The Best Television of 2015: No.2 - NBC's HANNIBAL

FBI consultant Will Graham (Hugh Dancy) pursues exposed cannibal serial killer Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen) across Europe, joined by outside forces with nastier intentions, before working on a case involving a man called Francis Dolarhyde who believes he's transforming into the living embodiment of a William Blake painting...

What made it so good? There's simply been nothing on television as artistically sadistic as Hannibal, and for its (sadly) final year we got two-seasons-for-the-price-of-one. First, there was the game-changing storyline where Will had to find and catch Lecter in Italy, which riffed on the novel Hannibal to fine effect—with Will digging into Lecter's family history, whilst the cannibal killer's spree continued in Europe. Then, arguably the show's raison d'être arrived in the second-half, with a surprisingly faithful retelling of Red Dragon (already filmed twice) that nevertheless didn't become a chore to sit through because of the show's twists on the material—plus a benchmark-setting performance by Richard Armitage as Francis Dolarhyde.

HANNIBAL, 3.13 – 'The Wrath of the Lamb'

★★★★

For the last time, a reminder: this review is scheduled alongside Thursday's broadcast in Canada. This finale airs tonight in the U.S on NBC, and Wednesday in the UK on Sky Living, so proceed at your own risk of spoilers...

HANNIBAL, 3.12 – 'The Number of the Beast is 666...'

★★★★

Once again, to remind everyone, this review is scheduled alongside Thursday's broadcast in Canada. This episode airs tonight in the U.S on NBC, and Wednesday in the UK on Sky Living, so proceed at your own risk of spoilers...

HANNIBAL, 3.11 – '… and the Beast From the Sea'

★★★☆

Another quick reminder that this review is scheduled alongside Thursday's broadcast in Canada. This episode airs tonight in the U.S on NBC, and Wednesday in the UK on Sky Living, so proceed at your own risk of spoilers...

HANNIBAL, 3.10 – 'And the Woman Clothed in Sun'

★★★☆

Just to remind readers, this review is scheduled alongside Thursday's broadcast in Canada. This episode airs tonight in the U.S on NBC, and Wednesday in the UK on Sky Living, so proceed at your own risk of spoilers...

HANNIBAL, 3.9 – 'And the Woman Clothed With the Sun...'

★★★☆

Just to remind readers, this review is scheduled alongside the Thursday night broadcast in Canada. This episode airs tonight in the U.S, and Wednesday in the UK, so proceed at your own risk of spoilers...

I'm watching: EXTANT • HALT & CATCH FIRE • HANNIBAL • HUMANS • JS&MN • MR ROBOT • THE STRAIN • TRUE DETECTIVE • WAYWARD PINES

Familiar preamble by now: I'm still watching lots of television every week, but have less time and inclination to blog about it all. Therefore, occasionally I like to offer brief thoughts on some of the shows I've made a weekly appointment to watch. Maybe you'll enjoy reading? Onwards!

Extant – Season 2 (CBS/Amazon Prime)
Look, I wasn't a huge fan of season 1, but sometimes you watch silly things in the summer. It's a symptom of heat stress. Extant looks gorgeous in 1080p on Amazon and is frankly of the few reasons I can justify paying for their Prime service. But I'm probably going to give up soon, because this is clearly yet another U.S series that doesn't warrant going beyond a single season. This year has Molly (Halle Berry) becoming more crazy-eyed cop than problem-solving astronaut (who's suddenly a gifted marksman!), and I'm less interested in her reshaping because it's so clichéd. Ditching sensible Goran Visnjic for swaggering Jeffrey Dean Morgan was a good move, though. David Morrissey doing his American Accent© in a clichéd military tough-guy role, and the ridiculousness of scientists designing the government a robot warrior who resembles, um, a beautiful catwalk model... less so.
★☆☆☆☆

HANNIBAL, 3.8 – 'The Great Red Dragon'

★★★☆

Just to remind readers, this review is scheduled alongside the Thursday night broadcast in Canada. This episode airs tonight in the U.S and Wednesday in the UK, so proceed at your own risk of spoilers...

HANNIBAL, 3.7 – 'Digestivo'

★★★☆

First, a word of warning: NBC have moved Hannibal from Thursdays to Saturdays for the rest of season 3, so this review is scheduled alongside the unchanged Canadian broadcast. Consequently, this post contains huge spoilers for most people reading in the U.S, UK, and most other countries. Continue reading at your own risk...

HANNIBAL, 3.6 – 'Dolce'

★★★★

It finally happened. After weeks of teasing, many of Hannibal's leading characters finally shared the screen this week, and not just in dream sequences or flashbacks. It feels like the beginning of the end for Dr Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen) after his vicious beating at the hands of Jack Crawford (Laurence Fishburne); forced to limp home, battered and bruised, to be bathed and nursed by Dr Bedelia (Gillian Anderson). Will (Hugh Dancy) arrived in Florence soon than expected after his train accident, to be reacquainted with his erstwhile FBI boss, as the two men discussed what Lecter's next move will be. And both men found quickly found Bedelia, who's busily severing ties with Lecter as he prepares to flee Italy; sticking to an alibi that boils down to taking a cocktail of drugs and pleading (not entirely ridiculously) that she's been brainwashed by Lecter into believing he's Dr Fell and she's his dutiful wife. Her play acting doesn't fool Will and Jack, who know a thing or two about genuine brainwashing, but will it fool the polizia now they're keen to catch Inspector Pazzi's killer?

HANNIBAL, 3.5 – 'Contorno'

★★★☆

This fifth episode was our best reminder yet that Hannibal the TV series is taking place amidst terrain the franchise has already covered in books and films. The previous two seasons had the luxury of detailing events before Red Dragon (the first novel in which Lecter appears), and in some ways that always felt like its primary reason to exist. It was telling the untold story of Dr Lecter's (Mads Mikkelsen) working life before incarceration; rich and largely untouched ground, if we ignore the lame and misjudged Hannibal Rising prequel. But season 3's now tackling the storyline of the Hannibal novel, ahead of moving onto the plot of Red Dragon in episode 8—a chronological reverse that's quite amusing, too. We've known this from the start, but it was only in "Contorno" that the show finally had to grapple with something it's avoided until now: re-staging a famous scene, that's probably familiar to most people watching.

HANNIBAL, 3.4 – 'Aperitivo'

★★☆☆

We're deep enough into the third season that I feel confident making bolder statements about the success of this year, so far. So, while I'm enjoying aspects of Hannibal now it's broken with its crime procedural format, there's a number of things that are frustrating me. I've mentioned them before, but they still keep nagging away at me whenever I settle down to watch. Firstly, while the show has always been a nightmarishly beautiful expression of art, I feel like they're going overboard this year. Almost as if the abundance of digitally-augmented slow-motion sequences (did we really need to see Dr Bloom's CGI skeleton?), are trying to cover for a lack of hefty plot. Secondly, that too many characters have miraculously survived their deadly encounters with Dr Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen), and I'm only buying the extraordinary staying power of a few. I mean, even the one character who definitely died—young Abigail Hobbs (Kacey Rohl)—keeps appearing as a hallucination, which reduces the sense of loss.

HANNIBAL, 3.3 – 'Secondo'

★★★☆

It feels perfectly natural for Hannibal to indulge a Gothic fairy tale sensibility this season, especially now it's taking place in the continent that created the art form. Will Graham (Hugh Dancy) visited the Lithuanian ancestral home of Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen) in "Secondo", looking for answers to explain the doctor's psychology, and it was like watching a hardcore Brothers Grimm story come to life—complete with a scrawny prisoner locked in a dungeon. Although, in a break with the storytelling tradition of an innocent child being imprisoned by an evil witch, this was an man who was allegedly the cannibal who devoured Lecter's beloved sister Misha, now doomed to suck on snails for sustenance.

HANNIBAL, 3.2 – 'Primavera'

★★☆☆

There were things in "Primavera" I didn't expect, and chief amongst them was seeing Will Graham (Hugh Dancy) recovered from his near-fatal stomach wound, and travelling to Italy to catch Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen). One expected that to happen an episode or two later. Okay, the double-twist with Abigail (Kacey Rohl) surviving having her throat being slashed in Lecter's home, coupled with the reveal she actually didn't and is now a figment of Will's imagination, also worked nicely. The Sixth Sense has taught us nothing it seems. It would have been ludicrous if Lecter's massacre had claimed nobody's life, after all—despite the fact this hour did a commendable job making you believe Lecter could've spared both their lives intentionally, and perhaps didn't intend for any of his "friends" to die that night.

HANNIBAL, 3.1 – 'Antipasto'

★★★☆

After two seasons, the cat's finally out of the bag. Or, perhaps more aptly, the monster's out of the closet. Everyone knows Dr Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen) is a sociopath who eats his victims, for the third season of NBC's majestically dark horror-thriller. The premiere opens with Lecter footloose in Florence, Italy—assuming the role of a Parisian art curator, Dr Fell, while living with his ex-therapist and travel companion Dr Bedelia Du Maurier (Gillian Anderson). "Antipasto" doesn't feature a single glimpse of Will Graham, or Dr Bloom, while Jack Crawford only appears in a reprise of an old scene. All three are presumed dead after the ghastly events of last season's finale—a trio of grisly fates we're sadly under no illusion are to be undone, which I'm both happy and disappointed about. Those are great characters it'd be a shame to lose, sure, but at the same time it's very strange Lecter's home massacre didn't claim the life of any regular character.

Trailer: HANNIBAL – Season 3

Sadly delayed from its usual spring return to summer, here's the first trailer for season 3 of NBC's stupendous HANNIBAL. It's a juicy tease that doesn't reveal too much, but neither does it skimp on actual footage from the new episodes. Interesting to see that Lady Murasaki (Tao Okamoto), Dr Lecter's "aunt", is in scenes with Will Graham (Hugh Dancy), no? I'm interested to see how the show explains Hannibal's (Mads Mikkelsen) ability to abscond overseas and somehow create a new life for himself without arousing suspicion...

THE HOBBIT's Richard Armitage joins HANNIBAL as a famous foe

How's this for unexpected news? British actor Richard Armitage (Spooks, The Hobbit) has signed up to play serial killer Francis Dolarhyde (aka 'The Tooth Fairy') on NBC's HANNIBAL. Whaaa-?

Michael Pitt leaves HANNIBAL

In surprise news, actor Michael Pitt (Funny Games, Boardwalk Empire) had decided not to return as serial killer Mason Verger for the third season of NBC's HANNIBAL. One presumes the actor didn't find spending hours in the makeup trailer very appealing, but it makes you wonder what he thought the longterm future of playing this character would be. Didn't he read the book or see the movie? Or maybe he just wasn't as interested in how the character was being written? Or what the future storyline was for Verger?

Dan's 10 Favourite TV Shows of 2014

It's that time of the year again. I know the internet's full of top 10 lists, but mine's less about what was "the best" and more what became "a favourite". Sometimes, show X is objectively better than show Y, but X has something about it that just makes it more entertaining—for me. Basically, here are the TV shows that most captivated me during their runs, and I looked forward to sitting down to watch every week.

Isn't that all that matters, really?

Digital Spy: 12 Fantasy Television Crossovers

Over at Digital Spy today, it's my latest article. This one fantasises about 12 "crossover" episodes of past and present TV shows, that would be extremely unlikely but incredibly fun to watch. Dexter meets Hannibal? Sherlock travels to Fargo? Justified visits True Blood? Click through to read more, and remember to share if you enjoy it!