Hannibal, S1 Ep 1/2

Hannibal, S1 Ep 1/2

Hi everybody, Mary here. As you may (or may not) know, I am starting #TwoWeeksOfHannibal today, with the two first episodes of the first season : Apéritif and Amuse-Bouche. *which is a little bit crazy since they took French culinary terms for the first season* Anyway, without further ado, let's get started, shall we ?

Apéritif

"Everyone as thought about killing someone, one way or another..."

     I really think this opening shows the theme and the atmosphere of the show : after all, the first scene is already about a crime scene analysed by Will Graham, FBI special investigator and empath. As his capacitites show through the show, he can adapt another person's point of view really easily, and thus can see crime scenes. As he didn't want to get involved to much anymore and would rather teach than go back to the field, he warns us with this simple message : after all, any human being would agree to kill someone for a reason or another. And even when you think about the most honorable excuse to take someone else's life, you have to think about it.

"Can I borrow your imagination ?"

     Here comes special FBI agent Jack Crawford. Disagreeing with Graham's point of view of leaving him alone away from crime scenes, he asks for his help. Doesn't that show that he may want to use Graham as a last resort for crime scenes he can't solve himself, I can't judge him already but he looks pretty... manipulative, as he always wants him to go analyse every crime he can't do himself. Using Hannibal Lecter to do a psychological test on him and requiring him to have therapy shows that he does care about Graham. Only if Hannibal wasn't a cannibal himself...

"... he's eating them."

     I don't think it's a major spoiler to tell you that Hannibal Lecter is, indeed, a cannibal. As it is shown right in the first episode, Lecter is indeed the suspect everybody is looking for. But as he is disguised as this perfect forensic psychiatrist, nobody can suspect him, am I right ? Reminds me of Dexter Morgan from Dexter : cop by day, killer by night. There are a few differences between them though : the first one serves justice, the second one... well, his stomach.

My overall impression : A very good start, a pilote that hooked me up (to avoid the world ADDICTED). Can't wait to see more !

Amuse-bouche

"Therapy doesn't work on me."

     As we see Graham going to more crime scenes and solving more cases, we can see the pattern of the season appearing in the form of a deer, that he sees at multiple occasions. Also, he suffers from PTSD after his first murder (which shows that after all, he was right, people always have a reason to kill, even to save other lives). We can see the impact of him going back to the field as his mind keeps being intruded during his sleep *as his mind, just like in any story involving psychic events, is weaker when asleep than awoken* and keeps seeing his victim everywhere.

"Did you just rubber stamp me ?"

     We can also see in this episode the growing relationship between Graham and Lecter, as they had already spent a breakfast together. Lecter is willing to case Graham's mental issues. Is it a sign from him to make himself look better in case he would be caught ? *just my interpretation of the facts, I might be crazy, don't think too much about it* Anyway, as Lecter is shown as an elegant man with manners and more calm (when Graham killed Hobbs and he had to save his daughter). His will to be seen as innocent grows as he keeps doing good to people he might use later, I don't know...

"And did God feel good about that ? [referring to a mass murder]

- He felt powerful."

     To conclude the episode, Graham admits that he felt good about killing Hobbs in Apéritif. As someone who has seen many shows featuring empathy, I can recall many times when the empath themselves got caught and manipulated by other minds, sometimes stronger than theirs. Is it a sign of his declining mental health that he doesn't want to be shown to anyone ? Because he would be seen as a freak, a monster. A man already afraid of himself and broken enough to avoid eye contact shouldn't be left among what he fears the most. Depite all that, he stays... but for how long ?

My overall impression : besides the kids being the ones discovering corpses when the police don't and the police being a gang of useless people, it was still pretty good. I can't wait to see more !

Anyway, that's it for today. I will keep watching tomorrow in another post. See you soon ! :3

And as usual, our last word... KIDNEYS !!!