Hannibal – 1.01 – Pilot – A to Z Challenge – Day 08

“Bon Appétit!”
“A wise man gets more use from his enemies than a fool from his friends.”

― Baltasar Gracián, The Art of Worldly Wisdom

Prologue
This episode falls into two categories ‘Firsts’ and ‘Favorites’. But for this writing exercise we shall file it under ‘Firsts’.

Full disclosure: I’ve never read any of the books. I do plan on reading all of the books this summer or maybe it’ll wait until a few months before season 3 airs, I haven’t decided.

But ever since I was a small child I have been absolutely OBSESSED with the films. Silence of the Lambs came out when I was five and when it made it to our home on VHS, I couldn’t get enough of it. I probably watched it once a day for a month straight until I could quote the movie verbatim.

At any rate, Red Dragon, which is what the show is primarily based on, was my favorite movie. Though to be honest, I love Man Hunter more (probably because it stars William Petersen) but it’s pretty much the exact same movie. Now throw in Hugh Dancy as one of the leads and as a bonus I get Lawrence Fishburne on my TV screen every week as well and yeah, you’ve got a hardcore fan in me.

About the Show

Seasons: 2 | No. of Episodes: 19 |Premiere Date: 4/04/2013| End Date: N/A |Status: On-Air

Genre(s): Psychological thriller, Psychological horror, Crime drama

Story in a nutshell: The series is based on characters and elements appearing in the novel Red Dragon by Thomas Harris and focuses on the budding relationship between FBI special investigator Will Graham and Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a forensic psychiatrist destined to become Graham's most cunning enemy.

Best Reason to Watch the Show: The show is visually stunning and the cast is A+.

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Title: Apéritif| Writer: Bryan Fuller | Director: David Slade
Episode Summary: 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 her body has been returned to her bedroom. Graham suspects it is an apologetic gesture from the killer. Crawford, by recommendation of Dr. Alana Bloom (Caroline Dhavernas), 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, Cassie Boyle, is found, this one mounted on top of a deer's head in an open field with her lungs removed. Graham is convinced it is the work of someone else, a negative designed to show him the positives of the other crimes.

Dr. Lecter is shown preparing himself a meal with meat which is human lungs. FBI crime scene investigator 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 Garrett Jacob Hobbs, who fits Graham's profile. Dr. Lecter secretly makes a phone call to Hobbs, warning him that, "They know."

Lecter and Graham arrive at Hobbs's house just as Hobbs kills his wife. Graham shoots Hobbs dead, but not before Hobbs partially cuts his daughter's throat. Later, Graham and Lecter sit with the unconscious girl in her hospital room.
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Awards

Character of the Night
• Will

Best Character Interactions
• Will & Jack
• Will & Hannibal

Best Line
• Will: This is my design. (It’s his catchphrase)

Best Scene
• Hannibal calls Hobbs to tell them that FBI is on to him.

Highlights

Memorable Moments

• Jack fixes Will’s glasses that are askew
• Beverly Katz interrupts Will while he is doing his thing.
• Will wakes up from a nightmare drenched in sweat.
• Jack yells at an agent to use the ladies’ room because he is about to walk in and interrupt a discussion he wants to have with Will.
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Notable & Quotable

• Will: It’s a little hammy, Jack.
• Jack: Can I borrow your imagination?
• Beverly: You unstable?
• Will: There’s something wrong with the meat.

Superb Scenes

• Will finds a stray dog, bathes it, names it Winston and introduces him to the rest of his dogs.
• Jack and Will discuss what Will knows/feels about the case and Will practically has a breakdown because he doesn’t know how to categorize this new breed of killer.
• Jack tries to recruit Alana Bloom to help Will Graham keep his stuff together while investigating the current case.
• Jack meets Hannibal.

Miscellaneous

My Favorite Main Character
• Will

My Favorite Side Characters
• Abigail Hobbs
• Beverly Katz

Least Favorite Main Character
• Jack Crawford

Least Favorite Side Character
• Alana Bloom

Biggest Surprise of the Episode
• We spend most of the first episode in show called Hannibal getting to know Will Graham.

Fun Fact: Fans of the show are called Fannibals.

Tasty Tidbit: Fuller plans for the show to run for seven seasons: the first three consisting of original material, the fourth covering Red Dragon, the fifth The Silence of the Lambs, the sixth Hannibal, and the seventh an original storyline resolving Hannibal's ending.

Style Spotlight:

Side Note: NBC gave the series a financial commitment before Fuller had completed his script. On February 14, 2012, NBC bypassed the pilot stage of development by giving the series a 13-episode first season based solely on the strength of Fuller's script.
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Grade: A
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Comparable Shows
If you are interest in finding more shows like Hannibal then recommend you watch one, some or all of the following shows: The Following, House of Cards and/or True Detective.
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Up Next: If you loved Josh Holloway in Lost as Sawyer and you’ve been eagerly anticipating his return to TV, you are in luck, because tomorrow I’m going to write about the pilot of Intelligence.