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Hannibal - Season 2 (1 Viewer)

Stan

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Truly looking forward to this. Love the Hannibal/Will dynamic, yet at the same time, it seems like let's take all the sociopaths, psychos, disturbed people from CSI/NCIS/Bones, etc. and expand them into an entire series.

Enjoy it, but definitely a mind game with viewers and among the characters themselves.
 

Quentin

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Just finished re-watching Season 1, which has SO many highlights. Love the way this show is built. Looking forward to this week.
 

Sean Bryan

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Really looking forward to this. I love some nice, disturbing television.
 

Adam Lenhardt

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Terrific premiere. Interesting that the really horrific stuff was moved to the background as the character dynamics really moved to the foreground. As visceral as the opening fight between Hannibal and Jack was, in a way it was a lifeline to the audience, an assurance that while things may look hopeless for Will now, he's only twelve weeks away from the truth being uncovered.

Also interesting to see how the various characters respond to Will in his new circumstance. Hannibal as much as admits to his psychiatrist that the thing that makes Will so fascinating to him is his unyielding certainty of self, and yet he persists in attempting to manipulate Will into internalizing an un-truth. Like most psychopaths, Hannibal seems to act with complete disregard of consequences; I began to wonder if he cared whether he succeeded in convincing Will of the story he meticulously established, or was simply fascinated to find out whether he could. Dr. Bloom continues to feel great affection and protectiveness for Will yet believes his guilt with complete certainty. She engages in exercises to try and force him to confront the truth as she believes it. Will takes advantage of those exercises to try and force out the memories he needs to figure out how Hannibal did it. The CSI tech, Beverly Katz, has all of the physical evidence which would seem to confirm Will's guilt. She believes that evidence, but still believes that Will retains his ability to perform the unique role he played on Jack's team. Will proves her right. And Jack Crawford's arrogant certainty is not rattled by the revelation regarding Will. The scene at Will's cell might have been the most fascinating; Jack refuses to yield a millimeter towards Will's theory, but that doesn't rattle Will in the slightest. He knows people, he knows how to be inside their heads and what makes them tick. And he knows Jack, and knowing Jack as he does, he knows Jack will uncover the truth eventually despite Jack resolutely not believing there's a truth to uncover.

Gillian Anderson continues to fascinate at Hannibal's therapist. Toward the end of the first season, she seemed to accept and even enjoy Hannibal's extracurricular activities. But when Hannibal throws her into the middle of the FBI's investigation by signing the waver, she doesn't appreciate the position he's put her in. He responds to her disquiet by implicitly threatening her career and even her life, but I'm not so sure she's easily swayed.
 

Stan

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Thank you for posting Adam. Didn't read it since I haven't seen the episode, but reminded me to check the DVR. Somehow it had dropped off my schedule, so with 45 minutes to spare (west coast), I restored it just in time.
 

Citizen87645

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I don't have much to add to Adam's great analysis. I'm just glad this cringe inducing show is back. I just wish my brother and I lived in the same time zone so we could watch it together. I think I owe most of my macabre interests to him!
 

Quentin

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Great overview, Adam.

The two things I really love about this show are the way it evokes a sense of unease and dread - it's not a horror show, per se, it's more of a show that just makes you feel uneasy. And, everything works toward that; the pacing, the camera work, the strange special effects, the music. Little details like the boomy, buzzy, loud music accompanied by the vibrating pictures near the end of last season as Will's mind continues to burn, and now less noisy but the same images (the antler man, etc.) as Will calmly works through his issues and memories.

And, of course, the psychology of the show is so interesting. Hannibal's curiosity will be his downfall, but he can't help himself. And, I am LOVING the mystery of Dr. DuMarier. What is her story? She clearly knows/understands SOME of Hannibal. She must know that the man who attacked her was, essentially, a proxy for Hannibal, sent by Hannibal. I honestly think she knows Hannibal has killed...but, perhaps not how much...and she may not know about the cannibalism. I'm glad we have this mystery to enjoy since the flash forward has told us how the Hannibal situation will end this season.
 

Adam Lenhardt

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The opening scene with the piece of the human mural that didn't die from the overdose was one of the most harrowing things I've ever seen. And it's so like this show that he'd get just to the point where you think he's going to escape, only to die in a horribly brutal fashion.It appears that Hannibal didn't count on Will continuing to be operational from behind bars. Continuing his killing spree with the person he framed securely locked up is the height of arrogance; he gave the FBI a body fitting the M.O. of Will's supposed crimes that Will himself could not have committed.Dr. Katz probably should have made her implied threat to Will with Hannibal present. Is there any doubt that Hannibal now knows that she's investigating him?Loved the final scene with Hannibal arriving at his psychiatrist's house in his DNA-prevention ziploc suit only to find everything closed up and covered over. She knew he was coming for her. And while it's a definite setback for him, there's just the hint of an amused smile on his face, because he appreciates a good chess player so to speak.
 

Quentin

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I'm SO bummed DuMaurier is out of the picture. I always thought she knew more than we were led to believe and was even complicit in Hannibal's machinations. But, Gillian is back to acting and on a new show, so they had to write her out. A fitting goodbye with the perfume left behind as a reminder of her. The smile on his face was fitting.

You have got to love Hannibal in full tailored suit under his ziploc/hazmat suit. Great visual.

I have to believe that the closer Katz gets the less likely she will be to survive.

And, I don't know whether to drool or gag at the visuals of the most terrifying/disgusting/delicious looking Hannibal meal we've seen to date.

Lastly, I don't know that it's arrogance that keeps Hannibal continuing on his path...I think it's his obsession with Will. Here is a man as intelligent as himself, as 'special' in his viewpoint as himself. Hannibal can't help but poke curiously and watch the events unfold. He sees so much of himself in Will. And, based on what we know of his relationship with Will during the Red Dragon storyline, that makes perfect sense.

Unfortunately, despite the brilliance of this show, we may not see the Red Dragon storyline. Ratings continue to drop.
 

Adam Lenhardt

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This is one show where the ratings don't matter so much. While its distributed by Sony Pictures Television, it's made by Gaumont International. Gaumont is preselling "Hannibal" to multiple international markets on a season by season basis. The show performs very well for Sky in the UK, Sat.1 in Germany, and Canal Plus in France. Because the production cost is spread over multiple markets rather than being shouldered primarily by the US broadcaster, Gaumont can offer the show to NBC with a license fee substantially below NBC's other scripted programming.

So while I won't say that ratings don't matter with this show, it's still a worthwhile renewal for NBC at a much lower number than most other shows would need.
 

Joe_H

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Adam Lenhardt said:
The opening scene with the piece of the human mural that didn't die from the overdose was one of the most harrowing things I've ever seen.
That opening scene was actually one of the few times on TV ever that I've had to glance away a few times from what they were showing.

Really though, this is just incredible TV (and even more so when you add in that it's a network show, and NBC of all networks). It's a shame that so few people are watching it.
 

NolanJ

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I might be in the minority but I thought Will's character in Season 1 was much more interesting than Hannibals'
 

Citizen87645

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I would agree with you, but I don't think that's a minority opinion.
 

Quentin

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I've always thought of Will as more interesting, despite Hannibal being the obvious force that moves the story forward. Now that Will is on the offensive, he will certainly be more interesting.

I re-watched the episode and noticed one of Hannibal's wonderful brief reactions when Beverly gives Will a hint. Paraphrasing, "I'm too busy with this case and I don't have any time for other things I've been tasked with." A message to Will that she hasn't gotten to re-looking at his case. Will picked up on the message, and by his reaction, so did Hannibal. Which means he will be watching Beverly closely now.
 

Simon Massey

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Great opening two episode and I really hope they get to continue. Every character is outstanding but Mikkelsen as Hannibal is for me the best portrayal of the character yet and I would love them to get the opportunity to reinterpret Red Dragon and Silence of the Lambs in future seasons with him in the role. Id be very interested to see how they would deal with Will if they ever get to Silence because his dynamic with Lecter is so interesting.

Clever of the show to put a form of resolution at the very start of the season and it will be interesting to see how it plays out.

Will miss Gillian Anderson on the show - love her in everything she does and I suspect we may well see her again in a guest spot in the future.
 

Citizen87645

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Will miss Gillian Anderson on the show - love her in everything she does and I suspect we may well see her again in a guest spot in the future.
From Anderson's Reddit AMA:

Hey, Gillian! Simple question: Bryan Fuller tweeted a picture of your chair on the set of Hannibal. Can we expect to see you return this season?


[*]permalink
[/list]


[–]gillianandersonGillian Anderson[S] 5 points
5 minutes ago
Yes.


[*]permalink
[*]parent
[/list]
 

Adam Lenhardt

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Interesting episode tonight. I'm wondering if the baliff and the judge murders were:
a) carried out by Hannibal, hoping to establish enough reasonable doubt to get Will off while having enough differences for everybody to still think Will committed Hannibal's crimes
b) carried out by an as-yet unidentified third party

Based on the symbolism in Will's mindscape, it's the latter. The Elk representing the copy cat killer was a separate entity from Hannibal. Everybody's assuming the copy cat is a man; by the end of the episode I started to think it was Cynthia Nixon's character.
 

Simon Massey

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I think it will be Hannibal - these murders are different as he is doing them to try and save Will who he does see as a friend or at least worthy of further study :)A lot more serialised this time round so far which I prefer but is unlikely to improve ratings. Such a shame as it has the potential to stand alongside both Manhunter and Silence of the Lambs should they get to complete the series. I would at least like them to get to Red Dragon
 

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