Hannibal
This show is a horror-fest.
Good stories involve the battle of darkness and light; good and
evil. Hannibal seems to say that there is only evil; or perhaps degrees
of evil. That there are only prey
animals and predators. That goodness and
mercy are mere artifacts of the cortex which developed around the lizard
brain. It contains a celebration of
intellect without soul. Is this a
reflection of our 21st century world?
The purported hero, Will Graham, is deeply invested in a
dance of death with Hannibal Lecter. He
begins as a fragile weapon being used by the FBI to hunt serial killers. He lives a solitary life, and loves his
dogs. Broken by his job, horrified by
his own ability to see life as a serial killer sees it, he is exploited past the
breaking point and thereafter tormented and manipulated by both his FBI handler
and Hannibal.
There are almost no normal people in this show. All epitomize victim or victimizer. The pace is glacial. The relationship between Hannibal and Will is
almost overtly homoerotic. The chess
game between them involves who will live and who will die.
The special effects and the music are expertly done;
beautiful. The actors are veterans who
are excellent at their jobs. The gore
and violence are enough to satisfy the most bloodthirsty teenaged boy. The serial killers who comprise most of the
murder victims are satisfyingly evil and "deserve” to die.
My main issue with this show is that it seems to see itself
as an art film with everything but the subtitles. Will Graham has become Hamlet. He should either walk away or kill
Hannibal. He has been tormented by him
enough that no jury would convict him, given the whole story. That he is determined to match wits with
Hannibal and bring him to justice, or perhaps
make Hannibal kill himself has become boring in the extreme.
The only hope I have is that after all this time Will seems
to have convinced Hannibal to reveal himself to the FBI agent. And
yet, I am so fatigued by all the weirdness that I may never find
out. This is Twin Peaks with cannibalism
but without the humor. I really like
Hugh Dancy (Will) but even he may not be enough to bring me back.
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