Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Hannibal Season 2

            Hannibal’s visual style, exploration of identity, and curiosity about the nature of evil make it a wholly unique television program. In its second season, Hannibal toed the line between over the top lunacy and devastating psychological horror.[1] In doing so, the show reached for greatness and often found it.  
            The producers and directors of Hannibal, led by showrunner Bryan Fuller and executive producer David Slade, have crafted a visual and audio language unique to the show. Sights and sounds reflect or offer a respite from the psychological horror. The sound of rushing water transports FBI profiler Will Graham (played by Hugh Dancy as a man barely holding onto his sanity) to a trout stream, where he can fish and find peace. The sound of plastic grating against his throat allows Will to remember how Hannibal framed him for the murder of Abigail Hobbs. Rather than try and describe the visual language of the show, let me offer a brief clip (skip to 3:10 and just watch the last 15 seconds or so). As Dr. Alana Bloom (the underused Caroline Dhavernas) falls out the window, the glass and rain glitter together in the darkness. In the season finale, Will talks to both Lecter and FBI agent Jack Crawford (Laurence Fishburne) and the show elides their faces together, casting doubt over Will’s loyalties. These visual and audio flourishes enhance the atmosphere and psychological brutality of the show.
            In its second season, Hannibal delved deeply into questions of identity. By the end of the first season (which was the first ever review I wrote for this blog), Will Graham, ravaged by encephalitis and the manipulations of Hannibal Lecter, found himself incarcerated for murder. While in prison, Will began the process of putting himself back together again. He soon realized how Lecter had manipulated him. Will worked unsuccessfully (so long Beverly Katz) to convince others of Lecter’s guilt. Instead he resolved to lure Hannibal in, but had to offer himself as bait. As the second half of the season proved, Will never quite regained control over himself and who he was. He and Hannibal engaged in what Will described as a “courtship.” As the two grew closer, Will learned Lecter’s methods of manipulation and exploitation, but at the cost of larger and larger pieces of his soul. By the season finale, Will could no longer tell the difference between Hannibal and Jack, between evil and good. Will’s efforts to capture Lecter proved costly as the finale left Will, Jack, Alana, and Abigail Hobbs bleeding inside and outside of Lecter’s home.
            Mads Mikkelsen plays Lecter with dazzling restraint. In his understated performance, Mikkelsen transforms into the personification of evil. It’s not the kind of mustache twirling evil played by Anthony Hopkins in the moves. Rather Mikkelsen’s Lecter is curious and introspective.  He mediates on the meaning of existence, his justification for killing, and playing people off of each other for his own amusement. He lavishes his guests with the finest meats and wines. He eats the rude. He occasionally bloodies his hands himself, especially in the finale.  He works well with others, manipulating them into doing his bidding. Why? Because he wants to see what will happen. Lecter leaves death and destruction in his wake, again especially in the finale. The season ending bloodbath proves the steep cost that comes from dealing with evil. In short, he’s Frasier Crane with a taste for human flesh.  

Other stray observations

The show makes great use of dark humor, especially from Mikkelsen. His deadpan delivery of lines like “He’s in the pantry” to describe a bleeding Jack Crawford or “He shouldn’t have done that” after an assassin yanked a scalpel out of his leg and bled to death offer a nice respite from the darkness of the show.

            Hopefully Alana Bloom survives the massacre at Hannibal’s house. The show killed off its other main female character and has given Alana precious little to do, apart from be manipulated by Lecter. Hannibal could do better by its female characters.

The show has centered itself around the Will-Hannibal relationship.  Yet most of the conflict comes from the introduction of a third party into their relationship: Will-Hannibal-Jack, Will-Hannibal-Alana, Will-Hannibal-Abigail, and Beverly Katz, Dr. Chilton, and others.

            Despite anemic ratings, Hannibal will be back for season 3. I am looking forward to it.


[1] This season featured one man eating his own face and another his own leg—baked in clay by Hannibal Lecter.


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