondering whether Dolarhyde was a former patient of Hannibal’s – something the interaction between the two has yet to be specific on. Mads Mikkelsen is constantly looming over Richard Armitage – sometimes, we can hear him speak but not see his mouth move, until a cut finds him transported between Dolarhyde’s ear and the therapist’s chair – and their performances are so good that even though Armitage is enormous and powerful, Hannibal has unquestionably gained psychic control over a poor, broken killer. Hannibal is the devil. The one thing this show has never been, however, is cynical or calcified in its grotesque subject matter, which it has always balanced with moments of stirring intimacy. This practically screams “from the original source material, in which Will is not played by Hugh Dancy”. It’s not just the need to capture the Red Dragon; it’s Will’s obsession with the work and his attraction to men like Hannibal.
Fresh off his Blake snack, Francis Dolarhyde is more confused than ever. Kudos to Molly for her quick thinking when the Red Dragon attacked, including setting off the alarm – though she still took a non-lethal bullet.
The third to the last episode of “Hannibal” season three (and of the entire series) airs this Saturday. Molly and Walter are just obstacles to that concise unit, and the Red Dragon is a convenient way to remove them. Now Will might end up becoming Dolarhyde’s next target.
“So how was the rest of “…And the Beast from the Sea?”
None of that is Armitage’s fault. Will Hannibal help the Great Red Dragon carry out his murderous plans? Will his feelings for Reba be enough to keep him from tipping over the dark side? But to Hannibal, it is a scorned ex-lover’s act of revenge, the act of taking away everything Will loves not only as emotional retribution, but to leave Will so completely alone that he might come crawling back to the only twisted comfort he knows.
Hannibal’s human mask refuses to betray any inner response to the loss of his playthings, though we get the sense that he hardly cares – it’s not his books and drawing implements and even his toilet (Alanna is not messing around) that give him pleasure.
While Hannibal has developed a cult following over its three seasons on our screens, NBC took the decision to cancel the show at the end of its current run. Hannibal exists in a world where it’s hard to imagine any of the characters actually ever having existed as children.
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This concept leads to so many questions – Will Molly die? Instead, he’s off acting the reluctant puppet-master with Alana, attempting to entrap Dolarhyde over the phone and failing in a last-ditch effort to no longer need Will’s services.
