Hannibal: Secondo Review
When the lambs whistle, everyone will be rallied to aid their call. And that is the setup for the third season of Hannibal.
Season 3 is a new beginning. A rallying cry for all the main protagonists that got owned by Dr. Lecter at the end of Season 2. And even after him bailing out on them covered in their blood and tears, no one can refuse a reunion. Florence is the setting for this event. A completely alienated location for the protagonists compared to the previous US locations and a truly bold move for the producers to pull off. This new location is giving the show the tone of a new beginning, where everyone is willing to set foot on new grounds. Especially Will and Hannibal, who after shattering their friendship are willing to confront one another one more time. The theory that they can't function without one another, similar to Batman and the Joker, is ever present as Will wants to track Lecter while the latter lays a clear trail of breadcrumbs for him to follow.
So, this third episode of the season continues to feed us information about the time line and each character's goals in separate dishes. Will is on a mission to reunite with Lecter. And although we don't know his true goal yet, we know that the approach that he is using will prove to be an effective one. As Hannibal says: he is somewhere I cannot follow. Meanwhile Hannibal and Bedelia continue their confusing sort of dance where he leads and teaches and she follows but is also aware of all of Hannibal's weaknesses, like that of Will Graham, which according to her will lead to Hannibal getting caught. A big character reintroduction was that of Jack Crawford. We now know about one more survivor of the slice fest that was the previous season finale! It was an interesting character decision for him to want to step away from Hannibal's path and just fin Graham. The characters being reintroduced in separate episodes fleshes out the sense of a gathering taking place. Every week a new guest arrives and sits at the host's table to take a bite of that delicious human salted ham. Speaking of human salted ham, human salted ham! This show continues it's tradition of weirding you out when you realize that that arm probably tastes deliciously good. Seriously, the terrific editing of the food montages is to blame. And all of that passion for the (cannibalistic) culinary serves a purpose in Hannibal's way of treating his meals. He first spoils the lamb and makes it enjoy a beautiful final meal before slaughtering it. By lamb I mean some dude. And that adds to the beauty of his crimes. And what a way of slaughtering that dude! I jumped out of my skin when the murder happened and after seeing so many movies and games with over glorified gore, this particular moment just disturbed me to my bones. I always repeat this after a Hannibal episode but, how can they top this?? Again, props to the amazing editing.
The final crime design was also utterly disturbing but more so the fact that it was Will doing the piece and not some nut. He is going to extreme lenghts and adopting some of Hannibal's traits, like the manipulation, to reach his goal. This plot also introduced us to Chio, Hannibal's sister played by Tao Okamoto. She did an amazing job, and at first I was really worried that she might turn out to be a mere plot device for Will to find Hannibal but she really developed an arch of his own in this episode. I hope delving into Lecter's past will be handled with care by the writers and developers, and I am not afraid to approach this season with mass confidence.
The slow pace of these first episodes makes complete sense as it is practically planting a new seed. I hope that the reintroductary episodes are over and that now we can begin to be introduced to new creepy murderers because the case solving of Hannibal has always been a highlight for me, maybe because it has always balanced it out with interesting character development. That end sentence also built on a new devotion for Hannibal to adopt and might prove to take his relationship with Will a step further. This season of Hannibal is submerging itself into originality. My hopes couldn't be higher and with a show like this it isn't anything to worry about. I am giving "Secondo" a 9 out of 10.
