Hannibal 3×11 Review – Little Noises and Big Dragons

/ August 17, 2015

If there is one compliment I would like to pay Richard Armitage, then it is this one: His performances are such that I would like to watch them over and over again. It doesn’t matter much who or what he is playing. His name – well, his presence – alone is guarantee that a character is portrayed as a multi-layered, complex personality who will engage and touch the viewer. Luckily Richard’s way of adding depth to his characters coincides with a stage in his career where he is not playing mere side-characters anymore. Otherwise his considerable acting talent would be wasted on a minor role – or, worse, throw a dramatic piece off-kilter because Richard is inadvertently imbuing his roles with too much complex emotional depth… because boy, he’s wreaking havoc with my emotions.

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OUCH! That went straight into my feelz, Richard! That look needs a license!

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A stare to pierce my fear

This week was the first time that I felt Hannibal was really going into thriller territory. And big time, because the show seemed to leap from climax to climax in this episode – Lecter egging Dolarhyde on – the actual attempt on Molly and Walt’s lives – Dolarhyde fighting the Red Dragon – Dolarhyde breaking up with Reba. What stood out for me was that the show did not concentrate exclusively on action for climactic scenes, but also used action-free visuals and especially the spoken word to create experiences of high drama. The build-up in the intro/extended conversation between Dolarhyde and Lecter was fantastic spoken word drama – and at the same time almost eerily quiet – which made the dread and fear even more impactful: A stern and rigid-looking Dolarhyde can be frightening at the best of times, but the extremes of emotions he experiences in his conversation with Lecter wreaks havoc with the viewers’ allegiance: His wonder at having touched (and having been touched by) “a living woman” appeals to your empathy, and his fear that Reba will be demanded as sacrifice by the dragon, makes your heart open. And yet, the implied threat directed at Will has not lost any of its power. Although the lighting in Hannibal is always atmospherically dim, Dolarhyde’s emotions were made brilliantly clear on his face, even in the half-light, or in profile, when we only get to see half of what is there.

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Saying it all with his face and a choke

And through his voice. For the first time, I was entirely and unreservedly convinced by Armitage’s voice acting. The variety of tone was impressive, as was the effortless switching between Dolarhyde’s own voice and a voice that was influenced by the Red Dragon. It was the stumbling over words, the choked stammers which made those highly emotional scenes between Reba and Dolarhyde, and Dolarhyde and Lecter so absolutely natural and believable. I always have the impression that those little sounds we make – the snorts, or chuckles, or whimpers, or even stammers, are so involuntary that they are near impossible to recreate believably. Here, I really liked what Armitage did, especially when characterizing Dolarhyde’s confusion through his voice. It was a powerful performance, and voice and body acting combined to elevate this scene, as well as the break-up scene between Francis and Reba, to outstanding moments in the show, where both Mikkelsen and Wesley were relegated to the sidelines. Mind you, I was heart-broken when Reba sniffled after being dumped.

I felt so much for Dolarhyde in those moments when he seeks out Reba and breaks off their relationship. And for the first time I cursed the fact that Reba is blind, because had she seen what we were seeing, she would have realized that there are deeper reasons that force Francis to dump her, and that he is not just looking for an excuse to get rid of her, but that he is actually protecting her by giving her up. To be quite honest, I was slightly disappointed in her – that she only *listened* to his words but did not *hear* them: Armitage’s breaking voice in the scene quite clearly indicated the sincerity of Francis’s statement “I don’t know what to say to you”. He is quite clearly distraught about various things – at giving her up, at giving up this new and unfamiliar (but enjoyable) feeling of love for a human being, and at being forced to succumb to the Dragon’s wishes. Reba focusses on what is familiar for her – being dumped by a man because a blind woman is more commitment than a fully able-bodied woman – and fails to understand that there is much more going on than a man getting rid of a burden.

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Finally, the right nipple leaves a high-profile impression

But that was it with the softer side of Francis ‘Dolly’ Dolarhyde, too. When it comes to the Red Dragon story-arc on Hannibal, I think the “Top 5 Romantic Moments” of Dolarhyde are now behind us. Dolarhyde is dead, long live the Red Dragon? Well, Dolarhyde is not dead – but neither is the beast, and despite Dolarhyde’s attempts at shutting him out, he got the upper hand. The victim is the woman Dolarhyde has saved – Reba (so far) escapes unscathed, reluctantly but for the better given up by Francis, fearing the Dragon might take her. And Dolarhyde himself. How horribly, madly unsettling must it be to be caught in a mind like that, knowing that evil has taken root inside one’s brain, and yet unable to battle it and defeat it?

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At the end of this scene, I felt as destroyed as Dolarhyde. Minus the bruises

That particular internal battle was stunningly visualized. The fleeting glimpses of the beast battering Dolarhyde were perfect – any more of the plastic tail and wings, and it would’ve been comical. The switch to seeing a man literally fighting himself was surprising, and yet genius: The show very clearly delineates between Dolarhyde and the beast (effectively portrayed by Armitage with voice and posture),  and thus our sympathy for Dolarhyde is kept alive, even though we are thoroughly against him when he acts as the creeping killer in the preceding scene with Molly and Walt. I loved all the close-ups in this episode, but particularly the one of the lock opening. The foreboding was almost unbearable, aided by the slo-mo captures and the intense, eerily quiet soundtrack. For the entire duration of the scene the hair on the back of my neck stood up. Dolarhyde zoning in on his victims, stalking his prey like a tiger, single-mindedly pursuing them despite the frustration of finding their beds empty – this was suspense at its finest. And despite all the sympathy for Dolarhyde – I rooted for Molly!

Besides Armitage, Dancy has become a firm favourite with me in this show. The scene between him and his (step-) son was fabulously acted, lots of detail in voice and posture. However, despite their best attempts, I can’t quite see the attraction between Molly and Will. She doesn’t convince me as a character. How much or how little does she know about her husband, how could she send him straight into danger despite his obvious reluctance to work for the FBI again? And now the hint of a whine when things have gone pear-shaped? Hm.

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Dim lighting, yes – but then there are details like the left eye catching the light. Stunning and chilling at the same time

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An unusual angle – great visuals

Some of the things in the show do not really add up to me, though, and I feel that I am asked to suspend my disbelief too often. If Jack Crawford and Alana Bloom have already figured out that the Red Dragon is using Lecter’s lawyer’s office to make his phone calls, then why do they not put the building under surveillance and catch him there? And where did the title of this last episode come in? “And the Beast from the Sea”? It’s all very clever to use the titles of the Blake paintings as the episode titles, but apart from a slo-mo shot of waves breaking there was no further allusion to a beast from the sea in this instalment. Couldn’t they have manufactured something to make that cohere a bit more?

But ok, let’s not pick any holes into the plot. The suspense was handled deftly and the Red Dragon arc continues to fascinate. The other characters by and large leave my stone-cold – probably due to me having ignored everything that has happened pre-Red Dragon. However, I can’t help but think that if it weren’t for Richard Armitage, Hannibal would already be out of favour with more reviewers than just this subjective fangirl…

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85 thoughts on “Hannibal 3×11 Review – Little Noises and Big Dragons”

    • You really should :-D. The delayed discussion is slightly hampering, isn’t it? Even though I watch as the episodes appear, I only get into the discussion once I have written my response. By which time the next episode is almost upon us. If only I had more time…

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      • It is…I had intended to watch as it aired Saturday evening, but I fell asleep at like 7:15…not the traveler I used to be!

        I watched last night though, and I agree that this episode was much more suspenseful…I could hear my heart beating in my ears while he was stalking up on Will ‘s house!

        There never seems to be enough time for optimal fangirling!

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        • No, there never is. I often think to myself “Oh, I wish I was living on my own; I would stay up all night writing prompt reviews, and f*ck the shopping, I’ll watch the episode for the 11th time now…” But I suspect it still wouldn’t be enough time. As it is, my familial and domestic duties keep me grounded. As a rather highly strung, pathetically emotional Scorpio I would *totally* lose myself in this RA obsession…

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          • I know what you mean – there is nothing like kids bellowing, “MOM!! We’re out of bread!!!” to keep one on the straight and narrow 🙂 (or is it running for the exit?)

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  3. Glad you’re enjoying Hannibal. It’s like nothing else on TV. The cinematography, the lighting, the sound, the music, the casting, the costuming.
    1. Francis is calling from Hannibal’s old office by spoofing his lawyer’s number. (A lot less likely to be interrupted and a prefect setting for his “sessions with Hannibal”.
    2. It’s been 3 years for Will & Molly – Totally get their bonding over strays – love the feeling Randy scene.
    3. Episode Title is from another Blake painting in his series based on the biblical book of Revelation. The shot with the full moon pulling the tide is like the moon’s pull on Dolarhyde per Bryan Fuller’s tweet. Essentially Francis is the classic werewolf tale.
    I keep re-reading the Red Dragon novel again & again. It’s an evolution of the Thomas Harris novels.

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    • Oh, thanks for clearing a few things up here:
      1. Ahhhhhh – I see. That is *Lecter’s* office… and I thought it was the lawyer’s office. Ok, good to know. But for me the question remains – why did they not intercept FD there?
      2. Yup, I know that Molly and Will have known each other for the interim period between Italy and the Red Dragon appearing. But the show has not really made clear how much Molly knows – and how well she understands Will. The scene in 3×08 for instance, where Molly encourages Will to follow Crawford’s call and help in the hunt for the Red Dragon, made me think that Molly either doesn’t understand Will or doesn’t know the psychological extremes that Will went through with Hannibal. To me it seemed as if Will was asking her to back him up in NOT going back to his work. And yet she pushed him into doing it?
      3. Yes, I know that. I have seen the painting. But a few waves crashing on the beach and the imagery of the moon (which has been used in previous episodes, too), doesn’t make the significance of that title clear *to me*. And after the unavoidable visual and contextual references to the paintings in the previous episodes, this felt really flat and over-looked to me.
      I have been looking at the novel, too, for reference, and particularly in 3×10 it helped clear up a few things for me. Trouble is: I think that a show should stand on its own without needing the reference to the literary source. And especially in this case, where the show is only “based on” the book. There are a number deviations from the original; Fuller et al are plucking bits and pieces here and there from the book. Which is absolutely fine. But that means that they are creating a different storyline than the one in the book, so is the book then still a valid reference point?

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    • Tbh, I already thought that RA was at the top of his game when he acted Proctor. Then came Thorin’s madness (ok, or in opposite sequence, chronologically). This, I really did not expect. It is different again, and also another step up. Sure, it’s because of the character he is playing (I suspect a medieval knight will not offer the same scope for displaying his talents), but I also find it inspiring in the sense that he proves that humans never stop learning and evolving and adding to our skills.

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      • Remember, I’ve not SEEN him play Proctor, and never will unless he comes to whatever little hole in the wall where I’m living and do the play. I’ve not seen anything he’s NOT brilliant in…

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  5. Oh, yes! I forgot to include my total love and appreciation for that little inadvertent noise he made right after he said “I’m afraid she will come to the house, to talk”… it’s one brilliant little touch after another. Great review! Oh… and I don’t think that the FBI did know where he was making the calls from- they did a wire trace during that last conversation and probably were en route even as Hannibal and Dolarhyde were speaking. Only Hannibal’s “They’re listening!” gave Dolarhyde the heads up and allowed him time to slip away. I liked the filming of that, too… superimposing Dolarhyde’s exit with the entrance of the crime scene investigators seemed to suggest that it was a near miss.

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    • For me it was definitely the little noises that made the whole acting so effective. As usual, the mastering of an art form is in the details, and RA has really nailed it here.
      See, the whole telephone scenario is really not good. They didn’t know where he was calling from, but they did know he was somehow using the lawyer’s phone number. To me that just doesn’t add up, especially as I do not see why Dolarhyde would have to be in Lecter’s old office to make that phonecall. Ok, maybe just for the background, but logically thinking it is a huge risk for FD to take… But there I go, picking holes.

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      • Well, it was too big of a coincidence for Hannibal to have steered Will to the museum just when Dolarhyde was there, and Will himself thought Hannibal somehow knew him, and everybody always takes Will’s intuitions seriously. Therefore, by knowing that Hannibal had only had access to a phone when his lawyer called, they guessed that was somehow Dolarhyde- only question was how he was doing it. Agreed, it’s totally impractical for Dolarhyde to be making these long drives just to call from Hannibal’s office, when he could theoretically use the call-spoofing software from any phone, anywhere! But, well… I just roll with it. LOL

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        • Well, I suppose that’s what we are meant to do – roll with it. By and large I do. But you know, I *have* to find at least one hair in the soup to justify my ramblings as a “review”… 😀

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            • Phew 🙂 Glad I am not alone with my pathetic attempts at keeping up a semblance of sanity… (yeah, right…)
              I really have go and read reviews now – except the next visitor is due this evening. But since she is a fan, too – it’s Linda60 – she may allow me to indulge in fangirling activities. If she has brought her laptop along, we might even fangirl in unison 🙂

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  6. Great review.

    If we’re gonna pick plot holes, I’d probably start with the whole trip to the Brooklyn Museum. I’m mostly in agreement with you here, although the more of Dancy I see in this role, the less interested I am. Trying to remember why I was so excited about him (Daniel Deronda, I believe). And yeah, uninterested in his relationship with Molly, which is kinda too bad, she seems like she could be my kinda chick. I watch those scenes once so I know what was said and then skip over them on rewatch. We used to call this “watching for the plot,” lol.

    That said — in the home invasion scene, I thought, wow, all those hard guy roles have really paid off here, the amazingly precise, methodical, almost geometric way he goes through that house — it’s totally chilling. I knew they would survive and i was still frightened for them while I was watching it. You’d think that those repeated shots of his boots over the floor boards would strike as total cliché, and yet they don’t. That was a general theme of the episode for me — this is the most like a conventional drama of any of the episodes I’ve seen yet, but it’s not conventional. When Fuller decides to do half-way normal TV, he really does nail it.

    re: the breakup — I thought she was very cool about that and it seemed totally real to me, something I appreciate when I notice it in this very surreal show (and I thought the line a little later about how he was afraid she would want to come to the house and talk was another nice nod to reality — what a quintessential male fear: “she’ll want to talk! Oh noes!”). He was just in so. much. pain and I hurt with him so much.

    And OMG. “Do you know how easily she would tear?” — probably also a rape reference (cough) but the switch into that voice and the statement — so frightening.

    Go Armitage, I can’t wait for the rest of this.

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    • I love your description of how he moves through the house, Serv. Precise, methodical, geometric. Almost like a cyborg in one sense. Yet in the moments before he entered the house, he was more bestial, putting in the teeth with a snarl/hiss. I found myself wondering what method Armitage used to get into the proper headspace for that scene. He was brilliant.

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    • Oh, I’d like to hear more about your thoughts about the Brooklyn Museum trip. (Or maybe you have written about that and I haven’t yet caught up with your review. Will check.) Are you talking about the getaway? Unfortunately they really cut the whole scene very short in the show. The book was way more detailed – and explained the getaway logically.
      Re. Dancy – he’s quite new for me. I don’t think I have seen him in any other piece yet, therefore I was quite impressed at how he handled the scene with the boy. I also really like his American accent (ok, but you are better qualified to judge that), and I think he plays the wide-eyed vulnerability really well. Maybe it’s the novelty of seeing him act…
      Home invasion scene: The way you put that (“precise, methodical, geometrical”) is spot on. In hindsight, I think that scene was really quite long, and theoretically it could have been cut shorter. And yet not a single second of that creepy “chase” through the dark house was boring. For me it was a case of “terrible beauty”: It was aesthetic to watch. There was an almost “choreographed” feel to the scene, and despite the bulky boots I thought that this was reminiscent of the “Balinese dancer” – deliberate, soft, careful footsteps, precise movements. There was an elegance to it that was stylized yet pared back. The close-ups emphasized it, as did the silhouette views. A bit like shadow play.
      Break-up scene: Yes, that was very realistic and real. My comments were completely emotionalized – because I was willing Reba to ignore the words and to understand that FD dumps her for her own good. Yeah, I was romanticizing it, I guess. And yes, a big LOL re. the “Shit, I don’t want to talk about it with her.” FD should’ve dumped her by text message!
      You know, the “she would tear so easily” reference made me wonder as well, what exactly was meant by that. Exactly *what* would tear? I wondered whether it was a euphemism for “die” or for “rape” – and to me those two options are not synonymous.
      Yes, I am very very curious about the remaining episodes, too. I am completely clueless as to how they will set the trap for Dolarhyde, seeing that the spectacular wheelchair scene had already been used previously and the attempt on Molly has already been brought forward. Will Freddie Lounds turn up and goad Dolarhyde into action? Will they use Freddie as bait at all?

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      • Hugh Dancy has a great US accident, totally unnoticeable. I just can’t handle any more clench-jawed trembling and the wide eyes are driving me crazy, lol.

        Brooklyn Museum — I alluded to it briefly but didn’t go into it in the post. I went to see what their access policies are and they are currently under renovation so they have no access for anyone, so I am just guessing, and every institution is different. However, most private collections (Brooklyn Museum is a private collection) have really high hurdles for looking at stuff, and particularly stuff as rare and valuable as that. For instance, to use the Folger Shakespeare in DC, you need a letter from your home institution and references from at least two scholars of standing who will vouch for you. You have to present multiple forms of ID and they copy or photocopy your details; often you have to at least show a passport and occasionally, for very touchy institutions, they require you to surrender it while you use their collections. Often, when you ask to see something, you must say why in advance, particularly if the thing is fragile or rare. You may have to present a detailed plan of study (so no way the woman who meets him, who by the way would never be a docent, as they term her in the subsequent episode, but a curator or a librarian or a high level specialist of some kind) so no one would ask you in the hallway why you were there. If you were Will, you couldn’t just walk in — although if he showed his FBI ID they probably would make an exception — but he would have to be known, i.e., no one would be saying to him, “funny, someone else wanted to see that today, too,” they would know why Will was there as well before letting him in. A lot of times you will be denied access if there is a form of the item you want to see that is sufficient to your purposes that you can use outside the collection (e.g., most people who get to touch an incunable nowadays are doing research on the physical object of the book — not reading it or looking at the pictures, because the text and illustrations have usually been edited or photographed and are visible elsewhere. Although there are some incunables that are not especially rare that aren’t subject to quite so much supervision). You have to take off all outerwear before entering a special collections room, and there are different policies regarding bags — usually you are not allowed to bring one in at all, but if if you are, they search it going in to make sure you don’t have any contraband (in a situation like that, it’s usually an ink pen that they will confiscate, but there can be other stuff, like, say an exacto knife. And they would certainly know that you had a random pair of dentures on you and ask you why). If you have a lot of stuff they may give you a transparent plastic bag to use. Once you are in a room like that, you are usually under multiple surveillance, with several people around (because private collections don’t even really trust their own employees — everyone is always watching everyone else, that is how it is set up, so no one can do anything bad). In that case I am assuming they are displaying the item in a dark room because of its fragility, but usually if you called ahead, the item would be displayed for you already, because there are rules about how it has to be displayed, about how it can be touched, support mechanisms, etc. The curator would accompany you, and you would probably be in a room with many other researchers and an overseer who was watching you the whole time. I can’t imagine that they’d leave such a valuable item with just a curator and a user, or at least not without constant video surveillance. Similarly, when you leave, you are searched again, usually at the point when you leave the special collections reading room or rare items facility, but certainly before you take an elevator or stairs or exit the building.

        It’s somehow part of the whole Hannibal thing that normal rules don’t apply to the criminals on the show — they are magical in their ability to evade the strictures of the real world — but I found the suspension of disbelief here just a little extreme, maybe because I spent so many summers of my life going through the special collections routine (in collections that weren’t even all that rare). That may be as much Harris’ fault as Fuller’s, though.

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  7. Great review. I have to admit I love Richard in the role, rather than the show. Not loving the dark. I get it, but I don’t like it. What happened to the guy driving the car that Molly stopped? I know he was shot, but did we see him fall or lying in the street? Or did Molly push him onto the passenger side of the car? Unimportant, but when even a hospital scene is dimly lit how can we see anything clearly that takes place at night? Not having watched the show until the Red Dragon arc, was the show always shot this way or is Fuller literally dimming the lights as the show comes to its end?

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    • I know what you mean about the dim lighting, and I fully agree. It’s fitting, and it adds to the feel and the atmosphere of the whole piece, but it occasionally gets on my nerves, particularly in scenes where the whole half-light atmosphere is not strictly needed. Personally, I would’ve preferred it if they had used the lighting to characterize only *some* of the characters. Hannibal, Will, Dolahyde. But then again, almost every character in this show seems to be (morally) compromised, so the half-light kind of symbolizes all of their shady characteristics.
      Can someone answer that question? – Has the show always been shot and lit like this? Is that just the general aesthetic that Hannibal is filmed with?

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      • yeah, it’s all shot very dimly. You sometimes get light if they are in the crime lab, or out of doors, but even the interiors are quite dark, and a lot of the outdoor scenes are shot at nighttime. I think this episode was maybe a bit darker because of the darkroom (has to be shot in the dark), and I think the home invasion scene contributed to that feeling of “slightly darker than normal,” but if this episode is darker, then it’s not much darker.

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  8. “The top 5 romantic moments of FD”. Du treibst mich in den Abgrund mit deinen Formulierungen
    😀 Jetzt ist dann wohl Schluß mit lustig und es geht dann endlich mal ans Eingemachte.
    Ich fand übrigens auch, dass es Will und Molly irgendwie an Glaubwürdigkeit in ihrere Beziehung zueinander fehlt. Keine Ahnung warum. Aber “Chemie” zwischen Darstellern geht in meinen Augen anders.
    Und zwei meine Lieblingsszenen hast du auch eingefangen: den Mond und FD (puh, was kann der Kerl gucken, da brennste weg), wobei ich fast finde, dass ihm der Mond die Schau stiehlt. Blickt er deshalb so angep….? Und dann natürlich die Guy-Gedächtnis-Brust-Nippel-Ansicht. W.U.N.D.E.R.B.A.R.S.T. 😉
    Stimme dir zu, eine wirklich gelungene Folge, mit mächtig viel Material zum Ausschlachten (brrr…)

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    • Actually, ich könnte etwas voreilig mit meiner Formulierung re. “romantic moments” gewesen sein. Im Buch jedenfalls kommt ja noch eine große Begegnung zwischen Reba und Dolly, die Anlass zur Hoffnung geben könnte, dass wir nochmal ein klitzekleines bisschen Zwischenmenschliches, garniert mit Haut (und grauer Unnerbüx) sehen könnten…
      Ja, bei der Chemie zwischen den Darstellern hatte ich auch irgendwie meine Probleme.
      Das Bildmaterial in dieser Folge war absolut fantastisch :-D. Mond und Dolly waren natürlich mein Favourite – allein schon, weil es aussieht, als ob er in die Kamera guckt. Eigentlich wäre das ein idealer Schrein-Schuss. (Passte mir aber für diese Folge nicht in mein Konzept.)
      Das Brustwarzenprofil war einer der Lacher der Folge. Ich musste unter anderem auch an Servs Post denken, in dem es um die Vernachlässigung der rechten Brustwarze ging. (Bäh, btw, was ist das für ein bescheuertes deutsches Wort, “Brustwarze”. Echt ey, “chest wart”. Was für eine unzureichende und geradezu irreführende Bezeichnung dieses extrem anziehenden und leckeren Körperdetails. Ehrlich, liebe germanische Vorfahren, mit erogenen Zonen habt ihr euch nicht gut ausgekannt, oder?)

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  10. Another excellent review. My best friend bought me the Red Dragon novel yesterday (I wanted to buy it myself, but when I heard the price of croatian translation (they did not have english version which is much cheaper), I said no thanks (there are things I must get before it and I am not anymore into so much horror as I was before (only love S. King’s novels), but she bought me on her own – it was a surprise) so I can finally see the differences and similarities between the show and the book. Heck, I will have FD right at hand whenever I want 😀

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    • oooh, that’s a lovely best friend you have there!!! I was reading in the novel earlier today (couldn’t resist checking up on what happens nearer the end), but the Dolarhyde in the book does not nearly affect me as much as RA’s Dolly. It’s all down to Armitage’s fabulous acting. *coughs* Yeah, right… But seriously – Harris gives us moments of empathy for Dolarhyde, and I certainly felt sorry for him, but I do not feel the attraction (and redeemability) that I get from the show. Yes, it is 100% down to my favourite actor playing him, and lending him his handsome face and attractive body. Not sure whether I like that (seems so superficial), but well, at least I am honest.
      And you have the benefit of reading the source material now with ready-made images in the back of your brain. Enjoy!!!

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      • Uh, did I say FD? I meant RA – no way that now I will think of FD’s face and not imagining RA’s; the same goes for the rest of the body *grins* I have a feeling that whenever he (will) plays a character from a book, he will ”ruin” *cough* the image we have of that character. For example – I dislike more than I like Thorin in the book – i blame Tolkien for killing Thorin and would liked to have more of his character like it is shown in the movies. And i blame PJ also for ”ruining” my pic of Thorin. My life would have been so much easier if PJ did not make Thorin so god damn M A J E S T I C! (sorry for the caps, but had to) and handsome and sexy.. etc. So Thorin came from who knows where on my list of characters to pay little attention to, to the list of my faves of the world of Tolkien (Aragorn will always be numero uno). So should I blame Richard also? 😀 Answer is very simple *sigh*

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        • Oh yes, let’s blame Richard. I think he is responsible for a lot of things. I mean, honestly, could the man not be a little less [insert adjective of choice]??? Total life ruiner! *huffs* And not only that, he completely gets all his collaborators to work on his behalf, making video-blogs, posting BTS pictures, generally extolling him. It’s all part of an evil masterplan, I am telling you. He is going to smother the world in his gorgeousness. And we are willing to be smothered. 😉

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  11. Lovely, lovely reviews. Thank you for preparing them and giving me an insight into a performance which I’ll have to pick up the courage to watch some time 🙂
    I also really enjoy reading the comments. Keep them coming.

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    • Thanks Mermaid – I wasn’t writing the reviews with the intention of recapping the episodes for fans who are giving Hannibal a miss, but it’s good to know that there are people like you reading this. I was wondering whether I was summarizing too much plot in the reviews.
      The comments are not to be missed, I agree. There is often some really interesting extra information hidden in them.
      Thanks for reading! And btw, I do hope that some day someone will make the Dolarhyde “Fangirl Cut”.

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      • It’s reviews such as yours that make me pluck up my courage – so to speak – to go watch it. No, I don’t think you summarize too much of the plot. I’ve read the book. You take the plot and combine it with the visual explanation, and thus guide me so when I DO watch, I won’t be terrified (so much). Anyway, we all know how it ends, right?

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  12. What Mermaid said. What I most enjoy is the enjoyment I see this show producing, and the interactions. But now I am curious about the Brooklyn Museum. Maybe I’ll plan a trip there next time I’m in NYC, likely for “The Crucible” on Broadway. I’m not sure why the Gods of Theatre felt another production was in order after the definitive one starring Richard Armitage (ahem)! But I confess to an interest in the Actor who will be playing Danforth 🙂

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    • Oh, the Army will love you for that, Linnet. “the definitive production starring Richard Armitage”… hell yeah. But then again – there are more stages in the world than just London (sorry, Old Vic!). I’d go to see the Broadway Crucible, too – especially now that I am so familiar with a play. It would be interesting to compare. (and to see “the Actor” ;-))

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  13. Nachdem ich’s jetzt endlich auch gesehen habe, kann ich dein Fangirling, äh, ich meine, deine Review erst richtig würdigen. Danke. 🙂

    Ich frage mich ja, was sie noch alles ändern …

    Vorab – also auch lange vor dem Aus für Hannibal – gab es ja Gerüchte, dass die Red-Dragon-Storyline in einer 4. Staffel fortgesetzt werden könnte …, und die Serie ist wohl auch bekannt dafür, dass man sich gerne Hintertürchen offen lässt. Ob wir wohl Dollys Serientod zu sehen kriegen? Falls nicht, ist der Fanfiction jedenfalls keine Grenze mehr gesetzt … (Okay, war sie eh nie. 😀 )

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    • Weia, solche Gerüchte gab es? Hm, ich kann mir das eigentlich nicht vorstellen. Ich gehe davon aus, dass wir ein klares Ende der Red Dragon storyline präsentiert bekommen. Das wird zwar auch vom Buch abweichen (dort geht nämlich die Konfrontation mit Molly etwas anders aus als in dieser, aktuellen Folge), aber ich stelle mir vor, dass die Hauptpersonen der Serie hier deutlich in den Vordergrund gestellt werden – zu Ungunsten von Dolly (hint, hint). Sagte nicht auch Richard irgendwo neulich mal, dass er mit Finale der 3. Staffel sehr zufrieden sei? So wie ich ihn (und seine Originaltext-Besessenheit) einschätze, müsste das doch bedeuten, dass nichts Neues dazugesponnen wird, damit der Meister auch wirklich vom Werk überzeugt ist… Aber naja, manchmal sagt er ja viel, wenn der Tag lang ist (und er auf seiner “Make others feel good”-Tour ist).
      In jedem Fall dürfte es noch spannend werden. Der kleine Trailer von City hat jedenfalls bei mir noch nicht für entscheidenden Durchblick gesorgt.

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      • Ich denke auch, dass das nur wüste Spekulation war und dass der Red-Dragon-Erzählstrang bis zum bitteren Ende geht. *schnief*
        Tja, wir werden es (viel zu) bald wissen. Immerhin wird’s wohl nicht Molly sein, die ihre Waffe leer schießt.

        Originaltext-Besessenheit bei Mr. A? Hmpf. Dafür hat er sich Dollys Filmchen ja gründlich zurechtgebogen … Könnten wir uns auf “O-Text-Besessenheit, wenn es ihm in den Kram passt” einigen? 😉

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  14. I am with you on feeling a bit disappointed in Reba in that scene, not totally as the break-up so soon after getting together must be quite the shock! But the distress in his voice and in his gestures is so obvious; i mean she should know instantly something is very wrong as he is so far away from the controlled and restrained person she has known him as. He is almost completely out of character in that scene, without even seeing him. But i guess she feels her own pain too much in that instant to perceive his..
    And i am totally with you on Molly, but then again i was never convinced by the depth in that relationship in the first place.. it just doesn’t feel, in spite of what she has been through that she really needs or even wants Will…
    While the actions is very well done indeed 🙂 we’ve had to suspend disbelief about the police investigations quite a few times, again i have trouble believing they were so fooled by Hannibal given the backstory. Jack should know very well that as soon as he sent Will along to talk to H about the dragon a connection would be triggered. And don’t even get me started on Will not getting the hints from H! That doesn’t gel with the workings of the series itself 😉 But never mind, i sort of notice but not enough to get really bothered, just riding the flow.
    I also liked the way Dancy acted in the scene with the boy and generally in this ep he got a bit more variety than usual which must have been fun and i like his accent and clarity of diction 🙂
    The imagery is stunning sometimes…. every now and then i just stop to look and forget about actions and everything and just enjoy the image 🙂 One of those was definitely the side look on Dolarhyde’s face in the night with the eye catching the moonlight.. stunning! And there were loads of lashes and neck-shots from all kinds of unusual angles… I really think they’ve done great with shooting R, we’ve seen him in angles and details we’ve never seen before and may never get the chance to see again and i really enjoyed that at least from camera angles and lighting it was mostly all unusual and not predictable. Visually it has much surpassed my expectations and with them you learn to expect a lot. But i never expected to see R the way we have seen him in this. And i mean that in the best way possible, aside from the acting and playing a bad guy and all that. Classy visual porn 😉
    As to that scene with the battle with the dragon, it will be one of those that i suspect we will keep coming back to again and again 🙂 RA at his very best, whatever he does next i think that one will always be on the top scenes regarding what he is capable of acting wise 🙂

    Oh and i am soooo happy you finally got his vocal acting as well ‘ggg’ Welcome to the total love LOL 🙂

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