Hannibal is a familiar name, a chilling tale: the silver tongued, well mannered cannibal, forever drawing in new fans and keeping older ones hooked.
While originally made famous by the 1991 film “Silence of the Lambs,” the NBC version of his story is anything but a remake, instead exploring a whole new side to Hannibal Lecter’s world.
“Hannibal” first aired in 2013, starring Mads Mikkelsen as the infamous Doctor Hannibal Lecter, and Hugh Dancy as FBI profiler Will Graham.
Taking place before “The Silence of the Lambs,” this series delves into the vicious and manipulative relationship between Graham and Lecter.
Viewers are first introduced to Will Graham, an instructor at the FBI training academy.
Events are set into motion when Jack Crawford, the Agent-in-Charge of the Behavioral Science Unit of the FBI, convinces Will to return to the field as a profiler, saying nobody knows serial killers as well as he does.
Will can mentally recreate crime scenes almost perfectly, slipping into the headspace of any murderer — or person, for that matter.
These scenes always end with his iconic quote: “This is my design.”
Enter Doctor Hannibal Lecter, consulting with the FBI and Will, all while free to go about his murderous and cannibalistic tendencies in evasive shamelessness.
An expected, and almost traditional, scene in every episode shows Dr. Lecter entertaining naive dinner guests that marvel over whatever exotic dish he presents, with witty puns from the cannibal about the ingredients.
Throughout the series, Graham and Lecter build a relationship founded on misplaced trust, obsession, and violence.
A clear theme begins to form as more characters enter the story.
This theme is laid out clearly by Graham: “You play, you pay.”
Putting aside the plot, I believe the most impressive part of this show is the careful construction of each scene.
Every visual is somehow linked, foreshadowing, or a sly reference. Lines are cleverly delivered, meanings intricately wrapped within each other.
The meticulous creation is a testament to the dedication of everyone involved in the making of the show.
Overall I believe it deserves the 89% given by Rotten Tomatoes and 8.6/10 out of IMDb, but “Hannibal” had its own issues, namely season one.
As with any cast getting to know the ins and outs of each other as well as their characters, dialogue was a bit stiff, accents slightly off, and occasionally scenes were overly dramatic, reminiscent of something on the Lifetime channel.
As episodes progress, the creativity and familiarity of cast and writers falls into a much more comfortable vibe. Character development blossoms in season two, full of impactful decisions and personal quirks.
Rarely is there a predictable moment, and most episodes leave on a nail-biting cliffhanger, or shocking turn of events.
Hannibal was canceled after its third season in 2015, due to ownership rights regarding the character Clarice Starling.
Although executive producer Martha De Laurentiis blamed it in part to online piracy — “Hannibal” was the fifth most pirated show in 2013.
Creator of the show, Bryan Fuller, has high hopes for it to be picked back up after streaming rights with Amazon end this coming August.