Hannibal might be the most gorgeous show on television. Tonight’s installment, “Kaiseki,” is especially beautiful. The MVP is director of photography James Hawkinson, whose lens captures the hallucinatory, dreamlike version of the Northeast that Hannibal has made its trademark. Look at the way the river water surges around Will Graham’s legs, or the way the whole world seems to darken inside the mental hospital – all while the strings on the score bend and strain themselves hypnotically, almost as if they too are trying to make sense of this nightmarish version of reality.
“Kaiseki” opens with a savage brawl between Hannibal and Jack Crawford. It’s not explained what drove them to beating the holy hell out of each other in Hannibal’s kitchen, but one can guess that it has to do with Will Graham. The fight is well choreographed and suspenseful, and demonstrates the sheer physicality of both men. It’s brutal. It goes on for so long that at first I thought it was a dream or a fantasy sequence, which Hannibal has been known to indulge in, but then TWELVE WEEKS EARLIER came on the screen. This is a bold choice, narratively speaking, and I applaud it – there is now a timer on this season’s thirteen episodes, and while we think we know where the story will end up, I doubt we have any idea how it’ll get there. For a show that was criticized in its first season for being too slow-moving, this is a great way to add a sense of urgency, as well as inevitability.
Will, meanwhile, is still wrongly imprisoned in the mental hospital (the sign in front still says “For the Criminally Insane,” which may or may not be how such facilities are still labeled; I thought it was a nice, almost quaint touch). Frederic Chilton is trying to crack him, but not only is he not in Will’s league, they’re not even playing the same game. People are taking Will less and less seriously; he talks only of Hannibal’s guilt to anyone who will listen – and more often than not, to people who won’t (Jack even tells him near the episode’s end, “I can’t hear this anymore”). When Will and Hannibal finally meet, the latter still plays the part of concerned friend, but Will isn’t buying it. Moreover, Hannibal knows he’s not buying it – but he also knows they’re being recorded. The dynamic between Mads Mikkelsen and Hugh Dancy is superb, especialy since Dancy seems to be downplaying some of Will’s more autistic tendencies.
“Kaiseki” also sees Hannibal stepping into Will’s shoes, assisting Jack on a case (in the previous scene, when Beverly Katz looks at Hannibal and says “You’re the new Will Graham,” it’s hard not to feel a shudder). Bodies, partially preserved, have popped up in the river (quite literally). Hannibal surmises that it’s the work of a man trying to turn humans into models, and discarding his failed attempts. He arrives at that conclusion as quickly as Will would, which is a cause for concern for anyone trying to argue against Will being a psychopath – maybe these two have more in common than any of us thought.
A Few Thoughts
– Gillian Anderson, as beautiful as ever, is back as Hannibal’s therapist Bedelia Du Maurier. I love their relationship and can’t wait to get some more back story on it
– Cynthia Nixon guest starred as well, which makes sense because Jack is a total Miranda
– Raul Esparza plays Chilton with just the right amount of smarm. I like not liking him
– Look at Will tonight: behind bars, cuffed to a table, always restrained somehow. How infuriating it must be to know that his tormentor is free, having replaced Will even in the eyes of Will’s friends
– Will tells Jack Crawford, “Memories are all I have.” If that sounds familiar, it’s because in The Silence of the Lambs Lecter told Clarice Starling, “Memory, Agent Starling, is what I have instead of a view.”
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