Hannibal (Season 1)

I just finished the first season of Hannibal seconds ago and I had to come and write this review and share with you what I've seen and... and I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's start where everything starts: before it's beginning.

Hannibal Lecter is a character known to many. He first appeared in a book by Thomas Harris called Red Dragon. This was 1981. It didn't took much for the book to have a screen adaptation and, in 1986, Manhunter came to the big screen. So far, this story is only known to the more hardcore fans of either the books or the films where Lecter appeared, but we are close to what brought him to the spotlights. In 1988, Harris releases a new book with Lecter as a character; it is called Silence of the Lambs and the book took even less time to be transported to the local theaters than Red Dragon. In 1991, The Silence of the Lambs joins Jodie Foster as a young FBI agent and Anthony Hopkins as what many consider the role of his life: Dr. Hannibal Lecter, psychiatrist, cannibal, murderer. 

Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs

But this was not the end to Lecter's story, as Harris released Hannibal in 1999, followed by the respective cinematic adaptation in 2001. In Hannibal, we meet Anthony Hopkins again in what, personally, is my favorite Lecter movie. In 2002, the trilogy of Hopkins' Lecter is concluded, with Red Dragon, the second adaptation of the eponymous novel.  

Hopkins' Hannibal Lecter Trilogy 

There is more to this story (including a prequel novel and, of course, the corresponding prequel film), but due to their overall quality, I prefer to ignore their existence (in a similar fashion with what I do with The Indiana Jones Movie That Shall Not Be Named, best known as Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull). For those, like me, that are fascinated with the character of Hannibal Lecter, we had the monumental performance of Hopkins to watch and rewatch and rewatch again every time we felt the need to revisit the thrills enticed by Dr. Lecter.

This could be the end of this story, but a little more than a year ago, I got a hold on the news that Harris beloved character (it's a weird way to put it, imagining Lecter as being loved) was being brought to the small screen of everyone's television. Oh, the outrage! How could they? How could they perform such heresy? I have seen so many good movies being ruined by less than average shows, cannibalizing (see what I did here?) the brilliance of the work on the big screen... With few exceptions, television adaptations of movies are almost (but not quite) as bad as movie adaptations of games. HOW COULD THEY?

If I had a time machine, I would go back in time and rest assured my past-self that everything would be fine, because what NBC brought to life was this:

Hannibal Promo

Hannibal follows Will Graham, the main character of Red Dragon, before he catches Hannibal Lecter, as we see in the beginning of that movie. Or, at least, it is inspired by the Red Dragon's characters of Graham and Lecter, as I could see that the show is going to follow a very different path that I cannot see how it can possibly connect in any way with the movie. And, if you care anything for any of my opinions, I think the creators of the show made the right bet. By following a different path, they created something unique and, more importantly in this kind of psychological thriller, they implant in the audience the sense of unpredictability that it would not have had they reached for those connections.

The show starts as Jack Crawford, head of the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU), reaches to Will Graham for help in a case involving a serial killer kidnapping and killing young woman. Graham is not a common profiler, but a pure empath, capable of putting himself in the mind of murderers and recreate their thinking and methods based on the crime scenes and the small details he can see. The issue that Crawford is presented with is that Graham's ability is also his main defect and Crawford is advised to make sure Graham's mental health is not affected by his job. To this, he asks a renowned psychiatrist, Dr. Hannibal Lecter, to follow Graham and evaluate him. There's a problem with this whole situation: Lecter is a serial killer with cannibalistic tendencies... What can go wrong here?

Hannibal cast

Food. There's lays the first brilliant detail in this show: the way it films food and how it makes the audience uncomfortable with food. During the 13 hour-long episodes that comprise this first season of Hannibal, we see Lecter cook profusely and there is more than one hint that his guests are not eating what they think they are. On the other hand, food is filmed in such a way that it is impossible not to crave for a bite of the marvelous dishes on screen, making the viewer an unconscious accomplice of Lecter's murderers. 

But, as you may have notice on my previous reviews here at POPinions, what sells a book or a show or a movie for me are its characters. Hannibal has a few that are worth mentioning.

Will Graham (Hugh Dancy) is a brilliant forensic profiler and his brilliance has a lot to do with his empathic ability to put himself in the mind of killers and deconstruct their methods and psychosis. As the show progresses, Graham start to loose his grasp on reality, apparently a consequence of him interacting Garrett Jacob Hobbs, the serial killer he is tasked to catch. Dancy was unknown to me and given his past roles, this seems to be his most interesting character ever. If you have seen Red Dragon and are expecting a character like the one Edward Norton had on the film, you can forget it. The empathic nature of the character and the problems he faces as his sanity start to fail make Dancy's performance completely different and, for my tastes, more interesting. Hannibal's Graham is an even more conflicted character and the scenes where he interacts with Lecter are full of hidden tension and suspense.

Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen) is a renowned psychiatrist that enters the story to access Graham's mental health as the latter enters the mind of serial killers to solve crimes. Of course, for those familiar with the previous films or the books, Lecter is also a brilliant and methodical serial killer with cannibalistic tendencies. Here laid my biggest fear about this show: how could anyone rival with Anthony Hopkins performance of Hannibal Lecter? Well, in reality, Mikkelsen doesn't rival Hopkin's Lecter in the sense they are two different Lecters. First, Mikkelsen shows us a Lecter before his imprisonment (if the show follows that part of the books/movies...), while Hopkins serves us (see, I did it again!) a Lecter imprisoned like a wild bird in a cage. Also, the two Lecters have different motives to kill: while Hopkins' motive was related to education and culture (either by killing a member of an orchestra for missing a note or a pedophile for his crimes), Mikkelsen's Lecter is driven by curiosity to see how people will react to his murders. Finally, I suspect Hopkins Lecter had a much smaller interaction with Graham while Mikkelsen's is fully involved in Graham's life. As for Mikkelsen, I must add that he beat David Tennant for this role and, even if I'm a huge fan of Tennant, I'm happy he did it. Mikkelsen had a terrifying look to him and his pause and mannerisms are so peaceful and relaxed, even when he's performing the most atrocious acts, that builds on the character without even saying a word. My biggest fear about the show turned out to be the first thing that attracted me to it.

Jack Crawford (Laurence Fishburne) is the head of BAU and Graham's boss. He is also the trigger to the whole show, as he both asks Graham for help and asks Lecter to keep an eye on Graham. Furthermore, when Graham starts to shows signs of instability, Crawford insists that Graham is saving lives and pushes him to continue working. Crawford is also seen as trusting Lecter even more than he trusts Graham (whom he know long before he meets Lecter) or Dr. Alana Bloom, another consultant for the FBI and friends with Graham and Lecter. As for the choice of Fishburne for the role, I don't have much to say about him except his occasional tendency to imitate Nicholas Cage performances and start screaming for no reason in the middle of a sentence. If this was on purpose or just Fishburne interpretation of the character, I have no clue.

All in all, Hannibal is one of the best shows of this year, so far. I was surprised when NBC announced the renewal for a second season, giving its ratings, but it seems NBC is finally understanding that it cannot dispose of good shows as quick as it did in the past (I'm still grieving over Awake). 

Hannibal Lecter in a promotional poster for Hannibal

Plot 4/5

With the exception of being slightly weird no one seems to suspect Lecter (except, I believe, his own psychiatrist, special guest star Gillian "Scully" Anderson) and the sometimes convoluted  investigation, the plot is well developed and is highly entertaining.

Visual 5/5

From the way food is filmed to Graham's hallucinations, through the dark ambiance of the whole show, Hannibal is the most beautiful piece of television out there.

Sound 4/5

I would add small details of sounds here and there (it would be the most creepy of sounds to hear a light breeze coming from human lungs as Lecter prepares them to be cooked or the tingling of cutlery as Lecter guests feast in human flesh), but overall, the sound effects perform well and the soundtrack has even small easter eggs for the film's fans.

Performances 4/5

Mikkelsen's performance is, without a doubt, the best of the show, but most actors are on the top of their game. I only felt that Kacey Rohl's performance as Abigail Hobbs, an important character for the plot of the season, fell on the stereotypical side when her character asked for the opposite. Even so, nothing that hurts the show too much.

Final Score 17/20

As I said before, in my opinion, Hannibal is one of the best premieres of the 2013 season and I look forward for 2014 to see what the show can do with its second season.