When Hannibal was first shown I did not have access to SKY and let it fall by the wayside stored in that memory bank that gets rekindled when a show enters Netflix's roster.Now though with NowTV I have started to watch the series from the beginning. ![]() My interest was piqued by reading The Art and Making of Hannibal: The Television Series which I have reviewed (here). The imagery combined with the way the cast and crew talked about the series captured my imagination and led me back to the TV show. |
Hannibal: Season 1, Episode 1 Apéritif
As far as opening s go this is a bit of a shocker, as we see Will Graham played by Hugh Dancy overlooking the scene of a quite brutal murder. The scene shows him as an awkward onlooker with a rather amazing talent to see the scene before it happens.This kind of visualisation is the key to understanding this first episode as it gives us a window into Graham's mind. Hugh Dancy does a great job of seeming ill adjusted to both his role as a criminal profiler and as a social animal. This helps to give Graham an issue that needs fixing, enter via the needs of Jack Crawford (Laurence Fishburne) one Dr Hannibal played by the slightly disturbing Mads Mikkelson. |
Unfortunately in this first episode we only get to see Lecter and Graham share a small amount of screen time but nonetheless the time they do spend together is great to watch. The way they interact as almost a teacher and a pupil feels reminiscent of Thomas Harris's original books without trying to force it down our throats. This all sets up a great investigation with a hint of luck, but the way the ending plays out shows the mark of villainy from the shows writer Bryan Fuller that has me intrigued as to the future of the show.