Now, that's more like it!
I haven't reviewed the latest episode of Hannibal, "The Great Red Dragon",yet it was probably the best so far.
Well, if you're willing to turn a blind eye on three absurd and ridiculous things:
- that Alana could run the mental facility and be in charge of Hannibal despite the fact they have a sexual history and he had Abigail throw her out fo the window !
- that Hannibal would be allowed to cook anything for Chilton!
- that Hannibal's cell would be decorated like that!
That said I was rather impressed by the introduction of Francis Dolarhyde. Having him convey his madness through his body was a good counterpoint to Hannibal's mind palace. The moves and animalistic poses, the camerawork on Armitage body had a certain gay male/female gaze to them, but they also made you make out the beast within, or rather Dolarhyde's feel of the great dragon inhabiting his body, breathing through his skin. It was much better than hearing the voices that Dolarhyde hears.
I suddenly realise that they Richard Armitage was probably cast in the role because it was such a pun to have the former King Dwarf have a dragon problem! Howerver he did have a screen presence in those silent scenes.
Speaking of gay male/female gaze, let's enjoy for probably the last time the sight of shirtless Hannibal:
The visual was lovely and a good reminder that Freddie is still writing her blog!
Of course, now there are probably fanfictions about Hannibal Lecter meeting Gordon Ramsay...
And then, Hannibal is finally behind the bars (or plexiglass with holes) dressed in the infamous jail white outfit. But Mads Mikkelsen can pull anything off, can't he?
I said it before, but I will say it again, it's all about his shoulders!
Let's note that after only three years he's got more bookcases than most people...but we already mentioned how absurd that cell is.
BTW I loved the way Mads moved as the FBI was taking Hannibal in, while he was already living in his mind palace:
But the episode had other great great visuals. Some of the show's best ones actually.
For instance, during the pendulum scene, and how happy I was to see Will do his thing again and be active instead of passive.
I was also so pleased that the show spared us the usual tedious blood splatters and showed that the crime scene in that way...
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...setting the ending, when Will grew wings:
And before that there was the great shot of Will being reflected in the shads of mirror on the dead body:
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BTW let's not forget another parallel between Will and the Tooth Fairy: Will was a bitter in the previous episode. He did bite Cordell!
My favourite visual involved Dolarhyde, though. I think it was the coolest and the most meta visual the show has ever done. Dolarhyde is projecting something with oldfashioned rolls of film:
But then he starts having headaches and hallucinating:
He imagines that his face is suddenly covered with strips of film...which kinda make a muzzle he cannot take off:
And then he becomes that film creature: on his four limbs, his face trapped inside a mask of celluloid, with the light of the film projector bursting through:
The great red dragon doesn't spit fire, but light. The monster has turned into a living projector. I was very impressed by that scene! That's probably the image that will stay with me (vene more than the Mushroom people from season 1!).
Now if the show could keep that level of quality for the remaining episodes...
What I liked about the Hannibal/Alana scene was that it was paradoxical. Alana seemed to be in control, and Hannibal was her prisoner, trapped in that ridiculous cell.
Yet Alana was posing for him!
Hannibal is actually the one in control. No wonder, that in his mind, they were actually at his place, on his territory!
BTW, I love this picture:
She got up at some point but finally returned to her position so he could resume his drawing!
The end of the scene might be foreshadowing Alana's fate...especially given that Hannibal had just insisted that he would keep his promise:
Cut to Francis Dolarhyde:
Later, Chilton was sitting in her chair, so my guess is that Alana will die at the end of the season (probably killed by way of the Great Dragon if the editing gave us a clue...)...which will leave the place for Chilton to be the head of the hospital and will tie in with Silence of the Lambs.
I loved every scene involving Chilton, because he's the best.
Chilton just embodies what, in French, we call tête à claques (basically someone you want to slap in the face).
The scene between Chilton and Hannibal was, of course, priceless. The two actors seemed to have a lot of fun, and if I were Mads I would have a hard time keeping a straight face. At some point I wondered whether Hanibal's little smile was really his or Mads.
Raul Esparza is fantastic. His smug face, his reactions to what Hannibal says, his taunts, the way he licks his spoon!
The dialogue was perfect from Hannibal's “The blood was from a cow only in the derogatory sense” to Chilton's sassy taunts and meta comments about how the Tooth Fairy interested a much wider demographic than Hannibal the Cannibal: "You, with your fancy allusions and your fussy aesthetics, you will always have niche appeal".
Finally, after three years of wait...Will, finally came.
Here he was but he used a cold way of greeting, calling Hannibal "Doctor Lecter", which of course also put him in Clarice's shoes again...
But Hannibal reclaimed their intimacy at once by saying: "Hello, Will".
Let's note here that three years is a traditional time span in love stories. They say that after three years passion wears off. It all comes back to the story of Tristan & Yseult. In Beroul's and Thomas ' book (which is the first written version of the legend), the love potion only lasts three years. Than the magic evaporates. So Will may believe that he is no longer under Hannibal's thrall.
Poor Molly...
Well, if you're willing to turn a blind eye on three absurd and ridiculous things:
- that Alana could run the mental facility and be in charge of Hannibal despite the fact they have a sexual history and he had Abigail throw her out fo the window !
- that Hannibal would be allowed to cook anything for Chilton!
- that Hannibal's cell would be decorated like that!
That said I was rather impressed by the introduction of Francis Dolarhyde. Having him convey his madness through his body was a good counterpoint to Hannibal's mind palace. The moves and animalistic poses, the camerawork on Armitage body had a certain gay male/female gaze to them, but they also made you make out the beast within, or rather Dolarhyde's feel of the great dragon inhabiting his body, breathing through his skin. It was much better than hearing the voices that Dolarhyde hears.
I suddenly realise that they Richard Armitage was probably cast in the role because it was such a pun to have the former King Dwarf have a dragon problem! Howerver he did have a screen presence in those silent scenes.
Speaking of gay male/female gaze, let's enjoy for probably the last time the sight of shirtless Hannibal:
The visual was lovely and a good reminder that Freddie is still writing her blog!
Of course, now there are probably fanfictions about Hannibal Lecter meeting Gordon Ramsay...
And then, Hannibal is finally behind the bars (or plexiglass with holes) dressed in the infamous jail white outfit. But Mads Mikkelsen can pull anything off, can't he?
I said it before, but I will say it again, it's all about his shoulders!
Let's note that after only three years he's got more bookcases than most people...but we already mentioned how absurd that cell is.
BTW I loved the way Mads moved as the FBI was taking Hannibal in, while he was already living in his mind palace:
But the episode had other great great visuals. Some of the show's best ones actually.
For instance, during the pendulum scene, and how happy I was to see Will do his thing again and be active instead of passive.
I was also so pleased that the show spared us the usual tedious blood splatters and showed that the crime scene in that way...
...setting the ending, when Will grew wings:
And before that there was the great shot of Will being reflected in the shads of mirror on the dead body:
BTW let's not forget another parallel between Will and the Tooth Fairy: Will was a bitter in the previous episode. He did bite Cordell!
My favourite visual involved Dolarhyde, though. I think it was the coolest and the most meta visual the show has ever done. Dolarhyde is projecting something with oldfashioned rolls of film:
But then he starts having headaches and hallucinating:
He imagines that his face is suddenly covered with strips of film...which kinda make a muzzle he cannot take off:
And then he becomes that film creature: on his four limbs, his face trapped inside a mask of celluloid, with the light of the film projector bursting through:
The great red dragon doesn't spit fire, but light. The monster has turned into a living projector. I was very impressed by that scene! That's probably the image that will stay with me (vene more than the Mushroom people from season 1!).
Now if the show could keep that level of quality for the remaining episodes...
What I liked about the Hannibal/Alana scene was that it was paradoxical. Alana seemed to be in control, and Hannibal was her prisoner, trapped in that ridiculous cell.
Yet Alana was posing for him!
Hannibal is actually the one in control. No wonder, that in his mind, they were actually at his place, on his territory!
BTW, I love this picture:
She got up at some point but finally returned to her position so he could resume his drawing!
The end of the scene might be foreshadowing Alana's fate...especially given that Hannibal had just insisted that he would keep his promise:
Cut to Francis Dolarhyde:
Later, Chilton was sitting in her chair, so my guess is that Alana will die at the end of the season (probably killed by way of the Great Dragon if the editing gave us a clue...)...which will leave the place for Chilton to be the head of the hospital and will tie in with Silence of the Lambs.
I loved every scene involving Chilton, because he's the best.
Chilton just embodies what, in French, we call tête à claques (basically someone you want to slap in the face).
The scene between Chilton and Hannibal was, of course, priceless. The two actors seemed to have a lot of fun, and if I were Mads I would have a hard time keeping a straight face. At some point I wondered whether Hanibal's little smile was really his or Mads.
Raul Esparza is fantastic. His smug face, his reactions to what Hannibal says, his taunts, the way he licks his spoon!
The dialogue was perfect from Hannibal's “The blood was from a cow only in the derogatory sense” to Chilton's sassy taunts and meta comments about how the Tooth Fairy interested a much wider demographic than Hannibal the Cannibal: "You, with your fancy allusions and your fussy aesthetics, you will always have niche appeal".
Finally, after three years of wait...Will, finally came.
Here he was but he used a cold way of greeting, calling Hannibal "Doctor Lecter", which of course also put him in Clarice's shoes again...
But Hannibal reclaimed their intimacy at once by saying: "Hello, Will".
Let's note here that three years is a traditional time span in love stories. They say that after three years passion wears off. It all comes back to the story of Tristan & Yseult. In Beroul's and Thomas ' book (which is the first written version of the legend), the love potion only lasts three years. Than the magic evaporates. So Will may believe that he is no longer under Hannibal's thrall.
Poor Molly...