Margaux and I talk this week’s terrifying installment of Hannibal.
Trevor: So how about we spend 2,000 words talking about Alana Bloom’s jacket? I’m sure there was some visual metaphor there – it was striped, like a circus ringleader’s – but I was too distracted by how effortlessly Caroline Dhavernas pulled it off. DAMN.
Margaux: I think you’re onto something with Alana’s jacket, particularly the bit about her being the ringleader of Baltimore’s psych ward (basically Chilton 2.0) because of something Freddie says to Will later in the episode about his murder husband. Something to the effect of Alana is now running things there because as Freddie (correctly) she suspects, the Muskrat farms incident and Hannibal declaration of “insanity” aren’t mere cowinky-dinks.
Trevor: Freddie’s reintroduction was nicely done. I missed her. Freddie, along with Price and Zoller, add some much-needed levity to the show. And Freddie is the most cynical character on the show by far, which really helps round out the philosophical ensemble, so to think. What I like about her as well: she’s not an idiot. She said psychopaths like to read about themselves, then STAR WIPE TO: Dolarhyde reading TattleCrime, his fingers tracing pictures of Will and Hannibal.
(Also, if Will took that picture himself, you could call him Will InstaGraham. I’m sorry, but I laughed for five straight minutes at that and promised myself I’d include it.)
Margaux: Thank God your TV stand-up routine failed to take off, and that I’m the only audience you have. So now that you’ve gotten that HIGHlarious hashtag outta the way, can we keep talking “And the Woman Clothed With the Sun”?
Trevor: Gladly. There was a certain look on Will’s face after he handed Hannibal the Tooth Fairy file – he looked “excited and terrified.” I bring that up because you said (last week I think) that Mason Verger’s memorable turn of phrase could very well be a mission statement for the entire show, and I think you’re totally right.
Margaux: There was a lot of talk about how it “takes a killer to catch a killer,” but that Will teaming up Hannibal to figure out the Tooth Fairy/Great Red Dragon’s next move is really two “killers” to catch the one.
Trevor: And how perfectly edited were the conversations between Will and Hannibal? Hannibal knew it would be unfair to keep Mads Mikkelsen in a prison jumpsuit for the rest of the season, so in Hannibal’s mind, he’s talking to Will in his office. Then at the crime scene. It was beautifully directed, by Hannibal vet John Dahl, and thrilling to watch. It’s so great seeing these two teaming up again.
Margaux: You mean, John Dahl of Joy Ride fame?!?! Just when I thought this show couldn’t get more perfect, I up and find out one of my favorite horror movie director has been quietly directing Hannibal. I am going to be so upset when Hannibal ends this season. But I digress. Richard Armitage is nothing but terrifying and fantastic as Francis Dolarhyde. Why do violent creeps love old school film so much?
Trevor: I’m not sure what was worse: him being silent or hearing him speak. All that rage is audible in every syllable, painstakingly forced through that harelip. All the dental imagery in “Woman Clothed” didn’t help to ease the tension either. Look how Reba McLane (True Blood’s Rutina Wesley, not annoying for once) waited at a bus stop next to a garishly bright poster of a gaping maw of teeth. Look how close her hand was to Dolarhyde’s mouth when he stopped her from touching him. “Woman Clothed” made my breath catch in my throat more than once.
Margaux: I was going to bring up the “SAY AHHHHHHH” poster at the bus stop. How could you not? Clearly, Fuller and Co. wanted you see it, she’s about to enter the mouth of madness, don’t you think?
“Trust me, I’m smiling.” Hannibal has never gotten me to yell at the TV more than in that moment. POOR BLIND LADY WILL NEVER SEE IT COMING, GET IT?! I have to joke to keep from crying.
Trevor: Imagine if they strung this Red Dragon storyline out for all of season three. The tension would kill me. It’s almost as though the Florence half of this season was the deep breath, and this is the exhale, when everything comes spilling out. Thrilling, horrifying television, the kind you can’t look away from.
And Dolarhyde asking for infrared film so he can shoot the “animals at the zoo”…that can’t be good. Fuckin, everything Armitage says terrifies me. “Can I have a plum?” AAIIIEEE!
Margaux: We’re like, two episodes into this Red Dragon storyline, and Dolarhyde has already ruined mirrors, plums, and just plain ole talking, WHAT NEXT?! I’m gonna guess more death…
Can you believe their is a fuckin’ Verger baby?
Trevor: And look at Alana’s smirk when she says: “He’s the Verger heir.” She’s protective of Will, but she’s tired of being fucked around by the men in her life, which is why she’s still with Margot and looking out for herself more.
Margaux: This whole Verger heir thing only gives Freddie’s theory of mutual back scratching with Hannibal more validity. If you’ve got a literal million dollar baby at home, why fuck with the mental health of the criminally insane? The verbal shakedown she gives Hannibal, Hannibal’s little prison bachelor pad can be quickly wiped away if Alana feels like, was to protect Will. Or was it? You’re right about Alana looking out for number one after being pushed out a window and left for dead!
Trevor: Yeah, she’s seen what happens when she tries to protect Will Graham. But they still have a history. Her motives aren’t entirely self-serving. Look at the gleeful malice in her eyes when she threatens to take Hannibal’s toilet. Hannibal has the ultimate misfortune of being intimately acquainted with his jailor.
Margaux: You know what they say, don’t shit where you’re imprisoned!
Trevor: So, in order to avoid shitting myself again, I decided to wait until the end to bring up Dolarhyde’s phone call to Hannibal. The way he says “The great…RED…DRAGON” is pretty jaw-dropping, the kind of moment that makes you mad you can’t binge-watch this show. How did that moment work for you?
Margaux: It really did, and bonus points to him for calling himself Hannibal’s lawyer. I’m not sure where that conversation goes, or if Hannibal will even share it with Will and Jack, but whatever “coming of age” Dolarhyde was going through seems to be nearly complete.
Trevor: You wanna talk stars? Last week we gave 5, but I’m more inclined to give “Woman Clothed” 4.5. It was a breathtaking episode, but it’s unmistakably transitional.
Margaux: 4.5 stars is fair since the Red Dragon’s reign is only beginning, and will surely be a lot greater than we can imagine.
About Author
