This might shock you guys, but Margaux and I loved Hannibal this week.
Trevor: Jesus, I don’t even know where to begin with this one. Hannibal is absolutely killing it with this Red Dragon story; it’s even better than I’d hoped. A lot of that is because, well, it’s a good story, but that wouldn’t mean shit if Richard Armitage wasn’t so well-suited to the role of Francis Dolarhyde. He IS Dolarhyde, his performance even eclipsing Ralph Fiennes’ take on the character (the less said about Manhunter’s Tom Noonan the better).
Margaux: I happened to see a picture of Armitage as Thorin from The Hobbit and caught a legit fright. He is embodying the character a little too well. Which is to say that every frame that focuses on the Dolarhyde plot is filled to the brim with tension. And no scene from “And The Woman Clothed in Sun” captured perception vs reality better than when “D” (fuckin’ a, Reba already gave him a cutesy nickname, BITCH YOU IN DANGER!) takes Reba to hang out with a sedated tiger. I mean I’ve got a lot Qs as to how you set up that sort of appointment in real life, but I’ll stick with what we watched, when Reba’s hand gets too close to the tiger’s mouth, Dolarhyde’s mix of fear and excitement was…confusing. He’s going to kill her way or another, but whether it’s on purpose or not, is what makes their interacts so much harder to sit through without screaming, RUN RUN RUN.
Trevor: Lot of bestial imagery in “Woman Clothed,” none so striking as in that cold open. Dolarhyde’s conversation/confession to Hannibal was chilling, and Hannibal seems to feel…if not a kinship, then certainly a curiosity when it comes to Dolarhyde. “Did he who made the lamb make thee?” is a line that only Mads Mikkelsen could pull off, and that TERRIFYING reveal of Dolarhyde’s “true” form is something only Hannibal could pull off. My eyes widened, and I remember dropping my pen. For a show that’s almost built on striking imagery, Hannibal might have topped itself with the Red Dragon. And last season someone got turned into a beehive!
Margaux: First of all, “did he who made the lamb make thee” is from a William Blake poem, “The Tyger.” And I think the complete poem almost feels like it was written for Dolarhyde, “what shoulders, & what art”: if that doesn’t make you think about Armitage’s terrifying work out sessions, we’re not watching the same show.
But I think the poem also works towards what Bedelia tells Will later, next time you see something you want to save, crush it instead.
Trevor: Bedelia’s conversations with Will – and with her now-dead patient Neal, played in flashbacks by Zachary Quinto – reveal a much darker side to her, one that Gillian Anderson clearly loves playing. She’s far colder than we gave her credit for (well, speaking only for myself). She and Hannibal are a lot closer than I thought at first; Neal’s description of her as the “Bride of Frankenstein” is pretty apt.
Margaux: At times, their conversation sounded like exes comparing notes on a shared past boyfriend. But Bedelia definitely wanted (or needed) to assert herself to Will, I’m not sure if the passing of time made her comfortable-slash-cocky (“if you want to talk to me, make an appointment”), or if she thinks Will just needs to be taken down a notch or two in his self righteousness, but she made sure to put blaring emphasis on how she truly “behind the veil” and Will was not. Because she crushes baby birds while Will coddles them. Or as I wrote in my notes, “No! He’s MY murder husband!”
Trevor: I loved their dynamic. I hadn’t realized, until Will met her in Florence as Lydia Fell, that the two most important people in Hannibal’s life hadn’t shared any screen time. Anderson and Hugh Dancy make the most of it, Dancy gracefully letting Anderson steal the show (not in some misogynistic white knight way, he just underplays Will so effectively that Anderson can really dig into her dialogue, which is much more flowery). Will is needling her – he wants to knock her down a peg or two himself – but he’s genuinely curious. “Woman Clothed” was wise to pump the brakes to include this scene. Hannibal is so good at talking, and with all the Red Dragon insanity in this episode, it was nice to take a little breather.
Margaux: And it was edited so seamlessly, too. Bedelia’s final therapy session with the ill-fated Neal blended so well with the conversation Bedelia was having in current time with Will, it was eerie. I, in particular, am very happy to finally see what really happened to that client so many years ago that bonded Bedelia and Hannibal forever. What was most interesting about listening to Quinto’s history with Hannibal before he ended up in Bedelia’s office lead me to believe that Bedelia and Hannibal had figured out who the other one was quite some time before Bedelia ended up with her fuckin’ fist down Quinto’s throat.
Trevor: I agree, I think there’s a long history between the two, going back pre-Leo, who even hinted at such a past when he yelled “Of course he would refer me to you! You’re just as twisted as he is!” Insidious is the word I would use. For Bedelia and Hannibal. Both of them have those kinds of hypnotic voices that can get you to do anything, and to make you think it was your idea all along.
Margaux: Exactly. And that photo therapy sounded awfully similar to whatever therapy Hannibal gave Will that set Will’s brain on fire.
Trevor: Oh, definitely. Nice callback to season two.
Can we talk about that insane final scene? It’s one of Red Dragon’s nuttier passages, and I wondered if Fuller planned on including it. Dolarhyde goes to the Brooklyn Museum and eats the Blake painting. I think it’s out of both fear – he knows that Reba is not safe around the Dragon – and a need for control, to subsume the power of the painting and therefore become its master. Also, he picked up Will like a fucking rag doll and threw him out of the elevator, which was a good way to illustrate that Dolarhyde is crazy strong.
Margaux: So glad they ended up keeping this scene, it’s my favorite from the book and the movie BECAUSE it’s so fuckin’ insane. And Armitage totally owned it, that blank, slack stare, then slowly and all at once loses his fuckin’ mind, like a cat with catnip. And honestly, him eating the painting is the most sane thing he does, though I must I admit I was upset he ate it since the curator had just finished talking about how rare it was. When Will showed up to the Brooklyn Museum, it wasn’t until Dolarhyde hides from Will in the elevator that I remembered Will would get whipped around, and I was still pearl clutching levels of scared when the inevitable happened. Guess all those pull ups paid off?
Trevor: I find it hard to grade these Red Dragon episodes…well, not that hard, since everything gets 4.5 or 5 stars anyway. But since they’re all part of an arc, it’s difficult to judge them on an individual basis. Does that make sense? I’m not sure if it does. But I loved “And the Woman Clothed in Sun” pretty unequivocally. The imagery alone would make this a memorable episode, but the internal conflict we’re seeing in Dolarhyde really fleshes out the character, and Hannibal getting Will’s home address can’t mean anything good. What are your thoughts?
Margaux: The Red Dragon arc really does feel like its own isolated season in a sense, you mentioned last week how Italy feels really far away, I’d be okay with saving stars until the (tear) end of the season, we already repeat ourselves enough with how much praise we heap onto Hannibal week to week.
Of course Hannibal getting Will’s address is all bad news bears, but Hannibal charmed the crap out of that receptionist. That girl got WORKED, Hannibal sorta earned the address.
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