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NBC's [Hannibal]: "I believe that is called a mike drop."
Astaereth
In the belly of the beastRegistered User regular
In the belly of the beastRegistered User regular
This is Will Graham. Former FBI agent, brilliant detective, lonely guy. He can empathize with anyone--even the serial killers he hunts.
This is Dr. Hannibal Lector. Psychiatrist, brilliant chef, refined bachelor. His high-powered observational and psychoanalytical skills are second to none.
Together, they solve crimes:
Eventually, one may eat the other.
No, not like that. (Or maybe like that!)
Hannibal premieres this Thursday, April, at NBC. February 28th at 10PM on NBC.
A little more background:
Based on the popular series of novels by Thomas Harris, Hannibal is a prequel to Red Dragon, which was itself a precursor to Silence of the Lambs; it takes place during a time when Dr. Lector's extracurricular activities are still unknown, particularly to his friend and colleague, Will Graham, and Will's boss, Jack Crawford (Lawrence Fishburne). The show was created by Bryan Fuller, the creator of Dead Like Me, Wonderfalls, and Pushing Daisies.
The first season was astonishingly excellent: inventive, heartfelt, serious, meaningful, and exquisitely well executed on every level. Low rated but critically acclaimed, Hannibal is everything we never knew the franchise needed, and a beautiful, amazing show in its own right. It also features two of the best performances on television right now, by Hugh Dancy (as Will) and Madds Mikkelson (as Lector). If you enjoy high-quality television, you owe it to yourself to catch up with the first season (now available on DVD and Blu-Ray) and then tune in for season 2 in February.
Last season OP stuff:
Production is wrapping up now on the last episode of the 13-episode season, which is expected to air every Thursday without interruption.
Warning: the following preview is extremely graphic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=the first at WonderCon, I can say that I could not be more excited for this show. The idea of a crime procedural Lector show sounded like it would be a campy good time; instead, it turned out to be serious, moving, horrifying, and incredibly well-done. It's not a cash grab, or a rote procedural, or a black comedy; what it IS is dueling character studies wrapped in a suspense story. From the cinematography, editing, and music to the writing, casting, and direction, the show is the first successful attempt to bring the stylistic quality, character depth, and complex serialization of a cable show to a network audience. If you enjoy high-quality television--and aren't squeamish--you owe it to yourself to tune in.
Warning: the following preview is extremely graphic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=the first at WonderCon, I can say that I could not be more excited for this show. The idea of a crime procedural Lector show sounded like it would be a campy good time; instead, it turned out to be serious, moving, horrifying, and incredibly well-done. It's not a cash grab, or a rote procedural, or a black comedy; what it IS is dueling character studies wrapped in a suspense story. From the cinematography, editing, and music to the writing, casting, and direction, the show is the first successful attempt to bring the stylistic quality, character depth, and complex serialization of a cable show to a network audience. If you enjoy high-quality television--and aren't squeamish--you owe it to yourself to tune in.
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The excellent and spoiler-free (with one insignificant exception) review of the pilot from the AV Club is up now.
Anybody catch this last night? Thoughts?
I did. I was pretty apprehensive for the first 20-30 minutes and wasn't sure if I liked it or not.
But then it got awesome. I especially loved the ending of the show. I'm definitely tuning in next week and putting this in my Hulu queue.
Its tone is very different from Dexter.
He was excellent.
That would be the case if the shows were at all similar.
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Nah. Sure, it has the same "serial killer works with the police" tension, but there are major differences between the two shows (besides the stylistic ones). Dexter is usually a black comedy, while Hannibal is deadly serious (except for rare but welcome moments of comic relief). Dexter stars the killer, whereas Hannibal is essentially a supporting actor in his own show, with Will Graham taking the lead.
Most important are the thematic differences. Dexter exults in death--it's funny, it's thrilling, it can be sexualized, it's ritualistic... it's how the character solves problems, his main drive, and much of the reason people watch the show. Death is the fun part of Dexter, and the tension comes from the idea that the death might stop (or, rarely, get the wrong person). But Hannibal does not.
In Hannibal, death (violent death) is the problem, both the source of Will's crippling emotional torments and the monster waiting in the wings. Here death is scary, death is horrible, death is unnerving (the second episode delves even further than the first into the limits of human frailty, the malleability of the human body), and the tension comes from the dreamlike certainty that death will come again and too soon. To riff off of TVDW's pilot review, it taps into the horrors of serializing a grim murder procedural show--the awful fact that Will will still be shaken next week by what he saw last week, the awful knowledge that what he accomplished last week will be for nothing next week when some new killer emerges... In this sense Hannibal's presence in these opening episodes is not just classic Hitchcockian suspense, the bomb under the table which may go off at any moment; it is also symbolic of the palpable atmosphere of doom that hangs over the show and it's protagonist.
Dexter, which is at heart the wish-fulfillment fantasy of middle-aged narcissists everywhere (who wish that they, too, could feel like powerful men and have secret selves that were cool instead of tawdry or banal), which not-even-very-deep down wants you to cheer for the bloodletting, ain't got none of that shit.
Regarding the episode:
The camerawork was beautiful, the performances were spectacular, and if you're interested in a truly dark look at the horrors of the human mind, I couldn't recommend it enough. To the dude who offhandedly dismissed it as being the same as Dexter: don't be a ridiculous goose and watch it. Astaereth is completely correct in his assessment of the differences in tone between the two shows, and while I enjoyed the first few seasons of Dexter, if Hannibal can keep up the quality, it will definitely end up being the one with more value.
Personally I felt like this may have been even better than the pilot. The case of the week may be a little thin, but the murders themselves are absolutely gruesome in a very Seven kind of way, honestly horrific in terms of the limits the human body is pushed to. I also like that they pulled the trigger on this particular case of the week twist, because it was going to happen eventually, and this is a good way of keeping the serialized pressure on the show.
Also, even more than the pilot, the last scene here really defines what the show is going to be about in terms of the conflict between these two characters. And it ends on a great conversation (taken from Silence of the Lambs--the book, not the film) and an absolutely killer line.
What'd you guys think?
In other news: Mushroom People!
EDIT: As a fashion guy, I feel I have to point out that Hannibal's suits are fantastic. His ties, not so much. But his suits are gorgeous.
I've always found the second episode of a series to be a better example of what it'll be like.
So still great!
Second episode:
I really hope this sticks around, but I've heard the ratings aren't good. It's my understanding that Bryan Fuller said on Twitter that (future episode spoilers)
Speed edit: Heh. Went to IMDB and saw that all of the episode titles are cooking terms (Apertif, Amuse-Bouche, Potage, etc.)
Overall I think it's likely that Hannibal will get renewed. It may not be doing very well ratings-wise, but that's probably partially due to it being one of the last new shows to premiere this season in a crowded field (The Following is also a serial killer show, and Bates Motel is also a serial killer prequel show). I suspect it might open better if they can line it up at the start of next season, give it another big marketing push. Hopefully word of mouth on the show being one of the best two or three new shows this season will get around as well and start to push the numbers up.
Two things we discussed last night:
1. The writers have nailed the script for Hannibal. I can hear these same lines being delivered by Hopkins in the movies.
2. My wife noted how certain locations, like Hannibal's office have an older design (like interior design from the early 80s). We discussed that this could be an intent to have locations fell real (not all homes are modern in design). It just felt like a nice, real touch.
I love Mikkelson. In some ways, I like him better than Hopkins (at least post-Silence of the Lambs). His take on the role is understated, as many have remarked, but he also manages to exude a supreme, unassailable confidence, and, when he needs to, an almost affable good nature.
I agree with @Mike Danger about the
You can really tell this is a Bryan Fuller show when you look at the costume and set design. There's so much red--the screen is almost blood-soaked--and yet it doesn't seem cartoony.
The blonde woman at the pharmacy says her name is/was Gretchen Speck-Horowitz, who was a recurring character (played by the same actress) on Wonderfalls...
Wonderfalls had a character named Marianne Marie Beattle, who later appeared in Pushing Daisies...
and Pushing Daisies had Ned in get a temping job through the Happy Time Temp Agency, which is where George worked in Dead Like Me.
I also do like that Fuller is saying he isn't afraid to retread Red Dragon and beyond if the show gets that far, perhaps it won't fall into absurd stagnation.
He's pretty good at doing Lecter, I'm just completely irrationally bothered because his accent is a total mess that I can't place, it just... ugh. He sounds like me, a weird non-specific northern European dude, I'd prefer it if he sounded like Hopkins.
He also looks too much like Mika Häkkinen. I like Mika, I don't want to associate him with cannibalism.
Network dramas are not limited to not being able to have good, long arcs that aren't just episode of the week stuff: See Friday Night Lights, Lost, etc. just for recent examples. I'm the first to admit that drama is done better on cable networks(not just subscription like HBO, but FX, AMC, etc.) but the broadcast networks can do drama right too. I don't think this show is going to be a killer of the week type thing. I mean, even from episode 1 to 2 Graham still spent most of ep. 2 dealing with the fallout of what he did in ep. 1, so it's not like they were totally independent of one another anyway.
I'm glad he didn't do a Hopkins' retread. He needed to make the character his own and Lecter can be more then what Hopkins did with him, and even then his impression wasn't the first - that was Brian Cox in Manhunter.
So? Every actor playing a role, including one made famous by other people, deserve the freedom to have their own spin on the material. Mikkelsen is very talented and delivered with his performances. It'd also make the good characters look like idiots for not realizing Hannibal is a psychopath like Hopkin's rendition was like. They know he's a bit "off" not that he's a serial killer hiding in plain sight.
The only book I read was Hannibal and it was enjoyable. The movie adaption wasn't a good. I'd like to see what Fuller can do with the premise.
A). This is slow character study stuff. Well acted. Not action packed but very good.
C). It is not following the bad guy of the week formula exactly thus far. The story spills over the story flowed vs here's a self contained hour.
D). Scott Thompson in a serious role. I love it to death. Kids in the hall for ever.
The Hannibal characterization is spot on. Will... I'm a little Leary of. "Super autism" powers is a lil odd. but he is very similar to the brilliant characterization of will in man hunter by the second episode.
The tattler reporter is 'free range rude.' She had better watch her self.
Yeah, he's Lithuanian.
I don't like so much the group dynamic of the people they have working the evidence (and the fact they are always the same people) and whatnot. Kinda feels like CSI there.
2 episodes and pretty good so far.
Will definitely keep watching.