Sequels get a bad rap but there are plenty of good sequels out there. Good prequels on the other hand are far and few in between. Patton Oswalt has a great bit on prequels equating them to being shown a picture of Jon Voight’s man region for those who think Angelina Jolie is attractive. Yet prequels, the ultimate where do we go next when we have run out of ideas solution, are still getting made. Just last year there were television shows that served as prequels to two horror icons. Surprisingly one of them did not suck. The other featured Norman Bates listening to Taylor Swift.
The other show, Hannibal
NBC gets plenty of credit for renewing Hannibal not once but twice. So for those that do not start watching shows fearing they will be canceled, it is time to catch up. Season one is currently streaming on Amazon Instant Video
As I stated above, I had no interest in seeing a Hannibal Lecter prequel, but I still tuned into the series premiere for one reason: Bryan Fuller. This is the guy who gave us three of the greatest television shows of this millennium: Dead Like Me
Plus this Hannibal, Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen (Casino Royale
If you are not caught up on Hannibal, this is where you should stop reading because I am about to spoil the second season; but before you go, let me just say the second season finale was one of the finest and shocking hours of television I have seen in a while.
Okay, last spoiler warning. Turn away now if you do not want to know what happened this season.
I have never seen a movie featuring Hannibal Lecter or even read the books, but I still have an idea where the show is going since he is one of the most famous antagonists in pop culture history. So it was not that shocking when Will ended up in a mental hospital for the criminally insane. Nor I was when he was eventually release considering his role in the overarching narrative of the story. But this season’s finale that was a completely different story.
Though I know that Will Graham is the one that eventually catches Hannibal, the show did a very good job making me wonder if Will was on Hannibal’s side or on Jack’s. Even at the end of the season I still question Will loyalty (but after the events of the finale, it seems clear where Will falls). Of course for weeks we have known what was about to go down. In the season premiere we saw Jack enter Hannibal’s kitchen and met with one of his knives before ending out in the wine cellar with a shard of glass in his neck.
So for weeks we had to wonder who would come to Jack’s rescue. We got that answer last week when the promo monkeys showed us Alana showing up to the Lecter estate gun in hand. Of course Hannibal took the bullets out a long time ago. Which leads us to the first big shock of the episode: Holy Abigail Hobbs sighting! I do remember giving thought to the possibility that Hannibal did not kill her, just cut her ear off and force it down Will’s throat. But that theory faded a long time ago. But I did kept looking for the missing ear which was covered by hair until her final scene where she clearly was missing it.
So Alana goes out the window just in time for Will to show up (by taxi?). Well this has to be where Will finally captures Hannibal, catching up to the books. Nope. Hannibal guts Will then, while he is helpless, slashes Abigail’s neck with Will unable to stop him much like he did Jacob Hobbes. Then, as Bryan Fuller says in an interview, Hannibal drops the mic and leaves. Jack is lifeless in the wine cellar. Will is bleeding out his abdomen while trying to stop Abigail bleeding out her neck in the kitchen. And Alana, barely still conscience, is outside in the rain, laying in glass form a two story drop. I guess it is easy to predict that the main players will eventually pull through while Will is going to be haunted with Abigail’s death.
Oh, but that is not it, we did get a tease for season three with Hannibal taking a flight… with Dr. Du Maurier. Oooo, so what happened there? Earlier in the season, Hannibal arrived at Bedelia’s house in his clear murder lab coat just after she left town. The FBI later found her. I am guessing that she knew if the FBI could find her, so could Hannibal, so she told him of the FBI’s plan as a measure of self preservation. It will make for an interesting third season, the first ever for a Bryan Fuller show. Hopefully it does not turn out like the third season of Homeland.
Hannibal 2.x gets a
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