Am I the only one who half expected to hear, “Hello, Clarice.” after Will Graham said hello to Dr. Lecter? Who needs the rights to The Silence of the Lambs when you can just use these characters to re-enact scenes. Hannibal smells Will’s aftershave just the same as he smelled Clarice’s perfume and he played the exact same cat and mouse game wherein he tries to glean more personal information from his chosen prey. Readers of the novels will also know that this is a conversation that takes place in Red Dragon. It’s a win/win for all types of Fannibals.
Revisiting Abigail Hobbs could have come off as a cheap way to get Hannibal out of his cell, but instead, it was very interesting to see these two talk about how Hannibal would kill her. Of course, he only makes it look as though Abigail was dead by gloriously spraying her blood all over her kitchen. As Hannibal holds Abigail in his arms while she pushes the button on the device spraying her blood in a perfect arterial spray, it’s all strangely erotic.
Alana Bloom is still working her new femme fatale look while explaining that she chooses to work in the mental hospital despite having given birth to the Verger heir. Why? “There are only five doors between Hannibal and the outside and I have the keys to all of them.”
Hannibal is getting quite a bit of joy out of aiding Will in the profiling of the Tooth Fairy and this provides us with the usual memory palace breakdown of a crime scene. As the two “murder husbands” stand in the home of one of the victims, we are treated to a gruesome crime scene that is also gorgeous. If you’re a Fannibal and you have read Red Dragon, seen Manhunter and Red Dragon, it’s hard to not yell at the screen as Hannibal and Will wonder how the Tooth Fairy is choosing his victims. Since Dr. Lecter is exceptionally talented at getting into the mind of a killer, it doesn’t seem convenient when he suggests that, perhaps, the Tooth Fairy spends a great deal of time in the yards of these families. Both while watching them and then when he bathes in their blood in the moonlight. Have I mentioned how much I love seeing Francis Dolarhyde covered in blood that glows black under the light of a full moon? Bonus:we get to see Will gloriously clothed in black blood as well.
We finally get to hear the voice of Francis Dolarhyde and it’s, pretty much, perfection. Richard Armitage seems to have pulled a Mads Mikkelson and managed to own a role that has already been rightfully owned by two talented actors before him. If there is still any doubt as to the fact that all of the good writing is on tv, the fact that a well known character can still be portrayed in what feels like a fresh way is proof that good writing brings all of the good actors to the yard.
Not only is the character of Francis Dolarhyde nothing new, but he’s just another generic man who is psychotic because a maternal figure made him that way. Normally, I would complain about this well worn “plot device”, but the love and detail to attention that is being paid to this rehashing of the story of the Tooth Fairy leave very little room for complaint. That doesn’t mean that I don’t have one, though.
Maybe it’s my bias showing through, but Rutina Wesley (Tara on True Blood) as Reba McClane isn’t totally working for me just yet. Reba is a bit of a delicate flower and Wesley isn’t selling that. If anything, she’s, clearly, a strong and capable woman. Who knows, maybe we’ll get lucky and we have another strong female character on our hands. In would be really lovely if this incarnation of Reba is as tough as all of the other women on this show. Surely, if Alana Bloom can be turned into a fighting machine at the hands of a sociopath, so can Reba McClane.
Overall, Bryan Fuller is treating the story of The Great Red Dragon with his own very special and unique brand of love and it’s exquisite. This is the fourth time I have traveled the road of the Tooth Fairy and its’s still just as exhilarating and intoxicating. Bravo, Bryan Fuller, bravo.
Sidenotes:
Welcome back Freddie?
Love that almost imperceptible smile on Hannibal’s face when Alana mentions Will.
That dragon tail, though. Yay or nay, Fannibals?
Very excited to see them expand of Dolarhyde’s childhood.
“Long live Abigail Hobbs.”
2020 Rewatch Notes:
Pretty irritated they didn’t find the time to explain Dolarhyde’s job and how he is utilizing it to find his victims.
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