Hannibal 3x01: "Antipasto" part two
PREVIOUSLY ON: QUEEN AND CANNIBAL: Leather Biker Hannibal zoomed around Paris and ate a guy before the opening credits even ran; Flashback Gideon was served his own leg (again) (no, the other one); Flawless Bedelia can't take her "husband" anywhere, because he always ends up in freestyle Dante battles with Florentines; Hannibal would love to have an inconvenient poet for dinner, so this guy's about five minutes from dead.
Speaking of whom! After another beautiful time-lapse shot of Florence, we are treated to sassy music at the Palazzo Du Maurier-Lecter--
@BryanFuller: #HANNIBAL AND BEDELIA ARE PLAYING LULU BY ANTONELLO PALLIOTTI & PAPPI CORSICATO FOR THEIR DINNER WITH DIMMOND
--and sensuous closeups of oysters, which have a lot more juice liquor than I expected. ( Food sketch!) I'll be honest, my first association there is not what Hannibal's purpose for them turns out to be. To wit: "Casanova, the 18th century lover who used to breakfast on 50 oysters, has been vindicated by a study that proves they really are aphrodisiacs." For years, the article says, it was thought the "powers of oysters" lay in their high zinc content, but it turns out that they're "rich in rare amino acids that trigger increased levels of sex hormones." An oyster enthusiast/university lecturer is quoted as saying that he's not eating them for their ~powers per se: "It is a sensual experience though--the fresh taste of the sea, the slippery, silky texture. Perhaps that's why it works as an aphrodisiac for some people. If you find something sensual, it heightens your senses and perhaps one thing leads to another." (Said article includes Casanova's own personal "serving suggestion," which involves kissing.) A Houston Press article puts a finer point on it: "There's always the slurping and sucking and vague resemblance of oysters to female anatomy."
I'm telling you this for several reasons, not the least of which is Dimmond raising an eyebrow at Bedelia eating hers. Of course, her fork is also visibly trembling; this whole dinner is a struggle for Bedelia on multiple fronts. At first I thought she'd be freaked out that Dimmond could blow their cover, but no--she's got to know that Hannibal would never let that happen, so she's expecting him to kill Dimmond any actual minute, right there at the table. "How well do you know the Fells?" she manages to croak out. Dimmond smugs on about how no one knows them very well, and there is "mutual detestation" and "disapproval of disapproval" between him and Mrs. Fell: "Lydia isn't quite bright enough to see I'm just intimidated [by Roman]. Roman does, of course. How he loves to strike fear." "Dante wrote that fear is almost as bitter as death," says Hannibal, setting another plate before Bedelia; "Dante wasn't dead when he wrote it," Bedelia retorts faintly, looking like she's halfway to dead already.
So, Anthony, are you traveling alone? "The only way I travel."
@BryanFuller: IF SOMEONE ASKS YOU IF YOU'RE TRAVELING ALONE, TELL THEM NO
I'm telling you, this guy has zero sense of self-preservation. And then Hannibal volunteers that "Roman" will be "speaking to the Studiolo Friday, on Dante. You should come." (Bedelia's expression: WHAT NO.) "Sounds appropriately hellish," quips Dimmond, who then feels compelled to ask Bedelia, "Are you avoiding meats?" (Okay, don't comment on what other people are eating. Rude.) Bedelia: "I'm... trying not to eat anything with a central nervous system." That is how broadly you have to generalize when it comes to Hannibal's cooking. What all has he passed people off as--beef, veal, lamb, sheep, pork, sausages, pâté, tongue, omelette--? One time sushi was people. And then he's turned people into beer and gelatin and probably even suet for the bread pudding that one time and I'm just saying I'm not sure I'd bother trying, Bedelia.
" Oysters, acorns, and Marsala," observes Dimmond, noticing exactly all of that on the table. "That's what ancient Romans would feed animals to improve their flavor."
Aaaaaand there it is:
@cleolindajones: #NOTFOREATING
Look at this motherfucker. Bedelia now knows that he's feeding up her flavor, and he knows that she knows, and he doesn't CARE that she knows, and she knows it. The sang froid on this man, I swear to God.
But because Bedelia is a badass, she recovers with a sly retort: "My husband has a very sophisticated palate. He's very particular about how I taste."
OH GIRL
Usually in dinner scenes like this, Hannibal drops some outrageously obvious cannibal pun, no one pays any attention, and everyone moves on. This time? Not a chance. "Is it that kind of party?"
And Dimmond looks at Hannibal, and Hannibal looks at him, and Dimmond looks at Bedelia, and Bedelia looks at him, and Bedelia looks at Hannibal, and
(sungl0ry.tumblr.com)
Hannibal is here for it, and Bedelia is like ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?
(I think Hannibal is delighted that she landed a pun that good, and Dimmond is pretty cute. But he's also enjoying calling her bluff, as well as wanting to see how far she would let this go. He's perennially curious, as you may recall.)
(IMO, Bedelia looks terrified that Dimmond's impending death just found a way to get even messier.)
Hannibal, smiling: "It's not that kind of party."
"No, says Bedelia, "it really isn't."
"Shame," says Dimmond, smooving through the awkwardness. "You were both suddenly so fascinating."
(sungl0ry.tumblr.com)
(A really nifty point sungl0ry also makes with that gifset: this scene is blocked the same way as Alana having dinner with Hannibal, Will, and their weird sexual tension. So that's our second call back to "Naka-choko.")
(Weird factoid: A threesome with one woman and two men is called a "devil's threesome." Just throwing that out there.)
@MrAaronAbrams: YOU CAN NOT BLAME THIS DUDE FOR ASKING IF MADS MIKKELSEN AND GILLIAN ANDERSON WANT TO HAVE A THREESOME WITH HIM YOU JUST CAN'T.
@lorettaramos: Careful, @ScottThompson_ may get jealous. #preller
@manatee73: Most of the crew yelled "PLEASE BE THAT KIND OF PARTY!!!!!"
@DireRavenstag: IT'S ALWAYS THAT KIND OF PARTY IN THE MIND PALACE.
(How any of this made it onto NBC, I don't know.)
To Bedelia's surprise, though, the evening ends with a simple "Buonasera" at the door--not bonsoir. "You let him go." "What would you have me do?" asks Hannibal, but it sounds a little bit like a challenge.
That said, Bedelia clearly does not believe that Dimmond will get away unscathed, judging by what she does next. You know, when we saw Gillian Anderson in her Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego outfit in the Italy set pictures... like... look, those are gorgeous shades of blue and green, but... that hat, y'all.
@angelinaburnett: Hat game so strong. Yall ain't ready.
Then I realized why the outfit's so showy. Bedelia wants to be noticed; she even looks a passing policeman straight in the face.
And then I flipped out over the carousel because that's a big thing in the Hannibal movie.
Once again at Vera Dal: "Due bottiglie di Bâtard-Montrachet e gli tartufi bianchi, per favore."
@LJmysticowl: How much wine do you think Bedelia consumes on a weekly basis? Let's estimate in Euros and gallons.
@redheadedgirl: @LJmysticowl That bag contains $1200 of wine each time.
@cleolindajones: That's just today's wine. That's just breakfast wine.
But this time, she notices a rabbit hanging up at the meat counter... dripping slo-mo closeup blood.
@cleolindajones: Should've hopped faster.
And then she ends up at a train station, playing her own game of Where in the World with the security cameras.
(x)
I still have questions, possibly unanswerable, as to what Bedelia's deal is. Hostage? Enabler? Partner? All of the above? We get another piece of the puzzle now: a flashback to what, exactly, happened with the Attacker Patient ("Neal Frank"?). Kind of. Maybe. Because, unfortunately, he is already dead. Hella, hella dead. Here's the sequence of shots, which I'll make you click through for, because it is not a good time. Bedelia is lying on the floor, head to head with Neal; she sits up, stares at her bloodied-to-the-elbow arm, starts shaking, and then we switch to a flashback-within-flashback of her PULLING HER ENTIRE FUCKING FOREARM OUT OF NEAL'S THROAT, collapsing, and hitting the floor where she originally woke up.
@cleolindajones: fffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff
@nickantosca: Why did Bedelia throatfist Spock?
@BryanFuller: PLEASE GIVE @ZacharyQuinto A WARM WELCOME TO THE #HANNIBAL CAST
OH LOOK YOU CAN TOTALLY WATCH IT ON YOUTUBE
@BryanFuller: THIS IS WHAT STOOD IN FOR @ZacharyQuinto FOR THE VFX REFERENCE
Ah, yes, the glory hole.
And conveniently, here's this fucker.
"He attacked me," she whispers, still shaking. "Is that your blood?" Hannibal asks, but it already sounds rhetorical: "You were defending yourself?" She says she was reckless (NO KIDDING), but he's examining Neal's hand, which is completely clean and unmarked: "This wasn't reckless violence. It was a controlled use of force." "I know what happened," she whispers, but doesn't sound so sure. Hannibal lets that sit there a moment: "... Do you?" "He was your patient before he was mine," she counters--does she mean so you know he was already violent, or so I can tell you were involved in this?
"He died under your care," says Hannibal. "You were not defending yourself." And Bedelia looks increasingly upset.
@thetuxedos: "hannibal i know ur a shit u made him do this" "YEAH WELL HE'S YOUR PROBLEM NOW IDC"
@cleolindajones: okay Dr. Murder Satan
So Bedelia's trying to clean up in the bathroom, and of course Hannibal is all up in her business while she's still vulnerable. Sometimes he's all handsome and floppy-haired, and other times he is just an absolute doom creeper. "I can help you tell the version of events you want to be told," he says, giving her cheek the Tender Murder Caress with a washcloth. (Which Gillian Anderson actually refers to as a "baptism.") "I can help you... if you ask me to." Because Hannibal Lecter is (sing it with me if you know the words) THE BEST AT HELPING. And, like the way you have to invite the vampire in, he makes her say it: "Will you help me?"
(x)
@cleolindajones: oh God he's Abigailing her
1x03 Potage: "This wasn't self-defense, Abigail. You butchered him. They'll see what you did, and they'll see you as an accessory to the crimes of your father. I can help you... if you ask me to. At great risk to my career and my life. You have a choice."
But the difference is, Bedelia's a psychiatrist, not a frightened teenage girl. She knows exactly what he's doing right now--building the foundation for future blackmail, emotional or otherwise. But I wonder if she realizes the full extent of his influence here. So untangle What The Hell Their Deal Is with me, y'all. And pardon how long the timeline discussion here is; you can jump past it if you'd rather.
3x01 Antipasto: Zachary Quinto is dead on the floor with Bedelia's arm down his throat. We don't know for absolute sure what, if anything, he did to her first. IMMEDIATELY she calls Hannibal out on some kind of involvement. He then offers to help her cover the whole thing up--we can infer that he'll confirm for the authorities Neal attacked her and "the only thing that saved her" was Neal swallowing his own tongue (due to a supposed seizure, maybe?), rather than Bedelia cramming it down his throat. Presumably, no one does an autopsy or notices that the tongue-swallowing thing, which isn't a thing, is... not what happened.
1x07 Sorbet: "I have conversations with a...version of you... and hope that the actual you... gets what he needs. [...] Naturally... I respect its meticulous construction... but you are wearing a very well-tailored person suit. [...] I see enough of you to see the truth of you. And I like you."
1x08 Fromage: Bedelia retired after the attack, but is still Hannibal's therapist: "Referrals can be complicated. I referred you to another psychiatrist. You refused." Hannibal: "I feel protective of you. You support me as a colleague and psychiatrist, and as a human being. I want to be supportive of you... after what happened."
Later: "It's nice when someone sees us, Hannibal. Or has the ability to see us." On the subject of friendship: "It requires trust. Trust is difficult for you." "You've helped me to better understand what I want in a friendship... and what I don't." "Someone worthy of your friendship. You spend a lot of time building walls, Hannibal. It's natural to want to see if someone is... clever enough to climb over them."
After the scrum with Tobias: "Every person has an intrinsic responsibility for their own life, Hannibal. No one else can take on that responsibility. Not even you." "Did you take responsibility when you were attacked by your patient?" "Yes. But I don't take responsibility for his death."
1x12 Relevés: Jack shows up at Bedelia's house: "You were attacked by a patient not too long ago. [...] I know that there was a statement given by Dr. Lecter." Bedelia admits that the patient was a referral from Hannibal: "He swallowed his tongue while he was attacking me. That's the only thing that saved my life." Later, she tells Hannibal about that conversation, and that she told Jack "half-truths. That... a violent patient swallowed his tongue while he was attacking me. I didn't tell him how or... why... or who was responsible."
1x13 Savoureux: Janice Poon wrote of the dinner scene, where Hannibal shows up at Bedelia's house with "veal" (... whoever that was), "I think Hannibal and Bedelia have this kind of pissing match about who's cooler and who's scarier." "And since you refuse invitations to my dinner table, this is the only way I could cook for you," Hannibal says--why? As part of her determination to maintain boundaries with him? Or because she already has some inkling that he eats people? Because we have her saying very pointedly, "Controversial dish... veal," putting off eating it as long as she can, and finally badassing it down Gideon-style. And yet I want to say some interview or other told us that she didn't know that he was the Chesapeake Ripper and/or a cannibal? (Closest I can find: "She doesn’t know any more than the other characters. She’s starting to suspect.") And Will doesn't figure out that He's Eating Them until 2x04. In which case... what's the reluctance about?
Then: "You have to be careful, Hannibal. They're starting to see your pattern. You develop relationships with patients who are prone to violence. Under scrutiny, Jack Crawford's beliefs about you might start to unravel." "Tell me, Dr. Du Maurier--have your beliefs about me begun to unravel?" (A phrasing that's picked up this episode with "my beliefs about your intentions.") And she doesn't answer--just an inscrutable smile.
2x01 Kaiseki: "I imagine there's an honesty in [Will Graham] that you can relate to. What can't you repress, Hannibal?" [TERRIFYING SMILE]
Later, she is alarmed when he wants to give her permission to talk to Jack Crawford: "You maintain an air of transparency... while putting me in the position to lie for you. Again." ("Again" meaning the "half-truths" conversation.) Hannibal: "You're not just lying for me. [...] It would seem Jack Crawford is less suspicious of me than you are." "Jack Crawford doesn't know what you're capable of." "Neither do you." [TERRIFYING SMILE] [*GULP*]
2x02 Sakizuke: "I am no longer your therapist. [...] I have reached the limit of my efficacy. I don't believe I can help you. [...] I... am grateful for your persistence in engaging me after my attack. However, in light of everything that has happened with Will Graham... I have begun to question your actions. Particularly, your past actions with regards to me and my attack." She promises not to run to Jack: "I would look just as guilty as you. But perhaps that is what you intended." "What exactly am I guilty of?" "Exactly, I cannot say. I've had to draw a conclusion based on what I glimpsed through... the stitching of the person suit that you wear. And the conclusion that I've drawn... is that you are... dangerous."
Then she tells Jack she can't talk about Hannibal anymore, Hannibal is no longer her patient, and she is recusing herself the fuck out of this. "Hannibal and I were both traumatized by dangerous patients. Hannibal had his Will Graham... and I had mine."
Before she nopes the hell off the show, she visits Will in jail: "I understand you better than I thought. [...] It may be small comfort, but I am convinced Hannibal has done what he honestly believes is best for you." And then she tells Will that she understands this is something that has happened to him: "I believe you."
By the time Hannibal shows up at her house in the Murder Suit, she has peaced the entire fuck out, leaving nothing but ghost furniture and a bottle of perfume. We can only speculate as to the significance or spirit of that "gift."
2x12 Tome-wan: Jack drags Bedelia back, immunity, etc. She tells Will that she thought she was Hannibal's psychiatrist, not the other way around, "but I was under Hannibal's influence. And what he did to you made that abundantly clear." Will mentions that the Attacker Patient swallowed his tongue. Bedelia: "It wasn't attached at the time. […] I killed him. I believed it was self-defense. And to a point, it was. But beyond that point, it was murder. Hannibal influenced me to murder my patient, our patient." "You weren't coerced?" "What Hannibal does is not coercion. It is persuasion. Has he ever tried to persuade you to kill anybody? He will." (Hannibal already has: Will presumably now makes the connection that Hannibal must have sent Randall Tier, a former patient, to attack him back in 2x09, at which point Will beat Randall to death. And kept going, and going, and going, while imagining that Randall was Hannibal. One wonders if Bedelia was imagining something similar.) "And it will be somebody you love. And you will think it's the only choice you have." (Hold up, what? Did she love Neal? This might foreshadow the way Hannibal has Abigail push Alana out a window in 2x13 or something that hasn't happened yet, I don't know.)
(Side note: "Hannibal can get lost in self-congratulation at his own exquisite taste and cunning. Whimsy. That will be how he will get caught.")
This is so frustrating to me because so much of this is either cryptic (Someone you love? How far does the "Will Graham" parallel go? How DID she end up throat-fisting a guy to death?) or psychologically contradictory (She immediately thinks Hannibal influenced the attack? But "I like you"? But scary veal? But "I have BEGUN to question your actions"?). And yet... I feel like I can glimpse a plausible outline of what's going on here. It doesn't entirely line up for me yet, but I keep thinking there's something they could tell us that would somehow make it all snap into place--how much did she know, when did she know it, and how did she feel about it? Or perhaps the real question is, what kind of person is she that she could understand what he's doing to her and still say "I know, and I like you"? That's the crux of Bedelia's inscrutability, I think--that she does have some strange liking for (attraction to?) Hannibal, and she knows it's both indefensible and indescribable. And to acknowledge to Hannibal himself would be to admit responsibility, liability, and a weak point in that "wall" he's been trying to climb over.
@BryanFuller: THE WONDERFUL @ZacharyQuinto RETURNS IN #HANNIBAL EPISODE 310 TO TELL MORE OF HIS STORY
Well, there you go.
And now, another scene that made me really happy: a "remixed" version of Hannibal's lecture to the Studiolo.
@BryanFuller: YOU MAY RECALL THIS SCENE FROM RIDLEY SCOTT'S #HANNIBAL, ONLY IT WAS DETECTIVE PAZZI IN THE AUDIENCE NOT BEDELIA
@cleolindajones: That... that didn't end well for him.
So we go from the shot of Bedelia's tears in the mirror after her "baptism" (again, I apologize for that novella of a tangent) to the sweat on her forehead as she sits in the audience. I will give you what we hear of Hannibal's lecture in its entirety, because the whole thing is a game of cat-and-mouse:
"In accord with my own taste for the pre-Renaissance, I present the case of Pietro della Vigna, whose treachery earned him a place in Dante's Hell."
In case anyone was unsure what was going on here or anything.
SAAAAAATAAAAAAN
(Satan with a bowtie. I love that Hannibal seems to think that if he trades in his flashy neckties, no one will recognize him.)
"He was disgraced and blinded for betraying his emperor's trust." (Cut to Bedelia's anxious face again.) "Dante's pilgrim finds him in the seventh level of the Inferno, reserved for suicides," continues Hannibal, strolling through the room in a professorial way. "Like Judas Iscariot, he died by hanging. Judas and Pietro della Vigna are linked in Dante's Inferno. Betrayal..."
Yeah, he knows. Somehow he knows that she was out there trying to get her face on camera. It's a nice touch (literally) from the movie as well.
@LJmysticowl: Oh, Hannibal. Only you would give an unsubtle lecture about how you're Jesus.
"... hanging... then, linked since antiquity, the image appearing again and again in art. This is the earliest known depiction of the Crucifixion, carved on an ivory box in Gaul about A.D. four hundred. It includes the death by hanging of Judas"--there's something almost pitifully intimidated about Bedelia's face--"his face upturned to the branch that suspends him. On the doors of the Benevento Cathedral, we see Judas hanging with his bowels falling out." And right there, right at Future Episode Foreshadowing, is Anthony Dimmond in the doorway. And he sees Bedelia. And she sees him. "And here, from a fifteenth-century edition of The Inferno, is Pietro della Vigna's body hanging from a bleeding tree. I won't belabor the parallels with Judas Iscariot. Betrayal, hanging, self-destruction. Io fei gibetto a me de le mie case." Hannibal looks straight at his domestic partner:
"I make my own home be my gallows."
And just when you think things can't get any worse: "Mr. Dimmond, welcome--please join us. We were just about to discuss the matter of chewing in Dante."
Which is A Thing, by the way. Specifically, with Dante's portrayal of... Satan. A fallen angel, "a once splendid being (indeed the most perfect of God’s creatures)" who eternally gnaws on three traitors, no less.
In the book/movie, the subject of the presentation was actually one of Inspector Pazzi's ancestors--it's Hannibal basically trolling this one detective with an entire personalized lecture (as Fio put it, "a thirty-minute slideshow on how I'm about to kill you"), with the final slide revealed right before Hannibal grabs him. The Bedelia version, on the other hand, seems like more of a warning than a death sentence. And WARNING RECEIVED, because the next time Hannibal looks over to Bedelia--
BYE
Nonetheless, the presentation goes over well (*golf clap*). So, does Hannibal have the job? "The Studiolo seem... satisfied," Sogliato sniffs. But here's a beaming Dimmond to the rescue: "Satisfied? I thought the applause was downright enthusiastic, in its soft and dusty way." "Dottore Fell is a friend of yours?" "I was his TA at Cambridge. The tales I could tell," says Dimmond, but he declines to elaborate: "What kind of friend would I be?" "What kind of friend, indeed," Sogliato mutters darkly. Oh, what the hell--was that supposed to be implied homophobia? This guy is also dead. Deaaaaaad.
But now Dimmond, grinning like the cat looking forward to eating the canary (... so to speak), is left alone with Hannibal in his clutches. Good luck with that.
@lorettaramos: BTS Palazzo Capponi set ( 1, 2)
@BryanFuller: VISITING THE EXPOSITION OF ATROCIOUS TORTURE INSTRUMENTS AT THE PALAZZO CAPPONI
@cleolindajones: I'm just so happy the torture exhibit made it in from the book and I don't know how to feel about myself now.
"An exposition of Atrocious Torture Instruments appeals to connoisseurs of the very worst in mankind," says Dimmond as they stroll through the now-empty library. Hannibal muses, "Now that ceaseless exposure has calloused us into the lewd and the vulgar, it is instructive to see what still seems wicked to us." "What still slaps the clammy flab of our submissive consciousness hard enough to get our attention?" Oh, is that what you're into? "What wickedness has your attention, Mr. Dimmond?" "Yours... Dr. Fell. I have no delusions about morality; if I did, I would've gone to la polizia. I'm curious as to what fate befell Dr. Fell to see you here in his stead." Hannibal says pleasantly, "You may have to strap me to the breaking wheel to loosen my tongue." Oh, is that what you're into? Dimmond: "You overestimate my affection for the genuine Dr. Fell. Clearly, you found him as distasteful as I did." "On the contrary," says Hannibal, because of course he does. Dimmond pauses to look confused for a moment (heh), then delves deeper into Sexy Blackmail: "We can twist ourselves into all manner of uncomfortable positions just to maintain appearances, with or without a breaking wheel." "Are you here to twist me into an uncomfortable position?" WELL THEN.
@DireRavenstag: Now, now, fleshmeats. The comfort of positions is important. Wouldn't want to strain something.
In reply, Dimmond smooves, "I'm here to help you untwist... to our mutual benefit."
@ColliderNews: This dude literally saw Hannibal's face become Lucifer's, has guessed his crime, and he's playing with him? Son...
@queenofthedorks: ....So is he going to sleep with him, eat him or both? Is Hannibal playing a game of MKF with Anthony?
What was that exchange from Hannibal? "So what do you think, Cordell? Does Lecter want to fuck her or kill her or eat her alive?" "Probably all three, though I wouldn't want to predict in what order."
@DireRavenstag: Scarf fleshmeat is adorable, but then I have a thing for brunettes with grazable hair.
Right down to the scarf, y'all.
Back at the Palazzo Du Maurier-Lecter, LEAVE THE LUGGAGE! JUST GO!!
@BryanFuller: THE MOMENT OF BEDELIA'S NEAR GETAWAY WAS INSPIRED BY MARY STEENBURGEN TRYING TO ESCAPE JACK THE RIPPER IN #TIMEAFTERTIME
But no, Bedelia's still there when Hannibal arrives with Dimmond. Hannibal gives her and the luggage a somewhat startled look, but lets it go for the moment. And then he shuts the door.
After the commercial break, there's slo-mo blood drops flying and Dimmond hitting the floor and Hannibal standing over him with a bust of Aristotle.
Which is, of course, a specific homage to The Talented Mr. Ripley, but you just know it's gotta be Aristotle for a reason. Metaphysics? Psychology? Ethics? This is why we have Twitter.
@cleolinda: Aristotle? (Don't ask why I already had a screencap of this...)
@Wolven: My best guess is that it's ironic: Tom Wisdom taken out by one of the West's wisest philosophers…
@Wolven: Also, Dr Fell would have known of Aristotle's influence on the Renaissance.
@weirdymcweirder: Aristotle viewed aesthetics as independent of ethics. Like a certain cannibal.
@weirdymcweirder: 12 years of Greek education and that's as far as I go. :) More here.
"Observe or participate?"
Bedelia, who is staring at the felled Dimmond, finally realizes Hannibal's speaking to her: "...what?" "ARE YOU, IN THIS VERY MOMENT" (oh shit, Loud Cannibal) "OBSERVING? OR PARTICIPATING?" "Observing," she whispers. "You say you're observing, but this..." (Dimmond is currently slithering between them towards the door) "...this is participation, Bedelia. Did you know what he would do? I would prefer you answer honestly." "I was curious," she says quietly. You know, maybe you crazy kids have something in common after all. Hannibal: "You were curious what would happen. You were curious what Mr. Dimmond would do. What I would do. Did you anticipate our thoughts? Counter-thoughts? Rationalizations? Is this what you expected?" And her answer, through tears, is Yes.
@cleolindajones: "Look, I was just curious if it really WAS that kind of party"
@beamish_girl: "I don't know what I expected, really. Oh, that. That was pretty much what I expected."
"That's participation."
Poor Dimmond has crawled all the way to the front door and is just, juuuuust about to reach the doorknob, so Hannibal walks over and breaks his neck with an awful crunch.
"What have you gotten yourself into, Bedelia?" says a guy who would prefer Bedelia not think about how happy the FBI would be to hear from her. Because that's the real point of all this--to follow up his scholarly "snitches get stitches... IN THE MORGUE" lecture with the idea that she's somehow culpable and therefore can't run for help. He's gaslighting her, but maybe also providing a convenient excuse for her to continue indulging her curiosity, Almost Entirely Professional or otherwise.
"Shall I hang up your coat?"
@Vincenzo_Natali: From #Hannibal #Antipasto: storyboards for Dimmond's demise.
( Adorable even in death.)
One last flash back to Gideon:
@BryanFuller: #HANNIBAL IS PLAYING PAVANE POUR UNE INFANTE DEFUNTE BY RAVEL FOR @eddieizzard AS HE SERVES HIM SNAILS
Quoth Wikipedia, "Pavane for a Dead Princess" (apparently Ravel just liked the sound of those words; the title's actually not meant to be deep) "is hardly representative of the composer, with whom elusive harmonies woven in rapid figuration are the usual medium of expression. In the Pavane we get normal, almost archaic harmonies, subdued expression, and a somewhat remote beauty of melody." Kulzick adds that the steady rhythm lends "an inevitability to both the scene and Gideon’s certainty of Hannibal’s eventual defeat."
So we see snail shells tumbling into the pan, a burst of flame (told you fire was Hannibal's element), and a plate of lovingly arm-fed escargot served to Gideon in a nautilus shell.
@nickantosca: You'll see the snails again this season, by the way.
I will also note that there is a whole "snails or oysters" thing in the movie Spartacus that you may find interesting.
Meanwhile, Gideon starts tapping his fork. LOUDLY. You can tell, in his own subtle way, that it's driving Hannibal nuts. "Would you rather I extended you the same kindness as the escargot?"
"Eating me without my knowledge? Well... I find knowing to be far more powerful," says Gideon. "Why do you think I'm allowing this?"
"Why do you think I'M allowing this?" asks Hannibal, in very much the same tone I was thinking it.
@cleolindajones: "because you're Satan"
" 'Cause snails aren't the only creatures who prefer eating with company," says Gideon. "If only that company could be Will Graham."
(madsmikkelsoned.tumblr.com)
OHHHHHHHHHHH
(Oh man, what has Will been telling Gideon in the dungeons? "Oh, dude, and then this fucker got ON THE WITNESS STAND and swore ON A BIBLE that we would always be friends." I almost feel sorry for Hannibal now.)
Gideon stabs crudely at his snails (to be fair: only one arm left), then drops the fork again, making as much noise as he possibly can. Hannibal just stares at him dolefully.
Let me do a quick Gideon timeline for you, since so much of this isn't recapped:
2x05 Mukozuke: Gideon talks to Will, convinces him to put out a hit on Hannibal, then takes it back by warning Alana.
2x06 Futamono: Gideon and Will are still hanging out together in the dungeons, but Gideon finally realizes that he is not safe, not even behind bars, that Hannibal will get him. So he provokes the guards into beating him up badly enough to get sent to the hospital--except that now his back is broken. Hannibal kidnaps him, takes him home, and feeds Gideon his own leg.
3x01 Antipasto: Hannibal feeds Gideon his other leg and one arm, as we see here.
????: Hannibal feeds Gideon his one remaining limb?
2x07 Yakimono: Gideon dies in Chilton's house. Hannibal sets up an "orgy of evidence" to exonerate Will, frames Chilton as the Chesapeake Ripper, and gets Will out of jail. An unforgiving Will initially shoves a gun in Hannibal's face, but by the end of the episode, once Chilton's taken the fall, Will realizes that he's going to have to be more subtle to bring Hannibal down, and shows up at The Best Office Ever with a suave new haircut to resume his "therapy." The weird quasi-romance of "seducing" Hannibal into trusting Will begins, and Will accidentally kind of seduces himself into the murder husband lifestyle, leading to his conflicted loyalties by the time we hit "Mizumono."
2x10 Naka-choko: Hannibal looks POSITIVELY GIDDY when Will brings him filet of "Freddie" to cook, and together, they eat "long pig," admitting the whole cannibalism thing to each other in a "greater intimacy." As far as Hannibal can tell, Will is down to eat.
2x13 Mizumono: Everything is terrible.
It's easy to forget that these flashback conversations, floating around out of context, are taking place before Hannibal guts Will. In the present day, Hannibal's both questioning and grieving for what he and Will had together; in the flashbacks, he's pining for what they don't have yet. So I feel like the Gideon flashbacks retroactively illustrate Hannibal's vulnerability to that seduction. Company--honest, "seeing," accepting company--is apparently what he wants most, and that's exactly the experience that Will hooks him with. He has a certain openness with Bedelia in Florence, but it's not the same; there's one thing he'll always be missing.
"I'm just fascinated to know how you will feel," Gideon says bitterly, "when all of this... happens to you."
@BryanFuller: @eddieizzard HAS ONE LIMB LEFT TO EAT
So I guess we'll see him again?
And then we see Hannibal on a train to Palermo with a giant $11,000 trunk of, uh, "art supplies," musing to himself as the Italian countryside flashes past. I mean, yes, Mason subsequently tried to feed Hannibal to giant pigs in 2x12, but let's take "won't be long until someone's taking a bite out of you" figuratively for a moment. I feel like the Gideon flashbacks have also set up this juxtaposition of "Will's company is what you want most" with "you can't get away with all this forever." Having fully considered that, Hannibal's decided that leaving a new tableau to catch Will's attention would be worth it; he's about to set a new game in motion.
So he looks down at a (PROBABLY PRICELESS) manuscript page he took from the library--an illustration of the Vitruvian Man, which Martha De Laurentiis last mentioned in the context of Hannibal being martyred--and folds it into an anatomical origami heart. And this is cut back and forth with the tableau he's going to set up in Palermo: a... different... kind of origami heart.
(A better look at the tableau, if you so desire. Essentially, it's Anthony Dimmond's flayed body twisted into, yes, a heart, mounted on a tripod of three swords in a church.)
@mutzko: Writer Jeff Vlaming demonstrates how to turn a man into a heart in three simple steps.
@lorettaramos: Writer/Producer #JeffVlaming's original concept sketch of the origami heart.
As fullofwoe points out, "The 'heart sculpture' in the chapel could also be seen as a depiction of the Three of Swords in the Rider Waite Tarot. The traditional meanings for the Three of Swords: heartbreak, sorrow, betrayal. Also invokes Hannibal's desire for a 'threesome,' or Trinity, like the thwarted Hannibal/Abigail/Will one. (Not a physical one, more a psychical one, I think.)"
Specifically: "This card depicts a pure piercing sorrow of the mind. The sorrow must be felt and experienced for closure and relief to come." In fact, the tarot similarity is intentional:
@DeLaurentiisCo: He left you his heart. #ThreeOfSwords [ screencap/card comparison]
Oh my God, this emo sausage.
("So, Hannibal is actually really sad." "AWWWWWW." "But he's also an asshole, so hey!")
@MrAaronAbrams: And here's a skinned poet folded neatly into an origami heart left as a valentine to the guy he stabbed hey have a great evening.
And all of this aired on NBC. What a time to be alive.
NEXT WEEK:
@neoprod: The heart is a lonely hunter. He left us his broken heart. STAY TUNED
@DeLaurentiisCo: So great spending some time with Hannibal & Bedelia in the #HannibalPremiere. Our beloved Will returns in next week's episode.
@angelinaburnett: ARE YALL SO FUCKING HYPE!!!!????
Buckle up, y'all.