Hannibal: Why Hannibal Deserves a 4th Course

In August 2015 the TV series Hannibal came to an abrupt end as its third series concluded with the mother of all cliffhangers that somehow
functioned equally well as a jumping off point for another series or a true final bow for the show. Now, two years later, series creator Bryan Fuller (of Pushing Daisies, and American Gods fame) has reignited talks for continuing on the story at a later date. As with all shows canned before their time, the fan fervour for a renewal often outshines the actual quality of the show, (sorry Browncoats, I'm looking at you Firefly [in short I thought it was average, great movie though]) I will, with no sense of irony, now continue to wax lyrical about how much this show means to me and why it deserves a 4th course.

When Hannibal was first announced way back in 2011 I was, as I imagine most people, somewhat sceptical. The Hannibal franchise had been through multiple adaptations, including what critics considered to be the definitive take on the material, Jonathan Demme's Oscar winning, The Silence of the Lambs. That film was considered the series high point, although it was not the first, with Michael Mann's Manhunter being the first official take on the character, speci
fically retelling the story of Red Dragon, with Brian Cox (no, not professor, think Agamemnon of Troy, and Stryker of X-Men 2) as Hannibal "Lektor" as he was known in that film. After Silence came the bloated but gothically grand Hannibal, followed by the safe but bland Red Dragon. The less said about the risible Hannibal Rising the better. Come 2011, was there really anything more to say about Hannibal Lecter?

Yes. Yes there was. With Bryan Fuller at the wheel and the casting of Mads Mikkelsen as the titular doctor, I was very much intrigued. I'd first seen Mads in one of my favourite movies of all time, Casino Royale, and from that performance I could absolutely picture him as Hannibal. When the TV show came about it positioned itself in its own timeline, mixing and matching elements from the books to form a greatest hits collection, that really should not h
ave reached the heights it did. This was a lurid, nightmarish, gory, love story (bear with me on that one) that went out on NBC (think if Game of Thrones was released on Channel 7 here) that to me is the definitive version of all the characters and comfortably sits within the top tv shows I've ever seen.

The premise of the show is that Will Graham (Hugh Dancy) is a criminal profiler, able to, at great cost, emphasise with the most terrifying serial killers. When Jack Crawford (Laurence Fishburne) of the FBI comes to call Will back into the fold, he hires psychiatrist Dr Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen) to monitor Will's psyche. Boy does Crawford know how to pick them. What starts as a visually grandiose police procedural soon metamorphosis into a deeply warped love affair/friendship/deadly rivalry between Will and Lecter. Dr. Lecter is not yet known for his cannibalistic proclivities and is continuing to commit his crimes right under the nose of the FBI. Yet despite his apparent psychotic behaviour, he is fascinated by Will and his ability to emphasise with the worst of humanity. He even sees the potential for friendship.

Hannibal is also my go to guy for suit suggestions

The beginning of the show is marked by the traditional case of the week storytelling seen within most police procedurals. Typically, I have been unable to engage with these storylines in the past. I've found them too disconnected, with the potential that you could watch them in any order and it would still make perfect sense. They tend to carry no consequence or weight. A murder is solved one week and it is never heard from again nor the people investigating do not carry the burden of its impact. Hannibal sidesteps this problem in two ways.

Firstly, the level of visual inventiveness on display in this show right from the very first episode is mind-boggling. These killers are not the killers of our world. In Hannibal's world killers don't simply stab or strangle. They bury you in a shallow grave and have mushrooms grow out of your body. They slit your throat, expose the vocal cords and play you like a cello. This fantastical nature of the crimes is always jaw-dropping whilst never gratuitous or sensationalised. Whilst the methods of the crimes may be fantastical, the motives behind them are often, although heightened into philosophical dilemmas, relatable. Be it the inability to truly connect with people, to fears of what legacy a person leaves behind. Furthermore, the ongoing story of the development of Will and Hannibal's relationship is seamlessly interwoven into the procedural narratives, and things a few episodes past are not forgotten about. The death and horror in this show has consequences.

Linked into this element of understandable but horrifying motives is the fact that the central relationship of Will and Hannibal, whilst warped and terrifying, is comprehensible at its core. The show presents us with two incomplete figures: one a man who cannot help but feel too much, to the point of welcoming in terrifying darkness into his life to help others, another who does not empathise with humanity, seeing himself above them. Both Hannibal and Will think, emphasis on the think, they need each other to be complete.

Okay, so the subtext I sometimes more text.

And this is where the love story comes into it. Whilst on the surface you can simply watch the show as a horror, with nothing more than shock value at its core. But I believe this to be a gross misreading. Instead this is the examination of  the dangers of a friendship or relationship that has become so intwined that you lose yourself in the other. Whilst there is no overtly sexual or romantic acts
between Hannibal and Will, to say that there isn't a subtext of love between them, be it of a friendship or romantic type, is denying reality. Whilst Hannibal for the most part manipulates Will into thinking he needs Hannibal, it is undeniable that there is something about the pair that constantly draws them together. Hardest to admit is that sometimes the relationship bring out the best in them, but also the worst in them (most often the worst). Themes of the dangers of fostering co-dependency, opening yourself up to another, revealing what you think is the worst of the worst aspects of you and having them accept you, are themes I never dreamed would be touched upon in a show that's based around a guy who eats people.

This all culminates in what I think is one of the best episodes of TV I've ever seen: the series 2 finale Mizumono (oh yeah, each episode up to the midpoint of series 3 is named after a dish). Dominoes that had been set up from episode 1 come tumbling down in the most sublime way possible. Whilst I had thought the show was fantastic up to that point, until then I didn't realise quite how much of an impact this show had had on me. If you strip back the operatic violence and horror, this episode encapsulates what the show is truly about: the acceptance by a friend, family member, or lover of all your faults and virtues, and the horror of rejection when you've
ripped your heart out bleeding on the floor before them and they say no.

If you are reading this thinking "Jeez, Joe's gone a bit melodramatic" trust me you are as surprised as I was when I watched this. The show just seemed to, somehow, bundle up all the things I knew I liked, such as horror, gothic and florid dialogue, together with things I had previously had no time for in fiction such as old fashioned love stories. Turns out I just need my love stories with a soupçon of horror.

There's also a great deal of food porn on display. Enjoy the conflict of feeling "Damn that looks good" and "Oh it is human."

Whilst I think Mizumono is the high point of the series, that is not to say the show goes downhill in series 3. By the end of series 1 the show had flung off the shackles of a police procedural and had begun to indulge in fantastical and nightmarish dream sequences representing Will's disconnection from reality during his "care" at the hands of Dr. Lecter. Come series 3 these dream sequences have taken full flight with the first half being a deep plunge into Lynchian nightmare sequences. Some friends have told me they found this first half of series 3 to be lacking in forward momentum, which I would agree with but not to the show's detriment. Due to the nature of the end of series 2 the show needed to reassess where it had left its characters at the end of that series and series 3 takes its time drawing a web of paranoia and horror before ensnaring the characters once more as all roads lead to Lecter. The third series midpoint, Digestivo, is one of the most out there, balls to the wall, episodes of TV I've even seen. If your pulse hasn't quickened at this point, or stomach hasn't somersaulted in protest at the sights on display, you should get yourself into hospital quick.

From that point on the show retells the Red Dragon story with a new emotional context thanks to the central relationship between Will and Hannibal. Without going into spoilers, the show ends in fountains of blood and the most physical manifestation of the nature of Will and Hannibal's relationship on display for all to see.

Actually just me but suit only bought to ape Hannibal's style

Like most of my topics on this blog, this show is another obsession of mine that I could talk about from now until the end of time. I haven't even managed to tell you how fantastic the acting is, Mads Mikkelsen is the definitive Lecter, the supporting cast are all A-game in particular Gillian Anderson as the enigmatic psychiatrist Dr. Bedelia Du Maurier, nor haunting score by Brien Reitzell. If Bryan Fuller is unable to wrangle the stars into alignment to come back and tackle The Silence of the Lambs storyline, the state we leave Will and Hannibal is immensely satisfying. But now there truly is no excuse to be late for dinner with Dr. Lecter.