Hannibal Season 3 Episode 11 Review: ...And the Beast From the Sea
Robin Harry
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Oh, the emotions that Hannibal Season 3 Episode 11 made me feel.
In yet another fantastic outing, this show laid every character bare and managed to raise my blood pressure doing it.
If I had a crate full of Emmys, I would just go to the Hannibal set and hand them out to each actor who had a part in this hour. They all nailed it sooo hard.
Let's talk about Molly first, played brilliantly by Nina Arianda. Molly is different from every other character and is my favorite female by a mile. Which is interesting, because she wasn't all that compelling to me in the novel. She has a bigger role here, and I love it.
She is easily the most "real" character on the show. She is grounded and straightforward, she doesn't speak in metaphors, she doesn't walk around with a cloud of turmoil over her head.
Her escape from the Red Dragon was a testament to her level-headedness. That scene was one of the most stressful in Hannibal's history; I was at the edge of my seat, and my heart rate skyrocketed. However, she managed to express her anger about the situation while still being logical about it.
Molly is Will Graham's "human credential" (to borrow a term from another show). She is the only thing keeping Will grounded in reality, what keeps him able to resist getting completely lost in Hannibal's madness.
The problem with Molly being Will's anchor is that she's also the reason for his resentment and righteous anger, the anger that Bedelia alluded to in the past. The Will Graham that left Molly's room was more furious than we've ever seen him before. Man, did Hugh Dancy ever nail that.
I'm just about worn out with you crazy sons of bitches.
Will
Will clearly resents being taken away from his quiet life. He resents having to deal with Hannibal Lecter again, and he resents Jack Crawford's role in that. He took quite a few shots at Jack, not even trying to hide his contempt for Jack's obvious lack of concern for him. Jack, on that note, seems to have given up the pretense of caring about Will's well-being.
An angry Will Graham is a dangerous Will Graham. In Hannibal Season 2, when he lashed out at Hannibal for framing him, he was a force to be reckoned with. We shall see how this affects him this time around.
Hannibal seems to have some resentment of his own. While everyone is concerned about Hannibal's effect on Will, the truth is that Will's reappearance in his life has had a profound effect on Hannibal.
Will refused to call him by his first name. Will now has a wife and stepson, a family that Hannibal wanted to give him. Hannibal's "How's the wife" quip and Will's "How's my wife" response indicated both Hannibal's disdain for Will's current family, and Will's resistance to him.
I'm inclined to think that Hannibal's giant ego cannot handle being replaced in Will's life. He is so offended and jealous about not being Will's number one serial killer anymore that he tried to get Will's family killed.
Hannibal has become a much darker character since Will's return, and Mads Mikkelsen does a fantastic job of showing that. I'm curious to see who he becomes now that he's lost all his luxuries. Hannibal values having class, and it's hard to maintain that when your toilet's been taken away.
Hannibal's twisted way of "caring" about Will is such a sharp contrast to Francis Dolarhyde's relationship with Reba. Hannibal's relationship with Will was a constant web of manipulation, coercion and domination. It's arguable that what Hannibal actually hates about his new "relationship" with Will is his lack of influence over him.
Francis, on the other hand, was willing to give Reba up just to avoid hurting her. We got the impression that Francis is less of a monster and more of a deeply troubled soul that could probably be helped. There's no helping Hannibal Lecter.
Now it's time for our weekly Richard-Armitage-Is-Amazing discussion. That first scene where Francis was being counseled by Hannibal was simply incredible. The transformation from Francis Dolarhyde to The Red Dragon was an absolute beauty to behold.
In that first scene we got a piano glissando in the score to signal the transformation. However, all the subsequent transitions between Dolarhyde and Dragon were seamless. In every conversation with Reba, he switched between the two versions of himself effortlessly.
My favorite visual scene was the fight between Francis Dolarhyde and The Red Dragon. I loved how they showed both his perspective of what was happening and the reality of it. He literally beat himself up over his failure.
There were no cannibalism jokes, but my favorite quote was this one:
How do you supposed he's contacted me? Personal ads? Writing notes of admiration on toilet paper?
Hannibal
This quote is particularly amusing because that's EXACTLY how Dolarhyde and Hannibal communicated in the novel.
Again, another fantastic episode of Hannibal, with amazing performances by every single actor. What did you think? Do you think Hannibal is darker than he was before? Do you think Will's anger might get the best of him?
Remember you can always watch Hannibal online.
