Thoughts on NBC’s ‘Hannibal’:
Full disclosure here, dark shows are my jam and this show literally killed me. But in the best ways possible. One of my friends actually told me to watch the show (it had been on my radar for a long time but I didn’t have a push until then) and I am so glad she did. Here’s the thing, I’ve watched a lot of TV. But this show is different than everything I’ve ever watched. Not only because it dives head on into morally ambiguous main characters that are never flat or uninteresting, the show bleeds life, change, and love through beautiful acting, directing, cinematography, music, and everything else.
It’s interesting because while watching it, it feels like a movie. The music resembles a score from a movie and every scene feels purposeful and heavy. The use of color and texture for the scenes were always beautiful and reminded me of movie quality. It’s eloquent and gruesome and really trippy. The sex scenes always get me, but they aren’t overly graphic or insincere, they’re just trippy. And as someone that enjoys art in tv, it’s masterful.
Let me just say, I’m not a big fan of murderers. Yes, I can get behind main characters as murderers (ei Dexter and Villanelle) but this show was different. Hannibal Lecter left me on the edge of my seat and I truly can say I could never expect what he was going to do next. And that’s high praise for me (since I find most shows predictable). I’m not saying I was always on Hannibal’s side (killing Beverly was a big no-no for me), but I found him complicated enough to follow him. He also didn’t turn at one point and was like “yeah, i’ll be good all of a sudden for you Will” which worried me. He was unapologetically sinister and chaotic and I loved it.
The killers and their victims were also really interesting and different. The bodies were like aesthetically pleasing… it was truly beautiful how they handled death. Every killer was interesting and hard to swallow. Just so hardcore and fun.
Every character has faults. Like real faults. Jack’s manipulative as fuck, for a while Alana was easy to manipulate and her caring/trust got in the way, Bedelia was a mess tbh stuck in her fascination (along with Chilton), Hannibal had a soft spot for Will, and Will didn’t trust himself or the monsters in his head. They used each other; abused each other. They broke trust and stupidly tried to gain it back. They lied and lied and let people lie to them. And I love this about them. They’re not perfect. They’re not stable. They have something to live and die for.
I could go on and on about Will’s character and how fucking amazing his transformation is throughout the series. I mean, I’m speechless. I don’t have the words to talk about Hugh Dancy’s acting and how he interacted with Mads (Hannibal). Just spot on. One of the best characters and character developments I have seen in a while.
Alana Goddamn Bloom’s transformation with that bi power we all knew was in her. God bless. When they paired her up with Margot, I jumped on board. Not just because I’m gay and a sucker for gay ships, but because it was just so fabulous. I love my murder wives. Enough said.
Hannibal and Will. Jesus christ. Their relationship is crazy and beautiful and dark and everything I could have wanted and more. I was so worried that I would be stuck watching this show shipping Will and Hannibal and having it not come to be. Their subtext was so strong in the first two seasons and I was so surprised but glad to find their relationship to grow in the third season. It wasn’t just subtext. And with the last scene the growing subtext evolved to a final answer; they couldn’t live without each other. I’m stunned. Just stunned.
