First of all, a moment to pause and rejoice Hannibal Season 3 premiere was not a “hit the ground running” one. It didn’t pick up moments after the finale, with ambulances rushing to the grisly scene in Hannibal’s house. No, Bryan Fuller instead took the intriguing approach of focusing entirely on Hannibal and Bedelia’s new life abroad first in Paris, then in Florence.
“I’ve killed hardly anyone during our residence” Hannibal remarked, in one of the show’s darkly humorous moments and one that also was notable for how casual Hannibal is about his true nature with Bedelia, who truly knows everything about what he’s doing, yet is living with him. Why? That’s a continued question. I loved her talking about how she believes she is in control of her actions both because we, as the audience especially seeing how Hannibal had so completely subverted Miriam last year would be asking the same thing and because it makes things even more complicated. Even Bedelia herself doesn’t quite seem to know why she is there. Begging the question of whether she just doesn’t want to admit to a true darkness within her.
We got a glimpse at a key event we've heard about before this week – when Bedelia’s patient died. And while we didn’t see the event itself,it was clear that even in the moment Hannibal believed (or at least wanted Bedelia to believe) this was something Bedelia had instigated, rather than her stopping a specific attack. Eventually, we’ll no doubt learn even more about what happened here and how much it speaks to who Bedelia truly is. Oh, and yes, that was Zachary Quinto as the corpse of Bedelia’s patient, re-teaming with his old Heroes collaborator, Bryan Fuller. And no, that won’t be his only appearance this season.
The premiere was definitely slowly, deliberately paced, even by Hannibal’s standards. There was a lot of moments of just taking in the scenery, as we followed Hannibal and Bedelia’s new lives and the artiface they’ve created. While this meant it wasn’t the most thrilling of episodes, I did appreciate it for the depiction of a “normal” existence between two people in a very bizarre situation, especially as we saw Bedelia walk around town -- wow were those images of Gillian Anderson walking through Florence lovely -- while pondering just what was going through her mind and how much of a prisoner she was in this situation… or, as Hannibal later put it, as he murdered the overly inquisitive Anthony (a very good Tom Wisdom), whether she was, “An observer or a participant.” Because as Hannibal noted, you’re not really just an observer when you are sitting idly by as someone is murdered in front of you – and especially not when you admit “I was curious" as Bedelia did. What a perfectly Lecter-like thing to say!
In the meantime, we got some interesting flashbacks to what exactly happened with Hannibal and Gideon, after Hannibal served him his own leg last year… which, it turns out, began a long process of the two of them slowly devouring Gideon together. This, if you think about it too long, is incredibly disturbing. In what may be his final appearance on Hannibal (but who knows?), Eddie Izzard was terrific, as he prodded Hannibal about his cannibalism, prompting Hannibal to reveal his thought that, “It’s only cannibalism if we’re equals." Which says it all, considering Hannibal doesn’t believe anyone else is his true equal.
While Gideon probably wasn’t being literal when he asked Hannibal, “I’m just fascinated to know how you’ll feel when all of this happens to you…” it did raise the question of just how Dr. Lecter will ultimately receive his comeuppance and who it will be doing it... or if he's destined to truly get away with it all in the end.
The Hannibal: Season 3 premiere dived deep on the show’s more quiet and dreamlike qualities, while giving us a lot to examine about Hannibal and Bedelia’s dynamic – and many signs that Bedelia is a darker person than she’s even admitted to herself. While I’m as anxious as everyone else to see what happened to Will and the others, Hannibal himself remains a fascinating character and even without Will physically being there, his presence was felt. “Will Graham was not a suitable substitute for therapy” remarked Hannibal, even as we know Hannibal once hoped he would be.
“I’ve killed hardly anyone during our residence” Hannibal remarked, in one of the show’s darkly humorous moments and one that also was notable for how casual Hannibal is about his true nature with Bedelia, who truly knows everything about what he’s doing, yet is living with him. Why? That’s a continued question. I loved her talking about how she believes she is in control of her actions both because we, as the audience especially seeing how Hannibal had so completely subverted Miriam last year would be asking the same thing and because it makes things even more complicated. Even Bedelia herself doesn’t quite seem to know why she is there. Begging the question of whether she just doesn’t want to admit to a true darkness within her.
We got a glimpse at a key event we've heard about before this week – when Bedelia’s patient died. And while we didn’t see the event itself,it was clear that even in the moment Hannibal believed (or at least wanted Bedelia to believe) this was something Bedelia had instigated, rather than her stopping a specific attack. Eventually, we’ll no doubt learn even more about what happened here and how much it speaks to who Bedelia truly is. Oh, and yes, that was Zachary Quinto as the corpse of Bedelia’s patient, re-teaming with his old Heroes collaborator, Bryan Fuller. And no, that won’t be his only appearance this season.
The premiere was definitely slowly, deliberately paced, even by Hannibal’s standards. There was a lot of moments of just taking in the scenery, as we followed Hannibal and Bedelia’s new lives and the artiface they’ve created. While this meant it wasn’t the most thrilling of episodes, I did appreciate it for the depiction of a “normal” existence between two people in a very bizarre situation, especially as we saw Bedelia walk around town -- wow were those images of Gillian Anderson walking through Florence lovely -- while pondering just what was going through her mind and how much of a prisoner she was in this situation… or, as Hannibal later put it, as he murdered the overly inquisitive Anthony (a very good Tom Wisdom), whether she was, “An observer or a participant.” Because as Hannibal noted, you’re not really just an observer when you are sitting idly by as someone is murdered in front of you – and especially not when you admit “I was curious" as Bedelia did. What a perfectly Lecter-like thing to say!
In the meantime, we got some interesting flashbacks to what exactly happened with Hannibal and Gideon, after Hannibal served him his own leg last year… which, it turns out, began a long process of the two of them slowly devouring Gideon together. This, if you think about it too long, is incredibly disturbing. In what may be his final appearance on Hannibal (but who knows?), Eddie Izzard was terrific, as he prodded Hannibal about his cannibalism, prompting Hannibal to reveal his thought that, “It’s only cannibalism if we’re equals." Which says it all, considering Hannibal doesn’t believe anyone else is his true equal.
While Gideon probably wasn’t being literal when he asked Hannibal, “I’m just fascinated to know how you’ll feel when all of this happens to you…” it did raise the question of just how Dr. Lecter will ultimately receive his comeuppance and who it will be doing it... or if he's destined to truly get away with it all in the end.
The Hannibal: Season 3 premiere dived deep on the show’s more quiet and dreamlike qualities, while giving us a lot to examine about Hannibal and Bedelia’s dynamic – and many signs that Bedelia is a darker person than she’s even admitted to herself. While I’m as anxious as everyone else to see what happened to Will and the others, Hannibal himself remains a fascinating character and even without Will physically being there, his presence was felt. “Will Graham was not a suitable substitute for therapy” remarked Hannibal, even as we know Hannibal once hoped he would be.
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