This must be the season for prequels. We have "Bates Motel" on A&E and the first episode of "Hannibal" aired on NBC this week. "Hannibal" takes place before Jack Crawford recruited Clarice Starling to interview an incarcerated Hannibal the Cannibal in "Silence of the Lambs". Before Clarice, Jack worked with Will Graham (a guy who has his own demons to conquer). If you read the book or saw the movie "Red Dragon", that was Will.
The fun thing about prequels are that they add an additional layer to the story. When Norma Bates says she and Norman have a loving mother/son relationship we cringe (because we know what eventually happens). When Hannibal Lector serves Will "sausage" for breakfast, we REALLY cringe (because that may not be pork sausage). Watching the ordinary act of Hannibal preparing breakfast, made me want to lose mine.
Other thoughts:
- Will has Aspergers, hoards dogs, and could have a total breakdown any time. I like him already (unlike others I know). Yes I'm talking about you "The Following".
- The slow motion recreations of the crimes as Will saw them (with him as the killer) were very effective.
- I wasn't sure I would like anyone else except Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal but Mads Mikkelsen sufficiently scared the bejesus out of me.
- Will is going to have his hands full if Hannibal continues giving killers a head start and knocking off victims of his own.
- I know this is a show about serial killers and all, but why kill a girl, take out her liver, find out she has a tumor, put the liver back in and return her body to the parents as an apology. That doesn't make any sense whatsoever. Ooopps so sorry, my bad. Didn't know she was sick or I wouldn't have killed her since I only kill healthy people.
- I'm looking forward to Gillian Anderson being on the show.
From Wikipedia
- Hugh Dancy as Will Graham, a criminal profiler and hunter of serial killers.
- Mads Mikkelsen as Dr. Hannibal Lecter, famed forensic psychiatrist and cannibalisticserial killer.
- Laurence Fishburne as Jack Crawford, head of Behavioral Sciences at the FBI and Graham's boss.[2]
- Caroline Dhavernas as Dr. Alana Bloom, a psychology professor and consultant profiler for the FBI.[3]
- Lara Jean Chorostecki as Fredricka "Freddie" Lounds, a tabloid blogger[4]
- Aaron Abrams as Brian Zeller, a crime scene investigator.[3]
- Hettienne Park as Beverly Katz, a crime scene investigator specializing in fiberanalysis.[5]
- Scott Thompson as Jimmy Price, a crime scene investigator specializing in latent fingerprints.[6]
Episode 1 "Apertif"
FBI Special Investigator Will Graham (Hugh Dancy), who is haunted by his ability to empathize with serial killers and mentally re-create their crimes with vivid detail, is drawn into the investigation of a series of missing college girls by Special Agent Jack Crawford (Laurence Fishburne), who has special interest in Graham's ability. Crawford and Graham interview the parents of the latest girl to go missing, only to discover that she has been returned to her bedroom and Graham suspects it is an apologetic gesture on behalf of the killer. As Graham struggles to create a profile, Crawford enlists the help of noted psychiatrist Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen), who takes a keen interest in the case and particularly in Graham, in whom he senses a like-mind. Another girl is found, mounted on top of a deer's head in an open field with her lungs removed and Graham is convinced it is the work of someone else, a negative to show him the positives of the other crimes. Dr. Lecter is shown preparing himself a meal with meat that looks like lungs. Dr. Beverly Katz (Hettienne Park) finds a shred of metal from a pipe-threader on the clothes of the returned girl, which leads Graham and Dr. Lecter to a construction site that employs one Garrett Jacob Hobbs, who fits Graham's profile. Dr. Lecter makes a phone call to Hobbs, warning him that the FBI is onto him and he and Graham arrive at Hobbs' house just as Hobbs kills his own wife. Graham shoots Hobbs dead, but not before his daughter has her throat partially slit. Graham and Dr. Lecter sit with the unconscious girl in her hospital room.
FBI Special Investigator Will Graham (Hugh Dancy), who is haunted by his ability to empathize with serial killers and mentally re-create their crimes with vivid detail, is drawn into the investigation of a series of missing college girls by Special Agent Jack Crawford (Laurence Fishburne), who has special interest in Graham's ability. Crawford and Graham interview the parents of the latest girl to go missing, only to discover that she has been returned to her bedroom and Graham suspects it is an apologetic gesture on behalf of the killer. As Graham struggles to create a profile, Crawford enlists the help of noted psychiatrist Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen), who takes a keen interest in the case and particularly in Graham, in whom he senses a like-mind. Another girl is found, mounted on top of a deer's head in an open field with her lungs removed and Graham is convinced it is the work of someone else, a negative to show him the positives of the other crimes. Dr. Lecter is shown preparing himself a meal with meat that looks like lungs. Dr. Beverly Katz (Hettienne Park) finds a shred of metal from a pipe-threader on the clothes of the returned girl, which leads Graham and Dr. Lecter to a construction site that employs one Garrett Jacob Hobbs, who fits Graham's profile. Dr. Lecter makes a phone call to Hobbs, warning him that the FBI is onto him and he and Graham arrive at Hobbs' house just as Hobbs kills his own wife. Graham shoots Hobbs dead, but not before his daughter has her throat partially slit. Graham and Dr. Lecter sit with the unconscious girl in her hospital room.
Grade: 3 1/2 Monsters (out of 5). I enjoyed the episode but my expectations were way too high going into it. I need to tone it down a notch or two. I will definitely keep watching.
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