Hannibal Series Premiere Review: “Aperitif” (Season 1, Episode 1)

Hannibal’s developers have reworked some character elements, most of which hold intrigue (changing the ultimately doomed Freddy Lounds’ gender to female, for example ~ we’ll talk about that another week), but executive producers Martha and Dino De Laurentis still seem bent on preventing Will from being portrayed as Harris originally created him.

One of Red Dragon’s great accomplishments is the gradual realization Harris creates that inside all of us, in human nature itself, lurks the capacity for depravity the likes of which we see in Graham’s quarries. By the time Red Dragon the book is over, we see that Graham and Dolarhyde are unnervingly similar, both possessed of frightening vision and deep love; Jodie Foster bailed on Hannibal the movie because she hated the book’s ending, and the script chickened out as well (if you haven’t read the book, I won’t spoil it for you; suffice to say that Starling and Lecter come to a meeting of the minds ~ it’s challenging, and unnervingly reasonable as well). It’s a “there but for the grace of God go I” recognition that requires some gumption to explore.

Here Will is painted as something of a tortured psychic, socially hampered, deeply compassionate yet isolated, rather than one without any observable difference from you or I. As Hannibal observed, Will has pure empathy for his quarries, and no effective barriers. Will “builds forts” and it presents an endlessly interesting inquiry into what makes him, Hannibal, and their quarries tick, but avoids, again, pointing that high powered vision at ourselves.

Hope springs, however, as Hannibal tells Will, “Crawford sees you a fragile little teacup. I see you as the mongoose who slipped under the house when the snake slid past.” Hannibal is definitely going to give Will a run for his money, and with the time available to a series for character development, we might get to see a more nuanced exploration into the true complexities of their relationship.

Hugh Dancy and Mads Mikkelsen both articulate the characters superbly well ~ not an easy task for characters who have been portrayed twice already, and ably at that (William Petersen and Edward Norton as Will, and Brian Cox and Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal). With merely one viewing, one can see how completely each has assumed his man’s demeanor, with Mikkelsen in particular rendering his with a fresh take that allows us to see why people felt comfortable around Hannibal, how he managed to evade detection by all but the keenest hound.

Hannibal is visually creative, insightful, highly suspenseful, and complex. Consider the palette whetted, it would appear we fans are in for a dream come true.