In April 2013, Bryan Fuller quietly reintroduced the world to the iconic character of Hannibal Lecter in the form of a television series for NBC. Much like the character of Hannibal himself, the show would prove to be deceptively polite, hiding a chilling darkness that would unfold over the next few years and two seasons.
Hannibal, season one, presents itself initially as a straightforward criminal mind procedural drama. The FBI continues its good work, working to understand and apprehend the serial killer of the week, with some minor bumps along the road ranging from professional to personal.
The main cast is solid as solid can, made up of Hugh Dancy, as the novice but remarkably gifted criminal profiler, Will Graham, Lawerence Fishbourne as the ever-demanding and to-the-point head of the criminal behavior unit, Jack Crawford, and Mads Mikkelson as the titular character of Hannibal Lecter whose charms seem to outshine the horrific monster in a "person suit" that ponders just under the skin.
The three men play off each other with a dashing bit of wit, nerve, and a good heaping of psychosis, mostly finding Dancy's Will in the middle of conflicting ideas from Crawford and Lecter about how sane and useful Graham can be.
The supporting cast is equally as enthralling featuring Caroline Dhavernas as Alana Bloom (formerly Alan Bloom in previous works) an intelligent but more sensitive psychological foil, Kacey Rohl as Abigail Hobbes an early victim with an intensely deeper purpose, Lara Jean Chorostecki as gender-bent Freddie Lounds whose shrewdness knows no bounds and often finds her in the middle of situations she'd be best left out of and Raul Esparza as Fredrick Chilton a cheekily unethical social climber of the psychiatric world.
Together with a host of guest stars that aren't to balk at Hannibal season 1 starts predictable and becomes anything but.
The story follows Will Graham as he's thrown into the real world of psychotic serial killers to help the FBI because of his ability to conjure extreme empathy, being able to put himself into the mind of a serial killer to better catch them. Jack Crawford fears that the toll of such a job might do a number on Graham's psyche but not enough to stop Will from doing the job. So he enlists the help of Hannibal Lecter, under the suggestion of Alana Bloom, to keep Will at a place of relative psychiatric well-being.
The show's crux comes from Will properly identifying a serial killer named Garret Jacob Hobbes and during a confrontation, Will kills Hobbes and saves his Daughter: Abigail. The story then begins to delve into the idea of Will being unable to shake the killing of Father Hobbes and the mental strain that Jack's job, Abigail's recovery, and ultimately Hannibal's manipulations thrust upon him.
The first few episodes are both Hannibal as well as the least Hannibal-esque of the show. It's all there, engaging dialogue between two characters that bounce from plebeian speech to paragraphs seemingly ripped from a prestigious psychological journal, horrific yet gorgeous murder tableaus that threaten to haunt the viewer's dreams just as much as Will Graham's, and a twisted sense of humor that elevates the show's fantasy to something not so droll but in its first few episodes "Hannibal" really presents itself as just another television show, tune in next week to see how Will Graham catches this even worse serial killer, will Jack Crawford cross the line again? Are Will and Alana going to kiss?! But this is a lulling of the audience to pull off something much larger and much more grand.
By the time the audience is halfway into the season, it's clear that Mikkelon's Hannibal is different from any take we've seen before. Charming and witty, a darkness that, even though we all know he is a cannibalistic killer, can be hard to believe. Mikkelson seems totally dialed into the character anytime he's on screen. Every facial tick, and every slight movement that he makes suggest that the gears in Hannibal's brain are twisting and conniving some plan that the audience feels just out of reach to understand. Killers of the week still come and go (and with great performances) but they are easily the least interesting parts of the show. For all the blood and gorgeous melodrama that the cinematography builds, the most intense scenes often come in the form of two characters sitting across from each other and engaging in a conversation. Sometimes an introspective look at where they stand and sometimes a battle of wits.
No word seems wasted in "Hannibal" If it's spoken it is bound to have some deeper meaning to a character or situation later. There are moments in season one that don't have payoffs until halfway into season three, making eagle-eyed (and eared) viewers better rewarded for their attention.
While the show is called "Hannibal" it would be a mistake to think that Will Graham is just a pawn piece in the cannibal's journey. Graham and Dancy are front and center in almost every scene bringing a compelling and dark introduction into the world. Dancy's Will Graham certainly differs from Ed Norton's version from the film "Red Dragon" but insofar as it adds an incredible amount of depth, empathy, and vulnerability to the character that will serve as the bedrock of the show moving forward.
There's no way to overstate that the two, Mikkelson and Dancy, create something that is far beyond the pages of Thomas Harris' characters and open a world of deeper understanding and astounding art to be witnessed.
At the close of season one things are much different than how they started. The killer-of-the-week is a forgotten trope and the audience is held by their throats on a different adventure that centers around Will Graham's mental stability and the burning question of "How will Hannibal get caught?"
The show pushes itself to such a grand finale that it feels almost like torture to end the season where it does. Reeling from events before I would find it hard to believe any audience member wouldn't immediately scramble to watch season two.
All in all Hannibal season one is tasked with the impossible: bring back Hannibal Lecter and present him to a world that thinks they know of him so well and crush those expectations to bring something different and overflowing with possibility. Couple that with its graphic nature, being on network television, and an ambitious plan for several more seasons and any slight flaws in its revving up can be forgotten.
If it had to happen...It had to be this way.
Rating: 8/10
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