Original Post Date: 07.24.16
This is not a TV Show review but a tale of my experience watching HANNIBAL (2013-2015) Season 1, 2, and 3. There will be spoilers (spoilers!).
My journey with HANNIBAL began by accident in September of last year. I had a good chunk of time to kill before my gym class began and, lucky me, downstairs Crunch Fitness was Barnes & Noble so I went to the bookstore and perused aimlessly until a white book from the New Arrivals section caught my eye. This was the book:
It was a bloodied heart served on a plate. It said The Art and Making of HANNIBAL the Television Series.
I knew about the Hannibal Lecter movie, more specifically, I knew about the 1991 movie Silence of the Lambs, but I had no idea there was a TV show about it. Confused, I opened the book and my eyes got bombarded by excess of color, and elegant food settings, and dead bodies, and death scenes, and what was I looking at!? Still confused, I looked at my watch and realized the class was about to start so I rapidly put the book down and went upstairs and forgot about it… until the next day when I returned to buy it.
I was not interested about the show per se, all I wanted to see was the art juxtaposing life and death, as well as the behind the scenes content. So that was September. December came and as a Christmas present to myself I got the entire dvd collection for the TV series, all three seasons. I was now really interested.
I watched a couple of episodes from Season 1 and my mind was immediately blown away. The whole thing was like a breath of fresh air. Unfortunately, I got distracted by ‘life stuff’ and had to put away the dvd’s… until this July when my husband and I sat our asses down and devoured the entire series.
Oh man, oh man! Season 1 and 2 killed it SO HARD! That was good television! The interactions, the plots, the twists, the characters, the deaths, the feasts, Hannibal Lecter, Will Graham, the whole enchilada! My favorite scene from the last episode of Season 2 was when Hannibal, after having stabbed Will in the stomach, said to him “I have let you know me. See me. I gave you a rare gift… [pause]… but you didn’t want it” to what Will replied while still bleeding on the floor “Didn’t I?”
Season 3 was a bit slow for my taste but the ending was sublime:
When Hannibal, Will, and the Great Red Dragon were fighting at a courtyard overlooking a cliff at nighttime, Hannibal and Will locked eyes [as lovers finally recognizing each other] and proceeded to join forces and together attacked the Great Red Dragon [as lovers finally consummating], and when they killed him Hannibal said to Will “See? This is all I ever wanted for you, Will… [long pause]… for both of us” to what Will replied while looking around “It’s beautiful” and embraced in an honest hug [as lovers finally surrendering to their destructive love], before Will threw himself and Hannibal—while still holding each other—over the cliff [as lovers finally accepting it was not meant to be].
I cried. I cried with big tears coming down my face while holding my husband’s hand. Impossible love stories break my heart. Human emotions are too real for me, even if portrayed by fictional characters.
So, Hannnibal, Will, thank you for the elegant, intellectual, breathtaking, sadomasochistic ride. It will not be forgotten.
—Marath