Age of The Nerd
Will Graham may have felt disappointed when leaving the catacombs after last week’s episode but his efforts were not totally without fail. Hannibal Lecter was left pondering his thoughts and feelings after Will’s forgiveness. Bedelia warned Hannibal that it is just a matter of time until he gets caught.
That appears to be true as Will travelled to Lecter’s home country of Lithuania, tracking down his childhood home. Walking by and missing a small grave with the name ‘Mischa Lecter’ engraved, and after trying to enter the premises, he was startled by the sound of rifle shots! Equipped with binoculars, Will spotted an Asian woman by the name of Chiyoh who had professed to be a maid that once worked there when a much younger Hannibal was around. Why she still occupies the premises is still to be announced, but she revealed a surprise when she showed Will a man confined to a small cell. Chiyoh said that was the man that was responsible for Mischa’s death. But is he?
Back in Italy, Hannibal is still as murderous as ever. Satisfying his blood lust once again, he drove an ice pick through the brain of professor Soliato right in front of Bedelia at the dining table! When appearing to not be dying, only chuckling, Bedelia put him out of his misery by pulling out the ice pick, forcing blood to splatter.
Hannibal cheerfully told her that technically *she* killed him! After voicing her displeasure at the carnage he is creating in Italy, Hannibal said that his mind needs to stay active by competing with threat. One feels at this point that Hannibal may just be getting a little too relaxed, especially as he is back to feeding others human meat.
The show seems to be playing that “is Will really becoming Hannibal?” game again when he freed the prisoner from his cell only to return there, this time door unlocked, attacking Chiyoh. After managing to kill him when almost being on the verge of being overcome herself, Will hung his corpse in mid air for all to see, converting half of the dead man’s body into the appearance of a moth after Chiyoh told him that she will help him find Lecter. Hannibal may be killing people to attract the attention of Will, but is Will doing the same now?
Secondo marked the return of Jack Crawford ever since he was stabbed in the neck in the season 2 finale. But Crawford does not appear to be interested in catching the cannibal any longer, only just to bring WIll home. Something tells me that he will have a hard time doing that but he surely knows that himself as he stated that Will completely understands Lecter and no doubt realises that they have a very complex connection.
The episode concluded by bringing the threat of demise closer to Will during a conversation between Bedelia and Hannibal. Hannibal told her that the only way he can accept Will’s forgiveness is to eat him! Further, he revealed that Mischa influenced him to betray himself. Of course, in the movie and the book Hannibal Rising, Hannibal did not realise that he was fed the remains of his sister. Here, it is heavily implied that he voluntarily did so. At least Bryan Fuller is making what appears to be a swell attempt to erase the memory of that failure of a prequel although he is using elements of it to create his own unique take.
So, after a two week slow start things are finally picking up the pace. Not that the slow burning initiation particularly bothered this reviewer. On the contrary, the first two episodes were quite interesting but some fans have been a little dismayed. Next week’s promo showed the return of Alana Bloom and the facially damaged Mason Verger, this time played by Joe Anderson, who will no doubt have created a plan for himself to get his own back on Hannibal.
The show is surely picking up form!
