Déjà vu sets in on Hannibal’s European vacation.
Review by Brandon Wolfe
For an adaptation of well-known source material, Hannibal has thus far mostly marched to the beat of its own drummer. Seasons 1-2 took Thomas Harris’ famed characters and spun them in entirely new directions, with only brief references presenting themselves in certain lines and events (most notably with some of the Mason Verger arc near the end of Season 2). While the series has always marched inexorably toward direct adaptations of Harris’ novels and their subsequent film adaptations, it has played so fast and loose with the original texts that there was no reason to ever expect a rigid do-over of material with which fans are already so familiar.
Which is why it’s so surprising, and disappointing, that “Contorno” opts to retread the ground already covered by Hannibal, the novel and film, so slavishly. This section of Season 3 had always consciously set itself up to tackle Harris’ third Lecter novel, but up until now, it had found a way to bend the material in such a way that it didn’t feel like a mere cover version. “Contorno,” however, traces over the novel and, especially, Ridley Scott’s film version so thoroughly that we can almost dictate exactly what will happen as it occurs. Commandatore Pazzi, whom the previous episodes had set up to be an upstanding law enforcer rather than the greedy fool he was in his earlier incarnation, is now back to being a craven opportunist, looking to nabbing Dr. Lecter to obtain Mason Verger’s substantial reward, and thus keep his young trophy wife (Alias’ Mia Maestro) appeased. As before, Pazzi takes to a phone booth to reach out to Verger’s team. As before, he tries to bag Hannibal all by his lonesome. As before, he winds up hanging from a window by his neck, with his bowels spilled out on the ground beneath him.
The synchronicity between “Contorno” and Hannibal is so complete that even the dialogue follows suit, down to Lecter politely asking Pazzi whether he’d prefer his bowels in or out before deciding for him, predictably choosing the more gruesome option. In the film, Pazzi’s fate is momentarily interrupted by a chance phone call to the inspector from Clarice Starling, which Lecter intercepts, creating an impromptu reunion. But since there is no Clarice Starling in the present Hannibal TV narrative, Alana Bloom fills that void, to the exact same effect. This sort of tit-for-tat faithfulness feels more akin to a far lesser, more literal-minded adaptation like From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series than to Hannibal. Perhaps the producers were so taken with the Pazzi material (and it is, by far, the best section of the film) that they simply couldn’t resist taking it on, but they perhaps should have tried resisting a bit more.
Fortunately, after Pazzi’s guts go splat, “Contorno” immediately hands us something new to wash the taste of the familiar out of our mouths, as Jack Crawford arrives on the scene and immediately pursues Hannibal in a game of cat-and-mouse where Hannibal is, for once, the mouse. Jack initiates a rematch of the season-ending brawl that he decisively lost, and he’s hungry enough this time to seize the upper hand, laying a vicious beating upon Hannibal. This fight is easily the most thrilling moment in what has been, thus far, a frustratingly sleepy season, and coupled with the fight from Season 2, there’s a case to be made that these two should go at it every week, or at least as often as possible. Jack’s savagery is also noteworthy. Whatever hang-ups that might have led to him holding back before are gone, as he’s not opposed to using whatever objects are handy as weapons against Hannibal including, most memorably, an antiquated wheel device Jack utilizes to crush the cannibal’s arm. Jack’s loss of Bella - whose ashes he scatters this week in addition to chucking his wedding ring in the drink – has clearly left the man with little lingering regard for anything beyond vengeance and the protection of those he still holds dead. While Hannibal walks away from the battle, using Pazzi’s hanging corpse as a means of escape, the injuries he has sustained could hinder his efforts to remain free from capture.
That capture does seem imminent, with Jack, Alana and Verger all in hot pursuit. Also on the trail is Will, who is pushed from a train by Chiyoh, the woman who knew Hannibal as a child, after informing him of Hannibal’s presence in Florence. Hannibal being shanghaied back to the states probably can’t come a moment too soon, either, as this entire European sojourn has not resulted in the most captivating material the series has offered us. For as beautifully shot as much of this section has been, it has lacked any real urgency and is too populated by repetitive conversations about Will’s and Hannibal’s perverse connection with one another. The second half of the season will deal with the material from Red Dragon, wherein, in the novel and film adaptations, Hannibal is incarcerated. It’s difficult to say how reverential the show intends to play that material, but a return to a more procedural context would probably do the show a lot of good. Still, when tackling Red Dragon, let’s hope the show does a better job of zigging when we’re expecting it to zag. We’ve already seen that story play out on film the same way twice; we don’t need to go for the hat trick.
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