We now conclude the Hannibal portion of Hannibal.
Review by Brandon Wolfe
The Hannibal section of Hannibal (by which, I constantly need to clarify, is the show’s adaptation of the storyline from the novel and film of the same name) finally comes to a close, perhaps not a moment too soon. The meat of the 1999 novel by Thomas Harris and its subsequent 2001 film adaptation by Ridley Scott, have given the show license to steer into its artsier tendencies, the story’s ghoulish Eurocentricities feeding into the small-screen version’s penchant for horrifically gorgeous art direction and floridly poetic musings, often to its detriment. The Italian job to hunt down Hannibal Lecter released the show from its procedural shackles, yet rather than feeling like a freedom, casting aside that template left the show feeling adrift and without structure. The Thomas Harris universe has always functioned best when the monster being hunted down was someone other than Hannibal Lecter, and the show didn’t do much to alter that line of thought.
We begin where we left off, with Hannibal using a buzz saw to pop open Will’s skull while Jack Crawford watches helplessly, much as the Anthony Hopkins version did to Ray Liotta’s head in Scott’s film. However, unlike the film, the brain being sought is not ultimately freed from its flesh-and-bone container for the purposes of being sautéed, as Mason Verger’s goons come in and apprehend Hannibal and Will, and attempt to de-brain Jack before Chiyoh intervenes on his behalf. Hannibal and Will are carted back to the states to face their fates at the hands of Verger and his personal assistant/personal chef Cordell. This version of Mason, however, does not wish to merely feed Hannibal to his pigs. He wants to eat the man himself, after having Cordell surgically graft Will’s handsome mug in place of his hideously waxy horror show of a face. Will’s face, by the way, presently has a deep gash in the forehead that presumably delves into his skull, but people on this show shake off horrific injuries the way we normal folks shake off paper cuts.
The manner in which this storyline plays out isn’t overly divorced from how it played out in Scott’s film, and especially Harris’ novel, save for the presence of Will, in lieu of Clarice Starling, and Alana Bloom, whom the show has made intriguingly dark. In addition to engaging in a torrid affair with Margot Verger, Dr. Bloom has also made peace with the concepts of vengeance and murder, as she frees Hannibal from captivity so he can save Will and take down Mason. What’s more interesting about the show’s synchronicity with its source material is in which bits it chooses to purloin. The Hannibal novel had several truly outlandish concepts, many so outré that the R-rated film adaptation had no choice but to discard them. The climax of the book had the barren Margot harvesting Mason’s sperm (with which to create a male Verger heir) by stimulating her brother’s prostate with a cattle prod before murdering him with an eel to the throat. These details were deemed too wild for Scott’s film, yet they somehow managed to make their way into this network-television adaptation on NBC Saturday night prime-time. Progress!
Not only does Hannibal, the NBC series, revive these shocking items, but it brings its own to the table. Mason informs Margot that he did not discard her eggs after stealing them, and that he’s used them in conjunction with a surrogate, who is carrying her baby somewhere on the grounds of the estate. Margot and Alana locate the surrogate and find it in the form of a large pig, carrying a stillborn human baby, which they extract with horror. This moment is so deeply repugnant and stunning in its horror that, again, it’s impossible to believe that what we’re seeing it on the same network that once aired ALF.
Eventually, “Digestivo” boils down to Hannibal and Will, as Hannibal always does, and must, and after the ghastly sideshow the rest of the episode has walked us through, this gore-free final confrontation is perhaps the most momentous development. Will finally has summoned the fortitude to sever his self-destructive tie to Hannibal’s thrall, telling the cannibal in no uncertain terms that he wants no further connection to him or his corrosive influence, not even as prey. Hannibal appears to grudgingly accept these terms and leaves, yet sticks around long enough to turn himself over to Jack and the FBI when they arrive at Will’s doorstep, his capture ensuring that Will will always know where he is, keeping the lure of his presence dangling over his soulmate’s head. Hannibal would rather forfeit his freedom than forfeit Will, and while this development removes agency from Will for Hannibal’s incarceration (in another life, Will Graham once explained to Hannibal Lecter that he managed to catch him because the killer “had certain disadvantages - you were insane”), it is in keeping with the perilous bond between the two that fuels the series.
So now, finally, Hannibal Lecter is behind bars (or glass, whatever), his primary context. Given the character’s predominance on the show, isolating him could provide something of a challenge to viewers not accustomed to seeing a series’ core character confined to a box indefinitely. But to those familiar with the character’s history, it feels right. After two-and-a-half seasons, Hannibal Lecter is finally home.
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