Margaux and I literally have to make ourselves stop talking about how good Hannibal was this week. (PS, now that Hannibal has moved to Saturdays, look for our coverage on Mondays.)
Trevor: First of all, thanks for filling in for me last week when I was spending way too much money at Comic Con. Last week’s “Dolce” was a hell of an episode, so obviously we have a lot to talk about with “Digestivo.”
Margaux: You either have the best timing or the worst because Saturday’s episode was a very clear that Will and Hannibal’s chapter in Italy, and Mason Verger as their villain in pursuit, is officially closed in order to make room for new terrible people to join the party. Whether it’s Fuller’s choice or NBC’s, I really appreciate that Hannibal hasn’t ever taken the cheap shot of a “mid-season finale” because “Digestivo” had every right to.
Trevor: I like that too, and I especially like that Hannibal isn’t taking some Walking Dead hiatus between the two halves of its third season. “Digestivo” brought the Italy portion of Hannibal to a close in a genuinely satisfying way. As Bedelia told Hannibal last week, “You won’t be back here for a long time.”
Margaux: I think Hannibal already knew that or else he wouldn’t have imploded himself in the way he did.
Most of “Digestivo” played out like some next level, Dario Argento horror-fever dream shit. And was repulsed and happy that before we launched into Muskrat Farm, we had the gaps filled in on how Hannibal and Will found themselves hanging in a meat truck.
Trevor: Yeah, Hannibal sawing into Will’s head was some pretty visceral horror filmmaking. And the show didn’t take the cheap route like the Hannibal film did, where Anthony Hopkins was just feeding Ray Liotta his own brain. I mean, Jesus, how do you even pitch something like that? Not that anything was much better at Muskrat.
Margaux: Pretty sure pitching Mason’s death via phallic eel went first so that the buzzsaw to Will’s forehead sounded tame.
Where in the world did Mason find Cordell? Besides the Louisiana swamps of True Detective season one. Because it didn’t sound like Hannibal’s penis was the first one he’d prepared.
Trevor: Cordell is really a jack of all trades – gourmet chef, skilled surgeon, and season cannibal. Glenn Flsehler’s performance was creepy as shit, and he and Mason made for good villains. Don’t get me wrong, there was no chance that Hannibal and Will were going to meet their end at Muskrat – it’d be a pretty short season if they did – but Mason and Cordell ensured that there was still tension and sense of peril.
Margaux: And they also added to the collection of gashes and bruises on Will’s face. Which is actually a perfect segue into Mason’s master plan of having the literal plot of Face/Off happen for him, except I’m not entirely sure Will would of ended up alive (or looking like Nic Cage) by time Cordell was done with him.
Trevor: Hannibal slicing off Cordell’s face and laying it over Mason’s was a nice gruesome nod to Silence of the Lambs. And then the insult to injury for Mason, finding out that Alana and Margot had sperm-jacked him. Then he got fed to an eel! Fuck, what a day.
Margaux: I hope Margot found finally killing her brother as therapeutic as Hannibal had promised her it’d be. I liked seeing Alana’s transformation from Hannibal’s student/side piece to nearly his equal, the shot of them eye-level with each other while Hannibal’s restrained, was not only smart cinematography meeting storytelling, but you could almost see the sense of closure in Alana’s eyes when Hannibal tells her she would have never understood him.
Trevor: That was a great shot, and it reminded me of a similar one from last season, when Will had sent that guy to kill Hannibal at the swimming pool. Hannibal helpless is a weird image to wrap your head around. And being face to face with Alana was just smart storytelling; Bryan Fuller has publicly lamented the fact that Alana became “the girlfriend” last season, and he wanted to make her the show’s best character this season. Whether he did or not is debatable, but Caroline Dhavernas has been consistently great, and she and Margot made a good team.
Margaux: “Digestivo” had a lot of audible gasp moments, but Will breaking up with Hannibal was a near tear jerker; “I miss my dogs, but I won’t miss you” – damn, Will Graham, you cold as ice!
Trevor: “Digestivo” had a human fetus gestating inside a pig, and the most memorable part was the heart breaking goodbye between Will and Hannibal. Between all the cannibalism and attempted murder, Hannibal gave us a truly beautiful friendship, which, like all the best friendships, was undefinable and unexplainable to anyone but the two of them. “Goodbye, Hannibal” really slew me. Another scene – like their museum reunion in “Dolce” – that was perfectly acted, written, and directed. I know that’s not very trenchant commentary, but it’s worth pointing out.
Margaux: It was interesting, and definitely surprising, that in the end, Hannibal ended up caging himself by surrendering to Jack. It was repeated more than once this season that Hannibal doesn’t let anything happen, ie: getting caught, unless he wants it to so in selfless-ish act, gave it up so Will can always know where he is if he needs it. And the positive side effect of that is Chiyo in turn is also freed. And thank Gawd cause I was starting to feel bad for her, stalking around in the snow silently.
Trevor: Chiyo as the nearly omniscient sniper could have strained credulity, but I liked it a lot. That’s partly due to Tao Okamoto’s performance, but also thanks to Hannibal’s dreamlike nature, it can get away with things like that. So much of “Digestivo” had to do with the men of Hannibal coming to terms with the women in their lives, and they all got some sort of closure. Alana will never understand Hannibal; Chiyo is free; and Margot stole her brother’s sperm and fed him to an eel (which will make for a weird conversation when her incest baby asks where his daddy is).
Margaux: The Vergers’ want for a baby this season, at least Mason’s insistence that it be “yours and mine” was an eyebrow raiser, but since Margot doesn’t have any eggs, she’d basically be raising her dead brother’s bastard baby on her own. Way less questions than it being full on incest. I think. I hope. I don’t wanna keep rambling about this, STARS! LET’S TALK ABOUT THEM.
Trevor: It’s so easy to use food puns when talking about Hannibal, but there was no fat on this episode. It neatly and satisfyingly ended the Italy/Mason Verger plots, set up what looks to be a hell of a latter half, and amidst all the balls-to-the-wall insanity (PIG BABY) there was genuinely great acting and a touching goodbye between two men who were each others’ only friends and each others’ victims. I’m inclined to go the full five, but I’ll hear arguments against it.
Margaux: Go full five, Trevor, it’s not gonna be me that stops you. I am beyond ready for Red Dragon, bring it the fuck on!
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