Hannibal

This show is also having a weird effect on me, food-wise. I'm sort of craving meat all the time, yet also having little weirdness/side-eye attacks in the middle of eating it.

I am totally sucked in, BTW (and not because of Gillian Anderson, though having her there is a nice bonus). I loved this past episode because of how it pokes around in Hannibal's brain (...) a little bit. He seemed just the slightest bit disconcerted when GA said calmly that she knew he was a big phony but she just hoped that some of the stuff she said was useful to him ("person suit," gross). And then it was both hilarious and weirdly touching when Hannibal was stood up by Will and seemed so disconcerted about it. And then you've got Franklin or whatever his name is being a creepy Hannibal groupie and talking about how he wanted to be Michael Jackson's friend and...I'm just loving it. It's not a procedural, and it's not a gross gore-fest (though there's certainly grossness), and it has a weird sense of humor. Strangely enough I HATED Wonderfalls and really did not care for Pushing Daisies either -- the first one just massively turned me off for some reason and the second, which I sat through basically the entire series of as background noise because my sister who lived with me at the time fell in love with it, just had a tone that I somehow clashed with. But this one I am digging and it's partly because of the weird tone, so, I don't know. Things are just working for me this time around.

I've never watched a show like this where you know that SUCH A GIANT SHITSTORM IS COMING and someone is MOST DEFINITELY WITHOUT QUESTION a villain and yet you have to sit there watching everyone be friends and be casually friendy with each other -- I mean, I know that's happened on other shows but it's like, I'm so enjoying watching the whole ensemble, including Hannibal the helpful but weird, refined yet eccentric doctor guy, jell together oh except ONE OF THEM IS A SERIAL KILLER WHO EATS PEOPLE AND HE'S PLAYING THEM ALL and it's just very disorienting, in a good way. I guess it's similar to Breaking Bad in that sense, but our entry to the character is very different -- which I think is why I was so excited to have an episode with Hannibal's inner life a (teeny tiny) bit more visible -- not to mention Hannibal is about 978 levels of creepy evil above Walt. And I guess...any sympathy I have left for Walt is because I was with him on his journey into villainy and could understand his actions up to a certain point, and the sympathy I have for Hannibal is the opposite, I KNOW he's a serial killer but I haven't really seeeeeeeeen it, he seems so nice, he's freakishly charismatic, etc.

I simultaneously cannot WAIT to see it all go down and am very slow-motion NOOOOOOOOOOoooooooo about it. They're all confiding in him! Not just with personal shit but taking him along on investigations! Plus the show is so goddamn good-looking. I am a huge sucker for arty art direction. I love that stupid deer that keeps walking through everything.

I keep hearing that it's about to be cancelled and I wish they would hurry up and not cancel it already. Was it here that someone said it should move to the Food Network? Heh. (Also I just typed Foot Network. Same difference? Ew.)

I've read the book of Silence of the Lambs (a long while ago) and seen the movie (multiple times), but never read any of the others. This is making me want to pick up the earlier books. Except I'm enjoying being as relatively unspoiled as I am.

pokes around in Hannibal's brain

I see what you did there.

Except you claim not to have read the other books or seen the other movies. So you're telling me you *don't* know the fate of Paul Krendler in the novel/film Hannibal?

Niiiiiice.

I have not and I don't. But knowing what I do of the series, I wouldn't be especially shocked to learn that there was some literal brain-poking somewheres along the line.

Spoiler:

Sorry. That's like... just something I have never gotten over. And yet, even that wasn't enough to put me off the character forever.

I hated that book so much. I think Thomas Harris lost the plot after Silence of the Lambs -- if the series ever gets that far into the story I hope Bryan Fuller does something entirely different with it.

ActonBell wrote:I think Thomas Harris lost the plot after Silence of the Lambs

See, that's what I remember from that book/movie coming out -- people seemed disgusted with it for I guess the disgusting thing laddical mentions, and disgusting stuff doesn't really bother me TOO much, but I also remember hearing that

Spoiler:

and that sounded REAL shark-jumpy for me after enjoying SOTL and the dynamic in that. So that's when I lost interest in the franchise; also it seemed weird for me that it was still Anthony Hopkins but it was someone else playing Clarice. I think if they'd recast both I might possibly have been able to get into it, but with just one and the above plot development I just lost interest. But I've always heard the early book(s? how many are there?) were good. And so far I'm more simultaneously drawn to and repulsed by Mads Mikkelson as Hannibal, in the way I think you're supposed to be with that character, than I was with Anthony Hopkins, so that's why I'm all newly into it again I think. (I'm sure the intervening years and 8,000,001 Hannibal Lecter impressions between now and my first seeing the movie haven't helped his version age well for me either.)

The books, in order of publication, are Red Dragon, Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal, and Hannibal Rising. The film rights to all but Silence are with the de Laurentis family, which is why the Franklin Froideveaux character isn't named Benjamin Raspail - Fuller wanted to tell the story of the head in the jar from Silence of the Lambs, but MGM didn't want to play ball with him for any price so he basically has to create a "parallel" (apparently Froideveaux and Raspail are streets that run parallel in Paris, and then the first names are "Benjamin Franklin").

So we won't be getting as far as Hannibal drugging and brainwashing Clarice to try and get her to believe she's the sister he watched get eaten by Nazis. Which may be why we have him "grooming" Abigail instead.

Ugh, you just reminded me of Hannibal Rising aka one of the many weird Christmas gifts my father has gotten me, and the equally awful movie I saw because teenage me thought Gaspard Ulliel was hot. Adult me still agrees but has more self respect.

The Franklin moment shocked but then I thought: "well, best thing really--his therapy was going nowhere."

And Hannibal has a friend! Will is totally Hannibals's Boo.

Hee hee hee. I actually shrieked when that happened. That whole scene was just INSANE.

I am so suspicious of Bedelia, by the way.

Agreed on all of that.

When Alana was talking to Will about how hes too damaged for her right now, I had to laugh because girl is gonna end up in bed with a dude who legit eats people.

At first, I thought Hannibal was sending Will off after Tobias because he wanted him killed because he is, as we know, The Worst At Helping. And it's not like poor Will wasn't having enough problems of his own this episode.
But hearing Franklin talking to Tobias, trying to talk him down, I was cringing all over again because, lord bless him, but he was not the hero type ever. In anything. And he was talking like he was taking charge, like his words would have any effect in front of the two people who really didn't give a rat's ass about him.

Spoiler:

I am also suspicious of Bedelia too. She looks shifty in a subtle way. Although in fairness, with this show I suspect everyone who isn't Jack or Will to be up to something.

Bless his heart--by the end, I felt really sorry for Franklyn. Partly because he was hilarious this time. "I'M ALWAYS WRONG!"

I ended up with three possibilities as to what was going on with sending Will off after Tobias--

Spoiler:

The big question remains: was the desert people?!

Also you know the Tobias/Hannibal fic will begin showing up in 3...2...1...

I'm voting for 2 and 3 there, Cleo. I also think he genuinely likes Will, in his twisted psychopathic way. Maybe in just a "this guy makes EVERYTHING more interesting, so why would I want to kill him?" way. He also couldn't have predicted that Will would be dumb enough not to call for backup.

Wait, now that you bring it up--what WAS the dessert? Usually someone with the show posts or tweets what it is, but not this time?

I also think he genuinely likes Will, in his twisted psychopathic way.

Well, and did you see his face when Will finally walked through the door at the end? AWWWW.

PrincessCleo wrote:Wait, now that you bring it up--what WAS the dessert? Usually someone with the show posts or tweets what it is, but not this time?

I also think he genuinely likes Will, in his twisted psychopathic way.

Well, and did you see his face when Will finally walked through the door at the end? AWWWW.

And to think you were scoffing at that Tumblr art with Lecter and the Pocket Will. Clearly, there is precedent for such a thing!!

NOT FOR ANYBODY BEING TINY IN POCKETS THERE'S NOT

THERE HAS TO BE PRECEDENT SOMEWHERE OTHERWISE MY BRAIN WILL BREAK BECAUSE WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO PUT WILL IN LECTER'S POCKET?? HE EATS PEOPLE, MAKES THEM INTO BEER & IS THE WORST AT HELPING!!

RUN ALANA, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, RUN!!!

Sweet Baby Jesus in the morning, THIS SHOW.

Even the musical instruments ARE PEOPLE.

I CAN'T EVEN.

THERE HAS TO BE PRECEDENT SOMEWHERE OTHERWISE MY BRAIN WILL BREAK BECAUSE WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO PUT WILL IN LECTER'S POCKET?? HE EATS PEOPLE, MAKES THEM INTO BEER & IS THE WORST AT HELPING!!

It...sounds kind of familiar? I have no idea from what fandom this came from, though. When in doubt, I always guess Supernatural.

There are a lot of things posted wrt to Hannibal and Will on tumblr that make me think LOLWUT. Not so much the regular slash stuff, but pictures where Will is drawn as Hannibal's puppy or the AU stuff where they are in The Little Mermaid universe. I guess there's a lot of potential for weirdness with this show and its fans.

BBC Sherlock fandom, was what people were telling me.

the AU stuff where they are in The Little Mermaid universe

wait what

What PrincessCleo said.

I swear I came across that yesterday, but I can't find it now. I wish tumblr was more searchable. It was just one of those things that just jumped out at me as being very random.

The dessert was bread pudding with mango and pomegranate sauce, garnished with various exotic fruits. It looks so yummy